Hundreds of devotees gathered at the sacred Kamakshi Amman Temple in Kanchipuram to participate in the grand Brahmotsavam celebrations.

I bought myself a Kamakshi Deepam last week after years of wanting one. This naturally led to thoughts of the Devi at Kanchipuram, and I remembered a nice story from the holy city’s annals.

Kanchipuram city today is divided as the Siva Kanchi, Vishnu Kanchi and Jaina Kanchi, but its connection to the Shakta cult goes way back to pre-Adi Shankara’s times. In fact, he established the ...