Incredible India: A temple in Kolkata that serves noodles as prasad
What do you expect as a prasad during your visit to a temple? India, temple food offers a wide range of variety, starting from fruits, dry fruits and sweet dishes like peda, laddu, dates and makkhan mishri to savoury items such as mathri and dal among others. In India, many temples follow the custom of offering food with six kinds of taste: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Traditionally, four types of texture are offered to our Gods: Charvya (chewed), chushya (sucked), lehya (licked) and peya (drunk). But can you, in your wildest imagination, think of chowmein or Chop Suey as prasad? No, right? But then, there is a temple that offers these Chinese dishes. We are talking about the Chinese Kali temple, known as Chinese Kali Bari in the Tangra area of Kolkata. This shrine is a conglomeration of faiths and beliefs of the vibrant Chinatown in India. This unique marble temple was built in 1998 by the local Hindus and the Chinese. Here are some more amazing facts about this temple that represents intercultural unity, from its idol to its prasad.
Why noodles?
Chop suey, ramen, noodles and Chinese rice, unusual to Hindus, are served as prasad after Kali Puja in this temple. The unique prasad is just one of the many aspects that make it special and popular. Chinatown’s Bengalis and Chinese have formed a kind of cultural potpourri, so much so that the temple offers Chinese eatables as an offering. Chinese devotees who observe Kali puja, call themselves Chinese Hindus and have also stopped beef consumption in reverence to Goddess Kali. Thus, Chinatown and the Chinese Kali temple teach us that faith truly has no religion.
The story behind its construction
The Chinese Kali Bari, this temple has a fascinating story that dates 60 years back. Local Hindus used to worship and offer prayers, sindhur, flowers and bel leaves to a stone under the tree. A 10-year-old Chinese boy fell so ill that even medical experts could not cure him. As a last ray of hope, his parents laid him down under the tree where the stone was being worshipped and prayed to God for his well-being. They continued praying for several weeks. As time passed, the boy recovered, quite miraculously. Gradually, the stone gained the local Chinese community’s faith and they joined hands to construct the granite temple in 1998. Each and every Chinese family in Kolkata funded to develop this temple, which houses an idol of Mother Kali and a smaller idol of Lord Shiva. Ever since, the location has gained religious significance and has grown to become a key destination for pilgrims in Kolkata.
A mix of Hindu and Chinese traditions
This Chinese Kali Bari exhibits a fusion of Tibetan and East Asian cultures. The most exciting aspect is that a Bengali Brahmin priest worships the Goddess here, and handmade papers are burnt to ward off evil spirits, like in Chinese tradition. Tall candles are lit with Chinese incense sticks during Diwali. As a result, this temple stands out from other Hindu temples in the nation, despite the idol and temple being identical to other Indian temples of Goddess Kali. Although Buddhism and Christianity are the two main religions in Tangra Chinatown, the cultural division fades away during the festival of Kali Puja.