10 lakh footfalls in Kamakhya as Ambubachi mela ends

“Over ten lakh devotees and tourists visited Kamakhya temple during the past four or five days as the Ambubachi mela, the biggest festival in the famous shakti peeth came to an end without any incident,” said Kamrup (Metro) deputy commissioner M Angamuthu who heads the organizing committee of festival that, according to Hindu belief, also marks the annual menstruation of the Mother Goddess and Mother Earth.

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As the Kamakhya temple doors were reopened, thousands of devotees stood in serpentine queues to get a darshan of the yoni symbol carved on a rock inside the sanctum sanctorum which itself is a cave.

While Kamakhya is one of the most important among the 51 shakti shrines in the world, the yoni symbolizes fertility of the Mother Goddess. Kamakhya is also considered a major centre for practice and study of tantricism in the country.

“There were pilgrims from all over the country as well as from several foreign countries including Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. A number of tourists and devotees had also arrived from different European countries,” deputy commissioner Angamuthu said.