The most important temple of Kalna, from religious point of view is the Siddheswari Temple.
A Hindu devotee of Goddess Kali feels his/her visit to Kalna is incomplete with out a darshan of Goddess Kali in this Siddheswari Temple.
Siddeshwari Kali temple was actually renovated by King Chitrasen Rai (Son of Kirtichand Rai) in 1741 (Shakbda 1663 as per the inscription in its foundation stone), the original structure of this Jor Bangla style temple is the oldest temple of Ambika Kalna. At present, the first line of the inscription has been wiped off and the premises also houses three other Aatchala temples. The inscription also says that the temple was constructed by Ramhari Mistri.
This temple is the holiest of all the temples in Kalna. And that is one reason why it is also known as Ambika Kalna, Ambika being another name of Goddess Kali.
The town looked calm, not much traffic, narrow lanes;not much has changed over the years the sweet mart shops deep fryied stuff the air overwhelmed with the aroma of high concentrated sugar syrup sweets with those unwanted guests swarming all over the place the flies,, the dogs in huge groups moving around the sleepy town still warm with those bygone days the peculiar honking of the rikshaws and yes they can approach you from anywhere to everywhere before than you even know its flying off next to you, you have to be cautious rather, the road to the temple was quite known as it was before but yes one thing that has changed are the constructions here and there which is destroying the natural serenity of the place but then its ok but why to urbanise something when its beautiful in its real rustic form i would love Kalna in its old original form only…… anyways from there i took my way towards Siddheswari Temple and other adjoining temples, along with the many ghats of the Ganges river.
Take the directions to the temple when you are at 108 Shiva temples there. The walking distance is hardly 15 minutes, but a wrong turn can make you go in circles. once you reach that place as I have realised it has also become a kind of lovers point people sitting hither and thither and yes as gc stands for clean environment it even educated people over there who were littering that place for no good reason at all,those temples still takes you back into an another era…
Kali literally means, ‘the black one’. The Goddess does look fearsome, her garland of severed heads and belt of human arms are hard to understand but as the tales told from ages those severed heads may be of the sacrifices made or the demons who were killed by the GODDESS herself, the tongue is also very eye catching, the eyes the arms every bit is just so mesmerizing, the temple is quite tiny overwhelmed with the fragrance of fresh flowers and other offerings incense sticks doing the rest, the priests chanting the mantras enough to take your soul to a different world. Outside the prashad sellers(offerings are called prashad) a special sweet called monda which is a hard boiled sweet meat made out of sugar and milk product, the fresh red hibiscus garlands, vermilion and few other articles are sold out in small tiny bamboo baskets, even the approach road to be noticed as well it is made out of red bricks all compact never to be out of shape in the coming years as well that is the most distinguishing factor i discovered, the drainage system and all is but just so perfect, the architecture is so intriguingly fine intrinsic carved walls I wonder how could one be so perfect.
Animal sacrifices are made for her even today. The U shaped nook like structure that you see is the sacrificial tool. The animals’ (most often goat or sheep), neck is inserted through the U shaped opening and in one blow, before the animal realizes, the sacrifice is done but its hard to render when the slaughtered bodies of the animals are kept aside still moving due its nerves response have to be brave heart to see it by your own eye.
Must visit here this venture will surely take you to a different world along with it the 108 Shiv Mandir & The Grand Mansion Of Rajbari, Laljiu Temple & More!……