Human sacrifice inAssam? A headless body found near Kamakhya temple raises questions
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GUWAHATI : On June 19, the headless body of a woman was found close to the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati. Police officers on the case are investigating the possibility that it was a human sacrifice.
“It looks like a murder that has stemmed from superstition,” said Deepak Kumar, the city’s police commissioner. “The crime scene definitely suggests so: everything was in order; the woman’s body was wrapped in a blanket next to which was a bottle of water and other puja essentials.”
Such speculation has been fuelled by the fact that the Kamakhya temple is known to be a seat of tantric practices, often associated, at least in the popular imagination, with human sacrifice.
The timing of the incident seems to have bolstered the theory. It occurred days before one of the most important events on the temple calendar, the Ambubachi Mela, which has hordes of devotees and ascetics descending on the temple complex.
The mela, an annual affair, marks the goddess Kamakhya’s menstrual period, which is believed to occur only once a year. The temple remains closed during that period – according to religious belief, the deity is in a state of impurity. However, the supposedly impure blood of the goddess is also believed to be a harbinger of life and vitality. When the temple is opened, usually after three days, pieces of red cloth, representing the goddess’s blood, are distributed among devotees.
But the temple establishment insists that human sacrifice has never been part of the Ambubachi ritual. “When it did happen – and it has not in forever – human sacrifices were only made during Durga Puja,” said Rajib Sarma, a member of the Kamakhya Bordeori Samaj, the family trust which runs the temple.
