A visit to Majuli and Parshuramkund

On the 23^rd of December, 2009, my parents and I started for a truly exciting and adventure filled journey to Parshuramkund, from where the Tibetan river ‘Dihang’ gets its name ‘Brahmaputra.’

It was a ten day journey with night halts at many different places – Numaligarh, Jorhat, Majuli, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Kaziranga. We started in the morning from Guwahati for Numaligarh. After crossing the ‘Saraighat’ Bridge on the Brahmaputra river, we saw the beautiful Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at Amingaon. On the way we came across many small town of Assam like Mongoldoi, Kharupetia, Rowta, Dhekiajuli, Tezpur. After crossing the ‘Kalia Bhomora’ bridge, a beautiful bridge over the Bramhaputra river at Tezpur, we reached Kaziranga, one of the most famous sanctuaries of Assam. We had lunch at Kaziranga and started for Bokakhat and Numaligarh . We reached NRL Township, Numaligarh, in the evening, which ia a small town situated a bit away from Kaziranga. Numaligarh is famous for its oil refinery named NRL (Numaligarh Refinery Limited), beautiful tea garden and the Kanishka Temple. We spent one day at the NRL Township.

The NRL Township was really very beautiful, neat, and clean and was very well organised. It had everything to meet the necessities of the people living there – shops, parks, clinics, well-built roads etc. We stayed at their rest house. The rest house too was very beautiful. We could see a small stream flowing past our rest house from our room. It was a river named ‘Kalyani (Dhansiri)’. Fur away from the guesthouse we could see smoke coming out from the chimneys of the refinery.

The next morning, we went to the refiney, which was about one and a half kilometres from the township. Inside the refinery, we learned how crude oil is processed to get valuable products like petrol, diesel and natural gasses like CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas).

From the Refinery, we went to the Kanishka Temple where we had to climb 194 steps. After reaching the top, we saw the ruins of the historic temple. That afternoon, we set out for Jorhat, our next destination.

Jorhat is a small but beautiful town in the state of Assam. It is famous for its science laboratory. We reached there in the evening. It was, perhaps, the coldest day of the season. There was blanket of fog all over and shivered in the cold. It was the 24^th of December, Christmas Eve. Just beside the Guest house, was a school – ‘Don Bosco, Jorhat’ where the occasion was being celebrated. It had a church and a model of a hut had been created and decorated with lights. It was covered with a blue cloth and was to be revealed only on the Christmas Day. Meanwhile, a photographer had come for whom the cloth was removed to allow a photo to be taken. This gave us the opportunity to see what was inside. The Natiarity scene had been created. This was very beautiful and the place was very peaceful.

The next day we went to Majuli, the largest riverine island of the world. It is in the bosom of the mighty river – ‘Brahmaputra’. It is also the home of fifteen Vaishnava temples. Majuli is a one and a half hours travel from Jorhat. Next morning, without having breakfast, we left Jorhat for Nimati at about 07:35. It is the riverbank from where ships and boats begin their journey. So, this very place is commonly known as ‘Nimati ‘Ghat’.’ It takes only one hour form Nimati to Majuli but during the return, it takes about two as the current always flows from east to west (as the mighty river originates in the east). We boarded the ferry at about 8:50 AM and reached the Majuli, at around 10 o’clock. The best part of the journey was the scenic view of the river. We took our vehicle on the ferry itself. During journey I made a friends with the boatmen, who allowed us to seat in his cabin and also allowed me steer the ship for a while. It was a great experience for me. One of them said that he had sailed from Nimati to Kolkata and back.

Majuli comprises many villages and small towns and is not very developed. It covers an area of 421.65 km². Most of the roads are bumpy and villages are not well connected due to perhaps sandy soil. Our driver said that whenever metalled roads were built, the flood would gush in during the monsoons and destroy all the roads. So only the central part of the island, which was relatively higher, had some good roads. Majuli has got a high concentration of Hindus and that is the reason why didn’t feel it was Christmas Day, which is celebrated with a lot of pomp and show in the towns or cities. The people there were poor but literate as many schools flourished throughout the island. The people there had to struggle hard and their livelihood depends mainly on the natural resources (especially bamboos), corps etc.

We stayed at Kamalabari Telephone Exchange Guest House and visited many villages like Bongaon, Noya Bazar, Jengrai, Gowal Gaon and Garamur. Visiting Jengrai was very adventurous. Our car driver went in a wrong direction and we were stuck up at dry riverbed. Darkness had already set in and there were no local people to help. We became nervous and worried. Heavy wind was blowing around us. We were terrified but fortunately, our driver could contact someone over phone and under his guidance, we managed to come to the main road with great difficulties.

There is a place of worship called satra, which is very famous here. There are 22 Satras existing at Majuli. People from different parts of the country visit these satras and offer prayers to the God. We visited one of them at Kamalabari, which is known as the Kamalabari Satra. Inside the satra there is a temple and living rooms for the priests. There was a big storeroom, where food grains and other valuable articles were kept. It was told us that there are large reserves of pure gold items. We saw some pot items made out of pure gold. They told us that there were thousands of such gold items inside the reservoir but it is only to be seen by the priests. There is a myth that a dangerous snake guards the reservoir but I am sure that no one has ever dared to verify if the myth is true.
The next day we visited Gowal Gaon and Garamur but it was the last day of our visit on the island and we were sorry to leave. The ferry ship scheduled at 2 o’ clock. We reached Nimati by four. After that we went back to the Jorhat and started getting ready for the next dawn to set in.

On the 27^th of December, we started for Dibrugarh. We set out for our journey at 9:30 am. We were supposed to visit a place on our way to Dibrugarh. This place is universally popular as it was not only the capital of the Ahom rulers but has many historical monuments and lakes as well. It is known as Sivsagar. On reaching there, first of all, we saw a lake named Na Pukhuri (11.75 acres) as well as a temple named Rudrasagar. Then we went to see Vishnudal which is located at the bank of Joysagar Pukhuri. It was built in 1697. The lake was named after Joymoti Kuwori. A

According to legend, Joymoti Kuwori, the wife of Langi Godapani, is well-known not only for her deeds of courage and loyalty but also for her immense sacrifice for the protection of the country from the tyraanical rule of king Lora Roja. Lora Roja was so unkind that he ordered the wounding of all young men in the country so that they would not be able to become the king as there was a rule that a handicapped could not be given the post of a king. So, Joymoti asked his husband to run away from the country. As per her request, Godapani fled and settled in Nagaland. Since Godapani could not be found, the police officers arrested Joymoti and requested her to say where her husband was. She denied. Therefore, the police officers tied her to the trunk of a kotkura tree on Jerenga Path and she had to bear immense physical torture for fourteen days after which, she took her last breath. While she was tied to the tree, Godapani came to her in disguise and pleaded her to disclose the secret. She did not agree and asked him to go back to where he belonged to. As per Joymoti’s wish, Godapani became the Ahom ruler in 1681, sadly after her death. He took the name of Godadhor Singha and established a powerful empire. Rudrasingha, the eldest son of Joymoti, became the next ruler. So with this, the great story of Joymoti Kuwori comes to an end.

After that, we went to visit the Shivdol and Devidol. Next, we went to the Rudrasingha Udyan. It is believed that there is a secret underground canal that starts from a famous monument, Kareng (Royal) Ghar or Talatal (Underground) Ghar. Rajeswar Singha built it. And after that came the most important part of Sivasagar, Rongghar and Sivsagar Shiva Temple. The Rongghar is globally well known for its beautiful structure. Ahom kings used to have entertainment by bullfights from the apex of the monument. The famous separatist group of Assam, United Liberation Front of Asom claims to have been formed from here. Then we went to the famous temple with a golden pitcher at its tip, the Sivsagar Shiva Temple. It was the most beautiful temple I had ever seen. It is said that once British tried to get the pitcher using a helicopter but they had failed. So, there are many religious beliefs and myths related to the pitcher.

Therefore, after spending about two hours or so in Sivsagar, we resumed our journey to Dirugarh. We had out lunch at a roadside dhaba. We crossed Moranhat and Khowang through the NH37. Then at last, we reached Dibrugarh. We stayed at the Circuit House that was situated at Graham Bazar. The distance between Guwahati and Dibrugarh is 428 km. It sounded a little hesitating to know we are so far from our native place.

Next day in the afternoon, we went to the ‘Radha Krishna’ temple situated close to the Circuit House. In the evening, we went to the market place. We had heard a lot about the warm clothes of Dibrugarh, so we bought a few of them. With this, our visit to Dibrugarh came to an end. The following day, we were to start for Tinsukia. We did it at 9:45 in the morning. We went through Lahoal and then came Mohanbari, the airport of Dibrugarh where we stopped for a while as my father had some work. We stopped again at Dikom and Chabua for the same. After crossing Danitola, we reached Tinsukia in the afternoon. Our booking at an hotel, ‘Mayurjyoti’ was from five in the evening and so we had no place to stay. This gave us an opportunity to go further eastwards towards Dhuliyajan. So without waiting further, we started for Dhuliyajan. we arrived at a Shiva temple where there was a tree, which was considered a God and devotees worship the tree by tieing the bell (Ghanta) in the tree. In this way there is thousands of bell being tied in the tree. This was something that I had never seen before. The tree had been decorated with a long red cloth. This Shiva temple was known as ‘Ghanti Mandir’ and it was located at Borduli. After that, we reached Dhuliyajan. It is one of the small beautiful towns of Assam. We had our lunch at a small restaurant named ‘EAT ‘N’ PACK’ that was there in the market of Indian Oil. Raw material for oil is taken from Dhuliyajan and this raw material is used as crude oil. NRL, at whose township we halted at Numaligarh, also takes oil from here. Then we went to Digboi which is well known for its oil refinery. It was the first oil refinery of India. It was built in 1901. We reached there in the evening and did not have much time, as we had to return to Tinsukia. We stayed at Tinsukia at the hotel.

The next day i.e. on the 30^th of December 2009, we started for Brahmakund / Parshuramkund at 8:55 in the morning. First, we reached Doomdooma and then Rupai. From there, we entered to Arunachal Pradesh. We reached the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh around 10 O’clock. Here, the houses had a special characteristic. Its roof was made using a leaf called Topou. Chongkham is place where there is a Buddhist temple of the Burmese. Both sides of the road were surrounded with orange trees. We stopped one of the Orange garden on the way and pluck the oranges from the tree with the permission of the owner. We spent few times in the garden, took snaps of each one of us holding the orange and enjoyed like anything. I never forget this experience and excitement. We also purchase few bags of oranges as it was very cheap.

we resumed our journey. We crossed Wakro and then finally reached our destination–Brahmakund. Brahmakund is a major tourist attraction. We had to climb 289 steps and 115 steps down which resulted in a total of 404 steps to reach the river. It was a magnificent sight. The water, which came down the hill, was rich blue in colour, showing its purity. It came down at high speed and hit the kund that was like a rocky outgrowth from the middle over the river resulting in foams and bubbles. It was a lovely sight. There were big pebbles by the side of the bank on which we climed to get a closer view of the kund. Some people waded through the water and went to the kund and climbed to its top.

Next day, we visited a place named Dinjan. It an Army base. The inside part was just like a small town. There was residential area also for the family of Army Officers. The place was well maintained and very beautiful.

The following day was the day of our return. We were sad but not too a high extent. The reason behind that was that on that day we were going to go to Kaziranga, which is a very beautiful place. Kaziranga is famous for its huge grassland commonly known as the ‘Kaziranga National Park’ where natural one-horned rhinoceroses breathe. We had already visited the place before. Therefore, we were only to halt at the place for one night. There was a beautiful and huge tea garden and a narrow pitched path went right through the middle, dividing the garden into two. On one side of the path was NH37 while on the other side there were many tourists’ lodges. The name of the area where the tourists’ lodges were located was Kohora. There were many big trees in the tea garden to shade the tea plants. The trunks of the trees were a good habitat for pepper plants, which grew round and round from the bottom right up to the top. It was an amazing sight. So with all those expectations in mind, we started back from Tinsukia at 9:10 in the morning. We stopped at four places for my father’s work. We had our lunch at a roadside dhaba ‘Ravirashmi’. And after that we reached the last but not the least place of our visit, Kaziranga.

The next and last day i.e. on the 2^nd of January 2010 was the saddest part of our visit. To overcome the sadness we woke up very early, went to the garden with our camera; captured many photos; recorded long videos. But at last we had to start off. On our way back, we stooped at Tezpur, the city of eternal romance. We went up to Agnigarh hill that had the famous mental hospital. Over there, there was a park too. From the park, we could get a view of the entire Tezpur. It was very beautiful. Mostly, it was green. We could see parts of the river even. And then, we started back. We bought many vegetables at a vegetable market where things are wholesaled at extremely cheap rates. The name of the place was ‘Kharupetia’ which came on our way. Finally, we reached Guwahati at 18:40 and this was unhappier that the unhappiest.