Birla Mandir Kolkata

Getting there

• By air

  Kolkata (Dumdum) Airport is about 16 km from the temple.

• By train

  Sealdah railway station is about 5 km away. Ballygunge Junction station also serves the locality.

• By road

  Buses, trams and taxis are available. The nearest metro stations named are Jatin Das Park and VIP Bazar (under construction).

Why devotees come here

Birla Mandir, also called Laxminarayan Mandir, stands on Ashutosh Choudhury Avenue in Ballygunge, South Kolkata. It is a white marble temple built by the Birla family. The main shrine holds Krishna and Radha, with Durga and Shiva in the side domes.

The Birla family, the industrialists, built this temple on Ashutosh Choudhury Avenue in Ballygunge. It is dedicated to Vishnu avatars such as Rama and Krishna, and it is also known as Laxminarayan Mandir. The main temple houses Krishna and Radha. The dome on the left side houses Durga, and the dome on the right houses Shiva in meditation.

Construction began in 1970 and took 26 years. The Pran Prathistha, the ceremony that installs the deities, was done on 21 February 1996 by Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj. Dr. Karan Singh inaugurated the temple the same day. Nomi Bose was the architect, and a Sompura family of temple builders from Ahmedabad also worked on it.

The temple is made of white marble and stands on 44 kathas of land. It looks like the Lingaraj Temple of Bhubaneswar. Stone engravings show scenes from the Bhagavad Gita, and some of the work follows Rajasthani temple style.

Festivals

• Krishna's birthdayJanmashtami

  Devotees come from far away places to pay respect to the deities.

Tips for your visit

• Look for the Bhagavad Gita scenes in the stone engravings.
• Janmashtami, Krishna's birthday, is the day devotees come from far away places to pay their respects.

Questions people ask