page_title: Kamakshi Amman Temple
section_title: Durvasa Maharishi
hierarchical_section_title: Kamakshi Amman Temple / Durvasa Maharishi
caption_attribution_description: English: Kamakshi Amman Temple with the golden overlays over gopurams. தமிழ்: காஞ்சி காமாச்சி அம்மன் கோவிலின் பொற்கோபுரங்கள்.
context_page_description: The Kamakshi Temple is an ancient Hindu Temple dedicated to Kamakshi, the ultimate form of Goddess Lalitha Maha Tripurasundari. It is located in the historic city of Kanchipuram, near Chennai, India. The Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, the Akilandeswari temple in Thiruvanaikaval near Tiruchirappalli and this Kamakshi temple are the important centers of worship of Goddess, in the state of Tamil Nadu. The Temple was most probably built by the Pallava kings, whose capital was Kanchipuram.
  The Image of the main Deity, Kamakshi, is seated in a majestic Padmasana, a yogic posture signifying peace and prosperity, instead of the traditional standing pose. Goddess holds a sugarcane bow and bunch of five flowers in the lower two of her arms and has a pasha, an ankusha in her upper two arms. There is also a parrot perched near the flower bunch. There are no other Goddesss temples in the city of Kanchipuram, apart from this temple, which is unusual in a traditional city that has hundreds of traditional temples. There are various legends that account for this fact.
context_section_description: The shrine situated in front of Sri Kamakshi’s Garbha Grham is of Sage Durvasas, also known as Krodha Bhattaraka. There are thirty-two chief upasakas of Devi like manu, chandra, kubera etc. Among these, Kamaraja, Lopamudra and Durvasa are the chief upasakas. Durvasa pranita vidya is called Sadi vidya. Durvasa represents the power of sattvika krodha of Amba, used to protect and correct her devotees, and thus her limitless kriya shakti. It is Sri Durvasa who established the Kamakoti Peetha by consecrating a Bhu-Prastara Srichakra in front of Amba. He composed Lalita Stavaratna, also called Arya dwisahti, describing the Srinagara. He also composed Traipura Mahimna Stotra, a complete mantra shastra in itself and also the Para Shambhu Mahimna Stotra. Due to a curse by Saraswati, he was born as a deaf and dumb brahmana and was graced by Sri Kamakshi with Anugraha Diksha.
caption: Kamakshi Amman Temple with the golden overlays over its gopurams.
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