Kamakhya: A Socio-Cultural Study

This is a comprehensive work on the Kamakhya temple complex in Assam: the complex processes of the deity’s sanskritization and the temple’s role in integrating the people of this region with the mainland. Incorporating details from interviews with temple priests and other temple staff and from literary materials on the temples, it deals with the socio-cultural life at the temple complex with respect to rites of passage relating to marriage, birth and death, arts and crafts, food, dress and folk medicine. With illustrations of the temple structure and sculptures and religious and cultural activities, the text makes a detailed study of the temple rituals, festivals and personnel – their kinds and functions and changes in the body of the temple staff with time. Importantly, it provides a background to the study by examining the spread of Saktism over different periods in the Eastern Indian region and specifically Assam.