The Kalimath Temple in Uttarakhand

  We could see the temple from across the river,it was situated right on the bank of the river Saraswati .The temple stood in silence in sharp contrast to the river  flowing past it The river  gurgled zestfully even when the place and people around were receding into another cold winter night.  

A bridge lined with flags and bells guided us across the river straight to the temple.  Needless to say that  the temple was ancient ,the structure and the relentless work of the people to paint and and repaint it made it  obvious .

What was palpable was the people's belief and an effort to keep the mythology alive.

The shrine of LAKSMI and SARASWATI

It was late afternoon when we reached the place,since we started for the temple after a quick lunch at Guptkashi.  It was quite a hurried one , keeping in mind the shorter days in winters.This was the best plan we could make, to make most of the day,  since Kalimath was comparatively closer than the other places we had planned for,and save the next day for more.

We were little surprised to see artificial flowers in the pooja plate,

only to realise that there are not many blooms in this harsh winters

    The main shrine housed no idol,only a Shri Yantra on a silver plate,.We were told the idol was there underneath the silver plate in a pit,and is brought out only on Asthami  day to be worshipped. 

The priest explained the absence of the idol very patiently,and all four of us listened eagerly.    This is the advantage of visiting the mountains in the winters,the crowds are not to be seen,and we could get the whole place to us. 

The main shrine

 The Mythology

This is the only temple where Lakshmi ,Saraswati and Maa Kali is worshipped at the same place.this place is one of the shakti siddha peeth of goddess Kali .It was here that the goddess is believed to kill the demon Raktabeej,and licked every drop of his blood ,any drop of blood fallen on the ground would have given birth to several other demons.In an effort to destroy the evil the goddess lost her calm.  So lord Shiva had to come to her rescue,when the goddess found herself standing on her husband Shiva she sank down into the ground in embarrassment ,that explains why the temple has no idol to be seen.

While this was one explanation for the absence of the idol,an alternative explanation said that long back a flood washed away the upper half of the idol ,while the lower part of the idol remained here,under the debris.The upper half of the idol was fished out at Srinagar(Uttarkhand) where only the face of the idol is worshipped,giving rise to another Kali temple in Uttarakhand, which came to be known as the Dhari Devi temple

   By the time we left the place it was dusk.so we hurried to get back to the car,we were still not comfortable with the idea of riding after dark.we took a quick glance at the scars the devastating floods of 2016 had left behind.Parts of the temples courtyard was washed away while the rest was rescued with an embankment.

I rode back with lots of stories in my mind,

 Once i wondered about the demon Raktabeej,who was slain by the goddess, and then about the idol which was washed away. Then about Mahakavi Kalidasa who wrote Meghdoot after he was blessed by  goddess Kali here, or about Adi Guru Shankaracharya who restructured the temple after a massive flood. 

All the events and the stories  along with the terrain  had woven a wonderful tapestry  in my mind by the time i had left the place.

Kalimath is at  a distance of 4.5 km from Guptkashi,in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand.

there is a lot to see around this place,

The Shiva temple about 7 kms from here where Shiva is said to have calmed the Goddess,located in a very scenic place along the bank of a river.

The samadhi of Kalidasa,also the tree on whose branches Kalidasa would sit and cut the branch itself.

The best time to visit the temple is during Navratri .