Despite the fact that a huge section of people in India are still reticent about discussing menstruation or the problems that women face, there is a temple that, despite the stoop of time, worships one of the most common natural phenomena.
The Kamakhya temple is famous not only as a place of worship in Assam, but it is in fact rather an unusual temple in the whole of India. The temple is situated on the Nilachal hill in Guwahati, and the goddess of the temple, Kamakhya Devi, is known as the ‘Bleeding Goddess’ in the region.
It is said that in the temple’s 'Garvagriha,’ or the womb chamber of the temple, is preserved the womb and vagina of the goddess Shakti. In June, every year during the Hindu month of Ashaad, the rivers in the vicinity of Kamakhya temple, the Brahmaputra river, turns red in colour. Today that space where the Kamakhya temple is located is also believed to be the place where Shiva first courted Sati.
Attractions: Although there is no depiction of the goddess Shakti in the temple complex, it is Yoni or the female genitalia part of the goddess, situated in a corner of the cave in the temple, that gets the veneration.
LBB tip: The prasad of the temple is the garb-gira which is the water present in the garb-grah which you must drink. And if you want to take some with you, fill it in a copper urli to take it.
