The Mother’s Festival: devotional and esoteric practice at Kamakhya

Record summary

Kamakhya Temple and its annual Ambubachi festival were documented in travel accounts, religious publications, and scholarship during the period, with attention to goddess worship, menstruation symbolism, ascetic practitioners, and tantric associations. The site is a strong comparison lead because its living ritual institution is frequently recast by outsiders as a secret occult center. Researchers can verify festival dates and temple history through Assamese, Indian, and scholarly sources. Interpretations of sexuality, blood symbolism, and tantra vary considerably across communities and publications.