Tarapith Temple History

Our Tarapith Temple,Chandipur a village which located near Rampurhat in the district of Birbhum in West Bengal, would have been lost in oblivion. But since decades, Tarapith has been a spiritual dynamo that attracts many pilgrims, desirous of boons and a hive of tantra practitioners who wish to attain occult powers.

Although the history of the present temple of Tarapith is about two hundred years, the history of Tarapith is more than one and a half thousand years. Its history is steeped in an ancient, dim, obscure past. On one side is history, documents and on the other side is mythology and folklore. All together, the temple of Tarapith and the story of Taramaa occupy another place. The current temple of Tarapith was established by the zamindar of Mallarpur, but the story begins with the words of Jay Dutta Sadagar. Even today, his story is being told by word of mouth. About eight hundred years ago today. He was a resident of Ratnagarh in Birbhum. Once he was returning home after gaining a lot of wealth, money in trade. His eldest son died of illness on the way. Having decided to bury his son on his return home, he asked the sailors to put ghee on his son's body. It will not rot. Meanwhile, the evening has fallen. The night should be rested on the way. While walking, he stopped next to a huge forest. The name of the place is Chandipur. Jaydutta does not sleep well at night. He wakes up at night clutching the dead son's body. At that time Taramaa took the form of a little girl and stood near the boat. Light is falling on his black form. A wonderful light across the night sky. asked Jay Dutta, "Oh son, why are you carrying so many boats?" So he angrily said to the girl, "There are ashes". Hearing that, the girl said 'OK' and left. After some time Jayadatta saw that all the merchandise, money in his boat had turned to ashes. The next morning the sailors sat down to cook. You have to travel by boat. They went to wash the cut shoal fish in a kundu(pond) nearby. What a surprise! On touching the water, the fish revived and swam away. The sailors came running and told Jayadatta everything. Jaydutt remembered the previous night. About that girl. Then, being annoyed with his son, he repeatedly said, "Show me." Who are you, Maa, who tested me like this? forgive me maa Save my child.' That girl came back in a dream that night. Seeing him, Jayadatta said, 'Son, what is the matter with the ashes?'' ,Again Taramaa took the form of a little girl , told him, 'Bhavani says, 'Don't be a saint, you will soon get into the boat.' He will survive. In the morning, Jayadatta regained his lost wealth and when the water of Jiveetkundu was sprinkled on him, the boy said 'Tara Tara' and he came back to life. Hearing the name Tara in his son's mouth, Jay Dutta was surprised and understood the miraculous grace of Goddess Tara. In the joy of getting his son back, he sat all day long and started chanting Tara Ma. At night again the goddess gave him darshan in a dream. Ordered him and said, 'There is a Shila Vigraha under a Shwetsimul tree in this forest. I will establish that idol in a temple and arrange for its puja. I am the radical. My house is in the crematorium in the forest. The next morning, Jay Dutta discovered the Shila Vigraha from under the Shvetshimul tree. Chandrachur Shiva idol was found nearby. He hastily built a temple in front of Vasishtakunda or Jiveetkundu and established the Shilamurti and Chandrachur Shiva idols. It is not enough to establish a temple. He also needs daily worship. So Jay Dutta left a Brahmin named Bhairav Paitundi (which is well described in Pandu lipi) of nearby Mahula village incharge of daily worship. This is how the first temple was built at Tarapith. Mother's pleasure begins. But even before that, this place was the seat of Taramaa. This place is also described in Puran. Many saints have attained siddhi in the crematorium here. We know the story of that skill in Puran.

It is also known that Mahamuni Vasishtha came here and practiced sadhana after being commanded by Vishnu. Sitting under that Shvetshimul tree, he also chanted three lakh stars. He achieved sadhana in Kojagri Shukla Chaturdashi of Ashwin month. Even more surprising is that the day Jayadatta established the temple and worshiped the goddess for the first time was Kojagri Shukla Chaturdashi. Even today, on this special day, Taramay's puja is performed with great fanfare.

Why the name of the goddess here is Tara, there is also a story of Purana. Nilakantha became Shiva after drinking the poison from the churning sea. He is poisoned. How can Shiva get rid of that pain. All the deities went to 'Devi Tara' and asked Shiva to release his throat. 'Devi Tara' then took Shiva in her lap like her own child and started drinking nectar from her breast. By drinking that nectar, Shiva's poison burn was removed. Since then the name of the goddess is Tarini. He saved Shiva. He saved this world too. They are named after that woman.

Let's go back from the mythology to the middle ages in the history of modern reality. The temple built by Jay Dutta gradually became dilapidated one day. Then Ramjivan Roy Chowdhury of Erol village of Birbhum came forward to build the temple anew. It is the second construction of Tarapith temple. That was around 1743 Ramjeevan was Pattnidar of the entire area of ​​Tarapith. Seeing the dilapidated condition of the Tarapith temple, devotee Ramjivan was upset. But he did not have the money to renovate the temple. So he built a new temple with the rent money collected from the subjects. As a result, he could not pay the rent money to the then Nawab Alibardi Khan of Bengal. He was taken to Murshidabad by the Payadars to try it. He said that he built the Taramay temple with the rent money

He did not make any joke. The Nawab sent people to investigate the truth of this. They came back and told the Nawab that Ramjivan had spoken the truth. Pleased with his truthfulness, the Nawab waived all taxes and spared Ramjivan.

Time passes. How much water flows through Dwarka river. How many saints come here and leave after attaining success. One day Saint Kamalakanth came. Come and see the dilapidated Taramaa temple. Sitting in front of that broken temple, he recited one song after another to his mother. And streams of water came down his eyes. Jagannath Roy also cried after seeing the broken state of the temple. He was the zamindar of Mallarpur. Standing in front of mother's temple, he vowed, "If my wish is fulfilled, I will build your new temple mother." Tarama fulfilled his wish. After that, Jagannath Ray renovated the Taramay temple. It was 15 April 1818 . Along with the construction of the temple, Chandrachud also built a new temple of Shiva, mother's sanctum sanctorum, Bhoghar, Bhandarghar etc.

‘তারাপীঠং মহাপীঠং গন্তব্যং যত্নতঃ সদা।’