About

• Ambubachi Mela is one of the biggest congregations of eastern India. 
• It is the most important festival of the Kamakhya temple of Assam and is celebrated in the month of June every year.
• The belief is that Kamakhya embodies the mother cult, the Shakti.
• During the period of Ambubachi from the seventh to the tenth day of the Hindu month of “Asadha“, the doors of the shrine are closed to all as it is believed that Goddess Kamakhya goes through the annual cycle of menstruation.
• On the twelfth day, the doors are opened ceremonially and a big fair is held at the temple premises on that day.
• Ambubachi mela is also known as the ‘Mahakumbh of the east’.

Kamakhya temple

• Kamakhya is one of 51 Shakti Peethas or holy sites for the followers of the Shakti cult, each representing a body part of the Sati, Lord Shiva’s companion.
• The temple’s sanctum sanctorum houses the yoni – female genital – symbolised by a rock..
• It is situated on the Nilachal Hill in western part of Guwahati city in Assam.
• It is an important pilgrimage destination for general Hindu and especially for Tantric worshippers.
• The temple complex houses temples dedicated to ten mahavidyas, of which the Kamakhya temple is the main one.
• The temple dates back to the 8th century and is believed to have been rebuilt several times till the 17th century.
• Legends say the temple was built by the demon king Narakasura.
• But records are available only from 1565 when Koch king Naranarayana had the temple rebuilt.

Architecture

• The current structural temple, built and renovated many times in the period 8th-17th century, gave rise to a hybrid indigenous style that is sometimes called the Nilachal type, a temple with a hemispherical dome on a cruciform base.
• The temple consists of four chambers: garbhagriha and three mandapas locally called calanta, pancharatna and natamandira aligned from east to west.

Why in News?

• Ambubachi mela began at the Kamakhya temple on June 22 without mendicants, hermits and devotees for the first time in almost 500 years.
• The Kamakhya temple administration decided to keep the premises locked in view of the spike in COVID-19 positive cases in the State, primarily Guwahati.