Kolkata: Kali Temple Serves Chinese Food As Prasad
A Kali temple located in Kolkata serves Chinese food as prasad. Its story will leave you amazed.
India is a secular country that respects different religions and cultures. Its diversity is what makes the country so unique. Prasad holds an important place in Hindu culture and thousands of temples in the country follow several rituals just to prepare the prasad, which is offered to the deity. However, after offering it to the deity, they follow a simple process for distribution. The priests hand out different types of prasads to visitors or devotees. The most common prasad is different kinds of Laddoos. Some temples give pedhas, some have khichdi while some others have rice, some have payasum or kheer etc.
Can you imagine relishing a Chinese food like noodles and momos as a prasad? This might sound fake. But it is true.
A Kali temple located in Kolkata will leave you amazed with its story. It was believed that a large group of Chinese refugees came to India during the 1930s Civil war in China. These migrants took shelter in Tangra, Kolkata. However, the migration did not diminish the local cultural values. In fact they brought their cultural influence and merged the Bengali and the Chinese cultures. Now this place is known as China Town and due to this amalgamation we have the most loved cuisine known as the Indo-Chinese cuisine popularly known as Desi Chinese. According to the legend, Hindus used to worship two granite stones smeared with vermilion over them beneath a tree in the area. Then a 10-year-old boy from the Chinese community was once very ill. Even doctors could not cure him. His parents had lost hope and lay him down near the tree and prayed for several nights at a stretch. A miracle happened. The boy got well, and the site became special for even the Chinese community as well. The father saw the goddess in his dreams and decided to build a temple for her. That is how the temple was built about 60 - 65 years ago. The temple is called Chinese Kali Temple.
Most of the Chinese people in the area are Buddhists and some are Christians, but they all worship at the Kali temple. It is considered an integral part of the community. Much like all other Kali temples this temple too has everything similar, from red hibiscus garlands to red attire to observing rituals. But instead of receiving sweets as prasad, devotees are given noodles, fried rice, momos, chop suey, and other delicacies. They light tall candles and also use special Chinese incense sticks. That is why the aroma in this temple is different from other temples. It is typically Chinese. They even burn handmade paper to ward off evil spirits and the pranaam too is done in Chinese style.
Ison Chen, the 55-year-old in-charge of the temple said, “Kali Puja is special for us. Our activities start early in the morning. Most of us have been given our responsibilities for the day. Some get the flowers, some fruits and sweets for the prasad and a few oversee the preparations. The Bengali Brahmin comes here every day for the morning and evening aarti. This temple shows how beautifully the two cultures coalesce.
