Kalighat Kali Temple, Ward No. 83, Kolkata Municipal Corporation: History, Timings & Visitor Guide

Kalighat Kali Temple is open every day, usually from early morning to late evening with a break in the afternoon. Darshan and aarti timings change with the season and on festival days.

• MorningOpens early morning (around 5 to 6 AM)
• AfternoonShort break around midday at many temples
• EveningEvening aarti around sunset, closes by about 8 to 9 PM

Check the exact timings on the official website before your visit.

Dress Code & Temple Rules

• DressModest, traditional clothes covering shoulders and knees
• FootwearRemove before entering; use the shoe stand
• PhotographyNot allowed inside the sanctum
• Not AllowedLeather items, tobacco, alcohol, non-veg food
• QueueFollow queue lines and staff instructions on festival days

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 major Zamindar families from Bengal, among them the Bawali Raj and the Sabarna Roy Choudhury families being the most prominent.

The present structure of the temple was completed under the patronage of the Sabarna 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. The Roy Chowdhurys' traditional patronage of the deity is disputed. Pilgrims to the site practice a holy dipping event called Snan Yatra in the temple's Kundupukur tank.

In 1835 Kashinath Roy built a Nat Mandir in the temple square. In 1843 Vaishnavite Uday Narayan Mondal, a member of the Bawali Raj family, established the present day ShyamRai temple in the Kalighat temple square. In 1858 a Dal Mancha was installed by Madan Gopal Koley for the ShyamRai temple.

Legend & Significance

The term Kalighat originated from the goddess Kali, who resides in the temple, and Ghat (riverbank), where the temple is located. Due to the importance of Maa Kali in this region, the place is also known as the Kali kshetra.

According to scriptures, on learning about the death of Sati by self-immolation, Shiva was blinded in rage and started the Tandav Nritya (Dance of Destruction). To prevent the world from imminent destruction, Lord Vishnu used his Sudarshan Chakra to cut the corpse of Sati into 51 pieces, which fell in various places of the Indian subcontinent. Kalighat is the site where the toes of the right foot of Dakshayani or Sati are said to have fallen.

Architecture of Kalighat Kali Temple

The temple is constructed according to the ath-chala style of Bengal temple architecture. The roofs of the temple are gabled roofs, known as the chala in Bengali, 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 with terracotta motifs of various Hindu deities and natural elements, which is a significant element in most of the historical temples in Bengal architecture.