At Tarakeswar in the Hooghly district of West Bengal stands the celebrated Taraknath temple, one of the most revered Shiva shrines of Bengal, where the Lord is worshipped as Taraknath, the deliverer. Built in the eighteenth century in the Bengal aatchala style, the temple draws immense crowds of devotees seeking the Lord's grace for healing and the fulfilment of vows.
Its greatest gathering is in the month of Shravan, when countless saffron-clad pilgrims carry sacred water from the Ganga to bathe the Lord, in one of the great devotional processions of Bengal. Taraknath of Tarakeswar is among the most beloved Shiva temples of eastern India.
