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The Hayagriva Madhab
The most celebrated shrine in lower Assam next to Kamakhya is
the Hayagriva Madhava temple of Hajo, 30 miles to the west of Guwahati.
The image
of Vishnu installed at the shrine resembles that of Jagannath at Puri in Orissa.
A curious feature of this temple is that
it is regarded as a
Buddhist shrine by Buddhist Lamas and Butiyas, who
profess Buddhism. They believe that the Buddha attained Nirvana at this
place. This temple had been destroyed by Kalapahar and was
rebuilt in 1543 by the Koch king Raghudev. A smaller temple was built nearby by
Ahom
king Pramatta Singh where Doul is celebrated on a grand scale every
year .
Powa-Mecca
Side by side with the Madhav temple there is a celebrated Muslim
shrine at Hajo, called Powa-Mecca, i.e. 1/4th Mecca. According to the
inscription on the wall of the mosque situated there, it was built by Mir
Lutufullah-i- Shiraji, in 1657 during the reign of the Mughal emperor
Shahjahan.
In front of the mosque lies the tomb of Gyasuddin Aulia who made the first
attempts to propagate Islam in this part of the world. It is said that the
foundation of the mosque partly consists of some earth brought from Mecca.
Kaziranga
National Park
This park is 215 Km away from Guwahati, at Kohora. The best season is November mid to April. It is closed
during monsoon ( April to mid October). Trained elephants are available as
mounts for seeing the park. Jeep drives are also available.
Park roads are open 0800 - 1100,
1400 - 1630. Elephant rides between 0500 - 0600, 0630  - 0730 and 1530
-1630. These are the three road routes : (1) Kazi ranga range -
Kohora, Daglang, Foliomari, (2) Western range - Baguri, Monabeel, Bimoli,
Kanchanjuri. (3) Eastern range - Agortoli, Sohola, Rangamatia. The
observation towers are situated at Sohola, Mihimukh, Kathpara, Foliamari and
Harmoti.
This park occupies around 430 sq
km. It is a World Heritage Site. The Indian one-horned rhino is the main
attraction of this park. It was declared a game reserve in 1926 to save the
one-horned rhino. A single horn of the rhino was worth of US $ 40,000 in
1995. It has swamp deer, hog deer, wild pig, hoolock, wild buffalos, sambar
gibbon, pythons, tiger and elephants. There is a rich variety of shwater
fowls, the egrets, pond herons, river terns, fishing eagles, adjutant storks,
black necked storks are also available. The river here, has the gharial
(fish eating crocodile) and dolphins. Click
here for more details..
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