CELEBRATING THE GLORY OF THE BLEEDING GODDESS
It is difficult to make your way through the bustling crowd at the normally serene Kamakhya Temple in Assam during the Ambubachi Mela. Almost every square inch of the ground is covered with crimson-clad devotees who sing, chant, meditate and shout their devotion to the Divine Mother. The Ambubachi Mela, also referred to as the Tantric Fertility Festival, is a yearly four-day festival celebrated during the monsoon season. It is, by far, the most important Hindu religious festival of Assam. It is believed that during these four days, Devi Kamakhya, an incarnate of the Mother Earth (Shakti), goes through her annual cycle of menstruation. The word ‘Ambubachi’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘ ambuvaci ’ which means ‘ the issuing forth of water’ referring to the swelling of the Earth ’ s waters from the onset of monsoon. As the holy month starts, soon, one by one, they arrive “from the wild forests of Assam, remote wilderness of the Sunderbans, snow-capped peaks of the Hi