| FOOTFALL (AVERAGE) |
| Tuesday/Saturday: 60,000 Sundays: 40,000 Other days: 6,000 Foreigners: two to three teams a week |
| REVENUE |
| According to Sathi Brahman Sangathan chairman Moloy Ghosh Dastidar, Kalighat would have been one of the richest temples had there been a proper system of revenue collection |
| HEAD COUNT |
| Four official priests, 500-plus pandas, 276 sevaits and around 250 shops with 2,000-plus employees |
The glory of Calcutta’s presiding deity will stand revealed.
The image of goddess Kali will be cleaned and polished, after removing the heaps of flowers and layers of sindoor, at the centuries-old temple in south Calcutta.
The Kalighat Temple Committee has decided to close the temple for around seven hours late on Wednesday, when the goddess’ gold ornaments will be taken off and then polished amid unprecedented security.
Among other items, this is the first time that the four arms of the deity — cast in pure gold and affixed to her a few months ago — will be taken off and polished to restore the lustre that gets tarnished with devotees trying to touch them every day. The drill will be carried out in the presence of the temple committee’s top brass, including president and secretary, along with eight mishras — the chosen few with the right to touch the goddess in the temple.
The gates closed, the mishras, in keeping with hoary tradition, will remove the clothes donated to the deity and used to cover the idol. This will be followed by the removal of the flowers and garlands and finally, the case and the headgear. The deity will be bathed in Ganga water, brought in copper containers. Post-snan parba (the ablutions), four goldsmiths from a reputed shop in Bowbazar will examine all the ornaments, weigh them and then clean them.
“A catalogue of all the gold items taken off will be prepared and after the session is over, put back on the deity, amid the chanting of slokas,” said Prodyut Halder, secretary of the Kalighat Temple Committee. All this will take place within the garbha-griha, or the sanctum sanctorum.
With ornaments worth crores involved, the temple committee has written to the police, seeking beefing up of security for the ritual. Only a select few have been informed and even regulars have not been told when the temple will be closed.
The police are flustered, for the temple committee has offered no details of those who will enter the temple on Wednesday night. “We have asked the temple committee to provide passport-size photos, names and addresses of the persons,” said Jayanta Das, officer-in-charge of Kalighat police station.
