| Kalighat Temple | |
|---|---|
 Night view of the Kalighat Temple | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Hinduism |
| Deity | Kali |
| Festivals | Kali Puja |
| Location | |
| Location | Kolkata |
| State | West Bengal |
| Country |  India |
| Coordinates | 22°31′12″N88°20′31″E / 22.52000°N 88.34194°E /22.52000; 88.34194 |
| Architecture | |
| Completed | 1809 |
| Website | |
| www | |
Kalighat Kali Temple is aHindu temple inKalighat,Kolkata,West Bengal, India, dedicated to theHindu goddessKali, one of the 10Mahavidyas in theHindu tantric tradition and the supreme deity in theKalikula worship tradition.[1] The temple is one of the 51Shakti Pithas in India.[2]
According to theDevi Bhagavata Purana,Kalika Purana and Shakti Peetha Stotram, the toes of the right foot ofGoddess Sati fell here, afterLord Vishnu'sSudarshan Chakra splintered her body into many parts to calm downMahadev's rage during his cosmic dance.[3] One of the oldest and most important places of worship in Eastern India, being one of the fourAdi Shaktipeeth the temple draws hundred of thousands of devotees throughout the year, especially on occasions likeKali Puja,New Year,Poila Baisakh,Snana Yatra,Durga Puja and the numerous Amavasyas.[4]
The termKalighat originated from the goddess Kali, who resides in the temple, andGhat (riverbank), where the temple is located. Due to the importance of Maa Kali in this region, the place is also known as theKali kshetra.[2]
According to mythology, on learning about the death ofSati byself-immolation,Shiva was blinded in rage and started theTandav Nritya (Dance of Destruction). To prevent the world from imminent destruction, LordVishnu used hisSudarshan Chakra to cut the corpse of Sati into 51 pieces, which fell in various places of the Indian subcontinent.[citation needed] Kalighat is the site where the toes of the right foot ofDakshayani orSati are said to have fallen.[5]
The Kalighat Kali temple in its present form is about 200 years old, although it was referred to in Mansar Bhasan composed in the 15th century, and Kavi Kankan Chandi in the 17th century. Subsequently, it received patronage from some of the majorZamindar families fromBengal, among them theBawali Raj and theSabarna Roy Choudhury families being the most prominent.
The present structure of the temple was completed under the patronage of theSabarna Roy Choudhury family in 1809. Santosh Roy Chowdhury, a Kali devotee himself, started the construction of the present-day temple in 1798. It took 11 years to complete the construction.[6] The Roy Chowdhurys' traditional patronage of the deity is disputed.[7] Pilgrims to the site practice a holy dipping event calledSnan Yatra in the temple'sKundupukur tank.[8]
In 1835 Kashinath Roy built aNat Mandir in the temple square. In 1843Vaishnavite Uday Narayan Mondal, a member of theBawali Raj family, established the present dayShyamRai temple in the Kalighat temple square. In 1858 aDal Mancha was installed by Madan Gopal Koley for the ShyamRai temple.[9][10]
The temple is constructed according to theath-chala style ofBengal temple architecture. The roofs of the temple are gabled roofs, known as thechala inBengali, emulating the thatched roofed huts made of mud and twigs in rural Bengal.
The main temple is a four-sided building that features a truncated dome. The two roofs bear a total of eight faces. Both of them are painted in metallic silver colour while the borders at the cornice are painted with yellow, red, green and blue. The absolute top has three spires, the tallest of which has a triangular pennant flag. The outer walls of the temple are designed with diamond-shaped chessboard pattern styles of alternating green and white. The borders below the ath-chala are intricately designed withterracotta motifs of various Hindu deities and natural elements, which is a significant element in most of the historical temples inBengal architecture.[5]
In 2024, the 200-year old temple received its first major modern era renovation since its establishment in 1809. Undertaken at a budget of₹200 crore,₹165 crore was provided by theKolkata Municipal Corporation, whileMukesh Ambani contributed₹35 crore from theReliance Foundation as a sign of devotion towards Maa Kali. Instead of changing the fundamentals and the existing intricateterracotta mixedath-chala style architecture, the existing ethos was kept intact and renovated. The redevelopment works were undertaken by Quintessence (landscape architects) with the supervision of conservation architect Kalyan Chakraborty and artist Tamal Bhattacharya, they discovered delicate works ofterracotta hidden under the ath-chala style roofs, which they tried to preserve, also adding some new designs into the existing framework.[11]
Bhattacharya also discovered many nature-inspiredterracotta motifs of flowers, birds and leaves, which had fallen into disrepair over the preceding two centuries. He decided to showcase them after the renovation as an essential part of the temple's originality and a reflection of its glorious past. Architecture students fromBishnupur were recruited to help with the terracotta work. Since it was difficult to find exact replicas of those terracotta works in the present day, they created some new motifs to replace the irreparably damaged ones.[11]
The temple had 25 different types of tiles, which were brought according to availability, but not properly maintained. They were replaced by similar tiles to create a uniform look by sticker transfer and glazing. The pillars were repainted and the three spires onshikhara of the temple were covered with 50 kggold. The tallest of the three spires was adorned with a golden flag, symbolising the spiritual dominance of the temple. A new wall was constructed to separate the market area from the main temple complex for better crowd management. The ventilation was improved and the removal of water from thebelpatas was also done in details.[12]
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