Umananda Temple

The Umananda temple is located on a small island on the Brahmaputra River. The island is called Peacock Island and perhaps is the smallest river island in the world. To visit this place you will need to take a ferry ride from the banks. There is a small hill on the island sheltering the temple namely, Bhasmacala.

This shiv temple was built by the famous Ahom King Gadadhar Singha (1681 – 1696), who was the husband of Sati Joymati a great devout of Shiva. The original temple was however immensely damaged by a devastating earthquake of 1897. Later, it was reconstructed by a rich local merchant who chose to inscribe the interior part of a Siva temple with Vaisnavite slogans. In Assamese Uma means Hindu goddess Parvati, the wife of Shiva; and ananda means happiness which is also known as smallest inhabited river island in the world. This is one of the mostly visited temple in Assam which is devoted to Lord Shiva.