Sunday 4 March 2012

The Dakshineswar Temple - Kolkata

The Dakshineswar Temple is the biggest Kali temple in India. For The Kali follower, this is the important place to visit. Majority Bengali people worship Kali as the main deity. The temple was built by Rani Rashmoni, a philanthropist and a devotee of Kali in 1855.


There is a story beside, In the year 1847, Rashmoni, prepared to go upon a long pilgrimage to the sacred Hindu city of Kashi to express her devotions to the Divine Mother. Rani was to travel in twenty four boats, carrying relatives, servants and supplies. According to traditional accounts, the night before the pilgrimage began, Rashmoni had a vision of the Divine Mother, in the form of the goddess Kali in a dream and reportedly said,

“ There is no need to go to Banaras. Install my statue in a beautiful temple on the banks of the Ganges river and arrange for my worship there. Then I shall manifest myself in the image and accept worship at that place. ”
Profoundly affected by the dream, Rani immediately looked for and purchased land, and promptly began construction of the temple.


Who is Kali.. ?

Kali is Hindu Goddes, a symbol of black, time, death, lord of death. She is the consort of Lord Shiva. The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself.

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva.


Honeshtly, how she look make me feel fear inside. I just go inside the temple and walking around,I hear some of people scream, mybe it’s like part of the pray ceremony for Kali. I don’t know why my mind does not want to calm down and want to quickly get out of this place.

I'm sory Kali, I'm scare of You :(

2 comments:

  1. Its just wow. A series of 12 identical Shiva temples are established within the premises of the Devalaya. Opposite to the Kuthi Bari these temples are close to the banks of the River Ganga. The interior of the temples is done in white and black stone and each of the temples houses Shiva lingas done in black stone. Explore more about Dakshineshwar Kali Temple.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thank you dimpy . i will explore more later if i have chance to visit kolkata, perhaps next year :)

      Delete