Kamakhya

In Guwahati, there is a temple that is considered the second most important temple in the Hindu world. This is called Kamakhya.

The big three in the Hindu religion are the gods Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. I believe that world rests on Brahma, after it was created by Vishnu. And when the day of judgement comes, it will be Shiva that destroys it.

In the world of the gods, there was a king who was very rich and had lots of daughters. Most of his daughters found and married successful, rich men. He was proud of those daughters. But his one daughter, Sati, fell in love with and married the ascetic Shiva. Shiva's lifestyle was very austere and he had little and wished for less. Sati, by marrying Shiva and settling for the austere life, disappointed her father. He banished her from his life.

One day, the king decided to have a celebration, called a yajna. He invited all of his daughters except for Sati. She heard about the yajna and decided to attend it anyway. When she showed up, her father insulted her and Shiva. With the insults, she had too much and died.

Shiva heard of Sati's death and was infuriated and grief-stricken. He went and destroyed the yajna. Then he took Sati's body up on his shoulders and began a mad dance. His dance made the earth shake and tremble. Vishnu was awe-struck by Shiva's dance. He was also afraid, for he knew the power that Shiva possessed. If he wasn't stopped, the world would be destroyed. So, for the sake of the world, Vishnu took up his disc and spun it and let it fly at Sati's body. The disc cut Sati's body into pieces, which dropped off Shiva's shoulders and fell in different spots on the earth. These locations are called pitha's. They now are locations of sacred temples. These are located throughout what was once ancient India, which included Afghanistan, where Sati's brain is supposed to have landed. This is the most sacred pitha for Hindu's. Kamakhya is where Sati's genitals landed and is the second most sacred of the pitha's.

As I was in the neighbourhood, I decided to pay a visit. After trying in one spot recommended by Assam Tourism to find tea (but it was closed, being Sunday), I headed off towards Kamakhya. It was relatively easy to get there, but after getting off the bus at the “entrance” to the temple, it was another 4 kilometer walk to get to the temple itself. It was located at the top of a hill, and I had seen a little public van, but I hadn't really paid it much attention. By the time I saw the sign telling how far the temple was, the van had gone and I was left with walking.

But it wasn't so bad, with interesting sights along the way. These two idols were just sitting by the side of the road on the way up.

And there was a whole row of monkeys sitting on the guardrail.

I found my way up the hill to the temple and then wandered around for a while inside. There were domes, and apparently a little museum as well. I didn't end up looking inside the museum because I got in a line to go inside the temple. I guess there is a way to get inside as a VIP of sorts. I was told there were two levels of VIP-ness. One level was with a payment of 100 rupees. And the second level came with a donation of 500 rupees. Free was fine with me and the line for that didn't seem to be too long. In fact it wasn't. I have heard that people can wait for hours to get into the temple. They come for all sorts of reasons: to get cured of illness, to bless a child, to have a child, to remember lost loved ones, and of course just to visit. I was just curious and wanted to see what the fuss was about, but if I hadn't been able to get inside because the line was too long, that would have been okay as well.

I was impressed that if people of ill-repute, claiming to be representatives of the temple came up and hassled visitors for money, the temple authorities would take care of the problem.  Maybe.

As it happened, I did get in quite quickly, in about an hour. We stood in line for about 20 minutes and then ended up in a chute cage, that felt a little like we were cattle waiting to get into an abattoir. That is perhaps incredibly irreverent of me given that this was one of the more sacred places to Hindus in the world. I hope any Hindus reading will forgive me.

Finally we were let out of the cage and into the temple. The domed area notwithstanding, the temple was located underground. No photos were allowed. There was a large chamber maybe twenty meters across at the first worship place. In the center there was a throne of sorts where there seemed to be some kind of idol. It was hard to tell for all the flowers that people had thrown over the chair. In front of it, some people were occasionally brought to offer some kind of special prayer. The rest of us were herded past in a long line. We walked to the side of the throne, behind a low fence. As we went past, people reached out to touch the throne, or throw flowers. There was also a Hindu priest (or four; it was hard to tell, as a sign had warned outside of lots of fakes) on hand to bless the worshippers and to give them the third eye. Past the throne, we filed down a short stairwell to two little springs. They were barely springs as there was only a small amount of water that really only barely moistened the area. I suppose this may have been what gave everyone the idea that it was Sati's genitalia that landed here? I probably shouldn't have said that, but...

Even though I probably stuck out like a sore thumb as someone who is not of the faithful, I was encouraged to make my devotion by kneeling before each of the springs and putting my hand into the water and then touching the linga that was beyond. After this, I headed back up the stairs and past a corner where I was again blessed, and they wanted me to do all these little prayer-like things, touching here, murmuring my name there, making a wish, then making an offering. I perhaps misunderstood what was required. I saw money on the altar there, and assumed they wanted money. But when I said I wasn't offering any money, the guy seemed a bit put off that I would think that. He still said I should throw rice. But I had no rice and he didn't seem to understand what I was saying, and then I wasn't understanding where I was supposed to get the rice, which may have been, “throw some money and it will serve as your rice.” So I really don't know what happened there, as it wasn't explained and I am not Hindu, so don't know the rituals involved. Again, I think it would have been clear to all involved that I am not Hindu, so I don't know what he was thinking, unless it made me some kind of easy mark for getting money.

Following the strange little ceremony in the corner, it was time to exit. I headed up the second set of stairs and outside where it was now dark and the lines for going into the temple were empty. Apparently I was among the last to be allowed in for the day. It was an interesting experience, and if you do ever end up in Guwahati (and don't let my rants about how unfriendly it is deter you; it's really the hotels that seem that way, while the regular people are quite friendly), I recommend the trip up to the temple.