Nilachal Hill

Sacred site (tirtha) overlooking the
Brahmaputra River, about six miles outside the city of Guwahati in the modern
state of Assam. Nilachal Hill is known
for its temple to the goddess Kamakhya,
one of the most powerful goddess temples in India. This site is one of the
Shakti Pithas, a network of sites sacred
to the Goddess which spreads throughout the subcontinent. 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 where Sati’s
vulva is said to have fallen to earth; the
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, the site is extremely powerful. See also pitha.