Celebrating Menstruation and Womanhood

The Tale of Passion & Honour

According to Shiv Puran,

Daksha-Prajapati sought worthy grooms for his many daughters , Gods who helped life on earth,

like Indra, the rain-god or Agni, the fire-god. He was quite horrified when his daughter chooses Shiva as her Husband , He then break all the relations with Sati,

The story turns when Daksha – Prajapati decided to perform Grand Yagya (Yajna),

He invited all his daughters , son in law & gods  but not Shiva & Sati.

Daksha-Prajapati rejected Shiva because he did not fit his definition of a God,

A naked, ash-smeared ascetic called Shiva who had dogs and ghosts as his companions and who lived in a snow-clad mountain.

Unable to bear the insult, Sati leapt into the very sacrificial fire of the yajna. When Shiva came to know of what has happened, his anger knew no limits. Carrying his wife’s burnt corpse, he went on a rampage with his “Tandav” (The Dance of Destruction.)

While all other gods cowered in fear under Shiva’s rage, it was Vishnu who cut her body with his Chakra in order to calm the aggrieved deity 

It is believed that Sati’s body parts fell in 108 locations across the country, which are today known as Shakti Peethas.

The Kamakhya Temple

The Kamakhya Temple is one of 108 Shakti pithas which is dedicated to the Mother Goddess Kamkhya.

In Kalika Purana an ancient work in Sanskrit describes kamakhya as the yielder of all desires & salvation. It is one of the oldest Shakti Pitha Situated on the Nilachal Hill in western part of Guwahati city in Assam.

It is believed that the “Garvagriha”(sanctorum) of the temple houses the mythical womb and vagina of the Hindu goddess Shakti . It is said that every year during the month of Ashaad (June), the Brahmaputra river near Kamakhya turns Red. It is believed that the goddess ‘menstruates’ during this period. Considering this to be a woman’s power to give birth, the deity and temple of Kamakhya is a celebration of this ‘shakti’ within every woman