Basistha (Pron: bəˈsɪsθə) temple, located in the south-east corner of

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

city,

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, India, is a

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

mandir. The history of the Basistha Ashram where the temple is located dates back to the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

age. According to legend the ashram was founded by the great saint Basistha (

Vasishtha Vasishtha ( sa, वसिष्ठ, IAST: ') is one of the oldest and most revered Vedic rishis or sages, and one of the Saptarishis (seven great Rishis). Vashistha is credited as the chief author of Mandala 7 of the ''Rigveda''. Vashishtha ...

). Temple in the ashram stands on the bank of the mountain streams originating from the hills of Meghalaya, which becomes the rivers Basistha and Bahini/Bharalu flowing through the city.

Basisthashram

This

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

, on the outskirts of Garbhanga reserve forest which has a population of elephants. This Garbhanga reserve forest is also a proposed butterfly reserve. Although the ashram has a temple but still the cave in which the Muni Vasistha is believed to have meditated is located 5 km inside the ashram. The ashram also has a waterfall.

History

The site has evidence of a stone temple which once stood at this spot around 1000-1100 CE. A brick temple was built upon the remains of the stone temple of an earlier period. It is an octagonal temple with a polygonal sikhara over it. The temple has a sunken garbhagriha which is believed to have the foot impression of the sage Vasistha, who is believed to have had his asrama in this area in the remote past.This octagonal brick temple was built by Ahom king Swargadeo

Rajeswar Singha Suremphaa (reign 1751–1769), or Rajeswar Singha, the fourth son of Rudra Singha, became the king of the Ahom kingdom after the death of his brother King Pramatta Singha. Rudra Singha's third son, Mohanmala Maladev Gohain, was considere ...

in mid 18th century.

References

Shiva temples in Assam Hindu temples in Guwahati Tourism in Northeast India 1764 establishments in India Dispur {{India-Hindu-temple-stub