CHAPTER II HISTORY OF THE TEMPLES 1 ( i) Group Temple Establishments <a) The Kamakhya Group The sixty second chapter of the ~ says that goddess Kamakhya is surrounded by several other gods and goddesses of whom eight chief goddesses are Guptakama, Srr Kama, Vindhyavasini, Banastha, Pada­ durga, Dirghesvari and Bhubanesvar1. 1 In addition Lord siva himself resides in his five forms such as Siddhesvara, / - ; 2 Gayanath , Amartakes~ara, K~mesvara and Kedaresvara. Besides Vi?~U in the name of Pandunath too resides on the Varahakshetra. 3 Other nearby sacred places include Saubhagyakunda and Sribhabaguha. The KP however makes no mention of any temple building built over the places of these gods and goddesses. 1 _ff, 62. 95-96. 2 Ibid., 62.80. 3 Ibid., 62.73, 63.150 and 64.52-54. 98 The earliest known record of temple at Kamakhya was the one built by king Naran~r~yana and his brother General Cilarai. The construction of the brick temple was at first placed under Mahatram Baishya, probably a local mason, but was r~moved for misappropriation of fund~ 4 as the Darrang Rajvamasavali says was completed by Megha Mukdumak within a period of six months. 5 Since then no records re- garding the temple of Kamakhya is available till the time I of Sivasi~ha (1714-44), who took his initiation from Krs- ~aram Nyayabagis, who later came to be known.as Parvatiya Gossain, and was placed in charge of the management of the Kamakhya temple at N1lacala.6 Rajes0arasimha renovated 7 the temple by erecting the natmandir in 1764. Later on a small part of the temple was made of copper by Kama- , . 8 l e s v aras1mha (1795-1810) and hence the portion is known as tamar ghar (house of copper). The other 13 temples known as nanan-devalay <different other temples) were 4 A. Khan Chaudhury, Koch Biharer Itihas, Vol.I, p.125. 5 Nabin Sarma Ced.), DRV, VV. 536~45. 6 Gunabhiram Barua, Asam Buranji, pp.95-98. 7 M. Neog Ced.), PS, Plate No. 69. 8 P . C . Ch au d_h u r y < e d . ) , As om Buran j i Sa r~ , p . 52 . 99 built at their present sites by different Ahom kings during the eighteenth century. Of these, the brick temple of 8 hub an e s'v a r I stands on the top of the Ni L] c ala hi 11 , but no record of its construction is available to us. The two stone inscriptions attached to the temples of Kamesyara and Siddhesvara record that these were built during the reign of sivasimha in S~ka 1640 C1718) 9 . During his reign, Debera Dihingiya Barphukan built the ~ 10 Kamales~ara temple in Saka 1650 . The temple of Amrata- kesvara was built by Pramattasimha in S~ka 1666 C1744) 11 , and the Kedarnath temple by his brother Rajesvarasimha in S~ka 1673 <1751). 12 No information is available about the building of the temples of Cinnamasta, Bhairavi, Dhum- ravati and of Koutilimga which were all built during the Ahom rule. Thus the temples of the Kamakhya Group had been built over a considerable period of time. 9 M . Ne o g ( e d . ) , P S , P 1 a t e No . 1 9 a n d 2 0 ; S o n a r-am Ch o u d h u r y , 'Kama·khyat AhomKirti', Banhi, 15.12, S~ka 1847, pp.676-77. 1 0 S o n ar-am Ch o u d h u r y , i b i d . ; M • Ne o g , i b i d . , P 1 a t e No . 2 6 . 11 S o n a ram C h o u d h u r y , i b i d • , p . 6 7 8 ; t> • 1<...• s B t-""' 8 • K~"" a ~<-••'1 ~ . tirtha, p.117i M. Neog, ibid., Plate No. 47. · 12 S.K. Bhuyan, SRS, p.268. 100 The pithas, or shrines at the Nilacalacame to light long time ago. It appears that many pithas mentioned in the KP and the YT were without any temple over them. A few such shrines are still lying in the open air. (b) Hajo Group of Temples : As a religious site, Hajo's antiquity goes back to a hoary past. Religious shrines bearing names such as Hayagrivamadhava, Kedares~ara, Kamesvara, Kamalesvara and Ganesa are mentioned in the KP and the YT. 13 For a long time before the rise of the Koch power, all these shrines of Hajo seemed to have fallen into much neglect. Historically, the construction of the Hayagriva- madhava temple in its present form was done by king Raghu- deva of the Koch dynasty. 14 The deul (a mound of brick) for celebrating the Phalgutsava, the festival of colour, 15 was raised by Ahom king Pramattasimha in S~ka 1672 <1750) . 13 KP., Ch. 82, VV. 75,86,87 and 89; YT, 2.9. V . 32,72,118. 14Sonaram Choudhury, 'Ha)or Vivarani', Cetana,. 4.8, S~ka 1848, p.219 and 5.7, Saka 1845, p.368; E. Galt, HA, p.63; M. Neog <ed.), ~it., Plate No.5. 15 Sonar-am Choudhury, ibid.; Dharani Kanta Sarma, op.cit., p.121; M. Neog (ed.) ~ op.cit., Plate No. 56. 101 / / He built also the Kames~ara <Siva) temple in Saka 1673 16 <1751>. The Kedar temple including the brick wall surrounding it was built in S~ka 1680 <1758) by Raje~­ varsimha.17 The Puspakanagar <town of flower) mentioned 1n. the YT·probably. was located near Kedar- temple, 18 and .I 19 may ~e identical with the temple of Kamalesvara. In another temple, Ganes~ is worshipped. A stone inscription now attached to the entrance gate of the temple records / that it was built by Pramattasimha in Saka 1666 <1744). For the management of the Hajo Group Temples the Ahom kings also made large endowments of lands and men which ultimately turned them into the richest "temple groups n 1n· Assam. 20 1<ii) Single Temple In order to follow the growth of the temples and their establishments, the single temples are arranged chronologically in order of the time of their construction. 16 Prabin Das, Punyabhumi Hajo, p.21. 17 M. Neog (ed.), PS, Plate No. 67. 18 YT, 2.9.79. 19p b' D . I ra 1n as, op.c1t., p.20. The Kamalesv~ra temple of t h e Kam ak h ya I g r 0 u p i s 0 f v i ~ '=' u , t h e p r e s e n t Ka ma l e S'v a r a is that of Siva. 20 s.K. Chakravarty, RATL, p.1. 102 The temple at Pandunath.. was rebuilt by king Raghu- deva of the Koch royal dynasty in S~ka 1507 (1585>. 21 / - Ahom king Gadadharasimha rebuilt the Siva temple at Uma- nanda in S~ka 1616 <1694>. 22 His son Rudrasimha conduc- ted a survey of the sacred places in Kamrup, but no templ~ is known to have been built during his time in Kamrup. Possibly he could not get sufficient time to build temples at any of these places. His son and successor I Sivasimha built two temples of the Nilacalagroup and also / built the temple of Kurma-Janardan in Saka 1642 <1720), and that of Anantasayee Vi~(lu in Saka" 1644 <1722) botr1 at As~akranta. 23 The other temples either built or re­ built by the same king are the temples of Candika <1725>, 24 Gop e s ~a r a C17 2 5) , Dhare s"v a r a C1 7 2 9) , Ag nib an e s '(,a r a C17 2 9 ) , 21 sonar~m Choudh~ry, 'Kamrupat Koch Rajar Kirticin', Cetana, 5.7, Saka 1845, p.369; A. Khan Choudhury, op.cit., p.122; M. Neog Ced.), PS, Plate No. 6. 22 P.C. Chaudhury Ced.), Asom Buranji Sar, p.4Dj Sonaram Choudhury, 'Umananda Devalay', Milan, 3.2, Saka 1846, p.106; Dharani' .Kanta -Sarma, op.cit., pp.117-18. 23 M. Neog Ced.), PS, Plate Nos. 22 and 23. 24 E. Gait, A Report on the Progress of Historical Research in Assam, p.6. The original inscription is examined by the writer at the site. 103 Bh~nges~ara (1729), Dfrghes0ari <1735) and Ugrat~r~. 25 I f His successor Pramattasimha, built the temples of Sukres- vara and Janardan <both in 1744) and that of Rudres~ara (1750>. 26 The temple of Navagraha was built by Rajesv­ arasimha <1774>. 27 The other temples built by him are ~lanikarnes'vara. <1755), Vas/istha <1764) and Siddhes~ara <1764>. 28 Lakshmisimha built the Banes0ara temple and I / 29 the Candrasekhara at Umananda in Saka 1697. He also b u i l t t h e P a r i h a r e s/v a r a t e mp 1 e a t P a t h s'a 1 a , a n d t h e B i 1 - lesvara/ temple <1777>. 30 The Catrakara, an important 25 M. Neog (ed.), J:..A, pp.236-38i ~, Plates Nos. 32 and 33; E. Gait, op.cit., p.6. 26 M. Neog (·ed.), PS, Plate Nos. 46, 48 and 53. 27 Ibid., Plate No. 60. 28 son~r~m Choudhury, 'Keikhanm~n na~ta hai jowa s~lar phalir pathsamgrah', Banhi, 14.11,_Saka 1846, p.418i H . C . Go swami , ' s' i 1 a r Ph a l i ' , Al o can i , 8 . 2 , s'a k a 18 3 8 , pp.51-SS; M.