Tantric goddess of Hinduism, form of Parvati
Kamakhya
Kamakhya is a mother goddess of Shakta Tantrism, regarded as the embodiment of desire (kama). Her main temple in Assam is one of the most important of the 51 shakti pithas, and it is linked to the place where Sati's yoni is said to have fallen.
The myth
According to tradition, Sati, daughter of King Daksha and wife of Shiva, threw herself into the fire of a sacrifice to which her father had not invited her or her husband, after Daksha had humiliated Shiva. Grief-stricken, Shiva danced across the heavens carrying her body, and Vishnu followed him and cut the corpse into pieces with his Sudarshana discus. The fragments fell across the Indian subcontinent, and where the yoni landed the shrine of Kamakhya rose on the Nilachal hill.
In local legends, the goddess, originally a Kirata deity, has her own story: the demon Narakasura wished to marry her, and she set him the task of building a staircase to her temple before the cock crowed. When he was nearly finished, she made a cock crow early, and he abandoned the work. Krishna later slew Narakasura.
Worship and religion
She is worshipped in a non-iconic stone form shaped like a yoni, fed by a perennial spring. The temple, with origins in the 10th or 11th century and rebuilt in 1565, is a major pilgrimage site, especially during the Ambubachi festival, which commemorates her annual menstruation.
Ancient sources: The Kalika Purana describes her iconography, with twelve arms, six heads and her attributes, and also gives an account of the temple and of Assam.