Joy Kalibari Temple

Chondi Mura Mandir or Lalmai Mandir is a small temple. This Temple is at the southern end of the Lalmai Hill. That's why mostly the devoted people use to go here. Very few tourists like us use to go there. This temple is located at the top of a hillock and you have to climb there using the stairs. It’s tiresome to reach at the top.

Most of the tourist spots are somewhere around the other side of Shalbon Bihar of Comilla. You'll have the whole stairs is covered with evergreen trees. And at any stages, you can have a break by supporting your body on the railing of the stairs. You can see a long distance from there as you have already climbed a few. The temple premise is mainly having two temples. Each of those are having two small compartments are joined together (considered as single one). Left side temple is the Shiv Mandir and the right side temple is Chondi Mandir.

The Joy kali Temple of Dhaka, is situated in a place between Thathari (ঠাটারি) Bazar and Wari. The road was named after this temple itself. Now, literally it is 24 Joy Kali Temple street. Joy Kali Temple is a Hindu temple devoted to Goddess Kali Ma for worshipping. People of Hindu religion of every age come to this temple to worship Goddess Kali. The statue of Goddess Kali is of great significance to the Hindus. The visitors and committee members of this temple gather money for occasions, where sweets are later distributed among them which is called 'Prasad'.

History:

This temple is about 400 years old, established in the Bengali year 1001. During the reign of the Nawabs, Dewan of Nawabs Tulsi Narayan Ghosh and Nabh Narayan Ghosh established this temple with the inspection of Bancharam Saint. At that time they established twenty-one statues of Shiva, Kali, Lakshmi narayan, three Shalgram Chakra, Bandurga etc. A few beautiful monuments like Pancharatna, Nabratna, temple of Shiva, guest house, were built in the house of Joy Kali. Even market named Nawabpur Joy Kali bazar, and a market situated at the south of Kaliganj hut was dedicated to Joy Kali Devi.

Present condition:

The first caretaker of this Joy Kali Devi was Bancharam Saint, the third caretaker was Panachenand, who suffered a decline, so the responsibility to serve the Devi got into the hands of Bhraman Tanyar. Later the landlords of that time seized some of the land of this temple. Starting from that time the temple started to erode, due to lack of maintenance and shortage of money. This temple was damaged during the strike of 1990’s. The temple was renovated later on by Goddess Kali’s followers. Now the temple is much smaller than it was when it was first established. The temple was burgled and valuables looted by thieves in 2010.

Architectural significance:

Inside the boundary of this temple there is basically two temples. One of the temples is of Kali Devi, the other one, which has a dome, is of Shiv. The dome was made out of plaster and is visible from outside. Locals of that area refer to this dome as the Joy Kali Temple. The front of the temple complex is a busy stop for human haulers that go into old Dhaka. The temple has tiles on the walls all around, and the floor is made out of mosaic. There are pictures of Hindu Gods and Goddesses printed on the tiled walls of the temple. The entrance to the temple is welcomed by a logo made of stainless steel saying 'Om'- which is a Hindu divine symbol. In front of the Kali Devi statue is a bell hanging from above, it is a ritual to ring the bell after entering the temple and before leaving.

Chinishpur Kalibari (চিনিষপুর কালীবাড়ি) is one of old temples and a sacred place of worshippers in Hindu religion. So far from locals, it is almost 250 years old temple which was built by Hindu Saint Ram Proshaad (রাম প্রসাদ). He got financial support and land from a person name Ramkrishno Ray (রামকৃষ্ণ রায়) who was a Dewan (দেওয়ান) of G.P. Wize (Last Kuthial of Atkandi Nilkuthi).

He built this temple with stones & bricks. After founding this temple he got married to a local girl who was resident of this region and was daughter of another Hindu Saint named Narayan Chakrabarti. Then he stayed there beside the temple for his lifetime.

Architecture and Layout:

The exterior of this temple is decorated with flower and animal iconic figure. Total layout of this temple is in rectangular shape. In the inside of the temple, the Icon of Mother Goddess Kali is kept in North-side of the brick wall which is probably very ancient, and the Stela is made with stone. In the front side of this ancient temple, there is a another temple of Shiva. A big Banyan tree is standing just beside this temple. May be it is the same years old as this Temple is. In the western side of this temple, there is a large pond.

Festivals in Temple Premises:

This temple becomes so festive in every year at new moon of Bengali month Boishakh (বৈশাখ) and Joistho (জ্যেষ্ঠ), While a local fair is celebrated lasting for 3/4 days at the Temple premises. People from distance come to watch this local fair which is a place of extensive collection of local arts & Crafts. For the people of Hindu religion this fair is very important event and they usually don’t miss it. Another attraction of this temple is every year at the time of fair there are a huge number of billy goats is sacrificed in front of Kali Goddess to make her satisfied with the blood of animals. In course of time this tradition is losing its popularity as many rich people of Hindu Religion had left the country at the time of dividing Indian sub-continent in the year of 1947.

Present Condition:

Very recently a gigantic temple is being constructed outside of the main building of this temple & it is totally covered with the new gorgeousness. Hopefully, it will be one of the most exclusive and gigantic Kali Temples in Bangladesh. Nearly, 80 million BDT will be spent to build this Temple.

Gouri Moth (a sacred place dedicated to the culture of Krishna lifestyle) was established in 1943 in Barodia, Kalia, Narail. After a couple of renovations, it is still there to welcome the devotees of Lord Srikrishno. There are some other Gourio moths in entire Bangladesh too. The most prominent one is in Dhaka at Narinda/Wari area.

In 1943, Turyaswami established the original temple after which he put the idol of Radha-Krishno in it. In 1971, during the liberation war of Bangladesh, Pakistani Army destroyed almost everywhere temple in Bangladesh but luckily the Narail area was a base of Bangladeshi Freedom Fighters so that they did not manage to destroy the temple. However, the temple needed renovation, so another Guru (religious preacher) Santo Goswami made a reconstruction of the temple complex.

25 years ago, from Rajstan (India), a White Shiv Lingam has bought in here. Now it is a Shiv Temple too and people come to worship the lingam. It is made of White Marble which is only one of the tenth of its entire criterion in Bangladesh. To see another marble made white Shiv lingam, you need to visit the Rajshahi Barenda Museum or Khulna Divisional Museum.

Few years back, idol of new Radha-Krishno was brought into this temple as well. So, now the temple looks almost as a new structure but many people did not know that it is a historical place and also a heritage sight of Bangladesh especially for the hindu religious people. It is basically a Krishna Temple that means they worship Krishna mainly. In every year during the eve of Krishna's Birthday (Jonmastomi) they arrange a three days program to celebrate it. About 1000 local Hindu people attends the dinner (bhog/prosad) and they sings the holy krishna songs for the entire night.