The reaction mechanism of the oxidation of Amaranth dye (2-hydroxy-1-(4-sulfonato-1-naphthylazo) naphthalene-3,6-disulfonate) with hypochlorite under varied pH conditions was elucidated by a kinetic approach. Under excess concentration of oxidant, the reaction followed pseudo-first-order kinetics with respect to Amaranth, and the oxidation was found to occur through two competitive reactions, initiated by hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid. The reaction order with respect to both OCl(-) ion and HOCl was unity. While the latter reaction was fast, the significance of the oxidation paths depended on the relative concentration of the two oxidizing species, which was dictated by the reaction pH. The role of the H(+) ion in the reaction was established. For the hypochlorite ion and hypochlorous acid facilitated reactions, the second-order rate coefficients were 1.9 and 23.2 M(-1) s(-1), respectively. The energy parameters were E(a) = 33.7 kJ mol(-1), Delta H double dagger = 31.2 kJ mol(-1) and Delta S double dagger. = -190.6 J K(-1) mol(-1) for the OCl(-) ion-driven oxidation, and E(a) = 26.9 kJ mol(-1), Delta H double dagger = 24.3 kJ mol(-1) and Delta S double dagger = -222.8 J K(-1) mol(-1) for the reaction with HOCl-initiated oxidation. The major oxidation products for both the pathways were 34--dihydroxy naphthalene-2,7-disulfonic sodium salt (P(1)), dichloro-1,4-naphthoquione (P(2)) and naphtha(2,3)oxirene-2, 3-dione (P(3)). On the basis of the primary salt effect and other kinetic data, the rate law for the overall reaction and probable reaction mechanism was elucidated. The proposed mechanism was validated by simulations using Simkine-2.