The Kamakhya Temple                      

The Kamakhya Temple is a famous temple located in the state of Assam, India. It is dedicated to the goddess Kamakhya, a form of the Hindu goddess Shakti. The temple is considered one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Hindus, particularly for those who follow tantric traditions. The temple is known for its annual Ambubachi Mela, a festival that celebrates the menstruation of the goddess Kamakhya. During this time, the temple is closed for three days, and devotees gather to offer prayers and participate in various rituals

"Ambubachi" means spoken with water and it also implies that the rains expected during this month make the earth fertile and ready for procreation.




Kamakhya Temple is famous for 51 shakti peeths..

Kamakhya temple is Guwahati's most popular attraction and one of India's most prominent temples. Dedicated to mother Goddess Kamakhya, the Kamakhya temple is one of the oldest of the 51 shakti peeths.


 Goddess Shakti goes through the menstrual phases during the days when the mela is celebrated and hence the temple is closed for the pilgrims for three days.

A Shakti Sthal, much like the Kamakhya Temple in Assam, prohibits men from entering the temple premises during the time when the Goddess is believed to be menstruating. During this time, the temple management also allows only women to enter the premises.

It is situated on the Neelachal Mountain, 10 km from Kamakhya and, 8 kilometers from the city of Guwahati, which is located near Dispur, the capital of Assam. It is a temple of the Goddess of power, Sati. Kamakhya temple is one of the 51 Shakti Peeths of Goddess Sati.

December will be a great time to visit Guwahati. The weather will be very entertaining in December. There are a lot of visiting places in Guwahati, you can visit the Brahmaputra river, Umananda Temple, and more places 

The important architectural features of the temples in Bengal were the double-roof dochala and the four-roof chauchala. In the comparatively more complex four-roofed structure four triangular roofs placed on the four walls move up to converge on a curved line or a point. Temples were usually built on a square platform.


The walls of this chamber contain sculpted images of Nar Narayana, related inscriptions, and other gods. It leads into the garbhagriha via descending steps. The Pancha Ratna to the west of calanta is large and rectangular with a flat roof and five smaller shikharas of the same style as the main shikhara.

The current structure has a beehive-like shikhara characteristic of lower Assam with delightful sculptured panels and images of Ganesha and other Hindu gods and goddesses on the outside. The temple consists of three major chambers.

The Kamakhya Temple stairs

The incomplete staircase to the temple: An Asura or demon named Naraka fell in love with Goddess Kamakhya. He wanted to marry her. Goddess Kamakhya who was not interested in Naraka put forward a condition to him that he should build a staircase within one night from the bottom of the Nilachal hill to the temple. As per I know there are 150 steps 

The name of the pond is Kamakhya Temple.

Dedicated to Ugratara, another form of Devi Kali, this temple stands on the banks of twin ponds called Jorpukhuri in the Uzanbazar area of Guwahati.

Bhog and sacrificed


. About 10 buffaloes are sacrificed between Maha Saptami and Maha Navami at Kamakhya. Fewer animals are sacrificed here in comparison to Billeswar Devalaya because it is a time-consuming process, said Sarma

The daily Bhog or Prasad of Kamakhya Temple consists of Khichiri or Khichdi, Payokh or Kheer, Mixed vegetable curry, and a Papor or Pappad. It is served by Annapurna Bhojanalaya of Temple Complex every day at around noon. The Bhog is distributed among the devotees after serving it to Ma Kamakhya







 

History of Temple



 Tribal worship of the Goddess at the site of Kamakhya has been going on since prehistorically ancient times. When the kingdom of Kamarupa was founded around 350 C.E., the worship of Kamakhya was already fully established and renowned.

The original worship at Kamakhya was not in a temple, but the worship of the Yoni was made of natural stone - and this is still the primary worship to this day. As for the temple, an archaeological investigation of the site has found there was a massive temple at Kamakhya in the 700s C.E. Earlier than that, we do not know.

In 1498, Sultan Ala-ud-din Husain Shah invaded the Hindu kingdom of Kamata and destroyed the Kamakhya Temple, smashing it apart and leaving its ruins scattered about. Worship was soon revived at the site, but the construction of the replacement temple was not completed until 1565. So that is the age of the present Kamakhya Temple (plus ongoing renovations since then).