Tamilnadu Tourism: Kamakshi Amman Temple, Kanchipuram

Kamakshi Amman Temple, Kanchipuram

The Kamakshi Temple is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Kamakshi, one of the forms of the goddess Parvati. It is located in the historic city of Kanchipuram, near Chennai, India and is popularly associated with Sankaracharya, one of the greatest Hindu gurus. The Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, the Akilandeswari temple in Thiruvanaikaval near Tiruchirappalli and this Kamakshi are the important centers of worship of Parvati as the mother goddess, in the state of Tamil Nadu. The temple was most probably built by the Pallava kings, whose capital was Kanchipuram, around 6 C.E.

The main deity, Kamakshi, is seated in a majestic Padmasana, a yogic posture signifying peace and prosperity, instead of the traditional standing pose. The goddess holds a sugarcane bow and bunch of flowers in the lower two of her arms and has a pasha (lasso), an ankusha (goad) in her upper two arms. There is also a parrot perched near the flower bunch. There are no other Parvati temples in the city of Kanchipuram, apart from this temple, which is unusual in a traditional city that has hundreds of traditional temples.

There are various legends that account for this fact. One of them according to Kamkshivilasa is that the Goddess had to absorb all the other Shakthi forms to give a boon to Kama, the Hindu god of love. Another legend attributes it to the Raja Rajeswari pose of the deity that signifies an absolute control over the land under the deity's control. Legend has it that Kamakshi offered worship to a Shivalingam made out of sand, under a mango tree and gained Shiva's hand in marriage.

Adi Shankaracharya, the famous 8th-century CE scholar and saint, established the Sri Chakra in this Kamakshi Devi temple in the trough-like structure in that shrine. This Sri Chakra soon became the All India famous Kamakoti Peeta. The Acharya's Lalitha Trishati Bhashya comments Kamakoti Peetam as Sri Chakra.

Ekambareswarar temple, the Kamakshi Amman Temple and the Kumara Kottam temple and the Ulagalanda Perumal Temple are the primary shrines in Periya Kanchipuram. The first three mentioned above are located in a manner as to suggest the Somaskanda manifestation of Shiva, Uma and Skanda in the town of Kanchi. There are no shrines to Ambal, in any of the shrines to Shiva in Kanchi. Kamakshi is considered to be wholly present in Kanchipuram, as the only Ambal shrine.

Kanchipuram, amongst the seven sacred cities of India, is a paradise of beautiful temples nestled on the banks of the River Vegavathy in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. With a great number of shrines, it is no surprise that the town is an illustrious pilgrimage site for Hindu devotees. In addition to these, the place also boasts of several famous mosques and churches. It brings so much more to make the visitors holiday experience in Kanchipuram memorable and remarkable. From historic shrines, striking silk Sarees, picturesque old buildings, charming landscape, lively culture to exotic cuisines, all of them can be scouted in one place and that is Kanchipuram.

It is said to be bones of Sati Devi falls here. In some other text it referred as her hip falls here. The term ‘Kanchi’ means hip ornament in Sanskrit. This place is considered to be center for the universe so it termed as Kanchipuram.

The meaning of the word Kamakshi is ‘one who has eyes full of Love’. The Kamakshi Amman Temple is one of the 51 Shakthi Peethas or the famous temples of the Mother Goddess. Goddess Kamakshi is also worshipped as Parashakti or the supreme power and Parabhrama Swarupini.