Surya Pahar - Assam

Name : The Surya Pahar temple

Location : It is situated amongst several archaeological remains in Golapara in Assam, India ( On the Dobapara road ). This temple is an ancient center of sun worship that is literally an art gallery of Indian sculpture.

Legend : Sun worship in Assam (as in other parts of India) goes back to ancient times. Assam has been referred to as Pragjyotishapura. According to the Kalika Purana of the 10th century CE, Bhrahma created Pragjyotishapura, as a city equal to the city of Indra the King of the Gods. The word Prag refers to the Eastern region and jyotisha refers to the word star-astrology. Pragjyotisha is also said to mean, ‘eastern city of astrology’. To the east of Guwahati, there is a hill temple known as Citracala, dedicated to the Navagrahams or the nine celestial bodies.

Description : Ruins of several old temples are scattered all over the hill. This hill is also the seat of a small modern sun temple. The Surya mandir on Surya Pahar is a modest structure and it enshrines a circular tablet, four and a half feet in circumference with carved images representing the various celestial bodies including Surya.

Sri Surya Pahar, a confluence of the three religion of Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, is a treasure trove of ancient monuments, is situated about 12 kms. Southeast of Goalpara, 136 kms northwest of Guwahati.

In addition to being a confluence of the three religions which is evident from the innumerable sculptures , Sri Surya Pahar can also be called a garden of medicinal plants, most of which awaits identification.

The centermost figure in this sculpture is enclosed within an inner circle. The centermost figure is surrounded by 12 miniature figures in a seated posture. The centermost figure is Kasyapa muni (also considered to be Prajapati or the creator) , and the 12 figures around this figure are referred to as the 12 Suryas - sons of Kasyapa and Aditi.

Surya Pahar is an interesting archeological site, as several rock cut figures are seen here. Several granite Shiva Lingams are seen in the vicinity of the hill. Legend has it that there were once about a 100,000 Shivalingams here, as they had been installed with a idea of making this town second to none other than Benares as a pilgrimage site.

Source: http://www.templenet.com/Assam/suryapahar.html