Syllabus:
GS1: Indian Culture – Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Context:
Thousands of devotees have arrived in Assam for the Kamakhya Temple’s annual Ambubachi Mela, one of the largest religious gatherings in Northast India.
Ambubachi Mela
- The festival is held during the monsoon, generally in June at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati.
- The period of Ambubachi is believed to be the period of the goddess’s annual menstruation, and the shrine is closed for this.
- At the end of the period, the shrine’s doors are opened ceremonially and devotees flock for darshan of the deity. This year, the shrine will remain closed from June 22 to 25, and will re-open on June 26.
- The festival is associated with fertility, with the onset of monsoon, and the common historical association across cultures of the Earth as a fertile woman. The name ‘Ambubachi’ itself translates to water flowing.
- It is believed that during monsoon rain the creative and nurturing power of the ‘menses’ of mother Earth becomes accessible to devotees at this site during Ambubachi.
- During this period, there is an entire cessation of all ploughing, sowing and other agricultural activities. Fragments of cloth stained with the blood-mark of the Goddess are distributed to the devotees and pilgrims preserve these in their houses as protective amulets.
Kamakhya temple
- It is situated on the Nilanchal Hills, on the outskirts of Guwahati.
- The temple is the place where Goddess Sati’s womb and genitals fell, marking it as one of the revered 51 Shakti Peeths.
- The Kamakhya Temple dates back to the 8th–9th centuries, rooted in the Tantric traditions of the Mleccha dynasty.
- The temple faced destruction during invasions but was rediscovered in the 1500s by Vishwasingha, founder of the Koch Dynasty.
Temple Architecture:
- Kamakhya is Assam’s only temple with a fully developed ground plan, featuring five chambers. The natmandir, added in 1759 by Ahom king Rajeswar Singha, serves as a hall for traditional dance and music.
- Each chamber of the Kamakhya Temple complex showcases distinct architectural styles. The main temple features a modified Saracenic dome, while the antarala adopts a two-tiered roof resembling traditional thatched cottages.
- The bhogmandir, also known as pancharatna, is crowned with five domes akin to the main shrine. The natmandir is distinguished by its shell-shaped roof with an apsidal end, reminiscent of the temporary namghars (prayer halls) commonly found in Assam.
- These five superstructure styles became models for temple shikharas across Assam, with Kamakhya’s 1565 renovation marking the start of a new architectural phase in late-medieval Assam.