Priests and practices: understanding the socio-religious scenario of Kamakhya temple

Every religion in its own tradition builds houses of worship. In Hinduism, temples are the major places of worship and have great role in the religious and socio-cultural life of the people of that place. In Assam, Kamakhya temple is the largest ancient temple and it has been playing an important role in the socio-religious life of the people of this region. The priests of the temple are working for generations and with change in, the nature of their work, their life styles and their involvement in the temple activates have undergone remarkable changes. The present paper tries to highlight the socio-cultural scenario of Kamakhya temple along with the activities and assignments of the priests residing in the Nilachal Hill. The paper is based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data has been collected with the help of well-designed questionnaire- cum schedule. The data so collected has been analysed for clean exposition.