MELAI CHANDI FAIR
Malai Chandi Fair is held at Amta near Howrah in the month of Baisakh (April – May) every year.
Amta – A flourishing non municipal town and a place of Hindu pilgrimage situated on the left bank of the derelict channel of the Damodar 48 km from Howrah city by rail and 42 km Howrah - Amta light railway. It is an old place having found mention in several medieval Bengali texts including the Chandi Mangal of Kavikankan Mukundaram Chakravarty. Although literary evidence testifies to the importance of the place as a centre of Hindu pilgrimage of Amta also flourished as a trading center up to the 19th century. It was a busy entrepot for salt brought from Hijli, coal from Raniganj and wood from North Bengal, the Damodar being then a broad highway of commerce bearing hundreds of Cargo boats. A memorial of this time still survives in the name Betai Bandar by which the place of the opposite bank of the river is called to this day. Important trading families were the Lahas, Addhyas and Sahas of Amta and a Dattas of Hotkhola, Kolkata.
The best known spot of Amta is the shrine of Malai Chandi, a form of Sakti. Legend has it that her shrine was originally of Jayanti, a place of the other side of the river, about a mile from it present site. It marked one of the 52 ft. sanctified by receiving portion of the dismembered body of Sati. Hare fell her knee – joint leading to the naming of the deity as Melai Chandi. Previously, the priest, who lived at Amta, had to cross the river daily to reach the shrine. This cost them great inconvenience, especially when the country was flooded in the rains. Ancestor of the present subedits, therefore, prayed to the goddess to take pity on her worshippers and came to Amta. She appeared to him in a dream and granted his prayer. Next morning her image was found near the present market place where it was kept and worshipped for sometime. The present temple of the deity was built by Krishna Chandra Datta of Hatkhola who had salt depots at Amta. Legend has it that several of his salt boats sank in a gale in the Damodar but were providentially restored with cargo undamaged on his having promised to build a temple for the goddess. The date plaque of the shrine above the entrance is illegible owing to liberal coats of whitewash, but is said to ascribe the erection of the edifice to a Karmakar 1056 B.S, A.D. 1649. It is a simple atchala structure with a detached mandapa hall in fore court and a subsidiary shrine of Siva to the South East to the Whole complex being enclosed by a compound wall, the entrance gateway being on the south. The main shrine houses images of Melai Chandi flanked by subsidiary stone figures worshipped as Basudeva and Karttika and broadly assignable to the Pala period. The stone image of Melai Chandi with a vermillion painted face stand on a stone pedestal which too can be ascribed to the Pala period.
The deity is held in high religious esteem by the people of the locality. Her temple is thronged by numerous devotees throughout the year while festive occasions are marked by large congregations. The ceremony commemorating the installation of the goddess held on the full moon day in the month of Baisakh (April - May) is the most important of the place which is attended by a large fair. Another fair takes place on the full moon day of the month of Magh (January – February). Special pujas are offered during the annual worship of Durga when jatra performances and fireworks are organized. The Chadak festival of Kumudeswar Shiva, the consort of Melai Chandi held in the Dakshinpara area and the Dharmajhap, held in honour of Dharma in the Bagdpara locality, both occurring at the end of Chaitra (March – April) are among other religious celebrations of the place.
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