01The necklace
The Stotram’s line: at Nandipur the necklace, the Devi Nandini, the Bhairava Nandikeshwar. Our list and the Stotram both give the hara, the necklace. Some temple accounts say the collarbone. Shakti Peetha lists differ in such details. The town’s old name, Nandipur, came from the temple, and the temple’s from Nandi, Mahadev’s bull and gatekeeper. The Devi’s stone is worshipped inside a walled court under a huge banyan, and devotees tie red and yellow threads on its hanging roots when they ask for something.
02The merchants’ Devi
Sainthia grew as a trading town on the Mayurakshi, and the merchants of the bazar worshipped Nandikeshwari on Poila Baishakh, the Bengali new year, when they open new account books, and again on Vijaya Dashami. The present temple was built in the Bengali year 1320, that is 1913. Within the court are a shrine of the Bhairava and a group of horse figures given by devotees. The Bijaya Ghat on the river is close by.
The temple is a few minutes’ walk from Sainthia Junction on the Howrah–Rampurhat line. Bakreshwar and Tarapith are both within a short drive.
