About Tarakeshwar holidays

Tarakeshwar is a town and renowned pilgrimage centre, located in Hooghly locality in the state of West Bengal. The village of Hooghly is established 58 kilometres away from Kolkata. Every year a number of devotees come here to take the blessings of lord Shiva and other deities. The location is accepted as a pilgrimage of Shiva and most of the temples over here are dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The well known Taraknath Temple in this town is one of the most visited temples in the town. The temple is dedicated to one of the types of Lord Shiva, ‘Taraknath’. The temple is believed to be constructed in 1729 AD by Raja Bharamalla.

There is a very well known legend about the origin of the lingam in the temple. A person called Vishnu Das and his brother came to Tarakeshwar from Ayodhya. Vishnu’s male sibling unearthed a Shivalingam in the plantation after his male sibling proved his innocence by retaining a red warm iron to the local people of the town, when they were suspected for a bad deed. He later disclosed that he had a illusion of Lord Shiva instructing him to construct a temple at that location.

The Tarakeshwar temple is a major Shivaite Pilgrim Centre, which arrives under the twelve Jyotirlinga temples, and is dedicated to lord Shiva. The premise of the temple owner shrines of Kali and Lakshmi-Narayan. The temple is most visited throughout the month of Shravan, which falls in the month of July or August.

Maha Shivratri is an important festivity commemorated in this village throughout the month of February-March. It is celebrated at the time of Lord Shiva’s birthday. During the celebration, fairs and buying carnivals become a major affinity of this village. Other festivals that attract tourists to arrive here is Bengali New Year or the Chaitra Sankranti carnival.