Difficult terrain makes work easier for authorities in Kamakhya

Any new visitor to the Kamakhya temple - one of the most renowned Shakti temples in the country and a centre of...

Any new visitor to the Kamakhya temple – one of the most renowned Shakti temples in the country and a centre of Tantrism – located atop Nilachal Hills here, would be surprised to see that crowd management here is smoother than perhaps at any other pilgrim centre in the country.

The temple receives between seven and eight lakh visitors within a span of four to five days when it observes the annual Ambubachi mela. And given the topographical condition of the area, with narrow alleys and ancient rock staircases, crowd management here should have been one of the most difficult.

“It is indeed difficult,” admits Debajit Deuri, additional SP, Guwahati City. “But it is the topography that works towards our advantage in managing the mammoth gathering during festivals,” he adds.

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“Unlike most other temples where pilgrims gather in a square or rectangular courtyard, Kamakhya being on a hilltop, the crowd is bound to proceed in a natural queue. Moreover, we have the additional advantage of regulating the crowd at the foothills where there is only one motorable road. The crowd is regulated at the bottom of the rock staircases,” he says, adding that the local people are extremely cooperative and play perfect hosts to the lakhs of pilgrims who come from all over the country and from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Nabakanta Sharma of the Kamakhya Debutter Board, the managers of the temple complex, says 500 volunteers are engaged to assist the pilgrims during festivals.