Coordination of Unity of India & China, Fusion of Culture & Religion
Today I will talk about a Kali Mandir in Kolkata where Chinese people worship. Although it is a Hindu Kali temple, this place is originally inhabited by 1000 Chinese people, who have now become citizens of India, but in terms of culture and language, they are in a mixed state of both China and India. In the past for some reason these Chinese people stayed in India and since then they never went to China so they became citizens here, but they can speak Bengali here very well and even Hindi they are capable of.
We talked to the Chinese person who is the caretaker here and found out that sometimes noodles are served here as maa kali prasad. It is quite funny but there is a story behind it. It is said that once upon a time a Chinese family came here and expressed their wish to Goddess Mother, later their wish was fulfilled and they returned here again. They were not that much aware of Indian culture and they offered their usual food noodles to Goddess Maa Kali since then noodles are considered as a Prasad of Goddess Maa Kali here.
Noodles are considered to be Goddess Maa Kali Prasar so of course we check where the noodles are sourced from and if all Hindu customs are followed there because we don’t do anything outside of Hindu customs. The place is inhabited by Indian Hindus Buddhists and Christians apart from the Chinese. And all together rejoice in the festival of Goddess Maa Kali. The incense that is used here is mainly used in the Chinese way and they make this incense in their homes. A large number of Chinese tourists flock here during Kali Puja. This temple is located in Kolkata Territy Bazar area. In the 17th century, many Chinese tourists came to live in India and in the 19th century, a civil war broke out in China, then many Chinese citizens, especially those from the southern part of China, were thrown out of their homes and became refugees, so it is said that many of them came to Calcutta and settled there. It is said that once upon a time a child fell ill with a rare disease and somehow recovered after coming to this place and then the child’s parents built this Kali temple here
Although it is a Chinese temple, local Bengali Hindus and even people from other communities organize the festival here during the festival. In fact, this is traditional religion because first we are people, then we are people of different races or different religions. If you are in Kolkata and must visit the Tengra area of Kolkata where the Chinese live and of course this temple built by the Chinese, I hope you will come across a unique example of the cultural convergence between India and China.
