Unlike Jagannath temple at Puri in Odisha, priests at the ancient Kamakhya temple situated atop Nilachal hills in Guwahati gave up the annual Ambubachi mela congregation in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Last year, nearly 25 lakh devotees visited the temple premises during the four-day-long mela, which is considered one of the biggest religious congregations in the country.
As per the rituals followed every year, the temple doors were closed at 7.53 am on Monday and will be re-opened on Friday morning. The mela is organised to mark the annual menstruation of the Mother Goddess and Mother Earth, during which the temple remains closed for four days.
"Every year, we eagerly await thousands of devotees from across the country and abroad. We have never denied any devotees to visit the temple but this year we had no option but to cancel the mela and restrict the festival into rituals only. Even during the Assam Agitation of 1980s, when we witnessed a lot of violence and disturbance, we did not issue any public appeal for not visiting the temple. But this time, we had to take the tough decision keeping in mind the public health concerns due to the coronavirus pandemic," one of the priests looking after the temple management said.
The voluntary decision by the Kamakhya temple management comes at a time when managing committee of Jagannath temple at Puri sought a review of Supreme Court's June 18 stay on Rath Yatra congregation slated for Tuesday.
The three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde, had said that such gatherings cannot take place at the time of the pandemic.
Thousands of devotees, including tantrics, sadhus and researchers from different parts of the country as well as from Nepal, Bangladesh and other countries visit Kamakhya temple during the Ambubachi mela, which is also considered the most important centre for the study of tantra in the world.