Hyderabad Kalibari

Hyderabad Kalibari
Hyderabad Kalibari
Religion
Affiliation	Hinduism
District	Medchal–Malkajgiri
Deity	Kali
Festivals	Kali Puja, Durga Puja
Location
Location	Vivekanandapuram, Neredmet
State	Telangana
Country	India
	Shown within Telangana
Geographic coordinates	17°17′29″N 78°18′55″E / 17.291493714°N 78.315146734°E
Architecture
Type	Bengal architecture
Date established	24 August 1974
Monument(s)	1

The Hyderabad Kalibari is a Hindu temple located in the Vivekanandapuram, Neredmet neighbourhood of Hyderabad, 7 km from Secunderabad Railway Station, Telangana, India.^[1]^[2] The presiding deity of the temple is goddess Kali, hence the name Kalibari or Abode of Kali. The temple is famous for its Kali Puja and Durga Puja which is held on October/November of every year during Dusshera and Diwali.^[3]

History

In 1974, a piece of Land measuring about 2000 square yards was donated by the late Shree S.Madhusudan Reddy, ex-M.L.C. Malkajgiri a devotee of Ma Kali, to the Hyderabad Kalibari trust for building a Kali Temple. Subsequently, a number of devotees, in particular the late Lala Chowdhury Maman Ram Agarwal, a philanthropist came forward in collecting / offering donations substantially for the construction of the Kalibari at Vivekanandapuram, Neredmet, Secunderabad. The organization started in 1974 and the foundation stone was laid by the Swamy Ranganathanandaji Maharaj, the then President of Ramakrishna mission Hyderabad.

On 28 August 1976, an idol of Kalimata, which was made out of a single piece of black stone, was purchased from "Chitpur", West Bengal, which was in the pattern of Kalimata of Dakshineshwar temple at Kolkata. It was installed by Swamy Ranganathanandaji Maharaj of Ramakrishna Mission and the late Raja Sagi Suryanarayana Raju, the then Minister for Endowments, Government of Andhra Pradesh was the chief guest on this occasion. The idol sthapana and Pran Pratistha of the goddess was done by the late Sree Gostha Behari Bhattacherjee, Vidyaratna, a famous Tantric priest of famous "Chunagali Kali Temple" of Kolkata. Late Sree A.K.Ganguly, the 1st priest of Hyderabad Kalibari, assisted him in performing the pooja under vedic and tantric ways in accordance with shastrik injunctions.

Swamy Ranganathanandaji Maharaj was approached for guidance. He suggested that the Kalibari should be named as the "Hyderabad Kalibari". Devotees from various places visit the holy shrine in search of solace.

About the temple

Today, Hyderabad Kalibari performs all the festivals related to Bengal, viz. Kali Puja, Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja, Annapurna Puja etc. All Amavasya (new moon) Pujas where Kali is worshipped in the temple. Devotees in large numbers gather on all such occasions. The Kalibari also has a free school for children where Bengali is taught. Also dancing and singing are taught every Sunday. The children take part in the social programmes which happen year round. The temple usually hosts close to 1500 devotees every year during Kali Puja, which also sees Bengali artistes performing in a variety of cultural programmes.^[4]

Gallery

Hyderabad Kalibari's Thakur Dalan
A notice requesting devotees not to light candles, at the said place
The nameboard outside the temple
A residence building, located within the premises of the temple
The entire view of the temple's interior
The architecture of the temple is atypical of Hindu temples and more so Kali temples in Bengal
One of the entrances to the temple