The Kamakhya Temple is located in:

The Kamakhya Temple stands on the Nilachal Hill in the western part of Guwahati, the largest city of Assam, overlooking the Brahmaputra river. It is dedicated to the mother goddess Kamakhya, a form of Shakti (Devi). It is one of the oldest and most revered of the 51 Shakti Peethas and is a major centre of Tantric worship.

According to Hindu legend, after Sati, Lord Shiva's wife, gave up her life at her father Daksha's yagna, Shiva carried her body and wandered in grief. Lord Vishnu cut her body into pieces with his Sudarshan Chakra to calm Shiva, and the places where her body parts fell became Shakti Peethas. At Kamakhya, her yoni (womb) is believed to have fallen. There is no idol in the inner sanctum; the goddess is worshipped in the form of a natural stone, kept moist by an underground spring.

The present temple was rebuilt in 1565 by the Koch king Nara Narayana, after an earlier temple was destroyed. Its architecture is known as the Nilachal style, with a beehive-like dome. Later, the Ahom kings also supported the temple.

The Ambubachi Mela is the most important festival at Kamakhya. It is held every year in June (in the Assamese month of Ahaar), during the monsoon. It is believed that the goddess goes through her annual menstrual cycle during this time, so the temple remains closed for three days. On the fourth day, it reopens, and lakhs of devotees, sadhus and tantrics gather for darshan. The festival is also called the "Mahakumbh of the East".

In 2024, the government announced the Maa Kamakhya Divya Lok Pariyojana (corridor project) under the PM-DevINE scheme.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Shillong is the capital of Meghalaya.
• ✗Agartala, the capital of Tripura, is near the Tripura Sundari Temple at Udaipur, another Shakti Peetha.
• ✗Imphal is the capital of Manipur, known for the Shree Govindajee Temple.