GUWAHATI, July 4 � The move of the Assam Tourism Department to install statues of the Saraighat battle heroes on the Urvashi river island has hit a roadblock. The residents of the greater Uzanbazar area of the city have opposed it as an act of blasphemy towards the religio-cultural heritage of the State�s people.
This �act of sacrilege,� if materialised, will damage the sanctity of the river island, they said in a meeting held at the Uzanbazar Ganesh Mandir conference hall recently.
The meeting, presided over by former IAS officer Jagannath Chakravorty, also said in one of its resolutions that the three islands of Umananda, Urvashi and Karmanasha are considered by the people as sacred ones and places of pilgrimage.
The names of these three islands carry immense legendary importance with their deep religio-cultural impact on the people. They are associated with popular mythical episodes linking Assam with the Indian epics and they are inspiring sources of national integration, said the meeting in another resolution.
The Kalikapurana of the 9th century AD has it that the three islands of Umananda, Urvashi and Karmanasha formed one landmass with the name of Bhasmachala. And in its midst existed the Urvashi Kunda.
The 16th century Yogini Tantra has stated that a natural calamity caused the Urvashi Kumda to be destroyed by the Brahmaputra and the current of the river became slow indicating widening of its course as a result of the dismemberment of the Bhasmachala into three islands.
The rocks of the Urvashi island have images of many Hindu Gods and Goddesses, including some carvings and inscriptions, which carry great religio-cultural value. The highest flat spot on the north of this rocky island originally had a stone temple. The apsidal layout of this temple is still prominent and the rock-cut stairway leading to this temple to its north can still be seen.
Here exist several images of Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu and Devi. A frieze depicting the ten incarnations of Vishnu and a Hari-Hara image can be noticed beside the above stairway. Several inscriptions lie scattered on the rocks and though they are lacerated for several hundred years by the torrents of the Brahmaputra, they have not lost their antique value, said the participants of the meeting in a resolution.
They also made an appeal to the authorities concerned to help preservation of these invaluable evidences of the State�s glorious past applying appropriate techniques for the purpose and called for steps to invalidate the previous announcement of installing the statues of the Saraighat heroes on the Urvashi.
The participants also sent a memorandum to the Managing Director of the Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) on the issue.
The memorandum has been signed, among others, by former Guwahati Mayor Sonadhar Das, former MP Indramoni Bora, veteran sports personality Pulin Das, archaeologist Pradip Sarma, educationist Hara Ram Das, social activist Krishna Kanta Barooah and secretary of the Uzanbazar Mahila Samity Domoyanti Das, besides Jagannath Chakravorty.
It needs mention here that the Tourism Department in May last made an announcement stating that it had decided to install the statues of Saraighat Battle heroes Lachit Barphukan, Bagh Hazarika and others on the Urvashi.