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Naraka was pious and ruled his country righteously. He strictly adhered to the injunctions of his father, respected the Brahmanas and worshipped the goddess Kamakhya. One day when goddess Kamakhya appeared before him, he was captivated by the charms of the goddess and made overtures of love to her. The goddess gave her consent to Naraka’s offer on condition that in course of a single night he should construct a temple, a tank and a masonry road from the foot of the hill to the top. As the lust for the Possession of the wily goddess was so great in him; he accepted the proposition and commenced the mighty task straightway. He almost completed the construction, when under the secret inspiration from the goddess a cock crew before it was daybreak." The goddess claimed this as a proof that the day had come, evaded her Promise and refused to marry him. Naraka grew furious and slew the cock. The place where the cock was killed is still known as ‘Kukurakata Chaki’.
According to the above accounts, the temple of Kamakhya seems to have existed from hoary antiquity. The original temple was destroyed in the early part of the 16th century A.D., by the vandalism of the iconoclast Kalapahar. The story goes that Kalapahar was originally a Brahmana by name Rajiv Lochan Roy. He was ostracised from the Brahmana fold when he married the daughter of Badshah Suleiman Kararani of Bihar. Even after the marriage Rajiv Lochan Roy desired to live as a Brahmana and even went to Puri, perhaps to undergo purifactory ceremony. The Brahmanas there refused to oblige him, whereupon he became a staunch Mohammadan and took the new name of Kalapahar. He determined to avenge the humiliation suffered by him at the hands of the Brahmanas by destroying Hindu temples. He organised an army, efficient and well equipped, invaded Kama rupa, and sacked the temple of Kamakhya, the ruins of which are still seen scattered all over the hill. He also sacked the Jagannath temple at Puri.
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