Naga Sadhus Perform Yoga at Kamakhya Temple in Assam

Naga Sadhus

Guwahati, June 21, 2019:

On the occasion of International Yoga Day, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, his Cabinet colleagues and a large number of people participated in the main Yoga Day event held at Sarusojai stadium in Guwahati.

The CM took to his tweeter handle and tweeted: "Yoga practice enhances spiritual and physical health. Participated in yogaday2019 along with thousands of people in Guwahati. I urge all to embrace yoga as a way of life for a healthy lifestyle."

Meanwhile, at the “Nilachal Pahar” that is in the Kamakhya Temple, more than 100 Naga sadhus, as well as other devotees, also performed yoga at an event organized to mark the Yoga Day celebrations.

Also Read: Assam all Set for Spectacle of Ambubachi

The Naga sadhus expressed that Yoga has been the very integral part of India since ancient time. On the occasion of the International Yoga Day, they have taken it as an opportunity to impose its importance in the “Ambubachi Mela” also called the Kumbh Mela of Northeast.

Thousands of people from across the country and abroad have converged at the Kamakhya temple for the annual Ambubachi festival, which starts on Saturday.

The temple doors remain shut during the three-day festival, which marks the annual menstruation of Goddess Kamakhya. Farmer also stops work during these three days when Mother Earth is believed to be "impure".

At the end of the three days, the temple doors reopen after a ritual bath by the goddess.

This yearly mela is celebrated during the monsoon season that happens to fall during the Assamese month Ahaar, around the middle of June when sun transit to the zodiac of Mithuna, when the Brahmaputra river is in spate.