Ambubachi
Held roughly 22–26 Ashadha (mid/late June) each year, Ambubachi draws thousands of pilgrims to Kamakhya even though the temple doors close to the public for the first three days. Sadhus and tantric practitioners in particular treat the window as auspicious for practice.
Computed for New Delhi. Sunrise decides which tithi a day belongs to, so these can differ elsewhere.
The annual four-day observance marking the sacred stone’s menstruation; roughly Ashadha, mid/late June.
55 notes from our sourcesNotes from our sources
Sign of divine grace: passing unaffected through a tantric akhara ground
The speaker says the first sign that a deity's Kripa is on you is this: go into a tantric akhara ground at its time — Ram Navami, Shivratri, the month of Savan, Ambubachi — where energies are being projected on one another as a show of power, and where sadhaks and ordinary people alike start "playing", crying, shouting or falling ill. If a divine shakti is with you, you cross that ground steady and untouched, not a hair pulled, even if you have never had any direct darshan. He gives his own experience: four companions in a region he calls a second Mayong were hit with tantra and reduced to dysentery and IV drips within two or three hours, while he, then very young and doing only ordinary service of Jagadamba, did not so much as sneeze. He says the shakti protects her child completely.
The Rudra Ashtakam path may be done according to one's capacity, and 108 paths daily may be attempted during Ambubachi
To Pratibha ji he says the path of the Rudra Ashtakam may absolutely be done according to one's capacity. To a listener who has begun the Lakshmi mala mantra japa, doing 27 paths daily and intending to try 108 paths daily during the Ambubachi parva, he says: very beautiful, absolutely do it.
What is to be done with the red Ambubachi cloth?
Of the red cloth of Ambubachi with which Bhagavati was wrapped, tear half the cloth and tie it, as a raksha kavach, on the neck or on the arm or on the wrist of each member of the family; and the remaining cloth may be kept where you keep your wealth, in a pure, good place.
The approaching Ambubachi parva is when ordinary householders begin asking about the Kamakhya kshetra
Because the Ambubachi parva is coming, the speaker says. Whenever Ambubachi comes, people try to move forward in this period — an ordinary householder to know about the Kamakhya kshetra and what should be done in Ambubachi, and those who have an interest in the tantra kshetra to know its reality.
Can a woman wear the Kamakhya dham prasad filled into a kavach, and what is its importance?
Answering a listener, the speaker says it is popularly known that when Bhagavati becomes rajaswala at Kamrup Kamakhya, the Ambubachi parva is observed every year from 22 June to 26 June, in which it is held that the earth, Dharti Mata herself, becomes rajaswala, and there is a flow of blood from the yoni mandal where the peeth of Bhagavati Kamrup Kamakhya stands; and that is kept covered, so that the cloth, which is white, becomes red and is distributed in the form of prasad.
Is the Ambubachi cloth being sold outside genuine?
Its importance is great, the speaker says, but you will have to see whether the cloth you are getting is truly the right thing. All of you should know that the cloth of the yoni mandal is never given, outside the Kamrup peeth, to persons who are not initiated — whoever may be giving it online or from anywhere. If they are initiated persons in some shakti mandal peeth, then they will certainly have that thing; otherwise, everyone guards this thing of theirs.
May the Ambubachi cloth be filled into a kavach and worn?
If she does obtain it, then yes, she may certainly fill it into a kavach and wear it, the speaker says: the effect of Bhagavati will be very great. But he adds that before wearing any divine thing on the body, before holding a divine thing of that kind upon the body, one should think a hundred times over whether our body is capable of bearing energy of that kind or not.
Why may women not offer arghya in a copper vessel?
People say copper may be used because it represents the sun and is the sun's swaroop, the speaker notes; but women should not. Copper chiefly represents Surya and the planet Mangal, and Mangal has been held to be an amsha of Mata Prithvi — relate this, he says, to Mata Prithvi being herself in amsha form, or say that Bhagavati Kamrup Kamakhya is herself descended in the form of the earth, and that at the Ambubachi parva it is said the earth, prakriti herself, becomes rajaswala. And prakriti never gives arghya by touching her own son; Mangal is the son of Prithvi, and arghya is never given holding a son in the hand.
What connection do the kuldevis have with the Kamrup kshetra?
Chiefly, all the kuldevis and kuldevtas there are certainly have their place in the Kamrup kshetra, the speaker says; they certainly have a regular standing there, and they go. You should even have this information, he adds: in the Vindhya kshetra too, when the Ambubachi parva takes place, the sadhaks there and the chief pujaris and pandas take Bhagavati Vindhyavasini, in her kuldevi swaroop, to Bhagavati Kamrup Kamakhya for four days. Such is the mahima of that kshetra; its greatness has somewhere been shown by this.
What should a sadhak do at home during the Ambubachi parva?
The last thing he will say, the speaker states, is what is to be done and not done in the Ambubachi parva. Every sadhak, whether sadhika or sadhak, should at the time of the Ambubachi parva cover the Shri vigrahas of Bhagavati in your house with red cloth — as you do the puja of Bhagavati Durga, or the puja of Bhagavati Kalika — from 22 June up to 26 June. On 22 June, early in the morning, have Bhagavati bathed and the rest, quite early in the morning, and cover her wholly with red cloth. Only her eyes and face should be faintly visible. Whatever ornaments are upon her body, all the ornaments should be removed; if there are weapons to be put on and given into her hands, those should be taken out and given rest.
What is offered to Bhagavati during the four days of Ambubachi, and how is she unveiled?
She should be kept covered completely with red cloth and will remain in that same state; the bhog of madhu should certainly be offered to Bhagavati at that time, every morning and evening, the speaker says. Whatever seva-puja, sadhana, havan and the rest of the four days you wish to do, you may do; you may do the jagran of mantras and so on. On the last day, after the 26th — that is, on the 27th — you will again lift the cloth from Bhagavati's body and perform abhishek upon her properly with haldi water and scented dravyas and the rest. Then you will dress her in new cloth and put on the ornaments, and the cloth Bhagavati had worn for four days you should keep at the place where you keep your wealth, or wear it in a kavach, or tie it on the hand — you may put it to good use as you wish.
Which forms of Bhagavati should be covered during the Ambubachi parva?
Every person should perform pujan in this manner at the time of the Ambubachi parva, the speaker says — whichever swaroop of Bhagavati it may be, whether Kali, or Durga, or Maa Bhagavati Bagla; chiefly, whosever Shri vigraha is installed at home, they should certainly be covered. The subject has been told separately on the channel too, and he will put it up again.
Where are such displays of shakti actually held?
In the Kamakhya region around August, near the month of Bhado, a mela is held which is in a sense their traditional mela, he says. Akharas are set up, shakti is displayed and everything is done there. But only those who are trustworthy are brought in and seated — outsiders are not. Outsiders normally see only devatas playing and swaying, as ordinarily happens; this kind of display of siddhi and shakti happens in a private akhara. If you are trustworthy you will be seated and shown.
What is Ambubachi, and why is the subject kept from ordinary people?
It would be no exaggeration, the speaker says, to call these four days the most formidable, directly Siddhi-giving Tantra Parva of the whole year — the Mahakumbh of the Tantra Parvas. And the subject has been pressed away from ordinary people with two sentences: leave it, this is a Tantra-Mantra matter, you will be ruined.
What should a householder actually do on these four days?
What is not said, he objects, is that the path of those who practise Tantra is a little different, difficult and distinctive — and that an ordinary person, while not doing it that way, should at the very least perform a distinctive service and worship of Bhagavati on these four days: her Kavach, her mantras, and for the initiated, their initiated mantras.
What does the Ambubachi period do to a power being worshipped?
Understand that the time of the Ambubachi Parva is the centre-time for making distinctively effective, for awakening, and for making fierce, every power that people are awakening and serving. If you are reciting a Kavach — set the Tantric side aside; each has his own tradition and we need not go into it.
How many days does Ambubachi actually run?
Taken in full, hold the time from the night of the 21st, from twelve o'clock, to the dawn of the 26th — six days. But the principal ones are four: the 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th. From the night of the 25th all the Shringar and worship begins, and again from three in the morning of the 26th.
Which form at home should be worshipped as Kamakhya?
Whatever form of Bhagavati you have installed and serve at home — even if it is only a photograph or a symbol, so long as your Bhava in it is of Bhagavati — perform the worship of Bhagavati Kamakhya in that very one. Because the root tattva is seated in all of them.
What preparation is made before Ambubachi begins?
Make the whole preparation on the 21st, before Ambubachi begins. Through these four days offer the Mother as much as you can of fruit, of dry fruits, and honey as the Naivedya.
What is done on the first morning of Ambubachi?
On the morning of the 22nd, at dawn, before sunrise if possible: from whatever service-Vigraha you have — Mahakali's, Durga's, whichever — take off the garments already put on, all the gold chains, whatever is in the ears, the nose, the hands, the anklets, the crown, all of it.
How is the Vigraha covered?
After removing them, cover the Mother's whole body well with a new red cloth — of whatever form her Vigraha is, even Baglamukhi's — right up to the neck. Then seat her in her place, keep the ornaments together somewhere good, and light a lamp a little distance in front of her.
Should the shrine be closed for the four days?
Those in whose house the tradition of closing the worship place already runs — where an awakened Peeth is kept, or Kamakhya or Kali is the Kuldevi and the doors close for four days as in the temples — should follow their own rule. New people should not adopt this rule; they should only cover in red cloth from the 22nd.
What is offered during the four days of Ambubachi?
If you wish you may offer a fragrant garland daily through the four days — not an ordinary garland but the small fragrant kind, so that it is no weight on her. And offer as much Paushtik material as you can as Naivedya. But never change your Aradhya or Ishta.
Is a fast kept during Ambubachi?
These four days a fast is not to be kept — but japa certainly is. Whichever Kavach you have been reciting — the Mahabhairav Mala Mantra, the Batuk Bhairav Brahm Kavach, Bhagavati Kalika's Kavach — perform the Purashcharan of that same Kavach these four days, completing a hundred recitations each day.
Which Kavach is best for these four days?
The Kamakhya Kavach — the most wondrous and most intense, holding the ten Mahavidya forms within itself, and excellent for everyone and for women in particular. These four days recite it in the largest quantity you can: increase your stamina past a hundred toward two hundred, morning and evening, and complete eleven hundred across the four days.
What should be worn during the japa?
At this time a practitioner, male or female, should certainly do the japa wearing a Rudraksha mala or a red sandal mala on the body. Because the energy at this time is many times greater than on ordinary days — not a hundredfold, but many times over — and Bhagavati is in her fiercest form.
What must be avoided toward women in these four days?
It should never be done at any time in life, but in these four days in particular, avoid insulting women and mothers. And if any woman becomes Rajaswala in that time, know her at that time as Bhagavati Kamakhya's very form. Serve her those four days, whatever your relation to her, and let no feeling of untouchability be in you.
What should a Rajaswala woman herself do in these days?
She should remain steady at one place, not walk about or move around much. Because those who use the Kshudra shaktis awaken them at this time, and if they somehow learn of a Rajaswala woman they become capable, very rapidly, of their most distinctive Tantra prayogas through her.
Should a woman insist on worshipping during her period in these days?
No — and the speaker names the insistence he is answering: I am Rajaswala, so what, I am a feminist, I am modern, I will go and worship, I will go to the temple, nobody can stop me. The worship performed at this time, he says, will become the cause of a ruin, a great ruin. Do not make that mistake at all.
Should a desire be attached to this worship?
Yes — at this time worship with a desire; it is not that you should not. But take one principal desire rather than fifty kinds, make the Sankalpa for that single one, and worship and offer Archana through the four days with it.
Why does the household Yantra matter at this time?
Because at that time the maximum number of powers certainly become seated, in a fractional form, in their own Yantra and place. Whatever is happening at the principal Siddha Peeth, we are holding at that place in our own daily worship room, in our own house — so the same thing happens there in a subtle form.
What may be used for the Archana?
You may offer Archana with kumkum, with flowers. Where the matter is of grain, offer with raisins, with cashews, with makhana — whatever you can manage. And if you are a Dhan-Kuber, offer with silver coins, with gold coins, with five hundred and two thousand rupee notes — though not with a demonetised one.
What is done with the Ambubachi offerings after the observance?
Keep the flowers, cloves and cardamom used in these four days' Archana safe; do not throw them away and do not immerse them. Household members should eat a little daily on an empty stomach after the worship, or fill them into a Kavach and wear them. And any gold, silver or coins should be tied in red cloth and kept — never immersed, never removed.
Should an outside Tantrik be allowed into the house in these days?
No Tantrokta Anushthan should be performed inside your house by an outside person in these four days. Your own Guru coming and doing it is excellent, or one in whom you have blind trust — but a new person, or someone who bears you malice and knows the procedures, will absorb his own energy there and interfere.
How dangerous is the Ambubachi Parva Kala?
It is a very sensitive time. At this time the powers become so fierce and awakened that if they wish to show grace they can make you in these four days — and these same four days can also bring your destruction and your ruin. There is that much capacity in these four days.
What must be done with the Tapo-bal earned at a Parva Kala?
Learn to conserve it. Whatever japa and austerity you perform at a Parva Kala — Navratri, Shivratri, the Ambubachi Parva, the Bhadon Amavasya, Chaturdashi, Tara Amavasya — never take a Sankalpa with it and do something for anybody, unless life itself is in danger. Store it well, and use its interest.
What is done on the morning Ambubachi ends?
When the four days' worship is complete, then on the morning of the 26th, at dawn, before sunrise itself, the red cloth you had put upon Bhagavati's form is to be removed — and that cloth is to be kept safe.
How is the Devi bathed and adorned on the fifth day?
Bathe her well with scented water — raw milk, rose water, agaru and kewra water mixed and made fragrant — with kumkum and haldi; then grind sandalwood on stone and apply the Gandhanulepan; then bathe her with water and do her Shringar beautifully, with garments and all.
Which desires are proper for the Ambubachi Anushthan?
In the Kamakhya Ambubachi Parva, worship with a desire — but keep the Anushthan wholly gentle, with some one desire of your own: someone's job, someone's business, the destruction of an illness. These are proper desires, as is asking that capability be obtained. Do not make some outlandish desire at this time.
What if eleven hundred recitations are not possible?
Then do a hundred and eight recitations daily — you absolutely may. And whatever recitations and worship you were already doing, do all of their japa during Ambubachi.
Is the Vigraha bathed during the four days?
No. After covering Bhagavati there will be no daily bath for four days, and no touching of her either. All you may do in the four days is put on a fragrant flower and take it off the next day — nothing beyond that by way of touching the Vigraha.
What is the Ambubachi festival?
The speaker explains that once a year the pind of Jagadamba at Kamakhya becomes rajaswala: just as a woman menstruates once a month by the moon nadi, blood seeps from the established stone. He calls it that awakened a Shakti Peeth, and says the occasion is also held to be the earth's own menstruation. This is the Ambubachi festival; it falls roughly between 22 and 26 June each year, in the month of Ashadha, and sometimes makes an extremely divine muhurta by falling inside the Ashadha Gupt Navratri, as he says it did in 2023.
Who gathers at Kamakhya during Ambubachi and why
The speaker says that during the Ambubachi period all the principal rishis, siddhas and powerful devatas with bodiless divine bodies are said to present themselves at the court of Kamakhya and stay there for the four days doing her seva, puja and Purashcharana for the siddhi of their mantras. Many siddhas who move about in the ordinary world also come then, bathe in the Brahmaputra and do a four-day purashcharana, both to gain higher mantra-siddhis and to be freed from any offence they have committed. Ordinary people too, he says, all go and do purashcharana and anushthan there at this time, which has its own separate greatness.
No caste or gender distinction in Kamarupa: the curse on those who observe it
The speaker says that in Kamarupa Pradesh there is no distinction of varna or of gender for a Shakta or anyone who serves Bhagavati, woman or man. It cannot be, he says, that a girl of a lower varna offers prasad and a sadhak of a higher varna refuses to eat it, and in Kanya Pujan and matrika pujan there caste and varna are not looked at. Whoever looks at caste or varna there, he says, is struck by the Devi's curse; so it is said, and so it is described in the shastras.
Which Mahavidya resides at Kamakhya?
The speaker says the Devi Purana Mahabhagavata describes Bhagavati Kalika, the principal of the ten Mahavidyass, as the one seated at Kamakhya in the Kamakhya form. Other tantra texts, he says, describe her as the combined form of Kali and Tara, and somewhere the description is of Ma Shodashi. His conclusion is that whichever of the ten Mahavidyas, or whichever form of the Devi, a person worships at home, they should hold the Ambubachi observance for that image in their house.
Four-day home worship of the Devi image during Ambubachi
The speaker gives the home vidhan for Ambubachi, 22 to 26 June each year. On the first day the Devi image is bathed with turmeric and kumkum and with panchamrita, then covered entirely in clean red cotton cloth so that only the face shows, with no heavy ornaments on her, and then worshipped. On the fourth day, the 26th, the cloth is removed, Jagadamba is given abhisheka again, then fully adorned and ornamented, best by the hands of a sumangali woman of the house; after the panchamrita bath she is dressed in red again, and a Havan should be done that day if possible. If Navratri is running at the same time, he says, the image is still dressed in red right after the first-day bath so it need not be moved, and the cloth is still removed on the 26th even though the Navratri cloth would otherwise come off on Navami.
Precaution: the Devi's Ambubachi shringar is not photographed or shared
The speaker cautions that the four-day Ambubachi adornment of the Devi in the home is not to be photographed or filmed and put on status, reels or anything else, nor sent to anyone. One would not send a photo of a woman of one's own house at such a time, he says; this is only a matter of bhavana, since Bhagavati is all-capable and each will think according to his own mind. But one should keep one's own feeling this way: even someone who normally shares photos should not share or show the shringar of this period, because of worldly attitudes, and should keep her hidden like the kulavadhu of the house.
Sadhana done during Ambubachi becomes infallible: the greatest festival for Kaul and Shakta sadhaks
The speaker says that whatever mantra Purashcharana or anushthan a sadhak does in the four days of Ambubachi, whatever extra japa and Havan, whatever attempt at reciting a Kavach and gaining its siddhi, Bhagavati makes it amogha, infallible. For every sadhak in the whole Kaula Sampradaya and Shakta community, he says, this is the greatest festival period, and it is said to carry thousands of times the merit of even Navratri.
Whether the doors close at Vaishno Devi or Maihar is separate from Ambubachi itself
A listener says that these days people, out of greed for money, do not observe the Ambubachi parva at all, and that he has explained it to several priests who say the doors do not close at Vaishno Devi or at Maihar. All right, the speaker answers, that is their own thinking, or they are saying it according to their own sthan. The closing of the doors is a separate matter. If the doors are not closing, that is fine — it is a Shakti Peeth. For the rest, to accept or not to accept is upon oneself.
Learning avaran pujan from someone who knows it is a good thing
A listener says he had done the Saptashloki sadhana in Ambubachi with viniyoga and nyasa, that a divyansh was obtained, and having completed the sadhana and reported it he was told that now he wishes to be taught the avaran pujan. The speaker says: you did the Saptashloki sadhana; and having done the Saptashloki sadhana you wish to learn avaran pujan, or are learning it, are learning it from someone — that is a good thing, you learn it. In this, he says, there is nothing further we can do.
What gathering happens at Tarapith in these days?
It is said that just as in the Ambubachi parva a whole great gathering of tantrics takes place at Kamakhya, where people go and stay for four days, so for at least three days there is a gathering at Tarapith, in the Birbhum district of Bengal — where the famed Vamachari tantric Vamakhepa had his tapasthali, where the Panchmundi asana is present, and where it is said that Maharshi Vashishtha, the kula guru of Bhagavan Shri Ram, attained the siddhi of Bhagavati Tara by the Vam marga, that is the tantra marga.
The earth's own rajaswala parva, like the newborn's face before the shashthi, was meant to be kept secret
When this earth observes the Ambubachi parva, in which it is said that Jagadamba — the earth being a form of Bhagavati Jagadamba — becomes directly rajaswala, that too is a form of tantra. But all these things were kept secret, and today that secrecy is being broken: people now make videos of a child actually being born, and forget the shashthi, before which in some regions it is current that even the father should not look at the face.
What should be done at home for Ambubachi if one cannot go to Kamakhya?
A separate video is on the channel, Manisha Rajpal ji, in which we have told what all of us should do in Ambubachi from the 22nd of June to the 26th of June, and it is put up again on Telegram and on YouTube. In it, generally, on the first day Bhagavati's Shri Vigraha should be bathed and then covered with rakta vastra, that is, with red cloth. There will be no shringar of any kind for her. A bhog of madhu will be offered, and her seva, puja and archan will go on daily; mantra japa will be done and offered to her.
How does the Ambubachi observance conclude?
On the 26th the cloth is to be removed, and her abhishek and shringar and so on will take place again. At least five kinds of good bhog will be offered. And havan and the like has to be done. Ordinarily this much should be done.
May clove and cardamom be offered to Ma Kali?
Asked whether clove and cardamom have been offered to Ma Kali or not, he says: absolutely, offer them. Asked whether it was right to make an ahuti of 108 cloves when a havan could not be done at the time of Ambubachi, he says yes, that can be done.
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