BAIHATA CHARIALI, Jan 17 � The Madan Kamdev temple, situated around four kilometres away from Baihata Chariali, on the Diwangiri hill has turned into a sea of picnickers these days. The scenic beauty of the temple premises easily attracts the tourists and picnickers. The main temple located on the top of the Diwangiri hill, is surrounded by a number of rock sculptures of a number of Hindu deities in various postures. The sculptures bear great similarity to the sculptures found at the Khajuraho temple. Due to these similarities, Madan Kamdev is also called the Khajuraho of the northeast.
The Madankuri river flows near the temple and a natural lake on the western side of the temple is another source of attraction for the tourists and picnickers. On the temple premises a number of rock sculptures are lying scattered since the days of the ruin of the main temple. Now Uma Maheswar, Ganesh Surya and other temples exist and devotees worship those deities everyday. A curious fact pertaining to the temple is that though entrances to other Hindu temple is to the east but in Madan Kamdev the entrance of the main temple is to the west.
On the first day of every year thousands of devotees throng Madan Kamdev and they worship the deities and take blessings from them. Nanda Barua, secretary of the Madan Kamdev temple management committee said that on the first day of this year thousands of devotees offer pujas at the temple and take bhog and prasad. Not only Hindus but Muslims also visit the temple and take bhog of the temple.
Barua said that on �Madan Troyodashi a big flow of devotees will be witnessed at the festival to be celebrated in the chot month of the Assamese calendar. Moreover, on Shiva ratri, a number of devotees and visitors will throng the temple premises and offer pujas to Lord Shiva. Though the road communication to the temple is far better than a few years back, but the people of the area have requested the Health Minister of the State Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma who is also local MLA of the Jalukbari constituency to allocate a special fund for the development of the roads to the Madan Kamdev temple from Baihata Chariali and to install a number of tubewell and rest shades at different places for the convenience of the devotees and picnickers.
The public of the locality has also requested the authorities of the department of Archaeology to layout some special schemes to attract the tourist and picnickers. The conscious section of the area said that though Madan Kamdev has become a hotspot of the tourists, further development of the main temple and its premises and other infrastructural development would add more attraction to this historical place.
