Mayong (or Mayang) is a village in

Morigaon district Morigaon district () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters is located at Morigaon. The ancient place of occult Mayong is located in this district as well as Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. Histor ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It lies on the bank of the river

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...

, approximately from the city of

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

. Once considered the cradle of Tantra Kriya in India, Mayong is a tourist attraction because of its history.

Etymology

The origins of the name may be based on any of several sources including the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word ''

Maya (illusion) ''Maya'' (; Devanagari: , IAST: ), literally "illusion" or "magic", has multiple meanings in Indian philosophies depending on the context. In later Vedic texts, connotes a "magic show, an illusion where things appear to be present but are not ...

'', the

Chutia The Chutia people (Pron: or ''Sutia'') are an ethnic group that are native to Assam and historically associated with the Chutia kingdom. However, after the kingdom was absorbed into the Ahom kingdom in 1523–24, the Chutia population was ...

Tiwa Tiwa and Tigua may refer to: * Tiwa Puebloans, an ethnic group of New Mexico, US * Tiwa (Lalung), an ethnic group of north-eastern India * Tiwa language (India), a Sino-Tibetan language of India * Tiwa languages, a group of Tanoan languages of the ...

/ Deori word ''Ma-yong'' which means ''mother'', the Kachari word for an elephant (''Miyong''), or from ''maa'' for ''Mother Shakti'' and ''ongo'' meaning ''part''. Some believe that Manipuris from the Moirang clan used to inhabit this area therefore; the name Moirang became Mayhong with time.

Mythology

Mayong along with Pragjyotishpura (the ancient name of Assam) find place in many epics, including the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

. Chief Ghatotkacha of

Kachari Kingdom The Dimasa Kingdom (also Kachari kingdom) was a late medieval/early modern kingdom in Assam, Northeast India ruled by Dimasa kings. The Dimasa kingdom and others (Kamata, Chutiya) that developed in the wake of the Kamarupa kingdom were exam ...

took part in The Great Battle of Mahabharata with his magical powers. It was also said about the Mayong that the Tantrik (one who knows tantra vidya) and the witches take shelter in mayong forest till now. According to recently published article on "Mayong - Land of Black Magic and Witchcraft" - many tales of men disappearing into thin air, people being converted into animals, or beasts being magically tamed, have been associated with Mayong. Sorcery and magic were traditionally practiced and passed down over generations.

History

''Narabali'' or

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

s were carried out in connection with the worship of Shakti until the early modern period. Excavators had recently dug up swords and other sharp weapons that resembled tools used for human sacrifice in other parts of

, suggesting that human sacrifice may have occurred in the Ahom era in Mayong.

Tourism

Mayong is a tourist and archaeological location because of its rich

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

, archaeology pilgrimage,

eco-tourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

adventure tourism Adventure travel is a type of niche tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in r ...

cultural tourism Cultural tourism is a type of tourism activity in which the visitor's essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/produ ...

and river tourism.

Mayong Central Museum and Emporium

There are numerous archaeological relics and artefacts, including books on Tantra Kriya and Ayurveda at the Mayong Central Museum and Emporium, which was opened in 2002.Very close to Mayong is the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. This Sanctuary has the highest density of one horned rhinoceros in the world.

References