Sadiya

Sadiya lies near the head of the Brahmaputra valley, where rivers descend from the eastern Himalayan hills to meet the plains of Assam. It was a centre of the Chutia kingdom, whose rulers held territory along the upper Brahmaputra. The Tamreswari temple near Sadiya was associated with the worship of the goddess Kechai Khaiti.

The Chutias and Ahoms fought for control of the upper valley. In the early sixteenth century the Ahom king Suhungmung conquered the Chutia kingdom and placed the Sadiya country under a frontier governor known as the Sadiya Khowa Gohain. The temple and its traditions continued after the conquest. Towards the end of the eighteenth century Khamti settlers came to the region, and their chiefs displaced the Ahom governor. The meeting of hill routes and great rivers kept Sadiya an important frontier between the Assam plain and the mountains.