5 Tourist Places To Visit In Sibasagar, Assam

Located on the banks of river Dikhow, about 380 km’s east of Guwahati and about 60 km’s east of Jorhat is this small quaint town of Sibasagar. Also called Sibsagar it is now renamed Sivasagar. It was once the region from where the mighty Ahom kings ruled for more than six centuries. They ruled till early 19th century before they briefly fell to Burmese. And finally being annexed by the British. It was called Rangpur then. Today it is a small town, preserving the remains of its glorious past and welcoming its one-off visitors. Monuments are scattered around the town in clusters. This is because the kingdom was moved to different places by successive kings. But all those are more or less today a part of the town. This reminded me of Delhi which too has many ancient cities encompassed within its present-day city limits.

# The Namdang Stone Bridge

If you drive from Jorhat, you must stop at a 300+-year-old small bridge called Namdang stone bridge that is carved out of a single stone. Built on the river Namdang, it is now a part of the National Highway 37.

# Sibasagar Lake

As you reach the town, the first thing that you would notice is a huge lake called Sibasagar. Dotted with many lilies and lotuses and having a magnificent backdrop of red temples. It is after this lake that the town is named after. There are 3 temples by this lake called Shivdol, Vishnudol, and Devidol. Queen Ambika built them in the early 18th century making these temples about 300 years old.

# Shivdol, Vishnudol & Devidol Temples

All of them are in red color with each having a distinct and imposing Shikhara or superstructure. It may be logical to assume that Shivdol is the most important of these temples. As it is located in the middle as is relatively taller than the other two. Shivdol and Devidol have shikhara in typical Nagar style but a mandapa in the Chhala style of Bengal. Vishnudol and Joydol have a distinct shikhara in the curvilinear inverted cone shape with chequered grooves on it that contains floral carvings and cascading Amalakas on the top. Another open mandapa is made in front of all temples with triangular tin roofs.

# Joy Dol & Joysagar Lake

Joy Dol is a temple located on the side of another big lake called Joysagar, which king Rudra Singh had built in honor of his mother Joymoti. The lake is very scenic and full of flowers and birds. The temple was absolutely empty when we were there. Making it quite a serene place to sit and contemplate, of course, the weather has to be benign.

# Ahom Kingdom, Sibasagar

Ahom’s were of Chinese descent and Converted to Hinduism after some time, and ruled as Hindu kings for a long time. This may be an interesting case study of rulers taking the religion of the ruled to rule. A museum near the lake has a collection of items used by the Ahom kings. There are life-size statues of the main kings of the dynasty King Rudra Singh who ruled during the 18th century. Ahom royalty was apparently buried and the ground the raised above their bodies to form a mound. These mounds are later known as Maidans. You can find many of them in the region, including one at Jorhat, though there is nothing much that you can see there.