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Kamakshi 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.
This place is associated with Adi Sankaracharya, one of the greatest Hindu gurus.

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, an yogic posture signifying peace and prosperity.

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.

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.

All Fridays are considered sacred, though the Fridays in the Tamil months of Adi (mid-July to mid-August) and Thai (mid-January to mid-February) are celebrated.

Godess presides over the kamakoshtha in five forms:

  • shri kamakshi para bhattarika

  • tapah kamakshi

  • anjana kamakShi

  • svarna kamakshi

  • utsava kamakshi



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