Legends believe Kamakhya Temple is mystifying for these reasons!!

Story behind Shakti-Peeth

Kamakhya Temple has a very interesting story of its origin, as it is one of the 51 Shakti-Peeths in India. After the marriage between Lord Shiva and Sati, Daksha the father of Sati, enraged with his daughter’s marriage, performed a yagna, inviting everyone except Sati and Shiva. Sati still went to the yagna against the wishes of Shiva, where she and her husband were insulted and belittled. Unable to bear the insult, Sati sacrificed herself into the yagna. When Shiva came to know about his beloved Sati, he was furious and became insane with anger & anguish. In the Virabhadra avatar, Shiva destroyed Daksha’s yagna and cut off his head. He places Sati’s dead body on his shoulder and did the dance of destruction ‘’Tandav’’. Vishnu thus stepped in, to stop this destruction, by using his Sudarshan Chakra which cut through Sati’s corpse. The 51 places where Sati’s body parts fell are known as Shakti peeths today. Among them, the Kamakhya temple is the place where her womb and yoni (Female genitals) fell.

The Kamakhya Temple

It is located on Nilachal Hill in the capital city of Guwahati. It has a beehive-like Shikhara with delightful panels and images of many Hindu Gods & Goddesses outside. There are three pitchers on the main dome of 20 kg gold. From all over the world, many Sadhus & Tantrics come here to attain Siddhi. According to Kalki Puran, Sati used to retire in secret to satisfy her intimacy with Shiva here. Moreover, Lord Kamdev sought out of Shakti’s womb and Yoni after having lost virility to a curse. It is unique as it treasures no image, idol or statue of the goddess. Within the temple, there is a cave, in a corner of which Yoni shaped sculpture has been engraved on a rock. The stone is kept moist from the discharge of a natural spring within the cave which is mystifying.

The Bleeding Goddess

Maa Kamakhya is also regarded as the bleeding goddess. The legendary womb of Shakti is supposedly installed in the ‘Garvagriha’ or shrine of the temple where a short flight of stairs will take you to a small pool where you can offer puja. From there you can see the symbolic organ that remains covered with a red cloth. The temple consists of 4 chambers named Garbagriha, Calanta, Pancharatna and the Nrityamandapa. In the month of June, the Ambubachi puja (Fertility Festival) takes place which means that the goddess goes under the menstrual period and the temple remains closed for these three days and holy water is distributed among devotees. And on the fourth day, the door opens in a grand manner worth watching. Maa Kamakhya is regarded as the epitome of womanhood, as menstruation is the symbol of a woman’s creativity and power to give birth. So, the divinity of Kamakhya temple celebrates this ‘shakti’ or power within every woman.

The Temple Staircase

According to legends, once a demon, Naraka fell in love with goddess Kamakhya and proposed to marry her. The goddess gave him a task to build a staircase from the bottom of the Nilachal Hill to the temple within one night and promised that on completion of the task would surely marry him. Naraka took it as a challenge and when he was about to complete it, Devi played a trick on him. She converted a cock and made it crow untimely to give the illusion of dawn to Naraka. Fooled by the trick, Naraka thought it was a pointless job and left it halfway through. The incomplete staircase is known as Mekhelauja Path.