Kalna or Ambika Kalna is a town in the Purba Bardhaman district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarter of the Kalna subdivision, situated on the western bank of the Bhāgirathi river. The town is more popularly known as Ambika Kalna, named after the goddess Kali, Maa Ambika. It has numerous historical monuments, such as the Rajbari (the palace), and 108 Shiva temples. The city of Kalna is 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Bardhaman.
The first reference to Ambika Kalna is found in a 6th-century text known as the Kubjika Tantra.[1]
According to General Alexander Cunningham, the founder of the Archaeological Survey of India, Ambika Kalna was a frontier city of the Tamralipta kingdom during the 7th century. At that time, a naval base was founded in the city during the reign of Shashanka. Kalna houses the only Gaudiya Vaishnavist temple built in the lifetime of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the city was also an abode of pilgrimage for the Barnabites.[1] On the first day of Ramadan 939 AH (27 March 1533), a congregational mosque was built in Kalna by Ulugh Masnad Khan, who was the governor, commander and minister of Alauddin Firuz Shah II, the former Sultan of Bengal.[2]
The city reached its apex during the late 18th century under the patronage of the Maharajas of Bardhaman, who built several temples with intricate terracotta ornamentation.
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