“Indian gods and goddesses are personal, down-to-earth and human-like, despite their powers.”
We started from our hotel at Guwahati on a bus. Guwahati is a crowded valley at the bank of Brahmaputra River, having narrow roads, not unlike Kolkata. After a slow ride of around half an hour, the bus lurched around a corner and started to move uphill. A road sign gave the direction to the famous Kamakhya temple. The hill that we were now climbing up is called Nilachal Hill. Nilachal means blue mountain, and the hill was indeed surrounded by blue sky. At the peak of the hill was a small village that became the heart of Tantra in India. This was the sacrificial site of the Khasi people. Animals were sacrificed for divine interventions in people’s life. The Khasi people speak Austro-Asiatic language, similar to some South-East Asian groups. The group probably originated in South-East Asia around 20-40,000 years ago. There was a later backflow of this group into India around 10,000 years ago, just after the Last Glacial Maximum. Some studies suggest a later migration around 4,000 years ago.
Indian gods and goddesses are personal, down-to-earth and human-like, despite their powers. They have their own family issues too. Once Sati fought with her husband Lord Shiva and went to attend her father Dakshya’s grand yagna. Since Dakhhya did not like his son-in-law, he did not invite them. Angered by her father’s insult thrown at her husband Lord Shiva at the ceremony, Sati committed suicide by jumping into the sacrificial fire. Mad with grief and rage, Shiva carried his wife’s lifeless body and started Tandava – the dance of cosmic destruction. Lord Vishnu being the sustainer of the cosmos, had to intervene. He cut Sati piece by piece as the Tandava continued. 51 pieces of her fell at 51 places. After there was no body to carry, Shiva sat down to do the great penance, and the universe was saved. Kamakha Temple is considered the oldest of the 51 Shakti Peethas scattered across India. It is believed that Goddess Sati’s yoni (vulva) fell at this location. This is also the place where Goddess Sati and Lord Shiva secretly met for their romantic encounters, and hence she was named Kamakhya meaning sexual desire.
Our bus reached the stop after a short tortuous ride. We got down and walked up the alley stacked with shops on both sides. The hawkers were selling flowers and prasad that one offered to the goddess. Strolling carelessly amongst the crowd were the goats, quite unaware of their fate. Animal sacrifice and Tantra flourished in Nilachal. This is one of the rare places where animal sacrifice still continues. The sacrifice of female animals is strictly prohibited. According to Yogini Tantra, the temple was built by Kamadeva, the god of love or desire. He was once cursed by Shiva that he would lose his romantic powers. The only way to reverse the curse was by seeking the Goddess Sati’s yoni in one of the Peethas. Kamdeva was free from his curse and got back his magic powers after finding this place. As a tribute to the goddess, he built this temple. Historically, Kamakhya temple was probably built in the 4-5th century.
“Tantra brought mother goddesses back into limelight, after being overshadowed by the male gods since the agricultural revolution.”
Kamakhya is a tantric goddess of desire and illusion. She is often associated with mother Goddess Kali. Such esoteric religions are probably as old as humans themselves. Shamanism was the most common religion of hunters and gatherers around the globe. Fertility goddess, like Venus or Lajjagauri, was probably the first divine beings conceived by the human mind. While the roots of Tantra might be older and originated from shamanism, it emerged in India in the 3rd-4th century. Both Hinduism and Buddhism was influenced by Tantra. Tantra brought mother goddesses back into the limelight, after being overshadowed by the male gods since the agricultural revolution. Legend has it that the great Ashura king Narakasura fell in love with Goddess Kamakhya. When he proposed her, the goddess gave him the challenge to win her over. He had to build a staircase from the bottom of Nilachal Hill to the temple before the next dawn. Narakasura took up the challenge and almost completed it before dawn. But he was tricked by the goddess of illusion. She strangled a cock and made it crow before time. Disappointed, Narakasura left the stair incomplete and killed the cock instead.
At the gate of the temple, we were greeted by the lions sculpted out of stone. Lions are not native to Assam but are very common sculpture in the temples of Assam. They were probably introduced by the Pala Empire. The Palas were Buddhists and lion was an important symbol of Buddhism. It is a symbol of royalty and leadership and represents Buddha, who was from the Shakya (Lion) clan. It was during the time of Ashoka that the symbol of a lion got associated with Buddhism. Kamakhya temple is heavily influenced by Tantric Buddhism, which coexisted with Tantric Hinduism. Once you enter through the gate the temple will be right in front of you. The outer walls of the temple contain sculptures of Bhairava. There is one particular sculpture of Ganesh that is still being worshipped.
From the architecture, it is clear that the temple is a mix of different styles. This is because the temple has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. Locals believe that the temple was destroyed by Kalapahar, a general of Sulaiman Karrani. The inscription in the temple mentions that Koch king Naranarayan rebuilt the temple in 1565 before Kalapahar destroyed the temples in Assam. Which is unlikely. The temple was probably destroyed by Hussein Shah. While King Naranarayan rebuilt the temple, none of his bloodlines can visit it because of the curse of the goddess. Goddess Kamakhya loved to dance. She used to dance inside the temple when Kendukoli, a priest during King Naranarayan’s reign, performed puja. He shut his eyes close and never glanced upon her when she was dancing. Naranarayan and his brother Chilarai heard about the dance and were desperate to see it with their own eyes. They convinced Kendukoli to make them watch the next time he went to pray. The goddess was angered by this act and punished the priest. She also cursed the two brothers. Because of the curse, none of the descendants of the Koch royalty visits this temple till this day.
The temple remains closed from 12-3 PM every day. We reached there just before three, and luckily for us, it was not crowded. After a short wait in the queue, we went inside. The temple is divided into four chambers: garbhagriha, calanta, pancharatna and the nritya-mandapa. The walls are sculpted with different images, including that of the two brothers Naranarayan and Chilarai. The garbhagriha can be reached through a dark stair. This is the place where lies the yoni shaped stone filled with water. This stone represents the part of Sati that fell here. Since this temple is dedicated to the yoni, the goddess goes on menstruation periodically. Every year the Ambubachi Mela is held to celebrate menstruation of the goddess in the month of June. The temple is shut for three days. It is said that during this time the great Brahmaputra River turns red. The Yoni is represented by a rock inside the garbhagriya (temple sanctum). While the temple celebrates menstruation and womanhood, the rest of India still considers speaking about periods a taboo. A stigma that is hard to get rid of.
“While the temple celebrate menstruation and womanhood, the rest of India still considers speaking about periods a taboo.”
While Sati’s grieving husband was on meditation, the demon Taraka grew in power. The gods knew that only Shiva’s son would be able to slay the demon. But, for that, the gods have to undertake a dangerous mission. They have to awaken the lord of destruction and make him fall in love again. The only person who was capable of making gods and men fall in love was Kamdev. Kamdev shot his love-arrow to make Shiva fall in love with Parvati, the daughter of parvat Himalaya. Parvati was a reincarnation of Sati. Enraged by the sound of the arrow that broke his silence Lord Shiva opened his third eye. The flames from his eye burned Kamdev into ashes. In a Shakespearean tragedy, conceived much before Shakespeare, the god of love turned into a tragic hero. His sacrifice was not in vain, as his arrow did its job. Shiva fell in love again. Shiva and Parvati beget a son named Kartikeya, who slew Taraka.
“But the Indian gods and goddesses are beyond that. They are dissolved in the emotions and desires of the people.”
Indian gods and goddesses are very much connected with the people and their daily lives. They are not just moral gods. Morality is a human prejudice that varies from culture to culture. But the Indian gods and goddesses are beyond that. They are dissolved in the emotions and desires of the people. They are filled with peace, love, anger, lust and even occasional trickery. The diversity of emotions and the million gods that were born out of it is the underlying blood that flows through our secular veins. That is the reason why new gods were never a threat to Indians. All new religions were assimilated into the Indian culture. Christian priests like Saint Thomas or a Muslim thieves like Kayam Kulam Kochunni have become Hindu deities with ease.
“When you shed your layers of good and bad, when you shed your layers of intellectual ideologies, when you shed your prejudices from the stories you were made to believe from your childhood, your soul stands naked without shame and discrimination, only with desires.”
The human brain has evolved at three distinct stages. At the core lies the reptilian brain that regulates our bodily functions and guides our basic desires. On top of it evolved the mammalian brain that deals with our emotions. Finally came the neo-mammalian (primate) brain that helps us analyse situations and come to a logical conclusion. Religion is a product of the human brain, and quite naturally it has been influenced by the three main centres of our brain. While logical ideologies like Advaita, Buddhism, Confucianism etc have enthralled the neo-mammalian brain, the devotional religions like Bhakti, Christianity or Islam has appealed to the mammalian brain. Our reptilian brain, however, is excited by Tantra. Getting rid of one’s desires, and emotional attachment is the path to salvation for most Eastern Philosophies. Tantra turns this idea of salvation on its head and says that desires are the only truth that connects you to yourself. When you shed your layers of good and bad … when you shed your layers of intellectual ideologies … when you shed your prejudices from the stories you were made to believe from your childhood … your soul stands naked without shame and discrimination, only with desires. There you find yourself … there you find liberation.
