SUSHMITA DEY
Bigger and grandeur – are the two keywords the Assam Tourism department is working upon as it is gearing up to organize the much-awaited annual Ambubachi Mela at the historic Kamakhya Temple in Assam’s Guwahati. To boost religious tourism, the department has lined up colourful week-long programmes, with a dash of Bollywood, for the devotees and visitors.
With his powerful voice and his unique style of music, Kher’s music style is influenced by Indian folk music and Sufi music. He has sung in many languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Nepali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Urdu.
Devotional singer Aditi Bharti will also perform at the mela, which is one of the largest auspicious congregation of India. Union Ministers and MLAs are also expected to visit the temple during the mela. Firebrand actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani recently visited the temple.
Ambubachi Mela celebrates the annual menstruation cycle of Hindu Goddess Kamakhya, one of the 51 Shakti Peeths and is celebrated every year during the monsoon season. Ambubachi Mela is also known as Mahakumbha of the East.
The door of the temple will remain closed from June 22nd, 2019 to mark the annual menstruation of the goddess at Kamakhya temple. The door will open on June 26th, 2019 morning.
The city district administration has fixed an initial estimated budget of Rs 2.5 crore for the fair this year. The temple along with the adjoining areas at the Nilachal complex will be lit up. The administration is also making all efforts to make the mela a colourful festival to attract more tourists and has drawn up plans to promote the state’s tourism through the festival.
