The Kanchipuram series - Part 2 - Sri Kamakshi Amman temple.

In our next visit to Kanchipuram, we managed to visit and get a blissful darshan of the very own Kamakshi Amman of Kanchipuram. This Iconic temple is a Shakti peet and one of the most imporant shrines of Shakthism.

To give you some context about Shakti Peeth. Lord Shiva was first married to Goddess Sati. Sati Married Shiva much against her fathers wishes and thereby was not accepted as a couple by him. Sati's father King Daksha held a yagna in his kingdom, where he refused to invite Shiva or Sati. sati nevertheless decided to attend the Yagna and visited her father. King Daksha who had still not gotten over the fact that his daughter married Shiva much against his wishes, insulted her and Shiva in public. Sati imolates herself unable to bear the insult and a livid Shiva carries her dead body and does Tandav which begins to disturb the balance of the universe. Lord Vishnu then uses his Sudarshana Chakra on Satis body leading it to get slit in pieces and fall at various spots in India which are all believed to be Shakti peeths today. The kamakshi amman temple is believed to be the place where her Navel fell.

While there is no clarity on how old the temple is. the Sthalam itself is of very high significance dating back more than 5000 years amost. The temple has several legends associated with it, I am listing everything i found interesting here!

1. As mentioned above this spot is a Shakti peeth

2. Its believed that Devi Sat here taking Kanya swarup after killing Bhandasur (Syambu) the Idol here was not created or sculpted by anyone it just appeared

3. Devi Parvathi as Kamakshi created a mud idol of Shiva lingam here and when Shiva appeared as a river with high tide and tried to wash it away. Parvathi is said to have strongly protected the idol.

4. As Kamakshi she prayed to lord Shiva sitting on a needle point for a long period of time ignoring all comforts and discomforts thereby winning over the want of materialism and worldly pleasures, Shiva who was finally impressed by her believed to have married her after this

5. There is also a legend that Ayodhya's king Dasaratha performed his putra kameshti yagna here, therefore he was blessed with his four children and she is also supposed to be one of the family deities of the Ikshvaku clan

This stunning temple which stands today representing the iconic dravidian architecture could have been build by either the pallavas or cholas. A huge spiritual addition happened to this temple in early 8th century when Adi Shankaracharya visited and installed the Sri Chakra yantra which is believed by many to be a powerful symbol of divine energy and also believed to be the symbol which calmed her down to become a more motherly figure here than the agressive form she had taken over earlier.

The temple also has a idol of Vishnu, a temple within this temple which is also believed to be one of the 108 divya desams, important for all vishnavite followers.

We on the whole had a very peaceful and satisfying Darshan inspite of the weekend crowds. The temple had a calm and peaceful vibe with the songs of the great MS subbalakshmi audible to you at just the right volume wherever you go. The premises are very clean and extremely well maintained and though its an ancient powerful temple frequented by hundreds of tourists everyday, it does not look like that.