Kamakhya Temple () is a Hindu temple at Nilachal hills in Guwahati, Assam is one of the oldest and most revered centres of Tantric practices,"Seated on top of Nilacala hill on the banks of the Brahmaputra river in the state of Assam, Northeast India, Kamakhya temple is one of the oldest and most revered centres of Tantric practice in South Asia." dedicated to the goddess Kamakhya. The temple is the centre of the Kulachara Tantra Marga and the site of the Ambubachi Mela, an annual festival that celebrates the menstruation of the goddess."Today, Kamakhya remains both a vibrant centre of Tantric practice as the seat of a living lineage of the Kulacara Tantra Marga and a popular pilgrimage destination as the locus of major festivals such as Ambuvacī Mela." Structurally, the temple is dated to the 8th-9th century with many subsequent rebuildings—and the final hybrid architecture defines a local style called Nilachal. It is also one among the oldest 4 of the 51 pithas in the Shakta tradition.The four oldest of [the sakta pithas] are Kamarupa in the northeast, Uddiyana in the north (in the Swat Valley of modern Pakistan), Purnagiri in the south (precise location unknown) and Jalandhara (near Kangra in Himachal Pradesh)" An obscure place of worship for much of history it became an important pilgrimage destination, especially for those from Bengal, in the 19th century during colonial rule." As Ramos persuasively argues in her study of the sakta pithas, the once obscure and remote region of Assam became increasingly important to many Indians (particularly Bengalis) during the nineteenth century amidst the politics of British colonial rule."
Originally an autochthonous place of worship of a local goddess where the primary worship of the aniconic yoni set in natural stone continues till today, the Kamakya Temple became identified with the state power when the Mleccha dynasty of Kamarupa patronised it first, followed by the Palas, the Koch, and the Ahoms."Long after the collapse of the Pala dynasty, Kamakhya continued to be closely tied to kingship and territory. The temple was rediscovered in the sixteenth century by the Koch king Visva Singha (1515–40) and then rebuilt in its present form by his son Naranarayana (1540–86). Later, the most powerful of the Ahom kings, such as Rudra Singha (1697–1714) and Siva Singha (1714 _ –44), continued to patronise Sakta Tantra as the 'cult of strength'" The Kalika Purana, written during the Pala rule, connected Naraka, the legitimising progenitor of the Kamarupa kings, with the goddess Kamakhya representing the region and the Kamarupa kingdom."The story of Naraka is far more elaborate in KP in which his relationship with the goddess Kamakhya is heavily emphasized... Here the goddess is not merely a local goddess but a representative deity of the region and kingdom of Kamarupa..."
It has been suggested that historically the worship progressed in three phases—yoni under the Mlechhas, yogini under the Palas and the Mahavidyas under the Kochs. The main temple is surrounded in a complex of individual temples dedicated to the ten Mahavidyas of Saktism, namely, Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamalatmika."The group of Mahavidyas, ..., is the most comprehensive Sakta Tantric pantheon." Among these, Tripurasundari, Matangi and Kamala reside inside the main temple whereas the other seven reside in individual temples. Temples for individual Mahavidyas together as a group, as found in the complex, is rare and uncommon.
In July 2015, the Supreme Court of India transferred the administration of the Temple from the Kamakhya Debutter Board to the Bordeuri Samaj.
Description
The current structural temple and the rock-cut sculpture strewn in the vicinity indicate that the temple has been built and renovated many times in the period 8th–9th, 11th–12th, 13th–14th centuries and even later. The current form, from the 16th century has given rise to a hybrid indigenous style that is sometimes called the Nilachal type: a temple with a hemispherical dome on a cruciform base.
Shikhara and garbhagriha The shikhara over the garbhagriha has a pancharatha plan that rests on plinth mouldings that are similar to the Surya Temple at Tezpur. On top of the plinths are dados from a later period which are of the Khajuraho or the Central Indian type, consisting of sunken panels alternating with pilasters. The panels have delightful sculptured Ganesha and other Hindu gods and goddesses. Though the lower portion is of stone, the shikhara in the shape of a polygonal beehive-like dome is made of brick, which is characteristic of temples in Kamrup. The shikhara is circled by a number of minaret inspired angashikaras of Bengal type charchala.
The inner sanctum within the shikhara, the garbhagriha, is below ground level and consists of no image but a rock fissure in the shape of a yoni (female genital):
Calanta, Pancharatna, and Natamandir The temple consists of three additional chambers. The first to the west is the calanta, a square chamber of type atchala (similar to the 1659 Radha-Vinod Temple of Bishnupur). The entrance to the temple is generally via its northern door, that is of Ahom type dochala. It houses a small movable idol of the Goddess, a later addition, which explains the name."There is a mobile (calanta) image of Kamakhya at the outskirt of the cave", The walls of this chamber contain sculpted images of Nar Narayana, related inscriptions and other gods.
The natamandira extends to the west of the pancharatna with an apsidal end and ridged roof of the Ranghar type Ahom style. Its inside walls bear inscriptions from Rajeswar Singha (1759) and Gaurinath Singha (1782), which indicate the period this structure was built."The date of the (Natyamandira) is not known; but it possible pertains to the period of the two inscriptions pinned to the inner wall of its wall: one of Rajesshvarasimha, 1681 Saka/1759 AD and the other to Gaurinathasimha, 1704 Saka/1782 AD." The outer wall has stone sculptures from an earlier period embedded in high relief.
History
Site of Kamakhya Historians have suggested that the Kamakhya temple was likely an ancient sacrificial site for Koch and Rabha and other tribal peoples and that the name originates in the Khasi goddess, Ka Meikha (literally: old-cousin-mother);"Many historians have suggested that Kamakhya herself may have originally been a tribal goddess and that Nilachal hill may have been a sacrificial site for nearby peoples such as the Koch and the Rabhas. Some trace the name itself to the Khasi goddess Ka Meikha or 'old cousin mother'." and these claims are supported by the folklores of these very peoples."To this day, in fact, many Khasi and Garo folk tales claim that Kamakhya was originally a site of their own deities." The traditional accounts from Kalika Purana (10th century) and the Yogini Tantra too record that the goddess Kamakhya is of Kirata origin,"The Kalika Purana records that the goddess Kamakhya was already there in Kamarupa even during the time of the Kiratas and immediately before Naraka started to reside there. After the Kiratas were driven out, Naraka himself became a devotee of Kamakhya, at the instance of his father Vishnu. This shows that Kamakhya was originally a tribal mother goddess. It is not unlikely that the Khasi and the Garos who are not far off from the site of Kamakhya were the original worshipers of the goddess." and that the worship of Kamakhya predates the establishment of Kamarupa (4th century CE).
Ancient The earliest historical dynasty of Kamarupa, the Varmans (350–650), as well as Xuanzang, a 7th-century Chinese traveller, do not mention Kamakhya; and it is assumed that the worship at least till that period was Kirata-based beyond the Brahminical ambit."The cult of goddess Kamakhya seems to have remained beyond the brahmanical ambit till the end of the seventh century. The ruling family of Kamarupa during the Bhauma-Varmans dynasty did not pay any attention to her." The Hevajra Tantra, one of the oldest Buddhist tantras probably from the 8th century, makes a reference to Kamarupa as a pitha, whereas the first epigraphic notice of the goddess Kamakhya is found in the 9th-century Tezpur plates of Vanamalavarmadeva of the Mlechchha dynasty."The first epigraphic references to the goddess Kamakhya are found in the Tezpur plates and the Parbatiya plates of Vanamaladeva in the mid-ninth century." Art historians suggest that the archaeological remains and the lower strata of the temple indicate an older structure that could be as old as 5th- to 7th-century. The importance to Kamakhya that the Mlechchha dynasty gave it suggests that they either constructed or reconstructed it."Along with the inscriptional and literary evidence, the archaeological remains of the Kamakhya temple, which stands on top of the Nilacala, testify that the Mlecchas gave a significant impetus to construct or reconstruct the Kamakhya temple." From the mouldings of the plinth and the bandhana, the original temple was clearly of Nagara type possibly of the Malava style."This disposition of the plinth reminds oe of what has been known as the Malava expression of the nagara temple style."
Medieval There is a tradition that the temple was destroyed by Kalapahar, a general of Sulaiman Karrani (1566–1572). Since the date of reconstruction (1565) precedes the possible date of destruction, and since Kalapahar is not known to have ventured so far to the east, it is now believed that the temple was destroyed not by Kalapahar but during Hussein Shah's invasion of the Kamata kingdom (1498).Karrani's expedition against the Koch kingdom under the command of Kalapahar took place in 1568, after Chilarai had the temple rebuilt in 1565. Kalapahar was in seize of the Koch capital when he was recalled to put down a rebellion in Orissa—and there is no evidence that he ventured further east to the Guwahati region. Therefore, Kalapahar, Karrani's general, was not the person who destroyed the Kamakhya temple.
The ruins of the temple was said to have been discovered by Vishwasingha (1515–1540), the founder of the Koch dynasty, who revived worship at the site; but it was during the reign of his son, Nara Narayan (1540–1587), that the temple reconstruction was completed in 1565. According to historical records and epigraphic evidence, the main temple was built under the supervision of Chilarai.. It is said that Viswa Simha revived worship at Kamakhya. According to an inscription in the temple, his son Chilarai built the temple during the reign of Naranarayana, the king of Koch Bihar and the son of Viswa Simha, in the year 1565. The reconstruction used material from the original temples that was lying scattered about, some of which still exists today. After two failed attempts at restoring the stone shikhara Meghamukdam, a Koch artisan, decided to take recourse to brick masonry and created the current dome. Made by craftsmen and architects more familiar with Islamic architecture of Bengal, the dome became bulbous and hemispherical which was ringed by minaret-inspired angashikharas. Meghamukdam's innovation—a hemispherical shikhara over a ratha base—became its own style, called Nilachal-type, and became popular with the Ahoms.