Kalighat Kali Temple

The Kalighat Kali Temple stands on a ghat of the old Bhagirathi channel in the Bengal delta, its name combining Kali with the river landing where she is worshipped. The shrine is counted among the Shakta Pithas, for the Puranas teach that the toes of Sati's right foot fell here when Vishnu dismembered her body.

A place of goddess worship on this bank is named in the Bengali poem Mansar Bhasan of the 1400s and Kavi Kankan's Chandi of the 1600s. The temple was built in the Bengal ath-chala style, its eight-sloped roof imitating a thatched village hut.

Santosh Roy Chowdhury began work in 1798 and it was completed in 1809; Kashinath Roy added the Nat Mandir hall in 1835. Pilgrims bathe the image in the Snan Yatra. Kali Puja and the new moon nights draw the greatest crowds.