Jorhat

Jorhat is the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Assam. Jorhat acts as a gateway to upper Assam and to the state of Nagaland. It was the last capital of the Ahom Kingdom and home to many historical monuments of Assamese culture. In the north of the district, the Brahmaputra River forms the largest riverine island of the world, Majuli, which spreads over 924.6 square kilometres with a population of about 150,000. The island, threatened with constant erosion by the mighty and unstable Brahmaputra River, had been the principal place of pilgrimage of Vaishnavites since the age of the Ahom rulers. Several Sattras (monasteries) resembling those of medieval times are headed by Satradhikars teaching Vaishnavism, which was introduced by Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568). Each Sattra has an unknown wealth of Vaishnavite scriptures and extensive revenue-free lands cultivated by the Bhakats (celebated monks) of the Sattras. The cultural diversities which prevailed in Jorhat nearly a century ago has inspired the people to participate in cultural activities through the decades and as a result Jorhat has been able to produce many creative writers, musician, actors, historians and journalists, terming Jorhat “The Cultural Capital of Assam”.

Sonitpur

Welcome to Sonitpur- a land of natural beauty, ancient monuments and rich culturalheritage. Tezpur is an important tourist destination with beautiful parks, temples and ancient monuments. The name Tezpur is derived from the Sanskrit words 'Teza' (meaning blood) and 'Pura' (meaning town or city). Legend has it that the original name of this place was 'Sonitpur' ("sonit" in Sanskrit also means blood!) but when the battle between Krishna's army and Banasura's army fought for the rescue of Aniruddha (who was the grandson of Lord Krishna, according to legend) there was so much bloodshed that the whole place was stained in red. This led to the name of the place becoming Tezpur.It is the seventh largest city of Assam after Guwahati, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Nagaon and Tinsukia.

Jatinga

Jatinga, a village on a ridge, is located in Dima Hasao district (DHD), Assam State in India. It is 330 km south of Guwahati. It is most famous for the phenomenon of birds “committing suicide”. Although the birds do not commit suicide and are actually killed, the phenomenon of suicide has spread far and wide among common people. The village is inhabited by about 2,500 Khasi-pnar tribal people and few Dimasa people.

Jatinga, famous for the phenomenon of birds "committing suicide", is located on a spur of the Haflong ridge, the head quarter of the district of North Cachar Hill. It itself is an offshoot of the main ridge of the Borail range. Here, the mist & fog lie like a veil around the beautiful face of the damsel from September to November. During these late monsoon months, mysterious behavior of birds takes place. During moonless and foggy dark nights between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., flying birds come crashing to the ground with no prior warning whatsoever. The local tribals first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits, flying from the sky to terrorize them. However, some other conditions are also necessary for the phenomenon to occur. The air must be foggy, cloudy or misty. The unusual behaviour of the birds seems to occur due to the peculiar weather conditions at Jatinga. There also appears to be a correlation between the breeding period of the birds and the Jatinga phenomenon. Studies also reveal that the flight of water birds to Jatinga may be attributed to heavy rains and floods and submergence of their natural habitat in the surrounding areas. It has been observed that there was a high congregation of birds at Jatinga during 1988 which happened to be a year of high floods.