Hindu temple, Jamalpur
Dayamoyee Templeদয়াময়ী মন্দির
- Time needed
- Half an hour.
- best months
- Oct–Feb
A temple of the 1690s in the centre of Jamalpur town, founded by a Mughal-era jagirdar, with Shiva, Kali, Manasa and nat temples around it; packed at Durga Puja, with a four-day fair after the Chaitra bathing festival.
Plan your visit
- Best time
- Durga Puja (September or October) and the Chaitra fair in mid-April; otherwise any morning.
At a glance
- Founded
- About 1696, by Srikrishna Ray Chowdhury
- Temples
- Dayamoyee, Shiva, Kali, Manasa and a nat mandir
- Fair
- Four days after the Chaitra bathing festival
About
Sri Sri Reen Dayamoyee is the oldest temple in Jamalpur and one of the oldest in the region. It was founded around 1696, in the Mughal period, by Srikrishna Ray Chowdhury, jagirdar of the Jafarshahi pargana under the Ramgopalpur zamindars of Gouripur, and a later rani of the family, Narayani Ray Chowdhury, made it debottar, temple property held in trust. It stands in the heart of the municipality, pink-washed with Corinthian columns and arches added over the centuries, and the compound holds a Shiva temple, a Kali temple, a Manasa temple and a nat mandir beside the main shrine.
Worship goes on every day, but the temple belongs to its two seasons. At Durga Puja the crowds run into the lakhs and the streets around fill with stalls; and in Chaitra, after the bathing festival on the Brahmaputra, a four-day fair sets up around the temple. In 2017 the district's plan to take part of the temple's land for a cultural village met protests from the town's Hindus and was dropped.
Getting there: In the centre of Jamalpur town, a short rickshaw ride from the station.
Things to do
- Walk round the compound's four smaller temples after the main shrine.
- Come at Durga Puja for the biggest gathering in the district.
Good to know
- Remove shoes, keep voices down and ask before photographing inside; it is a living temple.
