Roots of the Two Sides of Kamakhya

Abstract

The shrine of Kamakhya (Assam) was supposed to be the eminent yogini-pitha. Inside the sanctum of Kamakhya a yoni (vulva) stone is concealed as the main cultic image of the Goddess, which Kaulism identified as the 'mouth of the yoginis'. This article analyses the symbolism related to the Tantric cult of the yoni and its historical evolution through the combined lens of History of Religions and Cognitive Science of Religions. Kamakhya thus emerges as a hyper-blended space, whose origin should be tracked down to the intersection of death symbolism related to the non-Brahmanic cult of Heruka and his retinue of yoginis and the Kaula erotic reformation of the cult of the yoginis. Therefore, the yoginis played a fundamental role in the construction of Kamakhya--as either a caring mother or as a dreadful mother--conveying other blended spaces to the yoni metonymic symbol. Hence, this article aims, through the analysis and interrelation of textual, epigraphic and material evidence, to debate the dialectic between eros and thanatos in order to shed light on the overlap, superimposition and blend of trans- and cross-cultural elements in the multifarious goddess Kamakhya.