In a significant gesture in line with India’s rich religious and cultural tradition, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on 28/02/2025 traveled to the holy Tarapith temple in Birbhum district in West Bengal and performed prayers and participated in rituals at one of east India’s greatest revered Shakti Peethas.
A High-Profile Pilgrimage to a Holy Place
Vice President’s motorcade had reached the grounds in early morning, and he was received there by temple administrators, district-level administrative officials, and enthusiastic devotees who had assembled there in hopes of seeing the visitor. Dhankhar, preceded and followed by security and a modest retinue, was warmly greeted in traditional ceremonies by priests at the temple.
It is a spiritually enriching experience to visit this old center of divine energy, observed the Vice President after offering puja at sanctum sanctorum, in which deity Tara Ma is seated. “Tarapith is symbolic of our time-tested religious wisdom and is a reminder of our rich cultural fabric uniting us for thousands of years.”
The Significance of Tarapith
Tarapith, some 240 kilometers north of Kolkata, is a religious center as one of the 51 Shakti Peethas in tradition. According to tradition, Goddess Sati’s “third eye dropped at this location when Lord Shiva carried her dead form across the universe in grief. The prime deity Tara Ma is worshipped in this location in her fierce form and is daily visited by thousands of devotees.
Dr. Rajesh Sharma, a scholar who has read extensively about the tradition of Shakti Peetha, elucidates, “Tarapith is unique among Shakti Peethas in tantric associations and in nature of deity enshrined in it. The place is a seat for tantricism for centuries and is inhabited by innumerable numbers of religious and tantric devotees.”
The temple complex, with its distinctive red and white architecture, houses not only the main shrine but also several smaller temples and meditation spaces. The Bamakhepa temple, dedicated to the famous 19th-century tantric sage who spent most of his life at Tarapith, is another important site within the complex.
The Vice President’s Itinerary
His Tarapith visit is part of a wider tour of West Bengal, involving official events in Kolkata and cultural excursions to some of the state’s major sites of religious and cultural significance. As informed in the Secretariat of the Vice President, Dhankhar is interested in touring religious sites in India as a whole in order to situate India’s rich religious heritage in context.
In his nearly two-hour-long visit to Tarapith, the Vice President participated in a special puja conducted by head priest Mahant Paramhans Das. The religious rituals being accomplished, he took time out to meet the temple hierarchy and discuss history, tradition, and governance at the revered shrine.
Vice President had a keen interest in hearing about Tarapith and rituals being performed there, informed Paramhans Das. “He was deeply touched by devotees who come far and wide to pray at Tarapith,” he elaborated.
Meeting Local Needs
Following a visit to the temple, Dhankhar met briefly with leaders and members who had assembled there and emphasized maintenance at religious sites while still making them open for devotees.
“Our temples are not religious sites alone but treasuries for our culture, architecture, and ancient wisdom,” asserted the Vice President. “We have a common mandate to save them for future generations and convert them as centres for service to society and for awakening.”
Local officials informed the Vice President about different development works being undertaken in and around the temple complex for better facilities for pilgrims, including improved road connectivity, potable water supply, and sanitation facilities.
District Magistrate of Birbhum, Shri Bidhan Ray, told presspeople, “We have apprised the honorable Vice President about works being undertaken for making pilgrimage experience better while ensuring sanctity and cultural values at this ancient site. His visit is a shot in the arm for us.”
A Region Full of Heritage Culture
Tarapith lies in Birbhum district, which is rich in culture. The district is locally referred to as “the land of red soil.” It is home to some India’s greatest minds, thinkers, and religious leaders, and among them is Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who had created Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan as a center for learning and culture.
The district is dotted with countless temples, tribal habitations, and nature sites and is visited by tourists across India and abroad. Tarapith, and sites like Santiniketan, Kankalitala, and Bakreswar, form a part of the cultural trail making Birbhum unique.
Dr. Amita Sen, a cultural historian, is of the opinion, “Birbhum is a rich synthesis of varied religious and cultural traditions. From tantric practices at Tarapith to Baul mysticism and Tagore’s universal humanism at Santiniketan, the district is a reflection of India’s pluralist ethos.”
Public Perception and Security Measures
Given the VIP nature of the visit, state police and security organizations took extensive security precautions. The route to the temple was sanitized and makeshift checkpoint posts established for easy movement of the convoy of the Vice President.
Despite all these security measures, measures had been taken to avoid inconvenience to regular visitors to the temple. Temple authorities had taken special security measures to enable regular devotees to offer their prayers without much inconvenience at VIP visit time.
We took precautions to enable regular devotees to proceed for darshan in alternative lines while security procedures for the vice president’s visitation remained in place, Tarapith Temple Committee Secretary Krishnendu Goswami clarified.
Locals hailed the Vice President for his visit as a gesture recognising religious significance in their place. “We are greatly privileged that the Vice President visited our sanctified Tarapith. His visit has given recognition to our culture at the national level,” felt Malati Devi, who is a shop owner near the temple.
Promoting Spiritually Oriented
Such high-level visits are thought to promote religious or faith-based travel in locales normally skipped by mass tourist streams. Bengal, rich in religious sites like Tarapith, Kalighat, Dakshineshwar, and Belur Math, is making a serious attempt to emerge as a religious and cultural tourist place.
The presence of the Vice President will definitely enhance Tarapith as a pilgrimage center,” said Debashis Sen, Director, West Bengal Tourism. “We are making infrastructure and amenities available to accommodate the rising numbers of devotees and visitors and ensure the unique religious experience offered in these locations.”
Officially, Tarapith receives nearly 2 million visitors annually, and there is a surge in numbers when there are events like Kali Puja and Durga Puja. The managing committee, in collaboration with the state department for tourism, has been implementing a planned programme for improvement in tourist amenities without infringing upon the sanctity of the place.
Historical Context for Temple
Historical Context for
Historians have traced Tarapith back for centuries but today’s structure is principally 18th century in origin and later restored. The place is thought to have had a longer history as a devotional place based on findings in archaeology, possibly as far back as in the Pala period (8th-12th century CE).
Dr. Rajat Sanyal, professor in ancient Indian history at Calcutta University, explains, “Tarapith is a reflection of continuity in east Indian tradition in worshipping Shakti. The Puranic period is linked to it in mythology, but history and architectural features suggest the structured complex evolved in the middle ages.”
The temple has faced countless turmoil in history, be it in politics or nature. Its time-tested relevance is evident in the uninterrupted stream of devotees it receives and in rich practices still being observed there.
Tantric tradition at Tarapith is based
Tarapith is distinct in being linked much more than is typical for most other Shakti Peethas with Tantric practices. The temple and grounds have in the past and still are home for tantrics and sadhus who carry out various esoteric rituals. Most famed tantric at Tarapith was Bamakhepa (1837-1911) who is known as Tarapith’s “mad saint,” and who dedicated decades to worshipping the deity and is thought to have attained enlightenment as a direct outcome of his devotions. His samadhi (shrine) in the temple complex is daily visited by devotees who are certain he still lives spiritually.
“Bamakhepa is the embodiment of tantric tradition at Tarapith,” says Swami Girishananda, who is a modern-day spiritual practitioner and is well-versed in Tarapith tradition. “His life exemplifies how following the tantric way, if one does it in devotion and in right guidance, can achieve the greatest possible level of realizations.”
The surrounding cremation grounds in which tantric rituals are performed are sanctified as holy sites for believers who consider them as grounds for intense practices beyond religious rituals.
Philanthropy and Social Service
Phil
In addition to being religiously meaningful, Tarapith is a place for charity works as well. The temple committee runs a variety of charity programs, some of them being feeding programs, medical camps, and assistance in schools for underprivileged children in surrounding villages.
During his visit, he was briefed about these works in the field of social service and is believed to have lauded these works for blending religious devotion and service to humankind.
The annadaan (donation in form of food) program offering daily meals to dozens of disadvantaged individuals took hold especially of the Vice President, explained a committee participant who had joined the briefing. “He emphasized that our temples should be centres for service and social harmony,” he further explained.
Cultural Events and Artists
During the visit, there was a short cultural programme in which some of Birbhum’s folk culture, in the form of Baul music, a tradition evolved out of a synthesis of elements of Vaishnavism, Sufism, and indigenous folk culture, came out. Some Baul singers performed for the Vice President and highlighted the rich cultural variety of the place.
Birbhum is equally renowned for indigenous crafts such as terracotta, batik print, and embroidery in kantha. Small exhibitions of indigenous crafts had been opened in line with the motorcade route taken by the Vice Presidential motorcade, though time constraints excluded a comprehensive engagement with craftspeople.
We had hoped to gift some of our native crafts to the Vice President but since he had a packed schedule, we managed to settle for brief recognition he gave us as he passed in front of our stalls,” explained terracotta artist Bhaskar Pal from nearby village Panchmura.
Ecological Initiatives at Holy Places
Holy Places
During negotiations with state authorities and temple administrators, conservation in and around religious sites came up as a subject as well. Tarapith, like religious centres in India in general, is faced with garbage disposal, water conservation, and ecological conservation in tandem with sustaining enormous numbers of devotees.
Vice President is believed to have emphasized sustainable practices in religious sites. “Our religious sites should be exemplars for ecological stewardship. The religious bonding with nature is at the core of Indian philosophical schools,” is what Dhankhar is quoted as saying in these meetings.
The committee for the temple introduced their recent works, some of them being water collection buildings, solar installations for energy supply in a manner making the complex sustainable and eco-friendly, and plastic-free zones.
Communicating with Youth
A notable aspect of the Vice President’s visit to Tarapith was his emphasis upon engaging younger generations in India’s religious tradition. In making some brief remarks to a crowd of students who had come in to welcome him at a nearby school, Dhankhar touched upon being rooted in one’s cultural tradition and yet being receptive to modern learning and international thought.
We have to equip our younger generation with scientific temper and spiritual wisdom. The two are not oppositional but are complimentary in Indian tradition, he noted. “Tarapith and similar sites connect us to our continuity in civilization and provide insights for modern times.”
Educational organizations in Birbhum, including schools associated with Visva-Bharati University, have tried to include indigenous religious and cultural practices in their curricula and have thereby created a “rooted but forward-looking” pattern of learning.
Broader Significance of the Visit
More than
Observers have taken the Tarapith visit of the Vice President as following a broader trend towards engagement with India’s religious and cultural diversity on the part of leading constitutional leaders. On their account, such visits have a double agenda—to confirm India as being plural and to recognize religious sites as being socially and culturally significant in contemporary India.
“When constitutional leaders visit religious sites across religious lines, it reaffirms Indian statehood as being inclusive,” is the opinion of political commentator Pradeep Bose. “It is recognition, too, for the role played by these institutions in preserving our cultural heritage and in communal social lives.”
The visit at this juncture, in the backdrop of negotiations for preserving sites and projecting India’s tradition of ancient wisdom at international stages, acquires another level of significance.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar Visits Historic Tarapith Temple in Birbhum and Offers Prayer
Moving Ahead: Development Proposals
In wrap-up of his visit, Tarapith as a religious pilgrimage and a heritage tourist center in the future was extensively discussed with leaders in the area. Tarapith plans include better connectivity in the form of better roads, a cultural interpretation center for informing visitors about why this place is significant, and sustainable tourism in a manner that stimulates the economy locally and does not compromise on the sanctity of the temple.
We are busy making a balanced plan for development in a way that suits pilgrims and maintains considerations for the environment and local economy, a top state tourism department official said. “The advice given by the Vice President to keep religious aspects intact while offering improved amenities will certainly influence our efforts.”
Conclusion:
Uniting Tradition and Contemporary Times With Vice President Dhankhar away in Tarapith, the visit marked India’s timelessness in the imagination and minds of Indian citizens. As India modernizes at breakneck velocity, such eminent engagement with old institutions is a reminder of India’s unique ability for transformation while remaining rooted in religious and cultural past. For Tara Ma devotees and for the population of Birbhum, the Vice Presidential visit was much more than a gesture of politics—it was reaffirmation of their religious practices and universal significance. As one elderly devotee noted as she watched them depart, “When leaders like ours kneel before the goddess, they are reminding us we are still seekers on a religious way beyond human power.” The ringing of Tarapith temple bells will still be echoing far beyond this time, calling devotees to this ancient fount of divine energy in which, in believers’ perception, the goddess still bestows benediction upon each and every individual who come before her in good faith, regardless of status or station in society.
