Kamapitha is one of the four

Kamarupa Pithas Kamarupa Pithas are ancient pithas or geographical divisions of Kamarupa. The division of the Pithas are not consistent in different sources, though the number of pithas are usually four. Since these pithas are not mentioned in the Kamarupa insc ...

, 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. Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...

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 The Kamarupa inscriptions are a number of 5th-century to early 13th-century rock, copper plate and clay seal inscriptions associated with the rulers and their subordinates of the Kamarupa region. The common language of these inscriptions is Sansk ...

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 either from Assam or Cooch Behar: "One of the most explicit descriptions of Tantric sexual rites occurs in Yogini tantra, a sixteenth-century text from Cooch Behar ...

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. It was the capital of the Chutia Kingdom and after the downfall of the kingdom it became the seat of the ''Sadiya-khowa-Gohain'' of the Ahom kingdom. Extensive remains of buildings and fortificati ...

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 (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest 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 ...

area up to the Manas River, which is Kamrup, as Kamapitha. Pratap Chandra Choudhury, has no difficulty in accepting that Kamapitha of

Tantra Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...

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 sex. Her abodeKamakhya Temple is located in the Kamarupa region of Assam, India."Seated on top of ...

area of Guwahati itself. Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, 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 Shakti Pitha or the Shakti Peethas ( sa, शक्ति पीठ, , ''seat of Shakti'') are significant shrines and pilgrimage destinations in Shaktism, the goddess-centric denomination in Hinduism. The shrines are dedicated to various for ...

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. The temple is the center of the ''Kulachara Tantra Marga'' and the site of the Ambubachi Mela, an annual fes ...

, 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, was 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 7th centu ...

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 the ...

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 Ratnapitha is an area between river Karatoya and Sonkosh and one of the four Pithas or geographical divisions of ancient Kamrup. See also * Kamarupa Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during t ...

while Dikkarvasini takes charge of Saumarpitha.Indian History Congress (1960), ''Proceedings, Indian History Congress'', Page 501

Notes

References

* * * {{refend Kamarupa (former kingdom)