A Trip To Hayagriva Madhaba Temple Of Hajo in Assam.

(Caution...it is an extra lengthy post ) .Hajo is a small town of cultural and religious importance in Assam . It is 30 kms to west of Guwahati .The uniqueness of this place is marked by its being a sacred pilgrimage centre for three religions -Hinduism,Buddhism and Islam.The whole area is thronged with innumerable ancient temples and also with some of the sacramental `artifacts`. Legends say that the Pandavas had taken refuge in this area during their agyatvas i.e, at times of their hiding. I visit this place on annual basis with my family.It is a beautiful drive of approx. one hour. As you enter this small town you see these pillars on both side of the road welcoming the visitors.Have a closer look at the picture and you will see three different architectural forms influenced by all the three religions mentioned.Its a perfect example of the term..unity in diversity. Hayagriva Madhav Temple which is highly revered by both Hindus who come here to worship Lord Hayagriva(an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) and the Buddhists who believe that the image inside the temple is of Lord Buddha as according to them he attained Nirvana here.As another striking and unique tradition Muslim inhabitants of this town and the nearby village lead a 15 km long procession where the three idols of Bhrahma,Vishnu and Mahesh are taken out to the banks of river Bhramaputra,once in a year.Muslims come Hajo to visit Powa Mecca a mosque which is believed to have some(i.e. one fourth...the word Powa in Assamese or Pao in hindi) of the sanctity of Mecca.If you want to know more interesting facts about Powa mecca click here.

The temple is located on a hill top named Manikut Parvata.These are the stone steps leading towards the famous shrine Hayagriva Madhav Temple.If i am not wrong they are 101 in number(i count them every time i climb up) .The temple was constructed in sixth century by the king of Pala dynasty according to some historians.Later in the year 1583 King Raghudeva Narayan rebuilt it.Before we approach towards the shrine it is customary to touch the water of the sacred pond at the base of the temple.The giant tortoises of this pond are a big tourist attraction . Here are my kids trying to follow the ritual by the help of their father while i was busy taking pictures.

Here comes a tortoise to gulp down Lily Biscuits( yes,they prefer this particular brand a lot) ..you get to buy these biscuits from the shops at the base of the shrine.

It is customary to offer Tulsi jaal malas (Thai holy basil leaves garland) to the residing god of the shrine .These garlands are made by experts and are sold at a reasonable price at these shops run by local people .

These guys sell pictures of various Hindu god , goddess and other things like beads ,toys etc.I make it a point to buy something every time i visit this shrine....shopping here is lot of fun.My daughter and my help bought lots of colorful beads and bangles here.

Let me tell you that climbing up is not a very easy task but once you do it you get to see this beautiful view of the town from the hill top.

The temple has been declared a monument of national importance by ASI (Archaeological Survey of India). It is made of stone and is octagonal in plan . The temple is in a pitiable condition owing to the lack of scientific preservation.I was happy to notice that conservation and preservation work is being carried out at a large scale for the shrine .The temple enshrines an image of Lord Vishnu which resembles a lot to that of Lord Jagannath of Puri(Orissa). Photography inside the temple garbhagraha is not allowed but you get to buy the images of the same in local shops near the temple.Many interesting legends are attached to the history of this temple.

This is a huge hall where visitors get to offer earthen lanterns and incense sticks which is not allowed inside the main temple. After this visitors get to enter the main temple and offer their prayers and the tulsi malas.This year luckily we saw lesser crowd.

This is another structure adjacent to the main temple. Centuries old tradition of Bulbul Songbird fight takes place here.Mughals introduced it and Hindus have kept up the tradition .I have seen this festival just once .

It is believed that if you look at this gate and offer your prayers ,the action equals to that of prayers being offered to the famous Jaggannath Puri Temple.

After the completion of offerings and the prayers we do parikrama (complete a round around the main temple)....while parikrama i took these pictures.As in many other temples ,a row of elephants(gajathara) appears as a basement moulding which is identical to the decorative style of the Kailasa cave temple of Ellora.

Some more carvings...

The exterior of the temple has many sculptured figures, representing the ten Avataras of Vishnu, with Buddha as the ninth.

After spending some time at the temple premises we returned back to the parking area where we had light refreshments and some tea (all brought from home) .Buying vegetables from the local market is another fun activity .We left this small town promising ourselves that in the coming years we will include other temples as well as Powa Mecca Mosque .... when my kids are little older may be then .

Bhelaghar....In A Small Assamese Village

This is the concluding part of my series on Bhogali bihu(a winter harvesting festival) of Assam.On the eve of Sankranti(URUKA) a special temporary makeshift cottage or a small house like structure called Bhelaghar is made .This structure is mainly built by the men folk using Bamboo,hay,wood -pieces .After preparing and enjoying a feast inside the bhelaghar,men spend the night there and in the early hours of the next morning lit the bhelaghar down.Its ashes are then spread to the fields and the trees to bring luck for a better harvesting in future .Usually it is a small hut like structure but for the last two years youths of MISAKHOLAHAAT a village 5-6 kms away from our village have started a trend of making it in a grand way.The picture above was clicked from the area where our car was parked.

Last year they made a bhelaghar nearly 40 ft high consisting five floors and because of its uniqueness instead of burning it down the next morning it was retained for a week as the village saw many visitors from the nearby villages and town.This year encouraged by the enthusiasm of the spectators last year the makers of this bhelaghar added another floor which made it approx 44ft high .And if it was not enough they made another small bhelaghar right behind this and attached both the ghars by a bamboo bridge.On asking the villagers told us that for the vertical post they used Tamul tree(betelnut tree) and for the horizontal post i.e. the floor they used Bamboo.The post were tied together by the Tongal(a rope made with the thin shreds of bamboo) and plastic strings too were used to make the structure stronger.The total expenditure was nearly 5000Rs. and it took them more than two weeks to make it.

All my family members climbed the structure except for me and my son .It was fun as i could hear the kids giggle and laugh a lot.As the people climbed i could see the structure shake.My son was very upset with me for not allowing him to accompany his sister,cousins and dad.See the picture below.

The crying went on for quite sometime until one of our neighbour gifted him this small kid(a baby goat)....and it made me wonder how am i going to take care of this one along with two kids of my own and a Labrador .God heard me at that point...my son heard the mother goat looking for him and that really concerned him,he picked the baby goat and kept it near the mom goat and said ..you must stay back with your mom ,otherwise she is going to cry....well.....

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Meji ....Bhogali Bihu

Magh Bihu is celebrated in the month of Jan.to mark the end of harvesting season.As the granaries are full,this harvesting festival is observed all over Assam.The word BHOGALI comes from the word Bhog which means eating and enjoying. the day of Uruka i.e. the eve of sankranti ,Bhellaghar and Mejis are made particularly by the menfolk,with bamboo sticks,hay and wood pieces.A community feast is held on the uruka nite inside the Bhellaghar(a makeshift cottage).Next day both the Bhellaghar and Mejis are burnt.As I mentioned in my previous post that I am going to tell you about burning of the Meji on the day of bihu.On the day of Sankranti or Bihu we gather at our fields at very early hrs in the morning.Meji burning is a ritual where we worship fire(Agni).Here you can see  Meji prepared by the people of our village,earlier years it used to be very huge but as most of the youth have left the village for higher education and for jobs...very few people are left behind to help in this.

It was a very cold morning.As soon as we reached near the Meji we kept our offerings on the ground at the base of the meji.Very carefully we lighted earthen lamps(diyas or sakis) .After all the offerings were placed one of the elders of the community did the honor of lighting up the meji.I was standing at a far distance to capture a full view of the happenings at that time but could still feel the heat of the meji.A thick cloud of smoke soon covered the area.

As the fire burned we heard crackling sound of burning and bursting bamboos -the sound is very similar to firecrackers.Kids love the sound and eagerly waited for more to come.While the meji was burning we took the opportunity to greet and invite each other to our home for eating pithas and jolpan(snacks).As we are a guest there we end up accepting many invites ....some invite with a warning attached...hummm,last year you missed our house so don't dare to repeat the mistake !

Once the meji is completely burnt....ladies start distributing all the offerings as prasad to the people present there .
The ashes are collected and put on our foreheads as tilak....as you can see in this picture.Now we go back to our home and after a heavy breakfast without wasting a single minute we visit all the people who are our relatives(many) and our good neighbours(many ).In other words we spent most of our day eating and having a good time with the family and friends.