Kamakhya Temple

The Kamakhya Temple (Assamese: কামাখ্যা মন্দিৰ); also Kamrup-Kamakhya is a Hindu temple dedicated to the mother goddess Kamakhya. It is one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Pithas. 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 the ten Mahavidyas: Kali, Tara, Sodashi, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamala. Among these, Tripurasundari, Matangi and Kamala reside inside the main temple whereas the other seven reside in individual temples. It is an important pilgrimage destination for general Hindu and especially for Tantric worshipers.

In July 2015, the Supreme Court of India transferred the administration of the Temple from the Kamakhya Debutter Board to the Bordewri Samaj.

Description

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.

Kamakhya

Kamakhya (Assamese: কামাখ্যা দেৱী, Bengali: কামাখ্যা দেবী) is an important Hindu Tantric goddess of desire that evolved in the Himalayan hills. She is also identified as Kali and Maha Tripura Sundari. According to the Tantric texts (Kalika Purana, Yogini Tantra) that are the basis for her worship at the Kamakhya temple, a 16th-century temple in the Kamrup district of Assam. The earlier manifest of the goddess sanctified at the Garo hills is destroyed, although the Vatsayana priests are said to have carried away the manifest of the goddess to the Hindu kingdom in Kashmir and later sanctified in a remote hill forest in Himachal. Her name means "renowned goddess of desire," and she resides at the presently rebuilt Kamakhya Temple in 1645 C. The temple is primary amongst the 51 Shakti Peethas related to the cult of Sati, and remains one of the most important Shakta temples and Hindu pilgrimage sites in the world.

Origins

Temple

A temple (from the Latin word templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities such as prayer and sacrifice. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the dwelling places of a god or gods. Despite the specific set of meanings associated with the religion of the ancient Rome, the word has now become quite widely used to describe a house of worship for any number of religions and is even used for time periods prior to the Romans.

Hindu temples

Hindu temples are called by many different names, varying on region and language, including mandir, mandira, ambalam, gudi, kavu, koil, kovil, déul, raul, devasthana and devalaya.

Hindu temples are large and magnificent with a rich history. There is evidence of use of sacred ground as far back as the Bronze Age and later the Indus Valley Civilization. However, it was not until Today, Hindu temples have been built in various countries around the world, including India, Nepal, Mauritius, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Great Britain, the United States, Australia, South Africa and Canada.

Black magic

Black magic or dark magic has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes. With respect to the left-hand path and right-hand path dichotomy, black magic is the malicious, left-hand counterpart of benevolent white magic. In modern times, some find that the definition of "black magic" has been convoluted by people who define magic or ritualistic practices that they disapprove of as "black magic".

History

Like its counterpart white magic, the origins of black magic can be traced to the primitive, ritualistic worship of spirits as outlined in Robert M. Place's 2009 book, Magic and Alchemy. Unlike white magic, in which Place sees parallels with primitive shamanistic efforts to achieve closeness with spiritual beings, the rituals that developed into modern "black magic" were designed to invoke those same spirits to produce beneficial outcomes for the practitioner. Place also provides a broad modern definition of both black and white magic, preferring instead to refer to them as "high magic" (white) and "low magic" (black) based primarily on intentions of the practitioner employing them. He acknowledges, though, that this broader definition (of "high" and "low") suffers from prejudices as good-intentioned folk magic may be considered "low" while ceremonial magic involving expensive or exclusive components may be considered by some as "high magic", regardless of intent.