assam light of the east - incredible...
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In itself, the majestic river that runs form
northeast to southwest would be enough
to inspire travellers keen on rare and
mysterious destinations. Some 2,900
kilometres long, the Brahmaputra, "son of
Brahma", has its sources in Mount Kailash;
called Tsang Po in Tibet, it contributes to As-
sam's stature, conferring wealth and immense
potential.
The wide river that crosses Assam over a di-
agonal of 725 kilometres and divides the capi-
tal, Guwahati, is definitely the principal axis of
a land to discover, a land with a bright future.
The Ahom dynasty gave its name to
Assam
Beginning in the 13th century, the Ahom
rajas, descendants of the Shan people, whose
origins were Thai, settled in this region, where
they reigned until the early 19th century. For
six centuries, this dynasty expanded and
strengthened its kingdom, which was prey to
the struggles between principalities or had to
deal with rebellions incited by invaders. In
1826, Assam was annexed by Britain's East In-
dian Company; it became an Indian state in
1947. It has since experienced peace that has
often been troubled by inter-ethnic rivalries
and conflicts.
Today, Assam's location on the borders of
Southeast Asia, Myanmar and China is a huge
asset in terms of the state's economic develop-
ment as a hub for investment and exchange
with neighbouring countries, in accordance
with the ambitions of its leaders. The state gov-
ernment is already working on an idea to re-
construct and refurbish an international
highway that was constructed during the World
War II and linked the eastern fringes of the
state with several key Southeast Asian capitals
like Yangon (Myanmar), Bangkok (Thailand)
and Hanoi (Vietnam).The route will cover over
2000 km and will cost nearly $900 billion.
Assam possesses many resources: agricul-
Light of the East
Assam
We have reached the easternmost point.Assam stretches to the outermost bounds of India,irrigated
by the imposing Brahmaputra, the river that crosses the state like a diagonal swathe of light. The
Kaziranga National Park is one of the many natural wonders and cultural riches of Assam that
Mireille-Joséphine Guézennec,Himabindu,has explored for us.
Text and photos by M.-J.Guézennec
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54 India & You l September-October 2006
Assam
Guwahati
Tourism.qxp 9/18/2006 10:29 AM Page 54
ture (fruit,spices or medicinal plants), forestry
and wood and paper industries, traditional silk
culture, minerals, oil, gas and coal.
Assam is also known for its "green gold",
the "nectar of the gods" produced by its 2,500
tea gardens, which provide a little over half the
tea in India.
Assam tea is a high-quality black tea - tan-
nic and full-flavoured - highly appreciated by
the British who,beginning in 1823,encouraged
its cultivation.The most highly reputed tea gar-
dens are located in the northern and central
Brahmaputra valley regions. Near Jorhat, not
far from the immense island of Majuli, the Tea
Research Centre, the largest and oldest of its
kind, was created in 1911. Since 1970 the State
capital has been home to the renowned Guwa-
hati Tea Auction Centre, the second largest in
the world, where the price of tea is determined.
An increasingly qualified workforce and a
relatively high literacy rate has resulted in hu-
man resources that constitute a powerful lever
for economic development in a state that has
focussed on education and is home to five ma-
jor universities, including an agronomical uni-
versity.
Guwahati, capital of Assam and the an-
cient kingdom of Kamarupa
With its capital Guwahati,Assam used to be
a much larger territory and was mentioned in
the Mahabharata under the name of Pragjy-
otish. In ancient Pragjyotish, celebrating the
"Light of the East", several events left their
traces on the religious foundations and cul-
tural history of the territory.
Also known as Kamarupa,the ancient king-
dom described in the Kalika Purana recalls the
occasion when Kama, god of love, was said to
have reduced to ashes - using the power of
Shiva’s third eye - the great yogi, whose medi-
tation was disturbed.
Shiva, the supreme ascetic whom yoga
made omniscient, knew that man could not
survive long without this spur to desire that en-
flames hearts. He thus consented to breath new
life and shape (rupa) into the inert god of love
(Kama).
But Assam is above all a Mecca for Tantrism
and Shaktism (shakti, the divine female en-
ergy) in the tradition of Shivaism, as shown by
the temple of Kamakhya, renowned for the
worship of Sati, deceased wife of the incon-
solable Shiva.
This, briefly, is the story, told in the time it
takes to follow the path to the temple of the
goddess on the hill of Nilachal. When the dis-
tinguished Daksha, Sati's father, organised a
magnificent sacrifice to which all the gods
were invited except Shiva, his son-in-law, the
ascetic whose body was covered with ashes.
Sati, distressed by this, went to the feast and in
protest burned herself on the sacrificial fire in
India & You l September-October 2006 55
Tea
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front of everyone. Having learned of her death,
Shiva, mad with grief, rushed from Mount
Kailash. In his arms, he held tight the inert
body of his beloved and began a dance so fren-
zied that it imperilled the earth. So Vishnu, the
lord who protects the worlds, intervened and
with his powerful sundarshana chakra, cut the
body of Sati into 51 pieces that scattered on the
ground and became holy places, or Shak-
tipeeth.According to legend, the temple of Ka-
makhya was built where Sati's genitalia, or
yoni, fell to earth, making it one of the holiest
sites of Shaktism. In honour of the mother
goddess, thousands of pilgrims come from all
over India for the festival of Ambavasi (Au-
gust-September) and for Durga Puja, paying
homage to the divine energy incarnated by the
goddess.
Clutching our offerings and accompanied
by a priest dressed in red, we thread our way
through the Holy of Holies, at the dark heart of
the temple. Descending a few steps, we reach
the end of the sacred crypt, a mysterious place
that is the source of the venerated goddess's
energy.
Rites: Tantrism and the Vishnuite tra-
dition of the satras
While Shaktism plays an essential role in
the religious beliefs of Assam, another tradi-
tion reappeared in the 15th century under the
leadership of a great saint, Shankardeva, who
contributed to the development of the satras,or
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56 India & You l September-October 2006
Kamakhya Temple
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Vishnuite monasteries that still carry on the
tradition of bhakti, or adoration of the god
Vishnu and his avatars.
After having visited the temple of Barpeta
where Shankardeva (1449-1569) was born - he
had a strong influence on the literary and de-
votional tradition of Assamese culture - one
should visit the island of Majuli to the east. It
was on this, the largest island in the world, lo-
cated in the Brahmaputra, that 61 monasteries
were once constructed. Only 22 of these places
of worship - spaces for art and ritual dance - re-
main.
Assam is a place of eclectic traditions and
diverse religious beliefs. While animism was
the initial religion of the Ahom monarchs, they
did not hesitate to embrace Hinduism in the
15th century and later the Vishnuite tradition.
With its various sanctuaries, the village of
Hajo, situated 32 kilometres from Guwahati, is
a model of ecumenism where Hinduism, Bud-
dhism and Islam exist side by side.
It is an example of the conciliation of minds
and tolerance of the plurality of beliefs that is
the only touchstone for peace and social
progress.
As the name Pragjyotish indicates, this an-
cient land developed an elaborate system of
knowledge in the fields of astronomy and as-
trology, of which the Ahom kings were great
adepts. Dedicated to the planets, the renowned
Nabagraha temple, located on the hill of Chi-
tranchal, is in the shape of a celestial arch. In-
side are laid out in precise order the nine
planets (or navagrahas), represented by
lingams covered with ritual cloths symbolic
colours.We must make an offering to the planet
Mercury, which presides over journeys and ex-
changes, and Saturn, given that it is Saturday,
the day when homage should be paid to it.
Near this temple, educated men keen on the
divinatory arts draw up birth charts and make
predictions in accordance with an ancestral tradi-
tion that attributes to man an intermediary posi-
tion between heaven and earth and assigns him a
significant and determined place in the cosmos.
Before nightfall, we are invited to a roman-
tic sail on the immense river aboard the Jol-
poree. Festooned with yellow, red and blue, the
lights of the city and the stars are reflected in
the expanse of water, making for a shimmering
tableau created by an invisible artist for our
pleasure.
When day breaks over Kaziranga Na-
tional Park
Torrential rain throughout the night, the
sign of an early monsoon. We only have a few
days left to attempt an adventure in the direc-
tion of Kaziranga National Park before the
monsoon rules the skies for several months.
From Guwahati, we have to travel 217 kilome-
tres on the NH 37 road, which runs alongside
the Brahmaputra.
Four o'clock in the morning.We wake up in
the tropics after a muggy and peaceful night
filled with luxuriant dreams. Melodious bird-
song pierces the white chrysalis of the elegant
sphere of protective netting supposed to ward
off mosquitoes and other unwanted insects.
Can you imagine a more fantastic way of being
woken up for a rendezvous with the jungle and
its inhabitants?
The rising sun fringes the horizon and
against this backdrop of amber and violet
shadows is traced the high curve of the loyal
pachyderms waiting for the first visitors.
Planted on their backs, uniformed mahouts,
like marionettes already on stage, are ready to
take us inside the national park.
First off, savannah as far as the eye can see,
green and flat. A herd of marsh deer, a distant
patch of tawny velvet, comes to life at our ap-
proach. Branching antlers covered with amber
velvet adorn the fine heads of the older males.
Ears pricked up, alert and vigilant, they take up
position, observe, then begin a slight move-
ment of retreat and scattering. The caravan ad-
vances in the high grass, which is increasingly
brown, slender and rough. At a steady pace our
elephants progress through the fields of sharp-
ened reeds that caress their flanks. Suddenly, a
tribe of wild boars clear off in a flash of black.
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We then begin to desire the fleeting light touch
of ocellated fur - the thrill of imagined tiger
eyes or the elusive feline waltz of an elegant
panther.
In the distance appear a scattering of im-
posing rhinoceroses, their heavy legs support a
carapace of thick grey pleats - a tunic added by
time to their immense bodies, which we
silently approach. With their slits of eyes, they
stare at us. Their small eyes pierce the wrinkles
of skin topped with a sole,exceptional horn.We
know that the park is their domain. Elegant
white birds come to mingle with their legs.
They alight for an instant on their invulnerable
backbones.
Suddenly, as if caught in a trap, one of them
nimbly gets in front of us: he tries to hide in the
long grass to protect one of his young to whom
the only threat we pose is photographic. In this
game of hide-and-seek, our trained elephants
doggedly escort them. A little further on, prac-
tically at our feet, a rhinoceros surprised play-
ing in the mud suddenly appears. It looks like
he has dipped himself in a bath of grey clay.
Covered with clay,he sure-footedly sets off,per-
haps like every morning, to stand immobile at
the park gates. Like statues, two rhinoceroses
stand guard at the entrance.
Kaziranga, a national park and World
Heritage site (1985)
Located on the southern bank of the
Brahmaputra at the foot of the Mikir hills and
the Karbi plateau, the park was, until the early
20th century, just an immense impenetrable
jungle where only indigenous tribes hunted
and poached.
They were so efficient that there were only
12 rhinoceroses left in 1905, when Kaziranga
was recognised as a national forest. In 1950 it
became a wildlife sanctuary and in 1974 it was
made a national park covering some 430
square kilometres. In 1985 Karizanga National
Park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Located in the heart of Assam, the park is the
largest reserve of rhinoceroses, rhinoceros
unicornis, in India - and the world.
Over the years, the park's rhinoceros popu-
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58 India & You l September-October 2006
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lation has continued to increase and,according
to the latest statistics, is home to 1,500 beasts,
which are the pride of Assam, an enviable rar-
ity in the wilderness protected by the constant
efforts of the ever-vigilant authorities.
Besides these giants, other large mammals,
such as elephants, wild buffaloes, rare marsh
deer and nearly 90 tigers, share the huge jun-
gle territory, only a fraction of which is open to
tourists from November to April. During the
monsoon season - May to October - when 75
per cent of the park is sometimes flooded, the
animals take refuge in the Mikir hills, which
peak at 1,220 metres.
The tropical vegetation and climatic condi-
tions make the park a major reserve for large
reptiles (pythons and cobras); Gangetic dol-
phins and fish abound in the many bodies of
water. And for rare bird lovers, Kaziranga is
home to 450 species.
At sunset, we return to greet our mounts,
which receive care and food from their ma-
houts. On foot, we follow close on the heels of
the pachyderms to the river where they bathe
with their young: a playful and refreshing mo-
ment during which,sprawled on their sides, legs
in the air, lulled in the refreshing water, the ele-
phants pose gracefully.Trunks lifted or twisted,
the show-offs languidly say goodbye.
On the horizon, a ball of fire in the redden-
ing monsoon sky traces a phosphorescent arch.
Soft green plants shiver in the mild evening air.
Then the sparkle of the rice paddies is
blurred by the encroaching greyness. At the
park exit, we make our way among the dark
green waves to our hotel. The infinite, shiny
curve of the copses of the tea gardens disap-
pears in the dusk.
The rare splendour of an Eastern night
happening in the contemplated immensity of
the sky in the distance. Assam, like a latent
dream, half-opens the doors of the future onto
its fables long kept secret. n
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