Temple entrance gate in fast motion

Entrance gate of Kamakhya temple in fast motion.

The Kamakhya Temple is a Sati Pith temple situated on the Nilachal Hill in western part of Guwahati city in Assam, India. It is the main temple in a complex of individual temples dedicated to different forms of the mother goddess as the Dasa Mahavidya, including Bhuvaneshvari, Bagalamukhi, Chinnamasta, Tripura Sundari and Tara. It is an important pilgrimage destination for general Hindu and Tantric worshipers.

One of the most persistent mythologies concerning the origin of worship at the site is associated with the myth of Sati, who was the wife of the ascetic god Shiva and daughter of the Puranic god-king Daksha. Daksha was unhappy with his daughter's choice of husband, and when he performed a grand Vedic sacrifice for all the deities, he did not invite Shiva or Sati. In a rage, Sati threw herself onto the fire, knowing that this would make the sacrifice impure. Because she was the all-powerful mother goddess, Sati left her body in that moment to be reborn as the goddess Parvati. Meanwhile, Shiva was striken with grief and rage at the loss of his wife. He put Sati's body over his shoulder and began his tandava (dance of cosmic destruction) throughout the heavens, and vowed not to stop until the body was completely rotted away. The other Gods, afraid of their annihilation, implored Vishnu to pacify Shiva. Thus, wherever Shiva wandered while dancing, Vishnu followed. He sent his discus Sudarshana to destroy the corpse of Sati. Pieces of her body fell until Shiva was left without a body to carry. Seeing this, Shiva sat down to do Mahatapasya (great penance). Despite the similarity in name, scholars do not generally believe that this legend gave rise to the practice of sati, or widow burning.

According to various myths and traditions, there are 51 pieces of Sati's body scattered across the Indian subcontinent. These places are called shakti peethas and are dedicated to various powerful goddesses. Kamarupa ("form of desire") is the region in which the yoni ("vulva," "womb," or "source") is said to have fallen to earth, and the Kamakhya temple was said to have been constructed on this spot.

This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and Digital Betacam. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.

Dasa Mahavidya Bhuvaneshvari Bagalamukhi Tripura Sundari tara kamakhya temple tantric

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• aghoree
• assam
• guwahati
• ambubachi
• mela
• 2011
• india
• asia
• youtube
• google
• assami
• Kamakhya
• Temple
• menstruation
• goddess
• Brahmaputra
• river
• Ahaar
• Mother
• Earth
• yoni
• Tantric
• fertility
• festival
• aghori
• north
• east
• eastern
• railways
• airways
• roadways
• devotee
• people
• crowd
• train
• tourist
• travels
• hotels
• worship
• devi
• bengali
• pooja
• aarti
• archana
• mashal
• torch
• adventure
• Angodak
• Angabastra
• prasad
• sadhus
• sanyasi
• Sadhvis
• Assamese
• Culture
• death
• slaughter
• murder
• decapitate
• honor
• bhajan
• singing
• baba