One of the interesting places to visit near Guwahati and a must visit place near Guwahati if you are someone who enjoys exploring historical sites. The beautiful drive from the Garurachal hills, where we visited Powa Mecca, the historical mosque which is also the tomb of Pir Giasuddin Auliya, the pioneer of Islam in this part of the world, adds to the overall experience. The drive is beautiful and offers grand vistas of the lush green fields below. We remember stopping more than once on our way down. Sometimes to capture the views in our cameras while sometimes just to soak in the beauty of the place.

Visiting The Hayagriva Madhava Temple, Hajo

Hayagriva Madhava TempleWith the oncoming of monsoons, the vast plains below and the tall trees on both sides of the meandering road had already started to look fresh green and we took our sweet time to leave the beautiful greens behind and enter the narrow lanes of Hajo. If you want to have a feel of the drive, please help yourself with the video below which we shot as we were coming down from the Garurachal hill.

                               Driving Down From The Monikut Hill

The Temple On The Hill

Situated on the Monikut hill, the Hayagriva Madhava temple was constructed way back in the year 1583 by the then king, King Raghudeva Narayan. The place is also revered in Buddhism as it is believed that this is the place where Buddha attained Nirvana. While I don’t know for sure if that actually was the case, not that I was interested in the religious aspects of the place anyway, what interested (and impressed) me was the beautiful Assamese architecture of the place.

As you enter the temple compound through a nondescript gate which is far away from what it should have been, given the fact that the temple is historically and religiously quite significant – you are welcomed by a not so clean pond on your left, a little below (where you can see tortoises in the water) and a bunch of shopkeepers trying to tell you what you should purchase in order to visit the temple.

Once at the entrance after a 5-minute brisk walk on an evenly laid out flight of stairs, the views are lovely. And lovely is the architecture all around. From the figures on the entrance – wall painted in gold to the rock-cut shapes laid-out in the entire compound to the main temple itself, all of them stood proudly tall.

What was even more impressive was the almost perfect condition in which they stood. Much unlike this kingdom in ruins in another part of the same state.

We strolled the temple compound at our own pace appreciating the century-old architecture. Because of the view too, from the top, was a lovely one, we spent some time sitting by the couple of benches near the priest-quarters, and soaking-in the freshness around the place.

We started our walk down on our way back once we had witnessed a beautiful sunset from there, with no one around us save for a couple of priests busy talking among themselves.

How To Reach Hajo From Guwahati?

• The distance between Guwahati and Hajo is around 35 kilometers or roughly 1 hour.
• To reach Hajo from Guwahati, you have to cross the Brahmaputra river by taking the iconic Saraighat Bridge.
• After the bridge, it’s a well-marked highway that goes to Hajo and beyond.