কামাখ্যা মন্দিৰ
Nilachal Hill, Guwahati, Assam · 26.1664°, 91.7055°
The supreme seat of tantric Shaktism: in the cave sanctum there is no image, only a natural cleft in the rock, moist from a spring — the yoni of the Goddess. During the Ambubachi Mela each June the temple closes for the Devi's annual menstruation, then reopens to vast crowds; the red-tinted water is the great prasad. The Koch-era beehive shikhara set the 'Nilachala' style of Assam.
Here fell the yoni of Sati — the generative source itself; and here Kamadeva, burnt to ash by Shiva's third eye, regained his body (kama-akhya, 'named desire'). Naraka, the legendary king, was set the task of building a stair to the shrine in one night — the unfinished Mekhelauja path remains his failure and warning.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-26 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Koch