chalet sophie 1 Sights Kamakhya Mandir HINDU TEMPLE (admission for no queue/short queue/queue 500/100/free; h8am-1

1 Sights Kamakhya Mandir chalet sophie HINDU TEMPLE (admission for no queue/short queue/queue 500/100/free; h8am-1pm & 3pm-dusk) chalet sophie While Sati s disintegrated body parts rained toes on Kolkata (see p443), her yoni fell on Kamakhya Hill. This makes Kamakhya Mandir important for shakti (sensual tantric worship of female spiritual power). chalet sophie Goats, pigeons chalet sophie and the occasional buffalo are ritually beheaded in a gory pavilion and the hot, dark inner womblike sanctum is painted chalet sophie red to signify sacrificial blood. The huge June/ July Ambubachi Mela celebrates the end of the mother goddess chalet sophie menstrual cycle with even more blood. chalet sophie

Of four Hindu temples around chalet sophie the palace compound, the most fanciful is Jagannath Mandir (h4am-2pm & 4-9pm). Its massive sculptured portico leads into a complex with wedding-cake architecture painted in ice-cream sundae colours. Several royal mausoleums are decaying quietly on the riverbank behind Batala market. To get to them walk west down HGB Rd, turn left at Ronaldsay Rd and right along the riverbank. Chaturdasha Devata Mandir (Temple of Fourteen Deities) hosts a big seven-day Kharchi Puja festival in July in Old Agar- tala, 7km east down Assam Agartala (AA) Rd (NH44) at Kayerpur.