Kalighat is a locality of
Kolkata (Calcutta), in
Kolkata district
Kolkata district (formerly known as Calcutta district) is a district in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It only contains the entire city proper of Kolkata, the capital city of the state and therefore it i ...
,
West Bengal
West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. One of the oldest neighbourhoods in
South Kolkata, Kalighat is also densely populated — with a history of cultural intermingling with the various foreign incursions into the area over time.
Kalika Temple

Kalighat temple has references in 15th century texts. The original temple was a small hut. The present temple was built by the
Sabarna Roy Choudhury family of Barisha in 1809. They offered 595 bighas of land to the Temple deity so that worship and service could be continued smoothly. It is believed by some scholars that the name
Calcutta
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
was derived from Kalighat. Historically, traders halted at Kalighat to pay patronage to the goddess. The temple was initially on the banks of
Hooghly. The river over a period of time has moved away from the temple. The temple is now on the banks of a small canal called Adi Ganga, connecting to Hooghly. The present Dakshina Kali idol of touchstone was created in 1570 CE by two saints - Brahmananda Giri and Atmaram Giri based on the idol of Mata Bhuvaneshwari, the Kuladevi of
Sabarna Roy Choudhury family. It was Padmabati Devi, the mother of
Laksmikanta Roy Choudhury who discovered the
fossils
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
of Sati's finger in a lake called
Kalikunda. This made Kalighat as one of the 51 Shakta pithas.
[''Bangiya Sabarna Katha Kalishetra Kalikatah'' by Bhabani Roy Choudhury, Manna Publication. ]
Panchannagram and Kali-Kshetra
The
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
obtained from the
Mughal emperor
The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...
Farrukhsiyar
Farrukhsiyar (; 20 August 16839 April 1719), also spelled as Farrukh Siyar, was the tenth Mughal emperors, Mughal Emperor from 1713 to 1719. He rose to the throne after deposing his uncle Jahandar Shah. He was an emperor only in name, with all ...
, in 1717, the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement. Of these 5 lay across the
Hooghly in what is now Howrah district. The remaining 33 villages were on the Calcutta side. After the fall of
Siraj-ud-daulah
Mir Syed Jafar Ali Khan Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah (1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Nawab of the Bengal Subah. The end of his reign marked the start o ...
, the last independent
Nawab of Bengal
The Nawab of Bengal (, ) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa which constitute the mod ...
, it purchased these villages in 1758 from
Mir Jafar, and reorganised them. These villages were known en-bloc as ''
Dihi Panchannagram
Dihi Panchannagram was a group of 55 villages which the East India Company purchased in 1758 from Mir Jafar, after the fall of Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, in what is now the city of Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in ...
'' and Kalighat was one of them. It was considered to be a suburb beyond the limits of the
Maratha Ditch.
Kalighat was originally called Kali-Kshetra, which is widely accepted as the origin for the word Kalikata, and in turn Calcutta or Kolkata.
The Kalighat Hoard
Some time in 1783, a fisherman found a treasure hoard of more than 200 Gold Coins somewhere near the now defunct Strand on the Adi Ganga, near Kalighat. Not knowing what to do with it, he sold it off to Raja
Nabakrishna Deb, Zamindar of
Shobhabazar.
Seeing the coins as an opportunity of gaining confidence with the then
Governor General of India,
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...
, Nabakrishna Deb gifted him with the coins.
Keeping a few with him, Warren Hastings sent 172 coins from the horde to London, to the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
.
These coins belonged to the Gupta Kings, testaments to India's glorious past, but since no one knew of the Guptas back then (It would not be before another half a century or so that Alexander Cunningham would find out about the glorious age of the
Guptas), these coins held little value to the people involved.
However, for all practical purposes, the hoard was thought to be lost, as the Company directors sent most of the coins to the melting pot, and some to a few collectors. When Hastings returned to London, he found only 24 of them in the collection of the British Museum. This astonished him beyond measures. He thought he had made a magnificent contribution to the Court of Directors — a hoard of
Persian Darics (since no one knew of the Guptas back then).
In 1825, Marsden prepared the ''Nusmiamata Orientalia'', where for the first time they were mentioned as Gupta coins.
The coins had been placed in a brass pot that remained submerged in water for a long time, hence the coins developed an underwater patina of clayish black, owing to the reaction of the gold and the alloys in the coin with the alluvium.
The hoard contained the
Archer Type coins from the reign of
Chandragupta II
Chandragupta II (r.c. 375–415), also known by his title Vikramaditya, as well as Chandragupta Vikramaditya, was an emperor of the Gupta Empire. Modern scholars generally identify him with King Chandra of the Iron pillar of Delhi, Delhi iron ...
who had probably annexed Bengal to his Empire, and
Kumaragupta I
Kumaragupta I was Gupta Empire, Gupta emperor from 415 until his death in 455. A son of the Gupta king Chandragupta II and Queen Dhruvadevi, he seems to have maintained control of his inherited territory, which extended from Gujarat in the wes ...
with an abundance in coins from the reign of
Vishnugupta and
Narasimhagupta
Narasimhagupta (Gupta script: ''Na-ra-si-ṅha-gu-pta'') Baladitya was the Gupta Empire, Gupta Emperor from 495 to 530 CE. He was son of Purugupta and probably the successor of Budhagupta. Xuanzang, Hiuen TSang refers to him as the king of Mag ...
, besides a few from the times of
Shashanka
Shashanka Dev (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Śaśāṅka) was the first independent king of a unified polity in the Bengal region, called the Gauda Kingdom. He reigned in the 7th century, some historians place his r ...
, a later but important Ruler of
Gauda.
This is the largest hoard of Gupta coins ever found in the history of India.
The Kalighat Temple as a Shakti pitha

The Temple at Kalighat is revered as an important
Shakta pitha, by the
Shaktism
Shaktism () is a major Hindu denomination in which the God in Hinduism, deity or metaphysics, metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically to be a woman.
Shaktism involves a galaxy of goddesses, all regarded as different aspects, mani ...
sect of Hinduism. ''The mythology of
Daksha yajna
Dakṣayajña is an important event in Hindu mythology that is narrated in various Hindu scriptures. It refers to a yajna (ritual-sacrifice) organised by Daksha, where his daughter, Sati, immolates herself. The wrath of the god Shiva, Sati's h ...
and Sati's self immolation'' is the story behind the origin of Shakti Peethas.
Kalighat painting
Kalighat painting, or ''pata'' (originally pronounced 'pot' in Bengali) is a style of
Indian painting derives its name from the place. It is characterised by generously curving figures of both men and women and an earthy satirical style. It developed during the nineteenth century in response to the sudden prosperity brought to Calcutta by the East India Company trade, whereby many houses including that of 'Prince'
Dwarkanath Tagore, grandfather of
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...
became incredibly wealthy. Many of these
nouveau riche
; ), new rich, or new money (in contrast to old money; ) is a social class of the rich whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. These people previously had belonged to a lower social cla ...
families came from not particular exalted
caste
A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
backgrounds, so the orthodox tended to frown on them and their often very tasteless
conspicuous consumption
In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen c ...
. To the common people the
babus, as they were called, were equally objects of fun and sources of income. Thus the 'babu culture' portrayed in the Kalighat patas often shows inversions of the social order (wives beating husbands or leading them about in the guise of pet goats or dogs, maidservants wearing shoes, sahibs in undignified postures, domestic contretemps, and the like.) They also showed European innovations (babus wearing European clothes, smoking pipes, reading at desks, etc.). The object of this is only partly satirical; it also expresses the wonder that ordinary Bengalis felt on exposure to these new and curious ways and objects.
Kalighat pata pictures are highly stylised, do not use perspective, are usually pen and ink line drawings filled in with flat bright colours and normally use paper as a substrate, though some may be found with cloth backing or on cloth. The artists were rarely educated, and usually came from a lineage of artisans. Kalighat patas are still made today although genuine work is hard to come by. The art form is urban and largely secular: although gods and goddesses are often depicted, they appear in much the same de-romanticised way as the humans do. By contrast, the Orissa tradition of pata-painting, centering on Puri, is consciously devotional. Kalighat pata has been credited with influencing the
Bengal School of art associated with
Jamini Roy.
Kalighat in fiction
Amitav Ghosh's ''
The Calcutta Chromosome'' is partly set in Kalighat and gives a wonderfully atmospheric depiction of the region as well as the city itself.
Kalighat also plays a prominent role in ''
Song of Kali'' by
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works that span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes ...
and in the short story "
Calcutta, Lord of Nerves" by
Poppy Z. Brite
William Joseph Martin (born May 25, 1967), formerly Poppy Z. Brite, is an American author. He initially achieved fame in the Gothic fiction, gothic horror genre of literature in the early 1990s by publishing a string of successful novels and shor ...
.
It also features in the movie ''
Kahaani'' starring
Vidya Balan and directed by
Sujoy Ghosh.
I
Chapter 6of Neil Gaiman's 2001 contemporary fantasy ''
American Gods
''American Gods'' (2001) is a fantasy novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana (culture), Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shad ...
'', Kalighat is directly referenced by the eponymous deity:
“So I am a child, am I?” She wagged a finger at him. “I was old in Kalighat before you were dreamed of, you foolish man. I am a child? Then I am a child, for there is nothing in your foolish talk to see.”
Again, a moment of double-vision: Shadow saw the old woman, her dark face pinched with age and disapproval, but behind her he saw something huge, a naked woman with skin as black as a new leather jacket, and lips and tongue the bright red of arterial blood. Around her neck were skulls, and her many hands held knives, and swords, and severed heads.
Police district
Kalighat police station is part of the
South division of
Kolkata Police
The Kolkata Police () (formerly "Calcutta Police"), is the Law enforcement in India, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within the Kolkata metropolitan region, metropolitan area of the city of Kolkata, ...
. Located at 51, Haldarpara Road, Kolkata-700026, it has jurisdiction over the police district which is bordered on the ''north'' from the north-east corner of the junction of Sambhu Nath Pandit Street and D. L. Khan Road (old Bhowanipore Road), then eastward by the northern limits of Sambhu Nath Pandit Street to Harish Mukherjee Road, the crossing Harish Mukherjee Road, up to the north-east corner of the junction of Sambhu Nath Pandit Street and Harish Mukherjee Road.
On the ''east'', from the north-east corner of the junction of Sambhu Nath Pandit Street and Harish Mukherjee Road, then southward by the eastern limits of Harish Mukherjee Road to Hazra Road, then eastward along the northern limits of Hazra Road, then crossing Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road up to the north-east corner of the junction of Hazra Road and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road and then southward along the eastern limits of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road up to the north-east corner of the junction of R. B. Avenue and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road.
On the ''south'', from the north-east corner of the junction of Rashbehari Avenue and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road (old Russa Road), then crossing Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road, then west ward by the northern limits of Rashbehari Avenue up to the north-east corner of the junction of Rashbehari Avenue and Tolly's Nullah.
On the ''west'', from the north-east corner of the junction of Rashbehari Avenue and Tolly's Nullah, then northwards by the eastern bank of Tolly's Nullah to Rashbehari Avenue, then crossing Rashbehari Avenue, northward along the eastern bank of Tolly's Nullah to the crossing of Tolly's Nullah and D. L. Khan Road (old Bhowanipore Road) and then by the eastern limits of D.L. Khan Road up to the north-east corner of the junction of Sambhu Nath Pandit Street and D. L. Khan Road.
Tollygunge Women's police station has jurisdiction over all the police districts in the South Division, i.e. Park Street, Shakespeare Sarani, Alipore, Hastings, Maidan, Bhowanipore, Kalighat, Tollygunge, Charu Market, New Alipur and Chetla.
Red-light district
Located around the banks of the
Adi Ganga canal, an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 prostitutes live and work in the
red-light district.
Kolkata has emerged as a hub for the trafficking of girls, who often arrive from
Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
and
Burma
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
. From Kolkata they are often sold again to brothels in Mumbai (Bombay). Some will go on to the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
, Africa and Europe.
See also
*
Kalighat Falta Railway
*
Kalighat Home for the Dying
*
Kalighat Painting
References
External links
Kolkata(Calcutta) Portal
{{Hindu holy cities
Neighbourhoods in Kolkata
Tourist attractions in Kolkata
Red-light districts in India