“Rabindranath Tagore had link with Shyamnagar Kali Temple”

PIX: An inscription on the wall of temple, temple founder Gopi mohan Thakur, priest Sambhunath Ghatak (left) and Srikanta Chatterjee, a portion of Natmandir and Shyamnagar kali temple.


By Shankar Banik

SHYAMNAGAR: Relatives of Rabindranath Tagore had set up Mulajor Kalibari at Shyamnagar in North 24 Parganas and it is unknown to many people. Visit the temple beside Hooghly River that is located in a very eye soothing natural scene.
One of the priests Sambhunath Ghatak said the temple was constructed on 31 Baishak in 1219 Bengali year around 200 years ago beside Hooghly River even before Dakhineswar Kali temple was set up by Rani Rasmoni Devi.
Six priests are engaged for offering puja to goddess Kali and 65-year-old Ghatak is one of the temple priests. “No dedicated book had been written on this temple and gradually history is fading away but we know relatives of Rabindranath Tagore constructed this temple, said the priest.
Srijit Thakur is the surviving member of the Thakur family whose ancestors set up the temple. He has one son and daughter, live in ‘Rajbari’at Pathuriaghata Street near Natunbazar in Kolkata.
Once upon a time Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestor Khitish Kusari came from Jessore in Bangladesh to West Bengal and his next generation was Bhattanaryan and later Dinanath Kusari. Dinanath’s son Panchanan got the title thakur since then his family member used to write the title Thakur instead of Kusari,” said Ghatak.
Jairam Thakur (Kusari) was latter generation had four sons- Anandiram, Nilmoni, Darpanarayan and Gobindaram.
Prince Dwarakanath Thakur was the next generation of Anandiram, whose son was Debendranath and Rabindranath was his eighth son. Rabindranath however became “bramho” and did not believe in idol worshipping. It had not been known whether he ever visited the temple.
Gopimohan Thakur, the son of Darpanarayan founded the temple.
Gopimohan had two sons Prsanna Kumar and Harakumar and daughter Brahmamoyee. Prasanna Kumar had one son Pradut Kumar and Harakumar had Jatindramohan. Surviving member Srijit Thakur is the son of Prabirendra mohan, who was the son of
Pradut Kumar.
According to local tale that the present place of the Kali temple was occupied of ‘Nandi’(caste) and ‘Pirali’ so experienced priest from ‘Bhatpara toll(Sanskrit educational institution) ’ used to refuse offering puja to the goddess Mulajore Shyamnagar Kali as a result priests were brought from Bankura, Burdwan and other places. Later a Sanskrit College was set up by the king Gopimohan Thakur as a matter of pride and to make erudite Sanskrit students. Students were accommodated in this college hostel they used to take Prasad in the temple as a lunch and dinner. Ramkumar Chattopadhya, elder brother of Ramakrishna Dev was the student of this college. But that building was dilapidated and Rabindra Bhawan was set up by municipality replacing the college.
“History is very interesting. But we are mostly depressed when the Sanskrit College, a piece of history was wiped out,” said Raja Goswami, a devotee.