Belur Math

Belur Math is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, founded by Vivekananda in 1897, and its main temple, completed in 1938, was designed to embody the movement's principle that religions are different paths to the same end: the entrance draws on South Indian gopuram forms, the upper structure on Rajput and Mughal work, the dome on Hindu temple and Islamic precedent, and the plan on a Christian church, so the building reads as one thing from a distance and resolves into several traditions up close. It stands in gardens on the Hooghly with shrines to Sarada Devi and Vivekananda alongside.

What you actually see

• The composite temple - Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist and Christian forms in one design.
• The riverside gardens - lawns and paths along the Hooghly frontage.
• The subsidiary shrines - temples to Sarada Devi and Vivekananda.
• The museum - material on Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and the mission.

When to go

October to March; the complex closes in the middle of the day. Evening arati on the river side is the quietest and most atmospheric time. Kolkata summers are hot.

Honest expectations

Photography is prohibited inside the temple. The site closes for several hours at midday. Ferry timings from Dakshineswar are limited and the crossing is weather-dependent.

Nearby

Dakshineswar lies across the river; Howrah is south.