The high priest of Maa Kaali

Journal of my visit to the Kali Temple of Kolkata

I arrived by bus to the site to a point about half a kilometre from the temple. I would be going by walk from that point. It looked like a nice walk with shops on the sides which were unique to that location. As a solo traveller walking carelessly on the streets, looking around randomly, soon, I attracted the calls of the priests there. Unlike the shopkeepers, they were not silent in their approach to get customers. “Darshan for 100, I’ll get you quickly in and out”. Why would I want to be quick about it? The whole point of it was to visit the place and spend some time there, I thought, ignoring their calls. More priests and calls followed, some would decide to walk just alongside me as if they’ve already appointed themselves the guide to which I never consented to. Other sales pitch, “You will not be able to see Maa Kaali from up close, I will get you a close darshan (darshan means a witness of the deity’s form which is in the temple)”. Skeptical of them, I avoided and joined the queue to get into the main shrine.

There, I noticed that there were quite a few families who had desired and paid for some special privileges in their intimacy with the goddess. What was curious to me though was that the priest who was gonna save them time was standing in the same queue as the rest of us. Maybe later, there would be a shortcut they would take, I thought, but that never happened. It was a plain and simple scam. They did ensure though that their customers are not indulging in such practical analysis, in other words, not realising how they were being bamboozled by the “priests”. Their technique was to chant and to ask their customers to repeat the various mantras and names of Maa Kaali in the Sanskrit language with pronunciations barely comprehensible to the common public. This kept them busy. The priests all had a really good rote memory, that cannot be denied.

Then as I entered the main shrine, I saw the high priest in action. A young man, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s, well built, tall, handsome and having a signature Bengali face with a thick moustache, dressed in a marvellous kurta and wearing thick and wide haldi covering his entire forehead (haldi is a yellow paste of turmeric used in religious setting). He was standing right next to the vantage point of darshan of Maa Kaali. Not a passive man in any regard, he was giving out his blessings by practically thumping on the backs of the passing devotees. Every now and then choosing and allowing a devotee, upon request, to have a few more seconds of an extended darshan. Or to perform some special interaction like bowing and placing their forehead upon the goddess’ feet. But then, he would not let them pass, even as it stops the entire line of people behind them, unless the devotee gets rid of their materialistic attachment with money, meaning pay up. Holding them up physically and thumping on their backs vigorously, uhh to give the blessings of course, and creating real hostage situation, with the companionship of the priesthood to block their way. A tough negotiation goes there with unwilling(to pay) devotees, but of the handful cases I saw, it tilted only the priest’s way in each case.

The whole situation resembled a high school bullying scenario. But who am I to judge, he is the closest to Maa Kaali after all. And if the mythological arts are any guide, the goddess always holds beheaded heads closest to her after all. See for yourself:

Thanks for reading!