The sacred myths and legends associated with Kamakhya Temples' Complex
Myths and legends are repositories where important historical information and references are delicately hidden. Hence, they can be sensibly used as a tool for unearthing and reconstructing historical truth. The Kamakhya Temples' Complex is not an exception — numerous myths and legends related to the Shakti Peeth Kamakhya, still popular today, can be found in different scriptures along with oral legends, folk-lore, and narratives.
The Kamakhya Mandir is intricately linked with the mythological legend of Sati, the first wife of Lord Shiva and her father Daksha. The legend has been delicately elaborated in the Kalikapurana. According to the myth, King Daksha organized a grand Yagya (fire sacrifice) and invited all the Gods & Kings from the Tribhuvana. As Daksha could not tolerate his daughter's husband Shiva, he intentionally excluded Shiva and Sati.
Sati came to know about the insult and pressed Shiva to permit her to attend her father's Yagya. When Shiva did not allow Sati to attend, in rage, Sati transformed herself into Goddess Kali. Witnessing the transformation, Shiva was forced to permit Sati to attend the Yagya.
At the Yagya, Daksha humiliated Sati using insulting words in front of the crowd. Unable to bear the insult to her husband, Sati self-immolated in the sacrificial fire. Enraged with grief, Shiva carried Sati's body on his shoulder and started roaming around the universe in Tandava (cosmic dance of destruction).
To quell Shiva's Tandava and save the universe from the impending apocalypse, in consultation with Brahma, Vishnu intervened and with the divine Sudarshana Chakra severed Sati's body into 51 pieces. These pieces fell on the earth and transformed into Shakti Peethas, scattered across the Indian subcontinent.
Sati's Yoni (vulva) fell at the site of the Kamakhya Temple and the entire site transformed into a Yonimandala, making it one of the most significant and vibrant Shakti Peethas.
Gripped by intense grief of the self-immolation of his consort Sati, Lord Shiva alienated himself from all activities and went into the state of meditative mourning. Due to this, the creative process of the universe came to a halt. The Gods sent Kamadeva (a Cupid) to awaken Lord Shiva from his meditative mourning so that he could again engage in the passion of creation.
Lord Shiva became furious at the disturbance and burnt Kamadeva into ashes by the angry glance of his third eye. Shocked by the consequence, Rati, the wife of Kamadeva, prayed to Lord Shiva to bring back Kamadeva to life.
Satisfied with the prayer of Rati, Lord Shiva agreed — but with one condition: if Kamadeva and Rati erected a temple on the Nilachala (Kamakhya) where the Yoni of Sati fell, only then would he restore Kamadeva's life. After Kamadeva got his life back, he erected the Kamakhya Temple with the help of the celestial architect Visvakarma on the Yoni of Sati on the Nilachala.
As symbolic evidence, a statue of Biswakarma is still present in front of the northern gate of the Kamakhya Temple, and a temple dedicated to Biswakarma where regular worship is performed exists at the southern part of the foothills.
Naraka holds a prominent place in the pre-historic period of Pragjyotishpura (later known as Kamrup and then Assam). He appears in Ramayana as the lord of Pragjyotispura and a friend of king Ravana. In the Mahabharata, he is depicted as a Danava.
Naraka ruled Pragjyotishpura and was a good ruler who strictly adhered to the injunctions of his father and worshipped Devi Kamakhya very devotedly. Pleased with his dedication, Devi Kamakhya appeared before him. Seeing her unparalleled beauty, Naraka proposed marriage.
The goddess gave her consent with a condition: if Naraka constructed a temple, a tank and a masonry road from the foot of the hill to the top of the Kamakhya Hill within a single night before dawn, only then would she marry him. As he almost completed the construction, the goddess made a cock crow, declaring daybreak. The break of dawn signaled the end of the allotted time, and Devi Kamakhya refused to marry Naraka.
The masonry road or stone pathway said to be built by Naraka from the foothill of Kamakhya to the top of the Kamakhya Hill still exists to this day.
Puffed by the power he attained through worship of Devi Kamakhya, Naraka became egoistic and arrogant. Under the influence of his friend King Bana of Sonitpur, he developed Asura (demonic) qualities.
When the great sage Vashistha visited Nilachala to worship Devi Kamakhya, the arrogant Naraka denied him entry. An enraged sage Vashistha cursed Naraka, declaring that from then on Devi Kamakhya would be worshipped according to the Vamachara (left-handed Tantra Marga) tradition and she would disappear from his kingdom.
The ashram established by Sage Vashistha in Sandhyachala still exists as "Vashistha Ashrama" in the Beltola area of Guwahati.
According to this legend, Devi Kamakhya transformed herself daily into a beautiful woman and danced in tune to the music of the chief priest Kendukalai within the closed doors of the garbhagriha during the Aarati (evening prayer).
The Koch king Naranayana, desiring to witness the dancing Devi, pressured priest Kendukalai to make arrangements. The priest made a hole in the wall of the garbhagriha for the king to peep through.
Enraged by this treacherous act, Devi Kamakhya beheaded priest Kendukalai and debarred the king from visiting the Kamakhya Temples' Complex forever. She warned that along with him, all his relatives and future descendants must not visit — and if they did, the dynasty would vanish without a trace.
To this day, descendants of the Koch royal family pass by the hill under the cover of umbrellas. No descendant of the Koch Dynasty has visited the Kamakhya Temples' Complex since.
