Kalighat Kali Temple, Kolkata
– History
The Kalighat temple in its
present form is only about 200 years old, although it has been referred to in
Mansar Bhasan composed in the 15th century A.D. and in Kavi Kankan
Chandi of the 17th century A.D. The original temple was a small hut
and during the early 16th century A.D, a small temple was built by
King Manasingha. The present structure of the temple was completed under the patronage
of Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family of Banisha in 1809.
Mention of the Kali temple is
also found in Lalmohon Bidyanidhis's Sambanda Nirnoy. Only two types of
coins of Chandragupta II, who incorporated Vanga in the Gupta Empire, are known
from Bengal. His Archer type coins, which became the most popular type of
coinage with the Gupta rulers after Kumaragupta I, have been found in Kalighat.
This is evidence of the antiquity of the place.
The Haldar family claims to be
the original owners of the temple property. But this was disputed by the Chowdhury
of Banisha. In the 1960’s a committee was formed for the administrative
management of the temple with representation from the Government and the Haldar
family.
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