15/06/2021
MAA KAMAKHYA TEMPLE:
The Kamakhya Temple is a Sakta temple dedicated to the mother goddess Kamakhya. It is one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Pithas.[4] Situated on the Nilachal Hill in western part of Guwahati city in Assam, India, it is the main temple in a complex of individual temples which is the most comprehensive representation of the ten Mahavidyas of Saktism, namely, Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamalatmika. Among these, Tripurasundari, Matangi and Kamala reside inside the main temple whereas the other seven reside in individual temples. It is an important pilgrimage destination for Hindus and especially for Ta***ic worshipers.
Originally an autochthonous place of worship, the Kamakhya Temple became identified with the state power when the Mleccha and then with the Pala kings of Kamarupa, and finally the Koch and the Ahoms patronised it. The Kalika Purana, written during the Pala rule, connected Naraka, the legitimizing progenitor of the Kamarupa kings, with the myth of the goddess Kamakhya representing the region and Kamarupa kingdom.
