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Places to visit in Kolkata

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                                                                                                     -By Gayatri bank, X Abhinav Vidyalay

  1.  Dakshineswar Kali Mandir



Dakshineswar Kali Mandir is a Hindu nine towers temple located at Dakshineswar Kolkata, West Bengal situated at the eastern bank of the Hooghly river. The Temple was built by Rani Rashmoni, a  bhakt of Kali and a helper who seeks to promote the welfare of others. She was a very kind woman and people used to say that Rashmoni was the incarnation of Goddess Laxmi on the Earth. Rani Rashmoni was strongly opposed to a ritual called Sati, she was a supporter of Raja Ram Mohan Roy for abolishing the Sati, and also she supported Girl education.



How This Mandir Has Been Found? :

In the year 1847, Rashmoni prepared to go upon a long pilgrimage to the sacred Hindu city of Kashi to express her devotion to the Divine Mother. According to traditional accounts, the night before the pilgrimage began, Rashmoni had a dream of the Divine Mother goddess Kali and in her dream, Mother Kali said "There is no need to go to Banaras. Install my statue in a beautiful temple on the banks of the Ganges river and arrange for my worship there. Then I shall reveal myself in the image and accept worship at that place". After this incident, she immediately bought a plot from an Englishman named Jake Hastie and took 8 years to complete this temple. Brahmins were invited from different parts of the country to grace the auspicious occasion. Ramkumar Chattopadhyay as the head priest. After his death, his brother Ramakrishna along with his wife Sarada Devi took the part of his brother. Ramakrishna was responsible for bringing much in the way of both fame and pilgrims to the temple.


Architecture:

This type of Architecture is called Bengal Architecture built in the Navaratna style. There are many small temples inside this Big Temple. There are 12 Shiva temples, 1 temple of Radhakrishna, and 1 Main Temple of Goddess Kali. 



2. Howrah Bridge

 

Howrah bridge is located in West Bengal, Kolkata. The design of the Howrah bridge was made by Rendel, Palmer, and Tritton, and the bridge was constructed by Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company. The construction of the bridge was started in 1936 and ended in 1942. It was opened for public transport on 3 Feb 1943.



Amazing facts on the Howrah bridge:


1. In 1943 the bridge was originally named New Howrah bridge as it replaced a temporary bridge at the same location Linking the two cities Howrah and Calcutta. 14 June 1965 it was renamed Rabindra Setu, it was named in honor of the renowned Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. But it is still popularly known as the Howrah Bridge.

2. The Howrah Bridge does not have any nuts and bolts. The entire structure is fixed together consuming 26500 tons of steel and high tensile alloy, Tiscrom supplied by Tata Steel in 1942.

3. The Howrah Bridge is one of the oldest hanging bridges in the world with no pillars supporting its suspension over the Hooghly River. It is the sixth-longest bridge of its type in the world.


3. Belur Math


Belur Math is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda. It is located on the west bank of Hooghly River, Belur, West Bengal, Kolkata. It is one of the significant institutions in Kolkata. Ramakrishna Paramahansa was a common man and was a priest in the Dakshineswar Kali Mandir. He got authority under many spiritual masters and learned that all religions lead to the same God. He preached that the service of Humanity is the greatest Path to reach the Divine. After his death, his great follower Swami Vivekananda continued his master's work. He established Ramakrishna Mission which aims to reform society by propagating Hindu spiritual culture, performing selfless social service, spreading education, and removing social inequalities. 




 Why is Belur Math famous?

The temple is one of the important institutions in West Bengal. It is famous for its architecture, which fuses motifs of Hindu, Islamic, and Christian as a symbol of religious unity. The Ramakrishna temple at the Belur Math is designed to celebrate the diversity of Indian Religions. 


Who built Belur Math? 

Swami Vijnanananda, a brother-monk of Swami Vivekananda and one of the monastic followers of Ramakrishna, who was in his pre-monastic life, a civil engineer, designed the temple according to the ideas of Vivekananda and Swami Shivananda, the then President of Belur Math laid the foundation stone on 13 March 1929.


Thank you for reading!


Images credit:-

1 Dakshineswar kali mandir  

2 https://images.app.goo.gl/4hJs3HEMLY4XJVdZ6

3 Howrah Bridge

4 Belur Math(outside of Headquarter Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math)

5  Inside of Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math

6  https://images.app.goo.gl/SVVHkjLxNgk6ZpmB8





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