A view of the Kamakhya temple. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Feb. 9: Many unknown aspects of Kamakhya’s culture, architecture and festivals will soon be available in pictures.

The Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture is publishing a colour photo album under the Kamakhya Documentation Project, which will be ready in about two months.

Kamakhya on the Nilachal Hill — A Panoramic View, will be a unique photo album covering the best photographs of sculptures, carvings and images in and around the Nilachal hill.

“We will make the album a trifle different so that it helps educate the readers,” said Pradip Sarma, director of the institute.

The full-colour album will include three chapters — sculpture, architecture and festivals with a preface to each and a detailed caption for the pictures, Sarma said.

Under the Kamakhya Documentation Project, 500 photographs were taken of the sculptures and the carvings in and around the Nilachal Hill. But only the best have made it to the book, he added.

Sarma said the Kamakhya project would provide a platform for experts to share their knowledge on the temple.

Financed by the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), the project was started in 2002, to document 10 aspects of the history and culture of the ancient seat of the Shakti cult.

The facets include religion, history, literature, anthropology, archaeology, economics, demography, land distribution, art (folk and classical) and festivals.

After two years, the research unit has completed the history, archaeology, religion and the festival aspects of the famous Kamakhya temple, discovering hitherto unknown myths and facts.

The institute has also decided to publish a book, compiling these four features. “This compilation will be a single volume of about 300 pages,” Sarma said.

On the rock-cut images near the Bogola temple, better known as Mekhela-Ujuaa, Sarma said the tourism department is considering pulling them down. The department has decided to demolish the stairs and build a road for the devotees. “If that happens, the centuries-old images will be destroyed,” Sarma said.

The Kamakhya and the adjoining temples have 64 stone-carved images of yoginis and 18 Bhairavis. The findings of the field surveyors include still and video documentation covering the different features of the temple.

Sarma said the institute has several more plans — to write about the various temples strewn over the entire Northeast. “Kamakhya is just one dimension.”

The Kamakhya temple atop the Nilachal hills was built in 1565 by Koch King Naranarayan on the ruins of the original which was destroyed by the invading army of Kalapahar.