Tarapith Temple

Tarapith is a revered Shakti Peetha associated with the falling of Sati's third eye (nayana) and is among the foremost seats of the goddess Tara. It is a magnet for Shakta and Tantric sadhaks who seek the Mother's power to transcend fear and ego. The temple's location by the cremation ground reflects the Tantric teaching that the Divine Mother presides over both life and death. Bamakhepa's legacy makes Tarapith a living shrine of realised devotion.

Tarapith, dedicated to Maa Tara — a fierce and compassionate form of the Divine Mother — is one of the most intense centres of Tantric worship in India. The temple stands beside a cremation ground (mahasmasan), an unusual and deliberate location where Tantric practitioners perform their sadhana in the presence of death and dissolution. The 19th-century mystic Bamakhepa, the 'mad saint', lived and attained realisation here, and his samadhi within the complex is itself a place of pilgrimage. Devotees offer worship day and night, and the temple's raw spiritual atmosphere is unlike any other.