Ambubachi Mela is held every year
during the monsoon season, which happens to fall in around the middle of the
month of June-July at Kamakhya Temple, in the northeastern state of Assam. Noteworthy,
this Shakti Pithas is one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Pithas in India.
The Ambubachi Mela is the most
important festival of the Kamakhya Temple of Guwahati. The Ambubachi Mela is a
ritual of Tantrik means. It is believed that the presiding goddess of the
temple, Devi Kamakhya, the Mother Adi Shakti, goes through her annual cycle of
menstruation during this time stretch.
During the Mela, the doors of the
Kamakhya Temple remain closed for three days. It is believed that the Mother
Earth becomes unclean for three days. During this time any kind of farming work
is not taken on. Daily worships and other religious performances are also
stopped during the Ambubachi Mela in Assam. After the completion of three days,
the doors of the Kamakhya Temple are reopened. But the doors of the temple are
reopened only after Devi Kamakhya is bathed and the other rituals are executed.
It is then believed that the Mother Earth has retrieved her purity. This is
purely a ritual of the Tantrik cult. On the fourth day, the devotees of the Goddess
are allowed to enter the temple for worshipping Devi Kamakhya.
Every year lakhs of pilgrims,
Sannyasins, black clad Aghoras, the Khade-babas, the Baul or singing
minstrels, Tantriks, Sadhus and Sadhvis
and common people from all corners of India, visit Kamakhya during the four day
Ambubachi Puja.
