DEVI’S TEMPLE : KALIGAT

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1) Located in the city of Calcutta on the banks of the river

Hooghly ( Bhagirathis : another name for The Ganga, named after the

sage who prayed to Siva to send water to the needy earth ))

2) One of the 52 Shakti Peethams of India, where the right toes

of Sati fell, as describe in the Pithamala

3) Is well known throughout India, and is an important

pilgrimage center.

4) Also associated with the Worship offered to Kali by Darsanami

Monk by the name of Chowrana Giri.

5) Legend of the temple :

One summer evening a devotee was praying on the banks of the river.

When he finished his worship, he bent down to the water to wash his

face. In the twilight, he could glimpse something shinning brightly

under the river's surface. It was too dark to venture into the

river

so, containing his impatience, the man went home.

The next morning with the sun lending his assistance, the devotee

searched at the spot for the mysterious source of light. Imagine to

his surprise when, through the clear water, he discerned a gleaming

toe of a stone. Although the man had no idea where the toe had come

from, he began to worship it in the forest until one day, while

asleep, he dreamt of the story of Sati. So the devotee built a modest

temple/ shrine to worship the relic. At some later date ( about 1809 )

the building of the shrine into a temple undertaken by Subarna

Roychowhdhury Family. The news of the temple brought people

flocking to the region and a village grew on the banks of the

Bhagirathi. The temple began to be called Kalighat after the Goddess

Kali. And when the british colonials moved their trading post 23

miles down the Hoogly river to the villages of Sutanati, Govindpur

and Kalighat, then was Calcutta born.

 

 

See photos section of the group for pics of Kalighat and the map

showing the places of the 52 shakti Peethas.

 

 

 

 

OM ParaShaktiye Namaha