Kamapitha is one of the four Kamarupa Pithas, the geographical divisions of ancient

Kamarupa Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam. The Kamrupa word first appeared in the ...

Dineshchandra Sircar Dineshchandra Sircar (1907–1985), also known as D. C. Sircar or D. C. Sarkar, was an epigraphist, historian, numismatist and folklorist, known particularly in India and Bangladesh for his work deciphering inscriptions. He was the Chief E ...

points out that these divisions are not found in the Kamarupa inscriptions and that they might be fabrications from late medieval sources, such as 16th-century work

Yogini Tantra The ''Yogini Tantra'' is a 16th- or 17th-century tantric text by an unknown author from either Assam or Cooch Behar: "One of the most explicit descriptions of Tantric sexual rites occurs in Yogini tantra, a sixteenth-century text from Cooch Beha ...

gives the boundaries of Kamapitha and other three pithas, the same work which gives boundaries of ancient Kamrup kingdom as well. The eastern border of Kamarupa was the temple of the goddess Tamreshvari (''Pūrvāte Kāmarūpasya devī Dikkaravasini'', given in the 10th-century Kalika Purana) near present-day

Sadiya Sadiya is a town in Tinsukia district, Assam, in India. It was the capital of the Chutia Kingdom but after the downfall of the kingdom, Prasengmung Borgohain was appointed as the Sadiya-khowa-Gohain of the Ahom kingdom. Extensive remains of ...

Boundaries

Traditional sources defines boundaries of Kamapitha as area between Manas river and Silghat, Sankosh and Kapili river, based on ancient work

, areas comprising western boundary of current Kamrup and part of Nagaon district as eastern boundary, in first case, while in second case, Undivided Kamrup plus small part of Undivided Goalpara District. Modern scholarship, considering change in course of rivers, gives Kamapitha area as

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

area up to the

Manas River The Manas River (pron: �mʌnəs, known in Bhutan as the Drangme Chhu, is a transboundary river in the Himalayan foothills between southern Bhutan, India, and China. It is the largest of Bhutan's four major river systems, with the other three ...

, which is Kamrup, as Kamapitha. Pratap Chandra Choudhury, has no difficulty in accepting that Kamapitha of

Tantra Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian tr ...

s, is nothing else than Kamrup and

Kamakhya Kamakhya (), a mother goddess, is a Shakta Tantric deity; considered to be the embodiment of '' Kama (desire)'', she is regarded as the goddess of desire. Her abodeKamakhya Temple is located in the Kamarupa region of Assam, India."Seated on ...

area of Guwahati itself.

Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti The Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti (Assam Research Society) is the oldest Research institution in North-East India, which was established in the year 1912 at Kamakhya with a view to working in the field of antiquarian study and research, particularly ...

, also presses that it is rather absurd, to exclude Kamakhya from the region called Kamapitha.

Shaktipeeth

It form the waist on the position of the genital organ (kama), justifying its name. Kamapitha also known as Kamrup, is important

Shaktipeeth The Shakta pithas, also called Shakti pithas or Sati pithas (, , ''seats of Shakti''), are significant shrines and pilgrimage destinations in Shaktism, the mother goddess denomination in Hinduism. The shrines are dedicated to various forms of Ad ...

and pilgrimage center, due to presence of ancient

Kamakhya Temple The Kamakhya Temple at Nilachal hills in Guwahati, Assam is one of the oldest and most revered centres of Tantra, Tantric practices, dedicated to the goddess Kamakhya. The temple is the center of the ''Kulachara Tantra Marga'' and the site o ...

, relating to legends of goddess

. Kamapitha is heart of ancient Kamrup, with presence of two major capitals out of three namely

Pragjyotishpura Pragjyotishpura or Pragjyotisapura, now deemed to be a region within modern Guwahati, is claimed to be an ancient city and capital of the Varman dynasty (350 - 650 A.D). Though the earliest mention of Pragjyotisha in local sources come from the ...

and

Durjaya Durjaya, now North Guwahati, was capital of Kamarupa kingdom under the Pala Dynasty for the period 900 to 1100 C.E. Pala rulers built their capital on the banks of the Brahmaputra and surrounded it with a rampart and a strong palisade, whence th ...

Deities

It is believed that, each pitha of Kamrup is in charge of respective deities.

is said to be the deity, which governs Kamapitha, whereas Jalpisa looks after Ratnapitha while Dikkarvasini takes charge of Saumarpitha.Indian History Congress (1960), ''Proceedings, Indian History Congress'', Page 501

Notes

References

* * * {{refend Kamarupa

Boundaries

Shaktipeeth

Deities

See also

Notes

References