Visit Goddess Kali Of Kalighat Temple In Kolkata
- 06-Nov-2018
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Kalighat, the landing stage on the course of the river Hooghly in Calcutta is one of the most important seats of Goddess Kali and is visited by thousands of pilgrims every day. In Kolkata, unlike most parts of India, the demonic, cannibal-like qualities of Kali are toned down to depict an image that is dark and yet beautiful. “She is the perfection of youthful, charming, and feminine beauty,” writes scholar of Hindu studies, Sanjukta Gupta in her article ‘The domestication of a Goddess’.
Gupta notes that in her several visits to Kalighat, she witnessed the ‘domestication’ of Kali by the family and kinsmen of the Haldars, the priestly clan who enjoy ownership of the temple and manage its affairs. She explains that the means of Kali worship at kalighat depictive of a fusion between the non-vegetarian Sakta tradition of Hinduism, also considered at Tantrism and the vegetarian Vaishnava tradition, both of which have had a strong influence over Bengal since the 17th century. Also, the Krishna Bhakti tradition of Chaitanya that became popular in Bengal since the 16th century, also made its impact felt in the way Kali came to be worshipped there. “As a result of both such Vaishnava influences, by the eighteenth century in Bengal Kali was transformed from a wild, ferocious deity of death to a benign youthful mother, albeit capricious and crazy,” writes Gupta.
