Kamakhya

(“desiring eyes”) A particular manifestation of the Mother Goddess, whose temple on Nilachal Hill overlooks the
Brahmaputra River just outside the city
of Guwahati in Assam. This temple is
one of the Shakti Pithas, a network of
sites that spreads throughout the subcontinent and is sacred to the Goddess.
Each Shakti Pitha marks the site where a
body part of the dismembered goddess
Sati fell to earth, taking form there as a
different goddess. The Kamakhya temple is the place where Sati’s vulva fell to
earth. Its image of the goddess is a natural cleft in the rock, around which the
temple has been built. Since Kamakhya
sprang from the most sexually charged
part of the female body, it is no surprise
that she is believed to be extremely powerful. Like many powerful goddesses,
her productive capacity must be constantly recharged through receiving sacrifices, especially the blood of living
beings. In modern times the usual sacrifice is a goat, but in earlier times the
offering of human sacrifices is well
documented. Kamakhya was reportedly
offered 140 men when her present temple was consecrated in 1565. This practice continued until the British halted it
in 1832. The men offered as human sacrifices were reportedly volunteers who
believed that they had been called by
her to do this. In the time between
announcing their intention to be sacrificed and their deaths, they were treated
as virtual divinities, since they were considered to have been consecrated to the
goddess. For further information see
George Weston Briggs, Gorakhnath and
the Kanphata Yogis, 1973. See also pitha.