Sri Surya Pahar Temple, Assam

Address

Sri Surya Pahar Temple, Bhatiapara, Assam 783101

Diety

Surya

Introduction

The ruins of the Sri Surya Pahar hills occupies a significant place both in the religious and the artistic history of Assam. Located about 12 km southeast of Goalpara town and about 136 km northwest of Guwahati, the ruins are significant yet relatively unknown archaeological site in Assam, India. The sculptural represent belonging to the three sects of Hindus, Saivism, Vaisnavism and Saktism. The popular belief is that 99999 Shiva Lingas were engraved here by Vyasa in order to build up a second Kashi (where there were 1,00000 Shiva Lingas) and once it was one of the holiest pilgrimage sites in the region. There is no historical evidence exactly how many Lingams once dotted in these hills, but still there are hundreds of them, from tiny to large in size, scattered everywhere at the foot of the hill and covering the extensive area after centuries of neglect.

Puranic Significance

Some archaeologists unearthed a few Shiva Lingas and a few houses at Sri Surya — findings which confirmed the long-held belief that a thriving civilization held sway around Sri Surya Pahar some centuries ago. The name of ‘Sri Surya Pahar’ implies that the site was perhaps associated with the cult of sun (Surya) worship. There are twelve Adityas are described as twelve solar divinities namely Dhatri, Mitra, Aryaman, Rudra, Varuna, Surya, Bhaga, Vivasvan, Pushan, Savitri, Tvastri and Vishnu. The twelve-armed Vishnu with a seven-hooded canopy over its head stands prominent. It is worshipped as Dasabhuja Durga. Adorned with necklace, kundalas, armlets, garlands, etc., the deity stands erect on a lotus. Most of these carved figures are assigned to circa 9th century AD. Similar to the Surya Chakra, there also exists a ‘Chandra Chakra’, but the natural vagaries have eroded it badly.