Hajo

The multi-tradition pilgrimage town of Hajo in Kamrup district, Assam, 32 kilometres from Guwahati — unique in India for holding simultaneously major Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist shrines on three hills within one village. The Hayagriva Madhava temple on Manikuta hill (traditional 6-century foundation, current structure Koch king Raghudev c.1583) is one of the four Dhams of Assam Vaishnavism and is identified by some Buddhist traditions as the ground of the Buddha's parinirvana. The Poa Mecca ('one-quarter Mecca') shrine of the 16-century Sufi saint Giyasuddin Auliya (reportedly a disciple of Shah Jalal of Sylhet) on Garurachala hill is a Muslim pilgrimage. The Kedareshwar Shiva temple on the third hill (c.1753 Koch dynasty) is the Shaiva anchor. The three-tradition convergence is India's clearest.