One of the victims of Covid-19 is the annual Ambubachi Mela, which was scheduled to start from June 22 this year.

Maa Kamakhya Devalaya, one of the major tourist attractions atop Nilachal hills in Guwahati, which hosts the four-day event every year, decided not to do so this year in a meeting of the temple executive committee on Wednesday.

“In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have decided not to organise the annual fair. Only the religious rituals will be performed during Ambubachi,” said Kabindra Nath Sarma, doloi (priest) of Kamakhya Devalaya.

When asked about the regular visits of devotees to the temple, one of the 51 shaktipeeths in the country, Sarma said, “It is clear that there will be no Ambubachi Mela this year. There will be no arrangements for the fair. But the visits of the devotees for prayers will entirely depend on the government’s decision. It is up to the government when they will allow the places of worship to open for the devotees. As a ritual, the doors of the temple remain shut for the first three days of Ambubachi.”

During the period the doors of the temple remain shut, the goddess is believed to undergo her menstrual cycle. The devotees converge outside the temple and pray, chant mantras and sing religious songs before the temple doors are opened to them.

The doors of the temple have remained shut for visitors since March 20 as a preventive measure against Covid-19. The nationwide lockdown started on March 25.

The temple authorities issued a notification on Wednesday, asking residents and landlords not to make arrangements for lending houses on rent for Ambubachi Mela as only religious rituals would be observed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ambubachi Mela, one of the biggest religious congregations in eastern India, attracts lakhs of domestic and international tourists every year. Around 25 lakh people, including tantrics, sadhus and tourists, visited the mela last year and around 20 lakh in 2018.