Famous Temples in India

Architecture

The Name 'Kamakhya' : The God of love, Kamadeva had lost his virility due to a curse. He sought out the Shakti's womb and genitals and was freed from the curse. This is where 'love' gained his potency and thus, the deity 'Kamakhya' devi was installed and worshipped here. Some people also believe that the Kamakhya temple is a place where Shiva and devi Sati had their romantic encounters. As the Sanskrit word for lovemaking is 'kama', the place was named 'Kamakhya'.

The current structural temple, built and renovated many times in the period 8th-17th century, gave rise to a hybrid indigenous style that is sometimes called the Nilachal type (a temple with a hemispherical dome on a cruciform base).The temple consists of four chambers garbhagriha and three mandapas locally called calanta, pancharatna and natamandira aligned from east to west. 

Garbhagriha: The garbhagriha has a pancharatha plan that rests on plinth moldings that are similar to the Surya Temple at Tezpur. On top of the plinths are dados from a later period which are of the Khajuraho or the Central Indian type, consisting of sunken panels alternating with pilasters. The panels have delightful sculptured Ganesha and other Hindu gods and goddesses. Though the lower portion is of stone, the shikhara in the shape of a polygonal beehive. The shikhara is circled by a number of minaret inspired angashikharas of Bengal type charchala. The Shikhara, angashikharas and other chambers were built in the 16th century and after. The inner sanctum, the garbhagriha, is below ground level and consists of no image but a rock fissure in the shape of a yoni. The garbhagriha is small, dark and reached by narrow steep stone steps. Inside the cave there is a sheet of stone that slopes downwards from both sides meeting in a yoni-like depression some 10 inches deep. This hollow is constantly filled with water from an underground perennial spring. It is the vulva-shaped depression that is worshiped as the goddess Kamakhya herself and considered as most important pitha (abode) of the Devi. 

Calanta, Pancharatna and Natamandir : The temple consists of three additional chambers. The first to the west is the calanta, a square chamber of type atchala. The entrance to the temple is generally via its northern door, that is of Ahom type dochala. It houses a small movable idol of the Goddess, a later addition, which explains the name. The walls of this chamber contain sculpted images of Naranarayana, related inscriptions and other gods. It leads into the garbhagriha via descending steps. The pancharatna to the west of calanta is large and rectangular with a flat roof and five smaller shikharas of the same style as the main shikhara. The middle shikhara is slightly bigger than the other four. The natamandira extends to the west of the pancharatna with an apsidal end and ridged roof of the Ranghar type Ahom style. Its inside walls bear inscriptions from Rajeswar Singha (1759) and Gaurinath Singha (1782), which indicate the period this structure was built.