She resides in Maldaha, colloquially Malda district in West Bengal. People know she is very old, aged almost one thousand years. But where is the proof? None can show it.
As I thought of writing about her on this Diwali, while Diwali is time for Bengali to worship Goddess Kali, I remembered that she doesn't even look like any of our traditional Bengali Kali idols - resembles to neither the naked figure nor the Saree-wearing goddess. Why does she look different? We have only stories but no sufficient evidence to prove them to be true.
Some say that the seer Salwa/ Jalpa Tewari who decided to worship a form of Chandi to keep people of Malda safe during natural calamities and war established her as formless Goddess in about 1083 AD. Hence he made only an earthen mound instead of a complete figure. Some say that there was a Kali idol in the temple once. During Mohammedan invasion in Maldah, the temple priests were worried about the safety of the idol. It was they who had buried the Kali under the mound which is worshiped. There is another story no less attractive! Malda between the river Mahananda and Ganga was a prosperous city on an important trade route. The rivers used to be filled with large boats carrying everything from food-grains to cloths, metal ore to money. In fact tax collected from the subsidiaries of Bengal reached rulers in Delhi via river route only. Obviously this area was also inhabited by infamous looters, terrible dacoits. The Kali in this temple was once worshiped by those dacoits who took her blessing before looting goods carrying boats or a Landlord's mansion. These dacoits hid their accumulated wealth inside this mound under the feet of Kali. Later the Kali above the ground was destroyed but the mould continued to be worshiped as the Mother.
We do not know which story of her origin is right. Same with her name, "Jahura". Who gave her this name? We have stories again!
There is a story that a Mohammedan invader invaded the area. Riding his horse he was about to enter the temple to destroy the idol (idolatry is sin as per Islamic theory, hence many Islam followers those days considered destroying temples and idols a sacred duty.) when the sight of something shocked him so much that he started screaming, "this has Zeher (poison) inside!". Needless to tell, he turned back never to enter again. The word Zeher turned Jahura (poisonous) to become adjective of the goddess. Another opinion says that the name is etymologically related to some local language or dialect.
Surrounded by mango orchards on three sides and a large open pasture on the fourth, the stunning red Jahura Kali temple is located in village Raipur, police station Englishbazar, only few Kilometers away from current Malda town. The temple would make you remember the dacoit connection. However, some say that the original temple was built by BallalSen the illustrious Sena ruler in 12th century. Some opine that she exists here since Pala era. (9th/11th century). Some say that the temple was built by the legendary Wargi invader Bhaskar Pandit who had established his dacoit-pirate empire in northern Bengal. Again some say that Hiraram Tewari, the descendant of Salwa Tiwari, founded the temple in 16th century. He was the person who envisioned the faces of the Goddess, three forms of her -namely Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati by divine intervention. Each of the three bright red colored faces have three round, large eyes, with long protruding tongue and two wild boar like fangs. From then onwards, these three face-masks are placed above the earthen mound. The masks are made by descendants of the first mask maker and changed every year during the Baishakh month puja. Yes, animal sacrifice is part of the puja. Legends tell us about human sacrifice too but we do not have written history of that.
Interesting is, worshiping Jahura Kali has nothing to do with traditional Kalipuja day on Kartiki Amabasya that fall on October\November. She is worshiped as Adishakti (similar to Chandi) every Tuesday and Saturday by the same Tiwari family. Temple is kept closed on other days. Especially Bengali summer month Baishakh that comes in April-May is considered to be most sacred time for worshiping her. Outside the temple, a big fair is organized this month and devotees from many parts of Bengal and Bangladesh come to visit her. This might make folk culture enthusiasts find a resemblance between Jahura and Raksha Kali. But unlike Kali, Johura is worshiped only in daytime, not at night. Though named Kali, she has little resemblance with Puranic power goddess. Neither her location is a Tantric peeth. We should be able to recollect that, mask worshiping is a tradition among northern Bengal tribes. The Adishakti cult may also have a Buddhist connection. If she has Pala connection, we must remember that Palas were Buddhist kings. Who is Johura then?
