How to Reach: Local buses, mini buses and metered taxis are readily available from various parts of the city. Shared auto rickshaws too are available from Dunlop as well as Belur railway station.

Photography / Video charges: Strictly prohibited.

Nearest Railway Station: Sealdah.

Nearest Metro Station: Dum Dum.

Nearest Functional Metro Station: Dum Dum.

Nearest International Airport: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Intrnational Airport.

Time required for sightseeing: About 1 hour.

The temple of Adyapeath or Ma Kali at Dakshineswar is a temple of stupendous dimension and the sanctum sanatorium has three deities installed. First is the deity of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa seated in a cross legged posture, above that is the deity of the all powerful Adya Ma and on top of her is the conjugal deities of Radha & Krishna signifying eternal love.

Annada Thakur, a pious Bengali Brahmin was the founder of this temple. By profession, he was an expert Ayurvedic practitioner. He was a devotee of Ma Kali and the great spiritual master Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa.

The origin of this temple of Adya Ma has a rather peculiar background. It all began in the year 1915, when Annada Thakur was about to set up his own Ayurvedic Center at Kolkata. During this time, he began seeing spiritual dreams and on many occasions he saw Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa appear before him in person. In one of Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa's dream visitation, he instructed Annada Thakur to shave off his head and go and retrieve the idol of Adya Ma from Eden Gardens. Sri Ramakrishna revealed the exact spot where the idol was lying buried under a growth of coconut and Pakur trees.

As per the instructions of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Annada Thakur along with three other colleagues went to Eden Gardens and started excavating the spot where the coconut and Pakur trees grew together. After digging for some time, they were stunned by what they saw - a black marble idol of Adya Ma which was about a foot tall. Even though the deity lay buried, all her bodily parts were well preserved and no damage was seen anywhere.

With utmost caution, Annada Thakur and his companions brought the deity to their residence and began worshipping her with great devotion. Even before a week had passed, Annada Thakur again saw a dream, this time of Adya Ma herself pleading to him to immerse her idol at the earliest. Although, it was very painful for Annada Thakur to part from mother goddess Adya Ma, yet he had to do just that - immerse the idol. Annada Thakur was convinced when in his dream Adya Ma provided him with sixteen reasons why she should be immersed in holy river Ganges.

Prior to the immersion, the idol was photographed and it is on the basis of this photograph that a replica was built which is now installed at the main temple.

With the immersion over, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa was very pleased and even offered Annada Thakur "Moksha" or liberation. But, being a spiritually evolved soul, Annada Thakur refused the offer and instead showed his desire to work for the upliftment of the poor and the needy.

Accordingly, in the year 1919, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa in one of his dream visitation to Annada Thakur revealed his agenda of work for the future. He not only directed him to build a temple but also a philanthropic organization which would serve the poor and the needy.

Very soon in the year 1921, the religious & philanthropic organization by the name of Dakshineswar Ramkrishna Sangha was started and by the year 1927, the Sangh acquired a sprawling 14 acres of land at Dakshineswar where the present temple of Adya Ma is built.

Once land for the temple was acquired, and Annada Thakur's dreams started culminating into success one by one, he left for his heavenly abode in the month of January, 1929.

The present temple which is built of white marble took a long time to be built. There were lot of hurdles on the way like financial crunch etc... But overcoming all odds, construction of the temple was completed and was opened to public on 14th January, 1967.

From a humble beginning, the Dakshineswar Ramakrishna Sangha has indeed evolved as one of the best managed religious philanthropic organizations in West Bengal. Apart from feeding the poor and needy, the Sangh has exclusive Ashrams for men and women who would like to dedicate their life for spiritual upliftment. One must also mention about the Balak Ashram (Boy's Orphanage) and Balika Ashram (Girl's Orphanage), which together take care of 700 orphaned and destitute children.

As far as old age living is concerned, with the falling apart of the traditional family structure in India, the senior citizens have to often live a life seclusion and fend for themselves. At times even their children shun them out. Under such circumstances, the Banaprasthashram or old age home at Adyapeath is like a breath of fresh air for the elderly lot and more than 150 inmates now live permanently at the Banaprasthashram. Apart from the Banaprasthashram, the Sangha also runs a charitable dispensary and a girl's school.

The Adyapeath Kali temple has its own set of rules as far as "Darshan" or glimpse of the sanctum sanatorium is concerned. There are three specified time zones when the doors of the main temple is open to public. First, is the Mangal Aarti early in the morning. Second is the afternoon Bhog Aarati and the third is the evening Sandhya Aarati. One should also bear bear in mind that there are 52 special days when the doors of the main temple are open from Mangal Aarti to 12 noon and from 3 P.M. to Sandhya Aarti.

The most convenient time for outstation tourists to visit Adyapeath temple is in the morning hours between 8 A.M.-9 A.M. You can buy sweetmeats and red colored hibiscus flowers from any of the rickety roadside shops as offerings to Adya Ma.

A great way to wind up your visit to Adyapeath is by partaking the holy "Prasad" or "Bhog" which consists of Khichudi, Rice, Dal, seasonal vegetable curry and payasam. One has to obtain food coupons, which are available at the Reception.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa had envisaged long back to revered Annada Thakur that once the construction of temple is over, every year three persons with spiritual bent of mind would be blessed with the direct vision of god at this temple and each one of them would sacrifice their life for the welfare of humanity.

Undoubtedly, today Adyapeath is one of the holiest Kali temple of Kolkata and a must visit pilgrim destination for spiritual tourists.