On 31 May 1855 Rani Rashmoni had the temple installed on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Snanyatra. It was a luxurious and flamboyant occasion. Brahmins invited for the installation came from as far as Kanauj, Chattagram, Odisha, and Navadwip. Each of them was gifted a silk garment and a gold coin. Thousands of people gathered to witness the spectacle. At the time, nine lakh rupees were spent by the Rani for this occasion. A unique tample. Dakshineswar became the workplace for Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the famous 19th century saint of India, also regarded as an incarnation of God on earth by many. For the upcoming years Dakshineswar would witness spectacular sadhana and unparalled asceticism by Ramakrishna. It would eventually draw numerous intellectual and aristocratic hindus from the nearby city of Calcutta which was the capital of British Empire at that time. Ramakrishna formed around him a gathering of spiritual aspirants that condensed into later Ramakrishna Mission. His greatest disciple Vivekananda would proclaim the superiority of vedic culture over others which eventually gave rise to Bengali nationalism that intensely affected India as a whole. Thus Dakshineswar could be counted as an important place of origin of the great socio religious renaissance of India. There is also another famous temple in Dakshineswar - the Adyapeeth[1] On the West bank of Hoogli River (almost across Dakshineswar), is Belur Math, the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, an association founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897. Before the temple was built, the nawabs of Chitpur used to hunt tigers at Dakshineswar. saurce- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakshineswar

• published: 28 Nov 2013
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