Bhadreswar’s Annapurna Temple

Kinjal Bose

Bhadreswar, a municipal town of Hooghly district of West Bengal, located roughly 28 kilometres from Howrah can be reached both by rail and road. A beautiful nabaratna temple dedicated to Goddess Annapurna is one of the main attractions of the town. The south-facing nabaratna temple was built by the then zamindar Baidyanath Bandopadhyay at Telinipara on the auspicious day of Dolyatra in the Bengali year 1208 which according to Gregorian calendar dated back to 1801 A.D.

Though this temple follows nabaratna style of Bengal’s temple architecture but a careful look will reveal a deviation. The first floor has four pinnacles while the ratnas present in the second floor has comparatively lesser in size. The use of pillars depicts the European style. The temple has undergone major repair work over the years.

Inside the temple sanctum there is a wooden throne on which Devi Annapurna made of astodhatu (a mix of eight dirrent alloys) is placed along with Mahadev. The idol of Lord Mahadev is made of silver and is placed on the right of Devi Annapurna. That apart, the throne has other deities like Lakshmi Narayan Jiu, Goddess Lakshmi & Saraswati and Narayan sila. Daily worship is performed here and Devi Annapurna is offered rice and fish; five types of bhaja, a vegetable preparation, pulses, payesh and chutney. This menu is followed throughout the year except during the four days of Ambubachi. The temple also has also three Shiva lingams made of touchstone though previously there were four. One of the lingams broke, and it was later immersed in the Ganges. The Shiva temples are placed on the right.

Apart from Annapurna Puja, the other festivals which are celebrated here with great pomp and splendour are Jhulan festival, Durga Puja, Satyanarayan Puja on the day of Kojagari Lakshmi puja, Kali puja, Saraswati puja, Shivaratri and Dolyatra. On the auspicious day of Akshay Tritiya (normally held either in the month of April or May) a special puja and celebration are held which is the prime attraction. There is a brass chariot having nine pinnacles is made to ply on the nearby road. It sounds uncommon as rath or chariot is normally associated with Rathyatra held in the Bengali month of Aashar (June-July).

This rathyatra has a special feature to offer to the people of Telinipara. It stops at each and every house and people offer their worship to Maa Annapurna. The objective behind this is Devi Annapurna wants to enquire about the wellbeing of the people of Telinipara. In the evening on its return journey, the chariot suddenly stops at Telinipara barowaritala. Then following the age-old tradition, the male members of the Bandopadhyay family singing songs carries the idols of Lakshmi-Narayan Jiu in a palanquin from the main temple to that place where the chariot is standing to convince Devi Annapurna to return as night is approaching. The goddess is finally convinced. From there the palanquin goes first followed by the chariot. The goddess finally returns to the temple late in the evening. On that day the devotees can touch the goddess and they can perform their rituals by offering sindur (vermilion); and late at night, the idol is bathed with seven seas oil, water, perfume and dressed in new clothes is again placed in the wooden throne inside the temple.