About
This well famed Shri Shri Aswaklanta temple is situated on the banks of the holy river Brahmaputra in North Guwahati. The temple was constructed by the King Siva Singha in the 1720 A.D. One of the Ahom rulers- King Siva Singha, has builts many biggest Hindu temple in Assam such as- Shiva Dol located in Sibsagar and Shri Shri Aswaklanta temple in North Guwahati. Basically, there are two temples established in the main temple premises of the Aswaklanta temple. One of the temples is located on the foot hill - the Kurmayanardan temple and another was positioned on the top of the hillock, named- Anantasayi.
How to reach:
The Aswaklanta temple
is well connected with Guwahati by both water and road transport. There are
many ferry services from different ferry ghats in Guwahati to cross the river Brahmaputra
from the south bank in Guwahati. The north bank is located near the Aswaklanta temple
wherefrom devotees can walk and reach the temple. One can also reach the temple
by road crossing the Saraighat Bridge. The road from the Saraighat Bridge to
the temple paves along the course of the river Brahmaputra in North Guwahati.
History
Legends say, when Krishna was searching for
Narakasur to kill him, on the way, the horse of Lord Krishna felt tired on the same
place where Aswaklanta temple is located. Aswa means ‘horse’ and Klanta means ‘tired
in Assamese language. Therefore, the place got the name Aswa-Klanta. Another mythological story is, the horses
which belonged to warrior ‘Arjuna were persuaded in this place to stay back
away from the battle scene so that Abhimanyu could be killed. In Assamese, a conspiracy
was made in the war and was called ‘Abhikranta’. the place where the temple is
located was named ‘Aswa-krata’ which later became Aswaklanta in popular
language by these words. There was a Kundra (a place of sacrifice) which was
located near the temple in bygone days. However, it was later eroded by the
Brahmaputra River and now no existence found in the temple. Pre-dominantly, the
temple consists of two images, one of Lord Janardana and other of Lord
Anantasai Vishnu.
Architecture