हिंदीOn this day
Rebuilt

Ugratara Devalaya, Guwahati

The temple of Ugratara in Uzan Bazaar, Guwahati, built by the Ahom king Siva Singha in 1725 beside the Jorpukhuri tanks. There is no murti: the Devi is a small pit of water in the sanctum.

Built: 1725, the Ahom king Siva Singha; upper part fell in the 1897 earthquakeWhere: Assam (Kamrup Metropolitan)Deity: Maa Ugratara, worshipped as a small pool of water26.19° N, 91.75° E
  1. c. 1722
  2. 1725
  3. 1897
Photo: D. Konwar User:dkonwar · CC BY 3.0

01Siva Singha’s Devi

Siva Singha, who ruled the Ahom kingdom from 1714 to 1744, was a devoted Shakta and a disciple of the Shakta guru Krishnaram Bhattacharya of Nadia, and many Devi temples in Assam date from his reign. Three years before building this temple he had the twin tanks of Jorpukhuri dug beside it. Ugratara is a fierce form of Tara, the second of the Mahavidyas. Her sanctum holds only water, and the tradition of Guwahati links the place to the navel of Sati, whose body sanctified the land of Kamarupa.

02After the earthquake

The 1897 earthquake brought down the dome. A local resident later rebuilt the upper part in the form seen now. A Shiva temple stands beside the Devi’s, and in Navaratri and on Durga Puja the shrine is full from dawn. The worship follows the Shakta rites of Kamarupa, and the Devi’s water is taken home by devotees as prasad. The twin tanks of Jorpukhuri, still full, are among the oldest surviving works of the Ahom kings in the city.

The life of this place

  1. c. 1722Siva Singha has the Jorpukhuri tanks dug.
  2. 1725Siva Singha builds the Ugratara temple.
  3. 1897The earthquake destroys the upper part of the temple.
Visiting

In Lotaxil, Uzan Bazaar, central Guwahati, beside the Jorpukhuri tanks.

Nearby

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Itakhuli Fort, Guwahati

The Mughal fort on Itakhuli hill on the south bank of the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, taken by Lachit Borphukan in November 1667 and again by Gadadhar Singha’s army in 1682, when the Mughals were driven out of Assam for good. The Sukreswar temple now stands on the hill.

Umananda TempleRebuilt
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Umananda Temple

A Shiva temple on Peacock Island, a rock in the middle of the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, built in 1694 on the orders of the Ahom king Gadadhar Singha.

Navagraha Temple, GuwahatiRebuilt
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Navagraha Temple, Guwahati

A temple of the nine planets on Chitrachal hill in Guwahati, where nine lingas, each draped in its graha’s colour, sit around a central linga of Surya. Old Guwahati was Pragjyotishpura, the city of eastern light and of astronomy.

Sukreswar Temple, GuwahatiStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

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.