Hajo

Hajo lies among hills on the northern side of the Brahmaputra valley. On Manikut Hill stands the Hayagriva Madhava temple, a place of worship whose sculpted base preserves traces of an older shrine. Its rows of elephants and geometric designs recall a temple of the tenth or eleventh century. Hajo’s sacred landscape also includes places revered by different religious communities.

In 1583 the Koch ruler Raghudeva rebuilt the Hayagriva Madhava temple over the foundations of the earlier structure. The Vaishnava saints of Assam visited the shrine, which continued to draw worshippers. On another hill stands Powa Mecca, a mosque and tomb associated with the Islamic tradition of the region. These shrines made Hajo a meeting place of devotion in the lower Brahmaputra valley.