Feb 11, 2016 09:11 PM
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Kamakhya Temple is located on Nilancal Hills in western part of Guwahati on adjoining banks of Brahmaputra River. There is a complex consisting of several temples around Maa Kamakhya Temple. Apart from this, there are also the temples of 10 Mahavidyas in and around hte temple. These include Bhuvaneshvari, Bagalamukhi, Chinnamasta, Tripura Sundari, Tara, Kali, Bhairavi, Dhumavati, Matangi and Kamala Temples. Among these, Tripurasundari, Matangi and Kamala reside inside the main temple whereas the other seven are individual temples located on Nilachal Hills.
The temple of Kamakhya has a very interesting story of its origin. It is one of the 108 Shakti Peeths. The story of the Shakti peeths goes like this; once Sati fought with her husband Shiva to attend her father's great Yagna. Despite her husband Lord Shiva’s disapproval, Sati had gone to attend the universal ‘Yagna’ organized by her father Daksha. Shiva was not invited, and was also abused by Daksha. When Lord Shiva Got to know about this, he was Unable to bear his insult, Sati committed suicide. When Shiva came to know that his beloved wife had committed suicide, he went insane with rage. He placed Sati's dead body on his shoulders and did the “Tandav” or dance of destruction.
To calm him down, Vishnu cut the dead body with his chakra. The 108 places where Sati's body parts fell are called Shakti peeths. Kamakhya temple is special because Sati's womb and her private parts fell here.
Another great event is the, Durga Puja ehich is celebrated here in the Kamakhya Temple. It is celebrated in a zealous manner annually between the months of September and October. A three day festival held in the temple attracts several visitors and devotees from far and wide. Also, a unique festival is observed here annually for the mother Goddess known as Ambuvaci or Ameti. It is a certain type of fertility festival that pays respect to the female energy.
Although little is known about the early history of the temple, the first reference to the place has been traced back to the Allahabad inscriptions of Emperor Samudragupta. The present temple was built in 1665 by King Naranarayan of Cooch Behar. The main temple has seven oval spires, each topped by three golden pitchers.
Pilgrims have to queue up at the entrance porch from where they move slowly into the semi – dark sanctum sanctorum. Images of gods and goddesses of Hindu pantheon are carved on the walls. The image of the Goddess along with other deities is kept on a throne. Pilgrims follow the narrow alley behind the throne to enter the sanctum sanctorum. Inside, a short flight of stairs will take you to a small subterranean pool. Pilgrims squat by the water’s edge and offer their ‘Puja’(worship). From here they can see the symbolic organ that remains covered with a red cloth.
Khamayka temple was made by the angriness of Lord Shiva, this temple came into the existence when a wife can’t bear the pain of insult of his husband.
Actually the father of sati, King Daksha did not liked lord Shiva but his daughter went madly in love with Shiva and also meditate him. From her prayers lord Shiva gave her a promise to marry with her and when her father got to know that then he became so angry and refused to a accept Lord Shiva as his son in law.
It was said that one day he organized a "Shanti Yagna" and in there he invited everyone except lord shiva and he started insulting Lord Shiva in-front of other kings, when sati got to know about this she became in anger and comes at the place where yagya was going and said to stop doing insulting her husband, after this she jumped down into the fire and died. When Lord Shiva reached there he took her body and started doing his anger dance(Tandav), for saving the world lord Vishnu cut the dead body of sati from his Chakra and then lord Shiva calmed down and started moving here and there with getting up his wife’s dead body, because of this, her body parts were felling and where her body parts fell down it became a pith or a Temple.
Khamakya is also the part of that pith where the sati's Yoni fell . When the yoni of Sati fell on the hill, where the temple stands, the hill turned blue and came to be known as Nilachal(Blue Mountains). The name of the place Kamrup Kamakhya was given by Narakasur, the demon king. He made Kamakhya his patron deity. The original temple was built by Kamdev, the God of Love, with the help of the celestial architect Vishwakarma.
As we know India is famous for its tradition so for this temple there is also traditional story. Tradition has it that once in every year, the spring waters at Kamakhya turn red and the temple remains closed. Kamakhya, the Mother Goddess, is supposed to enter her period of menstruation. Cloth offerings brought from near and far by devotees are soaked in the waters and distributed as Prasad.
The Temple gets opened everyday at 08.00 AM and remains opened till 06.00 PM.
