Ambubachi mela is the most important festival of the Kamakhya-Temple(situated atop Nilachal-hill).This year the mela starts from 22June and ends on 25June.It is believed that the goddess of the temple DEVI-KAMAKHYA(SHAKTI) goes through her annual cycle of menstruation during this time.The doors of temple are closed for three days...no farming,no daily worship or any other religious activities are observed during these days.O n the fourth day after the whole temple is purified ..the temple is reopened.It is mainly a TANTRIC-FESTIVAL.
This mela attracts lots of media,forgeiners,curious-visitors because of a very,very huge presence of tantrics,sadhus,sanyasis,sadhavis,aghor-babasfrom India,neighbouring countries and abroad too.Some of the sadhus and tantrics appear before general mass only during these four days.This year more than eight to nine lakhs visitors are expected.
I had never seen this mela before because my husband and many other local people have always discouraged me to do so.......i always wondered why......until today.
(We visit Kamakhya always as it is one of the very important shakti-peeths.......all the dignitaries,v.i.ps,movie-stars,politicians even many royalties visit this temple quite often.....and it is a very wonderful experience.) This evening we visited the temple and .......the crowd was phenomenal,it was hard to find a parking spot.Once we managed to park our car ...we had no idea where to go as the whole place looked very different because of many new stalls etc.
There were people and people everywhere ....it was hard to stand on one place for more than five sec....trust me....clicking pic was like impossible .....most of my pics are shaky because of the constant push from the crowd.....after good fifteen min. we decided to give up the idea of going to the main temple premises as it was tooooo crowded and suffocating.I saw many media folks,forgieners struggling too.
The crowd was mostly of bengali people...this mela is very popular among bengalis. We saw many interesting looking sadhus,tantrics (from tomorrow our newspapers are going to give them good coverage).Finding our car back was another good experience......
I can see why some discourage going to this. It looked over crowded like so many of these things are. We quite going to our local County fair, because of all the people, and walking is harder for us now that we are older, plus we don't care to go on the amusement rides or play the games they offer, for prizes that interest young people. We mostly would go and set and watch the people go by, walk though the barns that held the cows, sheep, pigs, chicken and etc. That and eat the many different kinds of food they offered.
ReplyDeleteI hope you were able to enjoy yourself a little. Hope you didn't have your child with you, they could easily get lost in a crowd with that many people.
Wow! This is really amazing. It feels rather chaotic though and unnerving. I can see why people may have tried to discourage you. Still... I appreciate your going and sharing the experience with us.
ReplyDeleteToo bad it was so crowded. However, your photos turned out okay, showing what it was like on that day.
ReplyDeletewow you are speaking another language...I don't know most of the terms you are using but can see and feel the crowd from your description. amazing!
ReplyDeletei love the crowd. I am happiest when surrounded by 1000 of strangers. My favourite joint is the Trade fair.
ReplyDeleteI am sure I would enjoy the mela a lot. Next year may be, I'll be dragging you to the place :D
the tantriks are able to master their black arts during this time!; or is it due to some other shady reasons tnat all these illusive sadhu's decide to show themselves among the normal human folk.....it does tend to render a kinda eerie effect to the whole festivity period.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why Lin feels Kavita is speaking a total different dialect, as these festivities are related to more deeper aspects of hindu theology cum mythological beliefs, but it is a subject which can get pretty interesting if you start delving into it.
Your description of the festival blended well with the photos you have presented here.
ReplyDeleteNice to know about the Ambubachi mela through your blog :)
We are getting familiar with your place through your detailed posts. Though the crowd is unnerving, the photographs are well taken. I get nervous going through the crowds. I like to visit places when the crowd is less and enjoy properly.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Kavita.
so u had a gala time at the fest...and thanks a tonne for the comments..cheers friend
ReplyDeletewow, from the pics and your description, it def looks like a crowd to be avoided, but at the same time curiosity sets in, as it would for me too. very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI want to visit INdia, you have such a strong and beautiful culture.
ReplyDeleteFor all my talk of spirituality and what ever....nothing will make me go near a tantric or a naga sadhu....am terrified of them.hope you had a g8 time though.
ReplyDeleteYou have penned down very beautifully about the culture.Keep writing.Visit my blogs.
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