KAMAKHYA TEMPLE

 

The Kamakhya Temple

Kamakhya Temple

Kamakhya Temple is a famous Hindu temple which was built by devotees in reverence towards the mother Goddess Kamakhya or Sati, who was one of the numerous incarnations of Goddess Durga or Goddess Shakti. The Kamakhya Temple is situated on the Nilachal Parbat or Kamagiri in the western part of the beautiful city Guwahati in Assam, India. Kamakhya Temple is the heart of Assam and every year a large number of visitors come here.

According to the Kalika Purana, Sati the wife of Lord Shiva (Mahadeva, one of the holy Trinites according to the Hindu Mythology) took her life at a ‘Yagna’ ceremony that had been organized by her father Daksha (Prajapati). Daksha did not like Shiva and he always insults Shiva but when his daughter was married with Lord Shiva then he felt more insult and then only he insulted both of them (Sati and Shiva) and then he told them to never come back in front of him. After a few days Daksha had organized a Yagna where all the God and Goddess were invited expect Sati and Shiva. Although Sati was sad for that but she decided to go in her father’s home and she wanted to clear all the misunderstandings. Lord Shiva advised Sati to not go in the Yagna; 

Wall of Kamakhya Temple

but Sati paying no heed to her husband’s advice and she went there with a believe that she would bring back her father’s love and support and her father would forgive both of them and he would love if she visits there. Sati was gone with Lord Shiva’s vahan Nandi. But, Daksha was rudely scold Sati and insulted her husband. Sati tried to bring back the faith of her father but she couldn’t. She was unable to bear the insult of her beloved husband and she took her life by leapt into the very sacrificial fire of the Yagna. When Lord Shiva came to know of what had happened, his anger knew no limits. Shiva the destroyer of all came in the Yagna and punished Daksha by replacing his head with a goat’s head and carrying his wife’s burnt corpse, he went on a rampage with his ‘Tandav’ (the dance of destruction). While all other gods cowered in fear under Shiva’s rage, it was Vishnu (also one of the Trinities in Hindu Mythology) who sent his Chakra and cut the body of Sati, in order to calm the aggrieved deity.

It is believed that Sati’s body parts fell in 108 different locations which are today known as Shakti Peethas and the place where her yoni (genital) fell is constitutes the Kamakhya Temple.

Kalika Purana mentions Kamakhya as one of four primary Shakti Peethas. Kamakhya finds its name from the Hindu God of love, Kamadeva. As the story goes, the god had sought out Shakti’s womb and genitals after having lost virility to a curse. As a tribute to Shakti and her ability to lend back Kamadeva his potency, the deity of Goddess Kamakhya was installed and continues to be worshipped until today.

The Kamakhya Temple is considered to be a woman’s power to give birth, it is a holly symbol of woman’s ‘Shakti’.

Sculpture in Kamakhya Temple

King Nara Narayana of Cooch Behar rebuilt the temple in 1665 after it had suffered destruction at the hands of foreign invaders. The temple consists of seven oval spires and each topped by three golden pitchers, and the entrance spirals down to a curvy path of some distance, which specially links the main road to the temple. The Kamakhya Temple is the main temple in a complex of individual temples dedicated to the Mahavidyas of Shaktism : Kali, Tara, Sodashi, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamalatmaika. Among these, Tripurasundari, Matangi and Kamala reside inside the main temple whereas the other seven reside in individual temples.

The Kamakhya Temple is the centre for Tantra worship and attracts thousands of tantra devotees in an annual festival famous as the Ambubachi Mela. Curiously enough, every year during the month of Ashaad (June), the Brahmaputra river near Kamakhya turns red. It is believed that the Goddess ‘menstruates’ during this period. It is the celebration of the yearly menstruation course of Goddess Kamakhya and it is believed that during the monsoon rains, the creative and nurturing power of the ‘menses’ of Mother Earth becomes accessible to devotees at this site during the Ambubachi Mela.

Another annual celebration is the Manasha Puja. Durga Puja is also celebrated annually at Kamakhya during Navaratri in the autumn.

 You must visit Kamakhya Temple if you are planning to visit beautiful state Assam.