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Kamakhya - Shakti Peeth

The Kamakhya Temple in Assam is one of the most venerated Shakti shrines in India, and is regarded as one of the Shakti Peethams associated with the legend of Shiva and Daksha Yagna.

Kamrup Kamakhya or just Kamakhya as the place is popularly known, is reckoned to be the most significant pilgrimage in the east. It is a pilgrimage to the Mother Goddess from whom springs forth all material and ethereal creation. Kamakhya is also the home of the most respected school of Tantra believed by the followers of the Tantric path to be a shortcut to salvation.

Rising to a modest height of 562 feet above the mighty Brahmaputra, the Nilachal Hill on which the temple stands commands a magnificent view of the entire city.

From the foothills of Nilachal there are two ways of travelling to the top. One is a small metalled serpentine road where vehicles ply. The other is a steep climb meant to be covered only by foot. This steep path is known by its ancient name, Mekhela Ujua Path. It goes through lush green canopied paths with various temples and stone structures and rock carvings on the way. It is believed that this path was built in a single night by the demon King Narakasura of Pragjyotishpur, the name of ancient Assam, to fulfill the Goddess Kamakhya’s wishes as a precondition to fulfill his ambition to marry her. The Goddess ultimately frustrated his ambition by tricking him when she showed him an artificial morning just when he was about to complete the construction of the path. Many such legends are abound about Kamakhya.

The Kamakhya story goes back to the beginning of time itself. Material manifestation, the work of Brahma is preserved by Vishnu and is eventually destroyed by Shiva. But Shiva being always engrossed in severe penances and meditation needs to be reminded from time to time of his particular task by a consort. A consort who could overlook his wild manners and cajole him to do his duties could only be the Mother Goddess. So Brahma asked his son Daksha to propitiate her to assume a physical form as his daughter and marry Shiva. The Goddess consented on the condition that at the slightest neglect on Daksha’s part, she would sacrifice herself and invoke the wrath of Shiva. In due course the Mother Goddess as Sati married Shiva and perfect harmony reigned.

One day King Daksha organized a royal yagna (religious sacrificial rite) and threw a banquet to which he invited all the deities except Shiva because he was not happy with Shiva’s unusual temperament. Sati, however, being the daughter, went uninvited. Unmindful of his promise to Sati, Daksha began to speak ill of Shiva. Sati became infuriated and she immolated herself by jumping into the yagna.

The meditation of Shiva, who is omnipresent, was disturbed, furious, he descended on Daksha and his kinsmen and destroyed them and, with the dead body of his beloved on his shoulders he proceeded to destroy all that came in his path. But the time for the destruction of the three fold world had not yet come so a worried Brahma and Vishnu contrived to calm down Shiva. They thought that if they could cause the body to disappear, Shiva would regain his equilibrium and return to his abode to resume his austere penances. So Vishnu used his Sudarshan chakra (wheel of death) to cut up the body and scatter it everywhere. The body was cut up in 51 parts and each spot where a part of Sati fell came to be venerated as a symbol of the divine decree. The place where Sati’s yoni (reproductive organ) fell thus became one of the most sacred of all religious sites.

When the yoni of Sati fell on the hill where the temple stands, the hill turned blue and came to be known as Nilachal or Blue Mountain.

The name of the place, Kamrup Kamakhya, was given by Naraksur, a former king who made Kamakhya his patron deity. It was during his time that the township around the temple came up and the place became a pilgrimage centre. The four great stone pathways from the base of the hill to the temple were built by him. The Tantras and the Puranas hold that Narakasur was born of the universe and Narayana in the form of a boar. Though a demon by birth, he was attracted by Aryan culture since he was brought up in the house of Janaka, the father of Sita. By the grace of Vishnu, Narakasur became the king of Pragjyotishpur. His kingdom flourished so long as he abided by the counsel of his mentor, Vishnu. The great Goddess Kamakhya granted his every wish. At the end of dwapar, the third epoch of creation, Narakasur formed an alliance with Bana, the powerful demon king of Sonitpur. Instead of paying obeisance to the Gods, Narakasur began to harass them. Narakasur began dreaming of becoming master of the universe and so Brahma and Vishnu had to destroy him and his kingdom and the temple of Kamakhya fell into ruins amidst impenetrable jungles.

However, the people of Nilachal remembered and always venerated the spot. Centuries passed and the land which was once known as Pragjyotishpur came to be known as the Kingdom of Ahom after the Ahom dynasty who now ruled over it. The name has survived till today but in an anglicized version – Assam.

Until the late 15th century the temple remained in ruins and was rebuilt not by the Ahom kings but by the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, Biswa Singh. In fact Cooch Behar was at war with the Ahoms. In the helter skelter of war, Biswa Singh was separated from his army and found refuge in Nilachal. He met an old woman offering prayers near the sacred spot and learnt from her of the greatness of Goddess Kamakhya. The Maharaja prayed to the Goddess to be reunited with his forces and to bring peace to his kingdom. He promised to build a temple of gold if his wishes were fulfilled. His scattered army returned to him and his re-established kingdom became a haven of peace. Biswa Singh remembered to fulfill his promise and began to rebuild the temple. But instead of gold he used bricks. To his surprise, as soon the edifice was raised, it came crashing down. One night the Maharaja had a dream in which a heavenly maiden reminded him of his promise to build a temple of gold. He begged the Goddess’s forgiveness and spoke of his inability to procure such a huge amount of gold. The ever merciful Goddess then asked him to put just a token amount of gold between each brick and build the temple. The temple was built as such and priests were appointed for regular worship of the Goddess. The temple built by the Maharaja stands till today.

The actual site of the temple is a cave containing a spring. During the month of asadha (June-July), the spring water turns red and the temple is closed for three days. Traditionally no one ploughs his field during this interval to enable the Mother Goddess to rest. Immediately after this period, there is a festival celebrated for four days which is the biggest attraction of the year at Kamakhya. During this period, in the night hours, inside the temple, deodashis (temple dancers) move in frenzied trance. Starting slowly to the beat of drums and blowing of conch shells, the dance reaches a crescendo when the dancer is said to be ultimately possessed by the Mother Goddess herself. It is generally believed that one can get anything foretold by the deodashis during this time. Male members are prohibited from watching the dances. There is a story about the Ahom king who dared to watch the goddess dancing and was immediately turned into stone.

Kamakhya in its present form was built in the 10th century by the gentle Koch Narayana who nominally ruled much of Assam alongside the Ahom kings. Preferring religious discourse to governance, the kingdom was governed by his brother, Sukladhwaj. Close to the temple cave stand statues of these two brothers because the siblings were not allowed to even look at the temple they had built because, according to a legend, the Goddess Kamakhya, pleased with the works of Narayana, visited him and gave him some instructions which he disobeyed because he did not recognize her. Infuriated, the Goddess proscribed the Koch dynasty from viewing her temple. Indeed, the Goddess is much feared. It is said that one of Narayan’s descendants, Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, visited Guwahati some 30 years ago and she meticulously averted her eyes while overflying Kamakhya in a helicopter.

Kamakhya is also the most important temple of the Shakti cult wherein all creation is perceived to the emanating from a temple deity. The practice of Shaktism has always been very personal and esoteric. It has never had any connection with any public religious order. Its tenets and history have been preserved in a special class of magical and sacramental literature, incomprehensible to the uninitiated. Not all inhabitants of Nilachal practice Tantrism. Whilst Tantra holds out the promise of unimaginable power for its followers, it also demands of them tremendous self-discipline which few can take.

Kamakhya is a unique synthesis of puritan ritualism and practicable customs. It is a pilgrimage in the traditional Indian mode. There are no hotels, no big shops and none of the attractions of urbanization. It affords an extremely privileged view into the life and rituals of an Assamese Brahmin because all the homeowners in Kamakhya are Brahmins.

From Kamakhya the next move is generally taken to Kachapukhuri. This is a natural pond full of turtles. Nobody knows as to how, when, why and who brought these amphibians from the plains to so high an altitude.

Around Kamakhya there are other temples of which the Bhutanese Tara temple and the shrine of the snake Goddess, Manasa, are more frequented. Manasa is menacingly dark because as soon as lights are fixed on, they immediately get fused.

Further up the hill, Bhubaneswari temple is situated at the highest point of the hill and offers a spectacular view of the city and the Brahmaputra river.

Not many people know that Kamakhya is a network of a myriad temples. Then, there is also a tunnel (now in bat-filled ruins) leading from here all the way to Shillong!

Festivals:
Durga Puja is celebrated annually during Navaratri in the month of September- October. It is a three day festival attracting several visitors. A unique festival observed here is the Ambuvaci (Ameti) fertility festival wherein it is believed that the Goddess (mother Earth) undergoes her menstrual period (also see Changannur Bhagawati in Kerala). During this period the temple is closed for three days and opened with great festivity on the fourth day. It is believed to be inauspicious to till the ground or to plant seeds, during this three day period.

Tantric Centre:
The Kamkhya shrine at Guwahati became India’s foremost centre of Tantra because the Shiv, Devi and Skanda Purans say that this was the precise spot here the female genitalia of the Great Mother Goddess, Sati, fell when Vishnu started dismembering her body to force her inconsolable husband, Shiv, into performing his divine duties again. Venerated since the ancient Vedic and Puranic times, this Goddess became the patron deity of Assam. Several smaller shrines and temples dedicated to Kala Bhairav, Shiv and other Hindudeities have sprung up here over the centuries. Kamakhya Devi’s inner sanctum is deep and dark.

Underground rock chamber into which one descends via dangerously worn slippery stone steps. The so-called Matra-yoni is kept covered with silk saris and flower garlands. Only a few fortunate worshippers are allowed here to light incense and lamps before the sacred yantra in which the goddess resides.

In the open temple courtyards upstairs, regular worshipers from the city and pilgrims offer coconuts, white pigeons, goats and even buffaloes as sacrifices to Kamakhya. Scantily clad saddhus and sari-draped sadhvis can be seen in quiet contemplation or talking to anxious persons eager to know the future or have their horoscopes read.