Mrinmayi Devi Temple at Bishnupur

From the ancient period Bishnupur (District: Bankura, W.B. India) is famous for its Terracotta architectures and classical music (Bishnupur Gharana). Mrinmayi Devi Temple at Bishnupur is a famous temple and it is also an old temple. Bishnupur was the capital of Malla Kings for nearly 500 years. This temple was built by King Jagat Malla in 997 AD. In the temple premises, there is a beautiful image of Divine Mother, Devi Mrinmayi (Goddess Durga).

Sri Ramakrishna Dev visited this holy temple. Later he narrated his experience regarding his visit to the devotees at Dakshineswar. `` Once I went to Vishnupur. The raja of that place has several fine temples. In one of them there is an image of the Divine Mother, called Mrinmayi. There are several lakes near the temple, known as the Lalbandh, Krishnabandh, and so on. In the water of one of the lakes I could smell the ointments that women use for their hair. How do you explain that? I didn’t know at that time that the woman devotees offer ointments to the Goddess Mrinmayi while visiting her temple. Near the lake I went into Samadhi, though I had not yet seen the image in the temple. In that state I saw the divine form from the waist up, raising from the water.`` (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, I: 275)

Sri Ramakrishna Dev also told to Holy Mother Sarada Devi to visit this temple. Once Sri Ma Sarada Devi along with Durga Ma and others was going to Bishnupur railway station to take train towards Calcutta, a poor local Brahmin came and requested her to visit his house. Holy Mother visited his house and the temple of Devi Mrinmayi.

In another incident near Pokabandh at Bishnupur, one young man came to Holy Mother to take her holy feet dust as he was suffering from leucoderma. Sri Ma instructed him to go to the Devi Mrinmayi temple and take complete refuge to Mother Mrinmayi.

How to reach: Bishnupur is a sub-division of Bankura district. It is well connected by railways and roadways. The distance from Calcutta is 210 km by railways. Frequently passenger and express trains and buses are available from Calcutta / Kharagpur. The distance from Bishnupur to Joyrambati and Kamarpukur is 43 km and 46 km respectively by road.