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Kamarupa, a temple and pilgrimage site near Gauhati, Assam, remains to this day one of the most widely known pilgrimage sites of Hindu goddess (Shakta) traditions. It is often described as the most important of all the Shakta pithas or "seats of the goddess." The site is frequently described as hotbed of black magic, of tantric practice characterized as the use of sex, alcohol, and blood sacrifice to gain personal power, and of human sacrifice.2 Much of this nefarious reputation can be attributed to various outsiders each with their own religious, political and social agendas. Some of the site's infamy was no doubt promoted by locals, perhaps especially kings and their priests, to instill fear in political or religious rivals or to attract pilgrims.3
However, the site's reputation does not give a complete or accurate picture. Data from the site itself and also from Sanskrit texts that were composed there and/or have detailed knowledge of the geography of the site as well as detailed injunctions for religious practice at Kamarupa, go far beyond the Stereotypie and sensationalistic characterizations. For example, the Kalika Purana - which, like the Yogini Tantra, has extremely close connections to the site - gives elaborate visualization exercizes for a variety of deities including the various forms of the goddess at Kamarupa. It prescribes ritual procedures typical for Tantra: the use of formulae for recitation including mantras, geometric diagrams of deities (yantra), gestures to install deities in and around the body (nyasd) and talismans (kavaca), and so on. It also prescribes ritual procedures that do not belong specifically to Tantra: offerings of flowers, water, etc., to a physical or visualized image of a deity and offerings made into fire (homa). Yet, the Kalika Parana echoes and contributes to the site's infamous reputation with its descriptions of blood sacrifice, including human, and of transgressive tantric practices such as the ritual use of alcohol and sex. Similarly, the Yogini Tanira advocates a wide variety of ritual procedures, some obviously tanttic, some clearly transgressive, and some not essentially or specifically tantric.
This paper examines two forms of data on Kamarupa that challenge the dark, often overwhelmingly nefarious reputation of this site. First, the paper presents data from the site itself. Secondly, it discusses passages from...