Kamakshi
कामाक्षी
Kuldevi, family goddess
Worshipped as Raja Rajeshwari (Lalita Tripurasundari); counted among the Shakti Peethas
At a glance
- Main shrine
- Kamakshi Amman Temple, Kanchipuram, Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu
- Worshipped in
- Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana
- Kept by
- 24 Manai Telugu Chettiar
About
Kamakshi is the goddess of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, worshipped as the one Shakti of the town and as a form of Lalita Tripurasundari. Her temple in Kanchipuram is the main shrine. The 24 Manai Telugu Chettiars name her as their kuladeivam, the family deity. A family's own deity is fixed by its own tradition, so the page names only the lines a source ties to her.
Legend and Origin
The temple's own account, published by the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, holds that Kamakshi is the Raja Rajeshwari of Kanchipuram and that Adi Shankara installed and consecrated a Sri Chakra before her. Another account gives the consecration of the Sri Yantra to the sage Durvasa. In the Tapas Kamakshi legend Parvati worshipped Shiva as Ekambareshwara under a mango tree by the river Vegavati and married him; the Peetham's account says this is why the Shiva temples of Kanchipuram have no separate Ambal shrine. Tradition counts Kanchipuram among the Shakti Peethas, the place where Sati's navel is said to have fallen; the lists of Peethas differ from text to text. The date of the temple is not settled. Encyclopedic summaries say it was founded in the Pallava period, placed between the 5th and 8th centuries CE, and altered in the 14th and 17th centuries; one writer gives the building to the Cholas in the 14th century. A damaged slab in the second prakara is dated to the 18th regnal year of Narasimhavarman II (708 to 709 CE) and is read as a later copy of an earlier record. Adi Shankara is usually placed in the 8th century CE by modern scholars; the Peetham's own tradition places him earlier.
How the Deity Is Shown
Kamakshi is shown seated in the lotus posture, holding a noose, a goad, a sugarcane bow and flower arrows. The Sri Chakra before her receives daily worship. A Bangaru (golden) Kamakshi has a shrine nearby in the same temple.
How Families Keep the Worship
Kamakshi in Kanchipuram is visited by devotees of every kind, and the temple tradition keeps Fridays sacred, above all in the Tamil months of Adi and Thai. The word kuladeivam (Tamil) or kuladaivam (Telugu) means the deity of one's own kula, the line or family; it is distinct from the ishta-devata, the deity a person chooses for personal devotion. Among the 24 Manai Telugu Chettiars, in the account the community itself tells, Kamakshi became their kuladeivam after the penance of their ancestors to her saved the community from extinction. Other families may keep her too; practice before a kuladeivam differs by branch and village, and the private rites of a family are not described here.
Shrines
Kamakshi Amman Temple
Kanchipuram, Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu
The main shrine. A Sri Chakra is set before the goddess; the Shiva temples of the town have no separate shrine for Ambal.
Bangaru Kamakshi Temple
Thanjavur, Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu
Keeps the golden (bangaru) image of Kamakshi that the hereditary priestly families are said to have taken out of Kanchipuram.
Festivals
Brahmotsavam
Tamil month of Masi (about mid-February to mid-March)
Opens with the flag-hoisting. Procession on the vahanas, the chariot (ther) and the Masi Magam bath on the tenth day are the main days in the Peetham's schedule.
Navaratri
Ashvin (Sharada Navaratri) and Chaitra (Vasanta Navaratri), first nine days
A 2025 temple-visit listing calls the two Navaratris the biggest festivals of the temple.
Sankara Jayanti
Vaishakha, shukla panchami
The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham observes Adi Shankara's birthday, and the Kamakshi temple holds a festival at the same time.
Stories and Legends
Parvati's penance at Kanchipuram
In the Tapas Kamakshi legend, Parvati did penance in Kanchipuram under a mango tree near the river Vegavati, worshipped Shiva there as Ekambareshwara, and married him. The Peetham's account gives this as the reason Kamakshi is the one goddess of the town: the Shiva temples there have no shrine of their own for Ambal, because she is understood to be present as Kamakshi.
The golden Kamakshi of Thanjavur
According to the Thanjavur accounts, the hereditary priestly families carried the golden image out of Kanchipuram for safety in a time of invasion, lived on the move for a long period, and settled at Tiruvarur and then Thanjavur, where a temple was built for her in the 18th century. The accounts differ on the date and cause of the move. The composer Syama Sastri was born in 1762 at Tiruvarur into one of these priestly families.
Families who keep Kamakshi
Kuls, lineages and surnames that sources tie to this deity. Branches within each may keep another.