Keywords
Iconography
Kamakhya
Indian Knowledge Systems
Mahavidyas
Tantra Tradition
How to Cite
Abstract
This research aims to analyse the celebrated combination of aesthetics, visual representation, and textual interpretation (as in the Kalika Purana) in its historical context at the Kamakhya Temple complex in Assam, which may not be confined to, or considered merely, decorative sculptures. Still, the visual model of philosophical paradigms: a place of worship, a form of yantra for rituals, and the Iconography of temple sculptures as the Indian Knowledge system. Shaktism is one of the significant doctrines, in which devotees’ faith centres on the Mother Goddess, in the form of Shakti (energy) and the Supreme Brahman (the absolute creator). The study has been carried out through qualitative methods to interpret the textual and visual analysis of the canonical texts of Kalika Purana, Devi-Bhagavata Purana, Shakta Upanishads and Yogini Tantra, along with the spatial manifestations of significant sculptures and the temple complex. The analysis suggests that the Kamakhya temple symbolically enshrines the “Yoni” (reproductive organ) of Mother goddess “Sati”, presumably, the source and beginning of vitality, as the axis of the tantric-Sakta tradition. Besides, the Kamakhya Temple complex, being a sacred place of worship and a site of tantric cosmogony, is also a representation of a rooted sculptural tradition within the Indian knowledge system, where the complex itself is a manifestation of the ‘Yoni-Yantra’, a Sakta-tantric mandala comprising the Ten Mahavidyas.
References
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Copyright (c) 2026 Meghata Mishra, Dr Rajan Kumar Vaidhya (Author)