Dakshineswar Kali Temple

The main temple was inspired by Radhakanta temple in Tollygunge, built by Ramnath Mondal of the Bawali Raj family. The temple compound, apart from the nine-spired main temple, contains a large courtyard surrounding the temple, with rooms along the boundary walls. Along the riverfront, there are twelve shrines dedicated to Shiva, Kali's consort, a temple to Radha–Krishna, a bathing ghat at the river, and a shrine dedicated to Rani Rashmoni. The 'Nahabat', or "music tower," northeast and beyond the last of the Shiva temples, is where Sarada spent a considerable part of her life. Ramakrishna's room is in the northwest corner of the courtyard, with a semicircular verandah facing the river.

History

The Dakshineswar Kali Temple was founded around the middle of the 19th century by Mahishya zamindar Rani Rashmoni. She was well known for her philanthropic activities. In the year 1847, Rashmoni prepared to go upon a long pilgrimage to the sacred Hindu city of Kashi (known also as Varanasi or Benares) 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 goddess Kali in a dream, who 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 a 12,000-hectare (30,000-acre) plot in the village of Dakshineswar. The large temple complex was built between 1847 and 1855. The 8.1-hectare (20-acre) plot was bought from an Englishman, Jake Hastie, and was then popularly known as Saheban Bagicha. Built partly on ground shaped like a tortoise and thus considered befitting for the worship of Shakti according to Tantra traditions, it took eight years and nine hundred thousand rupees to complete the construction.

The image of Goddess Kali was installed on the Snana Yatra day on 31 May 1855, amid grand festivities. The temple was known then as Sri Sri Jagadishwari Mahakali, with Ramkumar Chhattopadhyay as the head priest. His younger brother Gadadhar (later known as Ramakrishna) and his nephew Hriday moved in to assist him. On 31 May 1855, more than 1 lakh (one hundred thousand) Brahmins were invited from different parts of the country to grace the auspicious occasion. The next year, 1856, Ramkumar died, and the position of head priest was given to Ramakrishna. His wife, Sarada Devi, stayed in the south side of the Nahabat (music tower), in a small room on the ground floor which is now a shrine dedicated to her.

Rani Rashmoni lived for only five years and nine months after the inauguration of the temple. She fell seriously ill in 1861. Realizing that her death was near, she decided to hand over the property she had purchased in Dinajpur (now in Bangladesh) as a legacy for the maintenance of the temple to the temple trust. She accomplished her task on 18 February 1861 and died on the next day.

Due to his inspirational devotion to the Divine Mother as Goddess Kali, realized God-consciousness and practical teachings for laypersons, Ramakrishna was responsible for bringing much in the way of both fame and pilgrims to the temple. From 1902-1932, lay disciple Mahendranath Gupta published the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, known in English as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. It contains practical teachings given by Sri Ramakrishna over a four year period to his lay devotees and disciples, including moments with Naredranath Dutta, later world-famous as Swami Vivekananda.