The first visit was to the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple located across the Houghly River in the North Kolkata area. Off with the shoes and paid a few rupees to have them watched (they would not be there when leaving if you didn’t)… View image…before heading inside. On weekends (which this was), there is a very long wait to enter the most important nine-spired main temple in the center where Rama-krishna was a priest and reached his spiritual vision of the unity of all religions. The Dakshineshwar Temple was built in 1847 or 1855, depending who gives you the information, and is surrounded by 12 other temples dedicated to Shiva. Malini had two interesting “facts”:

- If a worshipper visits and prays at all of the temples in this complex, all sins are washed away; and

- The worship of “woman power” only takes placed in the Bengali area.

Instead of standing in the very long line for the main temple, we walked out the courtyard to the Houghly River and spent some time watching the locals bathe before leaving the complex to watch every woman entering Dakshineshwar Kali Temple carrying red flowers as offerings to Kali. “Red” is Kali’s favorite color and she is considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses.

worshippers entering the Dakshinewar Kali Temple, Kolkata, India 

a few of the 12 other Shiva Temples, Kolkata, India 

bathing in the Houghly River, Dakshineshwar Temple, Kolkata, India
From here it was back to South Kolkata (not far from the Taj Bengal Hotel) to the Kalighat (Kali) Temple…View image…with a gorgeous banyan tree…View image… rebuilt in 1809 on the site of a much older temple. According to legend, when Shiva’s wife’s corpse was cut up, one of her fingers fell here. Mother Teresa’s Hospital for the Dying Destitute is next door to the temple. Some people like to volunteer here and in some of the other charities to teach, help bathe lepers, etc. Tomas, at Footloose asked if we were interested in assisting and got a big, resounding no in return. These wonderful volunteers are made of sterner stuff than we and you could count us out!

beggers outside the Kalighat Temple, Kolkata, India
We weren’t allowed to enter the temple itself but Malini spoke to a tradesman outside the Kalighat Temple who unlocked one door to a viewing area where we could see the Temple dome…View image….and temple pool. The goddess, Kali, receives a ceremonial bath every year by the head priest and a man was busily cleaning out this fetid, slimy pool in preparation for the ceremony.

Kalighat Temple pool where Kali takes a ceremonial bath, India
Kali also shows a destructive side and demands daily sacrifices. To accommodate this need, goats have their throats slit every morning and the goat meat is given to the poor during the day. Happily missed this. Watching all those water buffalo funeral sacrifices in Sulawesi was more than enough to satisfy my blood lust.

The big sights visited, it was back to Hotel Lytton, out for a little Chinese dinner at Tung Fong, 225B Park Street and walking distance from the hotel. More than enough food ran around $10 U.S. for the two of us. Back home in the good old U.S. of A., it would have cost a minimum of $35 for the same amount of food. We’ll be returning and staying at the Hotel Lytton several times during the entire trip. A brainstorm was to leave a suitcase behind behind filled with stuff we wouldn’t need for the next 10 days (warm coats, going home clothes, dirty clothes, etc.) A few more days spent in engrossing Kolkata…

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