Place · Shiva & Navagraha temples · India
Umānanda & Navagraha, Guwahati
Also known as Kāmākhyā precinct — Umānanda & Navagraha
The island Shiva temple on Peacock Island in the Brahmaputra and the planetary Navagraha temple on Chitrachal hill in Guwahati, Assam — the two shrines that complete the Guwahati ritual landscape around Kamakhya. Umananda, the smallest inhabited riverine island in the world (0.57 hectares), holds a 1694 Ahom-period Shiva temple built by King Gadadhar Singha. The island is reached by motorboat from the north bank. The Navagraha temple of the nine planets, built in the 18th century by Ahom king Rajeshwar Singha, served as an astronomical observatory under Ahom court astronomers — Guwahati was renowned as the Pragjyotishpura ('city of eastern astronomy') from Puranic sources.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 26.197, 91.745
Connections (1)
- Site withinPrāgjyotiṣapura / Guwahati
The Umananda island Shiva temple on the Brahmaputra and the Navagraha planetary temple on Chitrachal hill both sit within Guwahati (ancient Pragjyotishpura). Umananda occupies the Peacock Island — the smallest inhabited riverine island in the world at 0.57 hectares — and Navagraha served as the Ahom court astronomical observatory from the 18-century, both completing the Guwahati ritual landscape around the central Kamakhya pitha.
Sources
Hindu pilgrimage sites in India — Wikipedia
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