The Maha Shmashan

“TaraPith” is a revered temple town in the birbhum district of west bengal, and the famed seat of the worship of The Divine Mother Maa Tara. The Name joins Tara with pith, a seat, and the place is held among the Sacred seats of The Divine Mother. Beside the temple lies the Mahasmasan, the great cremation ground, and the memory of the tantric saint Bamakhepa, the mad devotee who worshipped Maa Tara here and lived upon the burning ground. Each day, devotees come to “TaraPith” to seek Divine Darshan and Divine Blessings.

The grounds Of The Temple at tarapith, beside the great cremation ground — The grounds Of The Temple, “TaraPith”, birbhum

In bengal this amavasya is the Great Night Of Maa Tara. At the great cremation ground of “TaraPith”, sadhak bamakhepa, the avadhuta saint of the smashan, was Blessed with realisation at the feet of Maa Tara on this very night. Each year, on this night, lakhs of devotees walk to the “TaraPith” Temple, and its lamps burn until dawn.

The “Maa Tara Pith” Temple is also quite renowned for being one of the few temples where tantric rituals are practiced.

The Great Cremation Ground

The great cremation ground lies at the edge of the town, along the river, and the tradition does not hold it apart from The Temple. The two are kept as one place. The tradition holds that the cremation ground is where The Divine Mother Maa Tara Abides, and sadhakas have come to it for generations for that reason. Some among them do not leave: their huts stand on the ground itself, their walls set with skulls painted red, marigolds tied upon the trishul at the door. In this tradition the burning ground is where the last of what a seeker holds is given up, where nothing that the world offers is left standing, and where what is impermanent is seen plainly for what it is. That is the teaching the ground itself gives, and it is why the worship Of Maa Tara is offered here.

Sacred Legend: The Seat Upon The Burning Ground

The tellings of this place remember a white semal tree that stood on the bank of the dwarka, within the great cremation ground, and beneath it a seat, the panchamundi asana, the seat of five skulls, raised from the skulls of five who had died untimely: a man, a monkey, a black snake, an elephant and an owl. The tellings hold that rishi vashistha kept the worship Of The Divine Mother Maa Tara upon that seat, and that sadhakas after him, bamakhepa among them, kept it there also. The tradition holds the seat as the place where the hardest of the disciplines are carried through.

Documented History: sadhak bamakhepa

sadhak bamakhepa, the historical photograph — sadhak bamakhepa

sadhak bamakhepa was born on 22 February 1837 in the village of atla, in birbhum, and was given the name bamacharan chattopadhyay. His father was sarvananda chattopadhyay and his mother rajkumari; the family was poor and brahmin, and the father was held in regard for his piety. From boyhood the son took no interest in the affairs of the world, and the country people added khepa, the mad one, to the name bama, and by that joined name he has been known since.

He left the house young and came to “TaraPith”, and there came under kailashpati baba, who lived at the cremation ground. mokshadananda is remembered as the second who taught him. He kept his sadhana on the burning ground of “TaraPith” and lived on it, among the jackals and the dogs and the snakes, and he did not leave it. The Divine Mother Maa Tara Revealed The Divine Form to him there, first In The Fierce Form, and then Drew him To The Divine Breast as a mother draws her child; and the tradition holds that it is this, above all, that he gave back to “TaraPith”, for the Form he has left the place with is the Form Of The Mother.

The record keeps one turn plainly. The priests of The Temple drove him off and took his food from him when he ate what had been set before The Divine Mother. The maharani of natore was then given a vision in which The Divine Mother Said that the son had been struck and his food taken, and that The Divine Mother would not stay in such a place. From that day the order at “TaraPith” was reversed: bamakhepa was fed first, before the offering was placed before The Divine Mother, and he was fed first for the rest of his life.

Seekers came to him for Blessings, and the sick came, and the troubled came. In 1902 nalinikanta chattopadhyay, afterwards known as nigamananda paramahansa, came to “TaraPith” and was taken as his student. sadhak bamakhepa entered mahasamadhi at “TaraPith” on 18 July 1911, in his seventy fourth year. His shrine stands within the grounds of The Temple, at the place of his cremation, and his ashram stands on the bank of the dwarka near The Temple.

Documented History: the student who came in 1902

nalinikanta chattopadhyay was born on 18 August 1880 and died on 29 November 1935, and is known as nigamananda paramahansa. In 1902 he came to “TaraPith” and gave himself to sadhak bamakhepa, and it is at “TaraPith”, under that teaching, that the tantric side of his learning was completed. He went on to found ashrams and to write, and the four paths he is remembered for holding together were begun on this burning ground.

Those Who Kept The worship Here

Beside sadhak bamakhepa the place remembers others who kept the worship Of The Divine Mother Maa Tara here: kailashpati baba and mokshadananda, who taught him.

The Great Cremation Ground

Sacred Legend: The Seat Upon The Burning Ground

Documented History: sadhak bamakhepa

Documented History: the student who came in 1902

Those Who Kept The worship Here

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