Sara Ali Khan is at the moment on a non secular journey throughout India. After just lately visiting the Chandramouleshwara Temple in Karnataka, she travelled to Guwahati to hunt blessings on the Kamakhya Temple — probably the most revered and highly effective Shakti Peethas within the nation. Recognized for its deep affiliation with Tantra and the female divine, the temple is commonly visited by devotees in search of non secular perception, therapeutic, and transformation.
Sharing glimpses of her go to on social media, Sara posted photographs in a white chikankari salwar kurta, pausing to soak up the serenity of the temple. She captioned her publish with a poem: “Moments of stillness amidst the perpetual movement. A purposeful reminder to breathe and go gradual. Hearken to the whispers of the river, really feel the suns glow. Wander deep, embrace life and permit your self to develop.”
Many affiliate Kamakhya with devotion, however not a lot is understood in regards to the temple’s tantric significance, its cultural heritage, and its position in non secular practices that transcend mainstream rituals.
Historical past and significance of this temple
Saru Subba, historian and founder Carol Faculty Guwahati, tells indianexpress.com, “The Kamakhya Temple has an historical and layered historical past, relationship again to at the least the early centuries of the Frequent Period, although its origins are believed to be even older. It has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of occasions — most notably within the sixteenth century beneath the Koch king Naranarayana, which supplies the present construction its mix of historical and medieval structure.”
It’s thought-about probably the most essential Shakti Peethas, he provides, the place the yoni of Goddess Sati is alleged to have fallen, marking it as a sacred web site for worshipping the goddess in her most elemental type. “Its significance goes past the non secular; it was additionally a middle of Tantric studying and follow, attracting mystics and students from throughout the subcontinent,” notes Subba.
Even right now, he states that Kamakhya retains a novel place in Indian sacred geography — revered “each as a pilgrimage web site and as a spot that preserves non secular traditions which are usually ignored or misunderstood. Its rituals, festivals like Ambubachi Mela, and deep symbolism proceed to encourage reverence and curiosity alike.”
What makes the Kamakhya Temple distinctive in comparison with different Shakti temples in India?
The Kamakhya Temple stands out amongst Shakti temples for its deep-rooted connection to the Tantric custom. Subba explains, “Whereas many Shakti temples deal with divine femininity in nurturing or warrior varieties, Kamakhya embraces the uncooked, unfiltered facets of the female — creation, energy, fertility, and transformation. What makes it really distinctive is that the temple doesn’t home an idol within the typical sense. As an alternative, the yoni or womb-shaped stone, consistently bathed in pure spring water, is honored.”
He continues, “This symbolism speaks on to Tantric philosophy, which celebrates the union of the bodily and the non secular, the seen and the unseen. Tantra at Kamakhya isn’t about rituals misunderstood as occultism, however reasonably about transcending duality, embracing wholeness, and recognising the sacred in all facets of life, together with these usually thought-about taboo.”
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How do temples like Kamakhya encourage non secular seekers to embrace practices like stillness, give up, and self-reflection?
Temples like Kamakhya usually exist on the thresholds — between the fabric and the non secular, the identified and the magical. “For seekers, this sacred ambiguity turns into an area for inward reflection. Kamakhya, perched atop the Nilachal hills and steeped in silence, naturally evokes a way of stillness. Guests usually converse of an environment that encourages quietude reasonably than show, the place the interior journey feels simply as essential because the outer one,” highlights Subba.
The temple’s embrace of Tantra, with its emphasis on acceptance and interior exploration, helps a path of give up — not as defeat however as belief within the unknown. Subba mentions, “Self-reflection is intrinsic right here; the symbolism, the rituals, and even the temple structure are designed to show one’s gaze inward.”