Kamarpukur

Ramakrishna's Birthplace Temple (Janmasthan Mandir)
Hours: April to September, 4:00 am-11:30 am and 4:00 pm-9:00 pm; October to March, 4:30 am-11:30 am and 3:30 pm-8:30 pm.
Entry: Free
The centre of any pilgrimage visit to Kamarpukur, and the site that most rewards patient, attentive exploration. The compound enclosing the original Chatterjee family home, the house where Ramakrishna was born and spent his childhood, has been developed over successive decades by the Ramakrishna Math into a pilgrimage complex of considerable extent, but the original rooms of the family dwelling have been preserved within it and are its spiritual heart.
The main temple building, constructed in the twentieth century in a neo-traditional style, houses an image of Ramakrishna. But it is the original thatched-and-mud dwelling behind the temple that commands the deepest attention: a modest structure of Bengal's rural vernacular with low-ceilinged rooms, plastered walls, a small inner courtyard that has been preserved (and periodically restored using traditional materials) to convey something of what it looked like when Ramakrishna lived here. The specific room identified as his birthplace is small, simply furnished, and marked by a shrine. Devotees stand quietly, some with eyes closed, others prostrating; the atmosphere is one of concentrated devotion that is entirely unforced.
The adjacent exhibition rooms contain photographs, biographical panels, and reproductions of sketches of Ramakrishna's life that provide useful context for visitors unfamiliar with his biography. The compound also contains the Chandni, an open-air assembly area for bhajan and kirtan, and a large bell donated by devotees that is rung at the beginning of each puja.