Yes, it does indeed take all sorts, types and kinds to make our unique country!
India, the land of diverse cultures and traditions, a land of festivals and fairs...whether you go to the East or the West, North or the South you will be smitten by the brilliance of its festivals any time of the year. Every year there are amazing & strange festivals held all over the country. One such fair, The Ambubachi Mela will leave you spellbound.
The fair takes place at the temple complex of Kamakhaya in Guwahati, situated in India's North-East state of Assam. It is primarily the festival of the menstruation of the Goddess of reproduction and fertility. The festival falls during the month of Ahar, according to the Assamese calendar. Celebrated during the monsoon season, when the mighty Bramaputra River is in full spate, the fair commemorates the yearly menstrual cycle of the presiding goddess of the temple, Devi Kamakhya. The festival is based on the belief that during this time goddess Kamakhya goes through her annual cycle of menstruation. There is no idol of the presiding deity but she is worshiped in the form of a yoni-like stone that resembles the female genitalia. A natural spring flows over this stone.
The festival draws thousands of pilgrims, from all over India including Sadhus or Ascetics, householders, Aghoris and people from all walks of life, many of whom have come to seek blessings from goddess.
The Ambubachi fair is also known as the Ameti or the Tantric fertility festival and powerful ritual acts of body, speech, and mind can be witnessed during the festival.
At the fair, hundreds of Sadhus or ascetics, could be seen smoking marijuana. It is also customary for the Shakti practitioners who are strewn across the Indian sub--continent to make their annual public appearance during Kamakhya, while the rest of the year they remain in complete seclusion. These ascetics worship the divine female goddess, in forms such as goddess Durga, Kali, Bhairavi and others. Some of the Shakti practitioners are believed to have psychic powers and they often display these powers by standing on their heads while some others can be seen standing on one leg for hours at a stretch. They claim to hold mystical powers and hence come to this fair to solve the problems of and to bless other people.
The Bauls, the mystic minstrels from Bengal, can also be seen strumming and singing their traditional music, accompanied by rhythmic dancing.
In keeping with the tradition of secluding women during their menstrual cycle, the temple remains closed for three days as the goddess is believed to be impure during this period. The devotees, male and female, including the sadhus observe similar restrictions - not cooking, not performing any religious rites nor performing any animal sacrifice etc.
On the fourth day, the goddess is given a bath to purify her. After performing all the rituals the doors of the temple are thrown open to the devotees. Legend has it that after the death of His beloved wife Parvati, The Hindu god, Lord Shiva was in great despair and while he flew through the skies with her decaying body, a portion of her genitalia dropped at this spot. The area where her genitalia fell got renowned as Kamakhya.
Traditionally, devotees attend the festival to seek blessings for fertility and well-being and to get their wishes fulfilled. The blessings of the Goddess come in two forms - Angadhak -- translating literally into the fluid of the body symbolized by the water from the spring. And Angavastra -- or the cloth covering the body - a piece of the red cloth used to cover the stone during the days of menstruation.
Thousands of devotees and tourists throng the temple every year to receive their special blessing. The unique blessing is received in the form of small bits of cloth, supposedly moist with the menstrual fluid of Goddess Kamakhya.
The Ambabuchi Fair is all about the celebration of the menstruation cycle of goddess Kamakhya. In essence it is the celebration of the fertility of Mother Earth.
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