Ambubachi Mela – A Tribute To Kamakhya Devi

You all might have heard about the Kamakhya Temple of Guwahati of Assam, which is dedicated to Kamakhaya Devi. Here in this temple is a festival called as Ambubachi Mela which takes place every year in the monsoon from 22nd June to 26th June. There is a legend behind the existence of this temple, that goes like there was a “Yagna” ceremony at the fathers place of goddesses Pravati’s, where all the gods were invited except Lord Shiva and Parvati, for this Parvati could not bear her husband’s insult at she took her life in that Yagna, listening to the news of death of his wife Lord Shiva, in this fury he decided to destroy the whole world and started performing tandav, in the attempts of stopping Lord Shiva from the destruction, by mistake because of Lord Vishnu’s disc the body of Goddesses Parvati got cut into 51 pieces, and according to this myth only her female genitalia or ‘Yoni’ fell on the spot where the Kamakhya temple stands today.

During the festival of Ambubachi Mela, the temple remain close, as this festival is celebrated for the annual menstrual cycle of the Kamakhya Devi, it is believed that during this three Devi through the yearly menstrual cycle. At the time of this Ambubashi Mela the devotee’s donot perform puja, read holy books, cooking, farming etc. There is also on more belief that these three days are unclean and unholy for the entire world. After the completion of these three days, the deity of the Kamakhya Devi is bathed and rituals here flow in continues flow for retaining the purity of the temple.

Ambubachi Mela is also well known as ‘Tantric fertility festival’, because thousands of sadhus, tantrics, sanyasins and other Devi sadhak visit this temple for the divine blessings of Kamakhya Devi.