Jakpur Maa Manasa Temple

Located 7km east of Kharagpur, this temple is dedicated to the serpent goddess Maa Manasa. It originated 400 years ago from a dream-vision experienced by local zamindar Jogeshwar Roy. The site is profoundly egalitarian and unbounded: there are no fixed priests (devotees perform their own pujas and cook prasad themselves) and the altar, shaped like a red lotus, is deliberately roofless. The 4km “village walk” from Jakpur station through paddy fields and spring flower nurseries is as sensory and integral to the experience as the temple itself, which sees its peak crowds during the late-summer Manasa Mela.
Puja days: Daily, but particularly busy on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Annual Manasa Mela during the Bengali months of Sravana/Bhadra (July-September).