New Delhi Kali Bari

New Delhi Kali Bari is a temple to the goddess Kali and a centre of Bengali culture on Mandir Marg, next to the Laxminarayan Temple and west of Connaught Place. After long demands from Delhi's growing Bengali population, an acre of land was allotted here, and a modest temple rose in the 1930s with an image modelled on the goddess at Kalighat in Kolkata. Its committee was formed in 1935 with Subhas Chandra Bose as first president.

The Durga Puja here, begun in 1925 on what is now Bangla Sahib Road and moved to this site after 1931, is one of the oldest in Delhi. It keeps to traditional style, with a single-frame image and shola work, unchanged rituals and competitions in Rabindra sangeet and recitation, and artisans come from Kolkata to build the pandal. The Kali Bari also has an old library and rooms and dormitories for visitors.