Ambubahi Mela: A Celebration of fertility of Mother Nature

June is not exactly the perfect time to visit Guwahati. It is the rainy season which sees the mighty Brahmaputra in its full fury. It is also the time when the humid heat becomes unbearable with everyone sweating themselves out. But still it is during this June month that one sees a frenzied rush to the Guwahati of people who are seeking religious solace and peace. So a drive around Guwahati at this time will reveal a sudden growth in the population of sadhus and ascetics. Trains loaded with pilgrims arrive in frenzied numbers at Guwahati making things rather uncomfortable for the authorities there. After all, it is the time of the yearly Ambubachi Mela.

Over the years, the Ambubachi Mela has taken the form of a “KumbhMela of the Northeast.” It is rather a phenomenon to see thousands of pilgrims turn up for this event which takes a colourful shape at the Kamakhya Temple atop Nilachal Hill at Pandu in Guwahati. Traditionally the Kamakhya Temple has been one of the most sacred Shaktipeeth shrines of India. It is perhaps the most important temple in Assam today where the Tantric cult of Hinduism is prevalent. As per traditions, when Shiva’s wife Sati passed away he carried her body around the world in a fit of grief. Fearing universal apocalypse, Lord Vishnu cut up Sati’s body into various pieces with his Sudarshan Chakra. The various body parts that fell down on the earth became the various shrines of Shakti (Mother Goddess) worship all over the Indian subcontinent. And here on the Nilachal Hill, fell Sati’s “Yoni” or genitals and so sprang forth Kamakhya, the goddess of sexual desires and tantric worship.

Every year during the month of June for a period of three days, the goddess goes through her annual period of menstrual cycle which renders her unclean for that period. During this period, the temple doors are closed. All religious activities are suspended and farming works are not undertaken. The small stream which flows from the temple becomes red signifying the blood flowing out of the goddess. For these three days, a sort of religious fair or a “mela” takes place outside the temple which sees devotees coming in thousands from all over India, especially from the states of West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar. After the three days period, the goddess is ritually bathed and her purity restored. The temple gates are thrown open to the devotees to worship and “Prasad” is distributed either in the form of Angadhak- sacred white water or Angabastra- pieces of red clothes symbolic of the goddess’s feminine power.

It is one festival that one should experience at least once in a year.