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Maa Kamakhya Temple, Assam |
Kamakhya had been an elusive, dream destination for many years now. It finally became possible to visit Her, thanks to a trip organised by Balaji Davey & Mantra Yatra. For long, I had been enamoured by the divinity and mystery that shrouded Kamakhya. From stories my father has narrated about his multiple visits and to what I had read and watched over the years, there was a constant desire fuelling me to visit Kamakhya, something that had not happened with the other Shakti Peeths.
The Shakti Peetas
Sati, also called Dakshayani, the daughter of Daksha Prajapati, was the first wife of Shiva. When Sati married Shiva against Daksha's wishes, he was upset and did not invite Shiva to a yagna performed by him. Angered by this act of her father, Sati went to the Yagna to seek justice where she is humiliated. She returned to Shiva, who was angry that his wife did not heed his words when he asked her not to go. Sati immolated herself (from where performing Sati got its name). Shiva roamed around with her body. In order to stop him, Vishnu cut down Sati's body into 52 parts with his Sudharshana Chakra. The places where the body parts fell, are known as the Shakti Peetas.
Out of these, there are four which are known as the Adi Shakthi Peetas, the holiest of them all. They are the Vimala Devi temple within the Puri Jagannath Complex, where the feet of Sati fell, Tara Tarini Temple in Ganjam District of Orissa where the breasts fell, Kamakhya where the Yoni fell and Dakshineswar Kalighat Mandir in Kolkata where the toes of the right leg fell.
The remaining 48 Shakti Peetas are spread across Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
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A map of the Shakti Peetas (Courtesy: Wikipedia) |
Assam was originally known as Pragjyothishapura which essentially means "Eastern Light". The name Pragjyotisa finds mention in the Mahabharata and Ramayana. The name was changed to Kamarupa during the times of Naraka, the king of Mithila. The name Assam came about through Shan invaders who became the rulers of the entire North-Eastern region including China, and came to be known as Asam, or later as Ahom, which name holds to date.
The name Kamarup and the legend of Kamadeva or Manmatha
After Sati's death, Lord Shiva lost interest in the charm of life. At that time, Tarakasura attacked Indraloka. Powered by a boon from Brahma, he was able to dethrone Indhra, The defeated Devas approached Brahma for a solution. Brahma knew that only a son of Shiva would be able to kill Taraka. He suggested that if Shiva made Parvathi, the daughter of Himavan, and a reincarnation of Sati, his consort, then a son born of them would be the solution to the misery the Devas were going through.
However, the challenge was to get Shiva interested in Parvati. The Devas sought the help of Kamadeva, also known as Manmatha. Kamadeva, accompanied by his wife Rati, and Vasanta Ritu (Spring Season) approached Shiva who was in deep meditation. He strung his sugarcane bow with the Mohana arrow - the floral arrow of desire, and hit directly at Shiva's heart. Immediately, Shiva opened his eyes and demonstrated desire for Parvati who emerged from a cave nearby. But soon enough, he was able to regain composure. His anger turned towards Kamadev for disturbing his penance, and he burnt him down, by opening his third eye. Rati, distraught by the loss of her husband, smeared his ashes on her body, and cried bitterly to Shiva to bring him back to life, for he had only acted in common good. Shiva agreed to revive Kama, but not with a physical body, but as Ananga, formless, and only visible to Rati.
The place where the revival of Kama took place, is known as Madan Kamdev, commonly known as the Khajuraho of Assam. It is about 40 kms from Guwahati, and is home to the ruins of around twenty temples dedicated to Lord Shiva.There is also the cave from where Parvati emerged near the ruins. Since Kamadev came back to life here, the place came to be known as Kamarupa or Kamrup as it is known now.
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Erotic miniature sculptures in the ruins of Madan Kamdev |
Maa Kamakhya
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The temple of Maa Kamakhya (Photo Courtesy: Suresh N S) |
The temple of Maa Kamakhya is located on the Nilachal Hills, at a height of 180 metres and about 20 kms from the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati. The temple built around a sanctum where the Yoni of Sati is believed to have fallen, is said to have been originally built by Viswakarma on the instructions of Lord Shiva and supervised by Kamadeva. This was rebuilt by Narakasura. When this was destroyed it was rebuilt by Visva Singha. And when the temple was destroyed by Kalapahar, some say damaged due to earthquake in the 13th century, it was rebuilt and expanded into the version we see today by King Naranarayana as explained by inscriptions.
The temple has a unique Nilachal style beehive like Vimana, with multiple panels showing gods and goddesses on the outside. The main Garbagriha of the temple housing Maa Kamakhya in the form of a rock fissure shaped like a Yoni is within a cave which is two and half metres below the ground level. It is a small and dark cave where only few people can stand at a time. The fissure slopes on both sides to form a Vagina like depression which is about ten inches deep. There is a natural underground spring from which water perennially flows from the Yoni and the devotees scoop up the water and drink it as Prasad. Every year, during Ambubachi mela, the Goddess is believed to menstruate when the water in this spring as well as in the Brahmaputra river at the foot of the Nilachal turns red. The Goddess is seen here as Tripura Sundari - right next to Maa Kamakhya are depictions of Lakshmi and Saraswathi.
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The beautiful Nilachal style architecture of the temple |
In the chamber above the Garbagriha, there is a small idol of Goddess Kamakhya, hardly visible within the mound of flowers that cover it. There are also sculptures of King Naranarayana, and other deities. Mother Kamakhya is shown as a young girl of sixteen years, with twelve hands and six heads. She is seen with three eyes, wearing red clothes and garlands of hibiscus. In her ten arms, she holds several weapons and a bowl in her main left hand and Abhaya mudra in her main right hand. She is seen sitting on a lotus that is emerging from the navel of Shiva who is seen as a corpse lying on a lion. The Goddess's right leg is placed on the chest of Shiva. Brahma and Vishnu are seen on either side of her, both seated in lotuses.
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Iconography of Maa Kamakhya |
The Legend of Narakasura and Kamakhya
Narakasura was born to Bhoomadevi (Mother Earth) and Vishnu in his Varaha Avatara. During his childhood, his mother assumed the name of Katyayani and took him to Mithila, and King Janaka took care of him like his own son. When he turned sixteen, his mother took him to the banks of the Ganges and narrated the story of his birth to him. She then invoked upon Lord Vishnu, who appeared before them and brought them to Pragjyothisapura. At that time, it was ruled by the Kiratas. Naraka fought with Ghataka, the king of the Kiratas and defeated him. He then took over as the King of Pragjyothisapura.
Pleased, Vishnu offered him his powerful weapon named Shakthi with the condition that Naraka should not use it on any human being, failing which his life would be in danger. He further instructed him to always worship Mother Kamakhya, who would safeguard and protect him. However, as fate would have it, Naraka developed friendship with Banasura, who dissuaded him from worshipping Maa Kamakhya. Slowly, Naraka started getting influenced by him and became irregular in his worship.
Banasura was the son of Mahabali and the grandson of Prahlada. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. His daughter Usha, dreamt of Aniruddha, the grandson of Krishna and fell in love with him. Her friend Chitralekha helped her identify her lover by painting various princes and then abducted Aniruddha for her friend. When Banasura came to know of this, he built a fort surrounded by fire known as Agnigarh to this day, and asked Lord Shiva to guard it. Soon enough, a battle ensued between Krishna and Shiva to rescue Aniruddha. In the battle, Krishna chopped off all the extra hands of Banasura to destroy his pride and all was well, when Aniruddha and Usha were married in the end. The Agnigarh fort stands to date in Tezpur, Assam with the Mahabhairav temple where Shiva stood guard as the Kshetrapalaka and Rudrapada temple, which has the foot mark of Shiva when he revealed himself to Banasura.
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Aniruddha, Usha and Chitralekha depicted in Agnigarh |
Now coming back to Naraka, he was so emboldened by the advice of Banasura, that he stopped believing she was the Supreme Mother and sought the hand of Maa Kamakhya in marriage. The goddess agreed to marry him provided he constructed a pathway from the foot of the Nilachala hill to the temple of Maa Kamakhya over night. Naraka deployed his best men to get this done. As the road started getting laid across the hill, the goddess sent a cock to crow early to give an impression that it had dawned. Angered, Naraka chased the cock and killed it. The place where this happened is to this day called Kukurakata meaning "the place where the cock was killed".
One day, Sage Vashista came to Kamakhya to worship Maa Kamakhya. However, Naraka did not let him in, saying that the pooja of Maa Kamakhya was going on. Angered, Vashista cursed Naraka that he would die at the hands of his father Lord Vishnu who would assume a human form in Dwapara Yuga. He also cursed Maa Kamakhya that she would be hidden in the Yonichakra and no one would get her blessings despite worshipping her. Maa Kamakhya went to Kailash and sought help from Lord Shiva who reinstalled her in Kamakhya, thereby breaking the curse of Vashista.
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Lord Shiva and Maa Kamakhya |
In the meantime, Naraka became powerful and fearless. He attacked the earth and the heaven alike and defeated Indra, and took away the earrings of his mother Athiti. Unable to bear his torture, the Devas, Rishis and saints approached Krishna who came to Pragjyothisapura which had by then been renamed as Kamarupa by Naraka along with Sathyabhama and after a fierce battle, Naraka was killed. At the time of his death, he sought a boon from Lord Vishnu that he wanted his death in the hands of his father, to be celebrated by all the people with new clothes, bursting of crackers, feast and festivities and this was the genesis of the Diwali festival. Krishna granted Naraka the boon he sought and placed Bhagadutta, his son on the throne of Kamarupa.
The legend of Biswa Singha and Nara Narayana
Biswa Singha was the founder of the Koch Bihar Dynasty in the 16th century. He was able to unite all the Bodo tribes and establish a dynasty. Once, when he was fighting the Ahoms, he and his brother lost their way in the heavy rains and darkness which destroyed their camp and found themselves go up the Nilachala Hill where they saw a light under a tree and an old lady who was worshipping a mound. When the tired and thirsty men asked for water, the old lady gave them water from a spring. The men enquired who she was worshipping for which she replied that the mound was the greatest among the Pithas and the temple around it had been destroyed over time. Biswa Singha promised to construct a temple of gold to the Pitha. He dropped three reeds and a ring in the spring and said he would believe in the goddess if he found them in the Ganga in Varanasi.
Years rolled by and Biswa Singha with the grace of Maa Kamakhya established a strong empire. He had forgotten all about the Mother and his promise. During a visit to Varanasi, when he took a dip in the Ganges he came up with the reeds and the ring he had dropped at Nilachala. That was when he remembered his promise. When he discussed with his courtiers, they told him several legends and miracles about Maa Kamakhya. Soon enough, the construction of the temple began, but since it was being done with brick, it kept breaking down. Biswa Singha did not have enough gold to build a temple, so he sought guidance from the Mother herself who appeared in his dream and said if he were to include one grain of gold in every brick, the temple will come up soon and so it did.
After his time, his son Nara Narayana took over the throne by overpowering his younger brother who had usurped it as soon as his father died. Another brother Sukladhvaja, popularly known as Chila Roy became his commander-in-chief. Once when they were away fighting the Ahoms, Kalapahar, the commander of the Nawab of Bengal attacked and destroyed the Kamakhya temple. When the brothers returned and saw the demolished temple, they decided to build it back after defeating the Nawab. However, they lost in war and Chila Roy was captured. While in prison, he repented for not having prioritized the reconstruction of the temple and wept. Maa Kamakhya appeared in his dream, and told him that the Nawab's mother would be bitten by a snake that the palace physicians would not be able to cure, and if he chanted the Maa's Mahamantra, he could save her life. Chila Roy did as suggested and in gratitude, the Nawab set him free.
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The temple as we see now built by Naranarayana |
He came back and narrated the tale to his brother and the two then decided to rebuild the temple which they did in six months. They had a grand inauguration, worshipped the mother daily and ensured day to day poojas and maintenance took place. The temple had a priest called Kendukalai who was an ardent devotee of Maa Kamakhya. Every evening during aarti, he would sign and dance and invite the Mother to dance with him and she would. She however, forbade him from sharing this with anyone. However, soon enough, Naranarayana came to know of this, and wanted to witness the Mother. So he asked Kendukalai to let him in when the dance happened. Kendukalai refused, fearing the wrath of the Mother. However, the king was insistent and he could not refuse. So, one day the king hid himself behind a pillar. When the priest invited Maa Kamakhya to dance with him, she started dancing but soon realised Naranarayana was watching.
She was furious and beheaded Kendukalai for his betrayal. She forbade Naranarayana to never set foot into her temple and ordered that he and all his descendants should not even look up towards the temple, let along visit. This curse is still in force and no one in the king's lineage has since visited the temple or even looked up in that direction.
Acknowledgements: The Mysterious History of Kamakhya by Parimal Kumar Datta & Mr Suresh NS for kindly allowing me to use some of his photographs.
Part 2 - Here is the link to Part 2 of the article which contains the following
Ambubachi Mela - the celebration of Maa Kamakhya's menstruation
Deodhani and Durga Puja
Kumari Puja at Kamakhya
The Dasa Mahavidhyas and days to worship them
What a visit to Kamakhya entails
Some Tips for a Kamakhya visit
Stay Tuned!