History, Importance, Timings, Festivals, Architecture, Activities, Interesting Facts and Travel Guide of Shri Surya Pahar Temple, Goalpara, Assam, India
Sri Surya Pahar, located in Golpara, Assam is a significant but relatively less popular site in Assam despite being an important cluster of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist faiths. It holds immense value historically as well as spiritually. The hilly terrain is known for the several rock-cut Shiva Lingams, ritual stupas and deities of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain pantheon scattered all around each other. The Sri Surya Pahar Temple is thus open to all religions regardless of caste, creed and sex, amalgamating three religions together with its myriad scriptures and antiques.
As per Hindu religion, Sri Surya Pahar is believed to be a slab of a carved stone correlated to Surya (sun), the Sun God. The inner centre of the carved stone was spotted as Prajapati whereas the outer has been identified as twelve lotus petals. As per the Jains, there are remains of the footprints of the Rishabhanath followers. Buddhist remains include differently shaped and sized twenty-five stupas.
History of Sri Surya Pahar Mandir
The name of ‘Sri Surya Pahar’ suggests that the site was deeply associated with the cult of the sun worship. Contemporary literary accounts also corroborate that among other Hindu deities worshipped in ancient Assam, ‘Surya’, the Sun God usually occupied a prominent place in its cultural history. Similar references are found in the Kalika-Purana, a major Puranic text from the tenth century, about two seats of sun worship in ancient Assam. One of the centres has been identified as Sri Surya Pahar which also happens to bear the iconographic significance of the cult as well.
Popular legend behind Sri Surya Pahar Mandir
It is believed according to legends that 99,999 Shiva Lingams were engraved here by the Sage Vyasa in order to build up another Kashi, the holiest city of the Hindu tradition where there were 1,00,000 Shiva Lingams. Thus once it was one of the holiest pilgrimage sites in the region.
There is no historical evidence to exactly how many Lingams once dotted in these hills, but still there are hundreds of them – from tiny to large sized, scattered everywhere from the foot of the hill to cover extensive areas. After centuries of neglect and pilferage, the exact figure of the Lingams and also other deities and relics in the hill is yet to be counted scientifically.
A thriving civilisation in the past
As some archaeologists unearthed a few Shiva Lingams and a few houses at Sri Surya Pahar, research conclusions confirmed a thriving civilization to be held around Sri Surya Pahar many centuries before. Intricate and scientific designs of these houses which were artfully designed with bricks, led archaeologists to believe that the history of Sri Surya Pahar is very significant in the history of ancient Assam and India.
Referring to famous Chinese accounts of traveller Huen Tsang, some scholars claim that it was Sri Surya Pahar and not Guwahati that was the ancient land of Pragjyotishpur Kingdom, the capital of the Kingdom of Kumar Bhaskara Varman around sixth century.The nearby archaeological site located in Paglatek are often cited to strengthen this claim made. Since Sri Surya Pahar is very close to the bank of Brahmaputra River, it might have also been an important trade centre and seat of political power in the past.
Another noteworthy significance of the Sri Surya Pahar is that it was once a confluence of three major religions originated and developed in India. This is evident from the many sculptures and relic of paramount significance to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
The Hindu Places of worship
In addition the numerous stone carvings of Shiva Lingas and the 'Prajapati' slab, there are remnants of many rock carvings dedicated to the Hindu religious figures. These can be seen placed at the foothills of Sri Surya Pahar and the surroundings. The sculptural panels of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are the most notable among them. The twelve-armed Vishnu with a seven-hooded canopy over its head stands prominent among them. Worshiped as Dasabhuja Durga and adorned with necklace, kundalas, armlets, garlands, etc. the deity stands erect on a flower of lotus.
Jain places of worship
Though Jainism does not have any remarkable footing in the North-East region of India throughout its long history, the natural caves at Sri Surya Pahar prove the existence of the faith here since inception. It was the followers of Rasbhanath whose foot prints are there at the place, must have spread the Jain philosophy among the masses.
Within these natural caves, there are Jain carvings all over dating to the ninth century. Another figure carved at the top of the hill is identified as Adinath, carved in a sitting posture with two bulls marked at the base, a mark of cognisance of the first Tirthankara.
Buddhist places of worship
There are as many as twenty-five votive stupas of different shapes and sizes cut out of granite boulders. These stupas are historically significant as there was Buddhist influence in ancient Kamarupa. The structural feature of the stupas consist of Vedi, Medhi Anda and Harmika which are distinct in nature, archaic in shape with three gradually receding rings round the base. The three monolithic stupas are representative of Dharma, Sangha and Budha or they could be termed as Uddeshika stupa carved in the memory of Buddha.
The Museum
The Archaeological Survey of India establishes a museum at the site to exhibit the significant antiquities unearthed from the excavations at the place. They include the stone sculptures of Gajasimha, Mahishasuramardini, and plaques of the human figure, mythical animals, kiritimukhas, amalaka fragment and many more.
The temple site is open from 6 am in the morning to 6:55 pm in the evening.
How to reach Sri Surya Pahar Mandir, Goalpara, Assam, India
You can easily reach here at Goalpara via road, rail and air network. Thousands of tourist and devotees across the state visits here throughout the year which makes Bordubi more convenient in terms of travel, accommodation and other services. Goalpara has major railway junction from where you can get train to almost all region of India. The nearest airport from Goalpara is located in Guwahati at 120 km from where you can get flight to each part of country. Goalpara is well connected with all major cities of India via road network so you can easily reach here by local and public transport.
