हिंदीOn this day
Rebuilt

Hayagriva Madhava Temple, Hajo

The Vishnu temple on Manikuta hill at Hajo, 30 km west of Guwahati, with a frieze of elephants carved along its base. Buddhists of the Himalaya also come here, holding it a place of the Buddha.

Built: Rebuilt 1583 by the Koch king Raghudev Narayan on an older templeWhere: Assam (Kamrup district)Deity: Bhagwan Vishnu as Hayagriva Madhava26.24° N, 91.53° E
  1. 1583
Photo: ComparingQuantities · CC BY-SA 4.0

01Madhava of Manikuta

The Kalika Purana and the Yogini Tantra praise Manikuta as a Vishnu kshetra of Kamarupa. The present temple was raised in 1583 by Raghudev Narayan, the Koch king of the eastern half of the kingdom, on the base of an older shrine. A row of stone elephants runs round the lowest course, and above them panels show the ten avatars and scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In the sanctum the murti of Madhava is in black stone, and the akhanda deep, the unbroken lamp, has burned for generations.

02Doul at Hajo

The Doul festival, the Assamese Holi, is the temple’s great time, and Janmashtami and Bihu are kept too. Bhutanese and other Himalayan Buddhists come to Hajo, holding that the Buddha passed from the world here, and they circle the same shrine. A large tank, the Madhab Pukhuri, lies below the hill. The Ahom kings later added land grants and servitors for the worship.

The life of this place

  1. 1583Raghudev Narayan rebuilds the temple.
Visiting

Hajo is about 30 km north-west of Guwahati across the Brahmaputra; steps and a road lead up Manikuta hill.

Nearby

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Kamakhya Temple

On Nilachal hill above the Brahmaputra stands the most revered of the Shakti Peethas of the east, where the Kalika Purana says the yoni of Mata Sati fell. There is no murti in the garbhagriha, only a cleft in the rock kept wet by a spring.

Doul Govinda Temple, North GuwahatiRebuilt
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Doul Govinda Temple, North Guwahati

The Krishna temple at the foot of Chandrabharati hill on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, opposite Guwahati, famous for its five-day Doul, the Holi of Assam.

Madan KamdevRuined
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Madan Kamdev

A hillside of fallen temples at Baihata Chariali near Guwahati, littered with carved stone from the last centuries of the Kamarupa kingdom.

Sukreswar Temple, GuwahatiStanding
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Sukreswar Temple, Guwahati

A Shiva temple on Itakhuli hill above the Brahmaputra in Panbazar, Guwahati, with one of the largest lingas in Assam. A long flight of steps runs down to the Sukreswar Ghat, where families perform shraddha for the dead.