The Shri Maha Kali Devi Mandir was incorporated as a religious institutuion in the State of New York in 1998. It is a non-profit community organization, a temple society, supported through offerings, donations, in-kind contributions, and volunteer service by devotees of Mother Kali and friends. The Temple was founded in 1996 when Guyanese Kali devotees living in New York asked Pujari Basdeo Mangal of the Kalimai Mandir at Blairmont in Guyana to bring Mother Kali’s sacred medicine from their native land for the care and comfort of her immigrant children in the U.S This led to the opening of the Kalimai Temple in Brooklyn. Our Temple has weekly Sunday Pujas, when pujari, priests and priestesses, take care of each and every individual who asks for help. The Temple members and devotees also organizes Big Puja (3 Days Karagam Puja), the annual invocation and worship of Mother Kali, puja for seasonal and Ocommunal festivals, and for individuals and families.

Kali Mandir supports the work of older temple communities in Guyana and Trinidad, and mentored the creation of new temples in Ontario, Canada (2001), Florida (2002), and London England (2004). Weekly instruction by older tradition-bearers in Tamil Language, invoking and chanting, devotional singing, ritual and cermonial drumming, healing, altar-making and decorating, mandala-making, story-telling, and preparing offerings of various foods passes on sacred crafts to youth and children. Our Temple also supports the work of other cultural institutions, academicians, scholars, intellectuals, and artists interested in the history, culture, and cures of Kali Temple Traditions.