Serampore, a sub-divisional town of Hooghly district of West Bengal is about 18 kilometres from Howrah. The Grand Trunk Road passes through this town. It can be reached either by rail or by road or even by the river route. Serampore has a rich history to offer and has many heritage structures scattered throughout the town. The town was called Fredericknagar as the Danes names it in 1757 in the name of the then King Frederick V of Denmark.
There are a number of temples in Serampore of which Madanmohan Temple of Chowdhury para deserves mention. The temple is situated about two kilometres from Serampore station.
It is a huge structure of aatchala type of Bengal’s temple architecture. The south facing mandir is more than fifty feet tall and is placed on a high pedastal and has a triple arched entrance. A flight of stairs will lead you to the temple.
The temple was built in the middle of the nineteenth century by the Vaisnavs of the south belonging to the Ramanuja sect and they also built an akhara there. Later with the closing of akhara, a hospital named Walsh Hospital came up in that place in 1836. The idols of Madanmohan was shifted to some other place. The Danish government allotted a sum of one hundred twenty rupees annually for the maintenance of the deities including worship. Later with the coming of the British, this system of annual grant was stopped and, instead a sum of ten thousand rupees was allotted as a one time grant. The present temple was built with this money.
Apart from the main entrance to enter the temple sanctum, there is also an entrance in the left. The idol is placed on a wooden throne. Besides daily worship, special puja is performed on the days of Jhulan, Janmastami, Rash and Dolyatra. When I visited this temple, it was in last September, just after Janmastami. That is why the bamboos are seen in the first picture.
Going there:
The temple can be easily reached by boarding either a rickshaw, a toto or even an auto from Serampore station to Ballavpur. The temple is a short distance from Radhaballav Temple, Serampore.
Just walk for a couple of minutes through Thakurbari Street and you will see this beautiful aatchala temple.
Reference:
Hooghly Jelar Purakirti by Narendranath Bhattacharjee.
Date of posting: 13th June, 2019.
Blog of Kinjal Bose 