The Ambubachi Mela is one of the largest gatherings in eastern India, the most significant annual festival of the Kamakhya temple, which is held every June.
It is more of a ritual of austerity, although Shakti rites will be taking place. The belief is Kamakhya is the mother cult, the Shakti. The event of Ambubachi is from the 7th to the 10th day of “Asadha”, the doors of the shrine are shut to everyone, due to the belief that Goddess Kamakhya undergoes her monthly menstrual cycle. On the twelfth day the doors open ceremoniously, and there is a large fair in the temple on this day.
“Ambubachi” means spoken with water and it also implies that the rains expected during this month make the earth fertile and ready for procreation. Daily worship is suspended during this period. All agricultural work like digging, ploughing, sowing, and transplanting of crops are forbidden. Widows, Brahmacharis and Brahmins avoid cooked food during these days. On the fourth day, Ambubachi being over, household items, utensils and clothes are washed, cleaned and purified by sprinkling sacred waters, worship of Goddess Kamakhya begins after cleansing and other rituals are performed. Entry to the Shrine is considered to be auspicious after this.
The concept of Ambubachi thus has in its origin, formative influences and elements of agricultural, social and religious ideas that have contributed to the emergence of the phenomenon. It is thus symbolic supported by religious sanction.
Kamakhya is also an unrivalled centre of Tantrik worship. There is today a society of Tantrik here who celebrate their important Rajaewari pooja. All their rituals are conducted in secret and are open only to initiates. There are no outward displays of this cult except that one sees people in weird clothing lost in their own pursuits.
