Dakshineswar Bhabatarini Kali: Three Kali Idols, Rani Rashmoni, and Temple History

Bhabatarini Kali and Dakshineswar: Temple History, Priests, Idols, and the Rashmoni Deed

Bhabatarini Kali is the presiding deity of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, situated at Dakshineswar on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River near Kolkata. The present image of the Goddess was installed on 31 May 1855, corresponding to Jyeshtha 1262 Bengali Era, on the sacred occasion of Snana Yatra, the festival associated with Jagannath. The history of the image is connected with the construction of the Dakshineswar temple by Rani Rashmoni (Rashmoni Dasi) and with three Kali images produced during the early 1850s. The image now worshipped as Bhavatarini was the third Idol in this sequence.

In the early 1800s, Dakshineswar was a small settlement on the eastern bank of the Ganga, surrounded by considerable areas of dense forest. The locality had an older association with the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family, whose members Durgaprasad Roy Choudhury and Bhavaniprasad Roy Choudhury had settled in the area about three centuries earlier. The transformation of this riverside locality into the site of one of Bengal’s most important Kali temples began with the initiative of Rani Rashmoni.

The first Kali image connected with the later Dakshineswar establishment was made in 1850 by Navin Bhaskar. This first image was considerably smaller than the dimensions of the garbhagriha subsequently prepared for the Dakshineswar temple. It was therefore not the image ultimately installed in the principal shrine. The image was later taken to Calcutta and installed in the temple of the Gosh family at 25A Vrindaban Bose Lane, near the Hatibagan and Hedua areas. That image became known as Nistarini Ma.

After making the first image, Navin Bhaskar began making a second Kali image. There is no clear surviving information establishing precisely when the second image was begun. It was completed and installed on the sacred day of Maghi Purnima in 1853 at the Kali temple at No. 225 Pramanick Ghat Road, Baranagar, as it was disowned by the Rashmoni. The installation was carried out through Ramgopal De and Durgaprasad De, and the image became known as Brahmamayi Ma. Thus, the first two images in this sequence were made by Navin Bhaskar and were subsequently installed at two different temples.

A third Kali image was then made for the temple being constructed by Rani Rashmoni at Dakshineswar. The third idol was not made by Navin Bhaskar. It was made by an unknown English sculptor. After its manufacture, the image remained inside a box for a long period before it was finally installed in the Dakshineswar shrine. Rashmoni’s view was that the idol was not majestic. But too much time had been consumed, and finally, on 31 May 1855, the auspicious day of Snana Yatra, this third idol was consecrated in the Navaratna temple. It is this image that is presently worshipped as Maa Bhavatarini.

The land on which the Dakshineswar temple was built was acquired by Rani Rashmoni from James Hasty. Her deed of endowment, one of the principal documentary sources for the foundation of the temple, records that on 6 September 1847 she purchased 54.4 bighas of land for Rs. 42,500. The land was situated on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly, near Kolkata. The deed describes the boundaries, with the Ganges on the west, the land of Kashinath Roy Choudhury on the east, and the constructions of John Hasty on the south. The property is also described elsewhere as measuring approximately 54½ bighas or about 55 bighas.

Rani Rashmoni’s deed specifically records the purpose for which the property was acquired. She stated that, to fulfil the wish of her deceased husband and for the welfare of his soul, she had purchased the land and caused to be constructed a pacca Navaratna temple, twelve Shiva temples, a Vishnu temple, and a Natmandir. On 31 May 1855, she placed the Lakshminarayan Shila in the Navaratna temple according to the wish of her late husband and for the welfare of his soul. The deed was executed on 31 May 1855, making that date particularly important both for the legal foundation of the endowment and for the ritual establishment of the temple.

The entire temple complex took approximately seven and a half years to complete and involved an expenditure of nearly six lakh rupees. The principal Navaratna temple, the twelve Shiva shrines, the Vishnu temple, the Natmandir and the large courtyard together constituted the architectural and ritual centre created by Rashmoni. Later, portions of the original estate were affected by the construction of a railway line and the Vivekananda Bridge, altering the extent of the original property. The present area associated with the temple has therefore been described as approximately 58 bighas, although the original deed records the smaller measurement.

The original name of the principal deity was Sri Sri Jagadishwari Mahakali. The Goddess was subsequently known as Bhavatarini, the name by which she became identified with the Dakshineswar shrine. The name Bhavatarini signifies the Goddess who carries beings across the bhava-sagara, the ocean of worldly existence. The change of name is associated with the son-in-law of Rani Rashmoni, who played an important role in the subsequent administration of the temple.

For the installation and service of the deities, including Kali, Shiva and Radha-Krishna, a group of priests was appointed. Pandit Ram Chandra Bhattacharyya led this group of priests. His family subsequently became closely connected with the religious establishment. Ram Kumar Chattopadhyay worked under Ram Chandra Bhattacharyya and was given the service connected with garland-making for the deities. His younger brother, Gadadhar Chattopadhyay, also participated in this work together with other women engaged in the same service and used to live outside the principal temple premises.

Gadadhar was later evicted from the temple premises by the third son-in-law of Rani Rashmoni, known as Sejo Babu. After this incident, Gadadhar went to Shyampukur, deeply hurt by the episode, and never again came to visit Bhavatarini before his death. Gadadhar was particularly devoted to Lord Rama and sometimes behaved in imitation of Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Rama. It is said that he converted to Islam and never performed Suddhikaran before his death.

Gadadhar was associated with Christian Keshab Chandra Sen in or around 1875; Keshab Chandra parted with Devendranath Thakur and started a new Brahmo Samaj. He subsequently became associated with the circulation of accounts of Gadadhar’s religious teachings among the Bengali bhadralok of Calcutta to impress the educated Bengali public. Keshab Chandra Sen died on 8 January 1884. (Read Ramakrishna Kathamrita)

After the death of Ram Chandra Bhattacharyya in 1858, his son-in-law Mahesh Chandra Bhattacharyya Nyayaratna (1836–1906) was appointed by Rani Rashmoni as the observer of the group of priests appointed for the service of the Dakshineswar temple. Mahesh Chandra remained associated with this supervisory responsibility until 1876, when he was appointed principal of Sanskrit College. He was a major Sanskrit scholar and was associated with works including Kavyaprakasha, Mimamsa Darshana, and the Krishna Yajurveda. He also wrote pamphlets dealing with Dayananda Saraswati’s Veda-Bhashya, Tulasidhara Mimamsa, the authorship of Mrichchhakatika, and Lupta Samvatsara.

Rani Rashmoni’s activities were not confined to the Dakshineswar temple. She was also associated with donations of land for important educational and public institutions, including the institution that became the Imperial Library, now the National Library, and Hindu College, now Presidency University. Her endowment of Dakshineswar nevertheless remains her most enduring religious foundation.

The subsequent history of the temple should be distinguished from the history of its foundation. Iswar Chandra, Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, despite their major positions in Bengali literary history, never visited the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. In the present period, administration of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple is conducted through a management arrangement under a committee appointed by the Calcutta High Court (Balaram Das v. Gurucharan Biswas & Ors.), rather than through the original personal management system established by Rani Rashmoni and Mathura Mohan.