page_title: Sadiya
section_title: Tamreswari(Kechai-Khati) Temple
hierarchical_section_title: Sadiya / Architecture and ruins / Tamreswari(Kechai-Khati) Temple
caption_attribution_description: English: Ruined gateway of Tamreswari temple
context_page_description: Sadiya is a town in Tinsukia district, Assam, India and was the third capital of Chutia Kingdom established by the second Sutiya ruler Ratnadhwajpal in 1248 and remained as the capital till 1524. Extensive remains of buildings and fortifications built during the rule of the Chutias near about Sadiya still point to the importance of the region in the past. Historically Sadiya included the entire districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Tinsukia. It was the center of development of the Eastern form of Prakrit during both the Chutia and Ahom periods, which later gave rise to the modern form of Assamese.Its stands on a grassy plain, almost surrounded by forested Himalayan mountains, on the right bank of Lohit river what is locally considered the main stream of the Brahmaputra river. Sadiya is famous for a flower named satphul, which is much like Jasmine.
context_section_description: This was the most notable among the temples built by Chutia kings. The name "Tamreswari" was given as the roof of the temple was made out of copper. As per the Kalika Purana, the main temple was octagonal in shape surrounded by eight dwarapals in eight directions. When the Britishers visited the temple complex, the main temples has disappeared and only a small square structure remained. The wall and doors of the temple were well designed with beautiful works. There were two giant elephant sculptures with silver tusks at the main door of the complex. The walls were made without any mortar and instead used iron dowels and brackets. The whole temple was surrounded with brick walls and on the western wall there was a place for human sacrifice. Although the temple is now completely submerged under marshy lands due to silt deposition in 1959, previous studies show that the main statues of the temple were built of sandstone and granite.
  The stone iscription found in the temple reads,
  “Shiv-Charan-Prasadat Vridharajatan
  Ya-Sri-srimata-Mukta Dharmanarayana
  Shri shrimati Digaravasini Ichtaka
  Di-Virchit-Prakara-Nivaddha
  Krit Agrahainike Saka 1364”
  — Tamresari Wall inscription
  The inscription describes that the walls of the temple have been built by the son Mukta Dharmanarayan of the old king(name not specified) in the Saka year 1364(1442 AD). The temple is said to be dedicated to the goddess Digarabaxini(Kechai-khati).
  The roof of the Tamresari temple was originally sheeted with copper as mentioned in the Changrung Phukan Buranji(1711 AD), from which the name is derived. In 1848, when Dalton visited the site, he found a stone structure, but the copper roof was already removed. As per T.Block who visited the site in 1905, this square structure in the corner cannot have been the main building inside the complex and the brick wall evidently enclosed some sort of a grand temple in the center which has disappeared with time. According to S.F. Hannay, the temple complex was as near as possible square with the doorway to the west. There was a substantial brick wall, about 4.5 feet thick rising to the height of 8 feet, on the foundation of rudely cut blocks of sandstone. The entrance of the complex was on the west face, where there had been a stone enclosure and door. The ruins of the gateway which remains include the lintel carved on the edge in a chain of lotus flowers, some ornamented small pillars and an elephant statue. The three blocks forming the doorway, each of 7.5 feet long and 2 feet by 18 inches in girth, along with the blocks of the projecting wall, were reddish porphyritic granite of an adamantine hardness. There was another stone gateway at the southeast corner leading to the stream, in the bed of which are several carved and plain blocks of granite and sandstone. According to Debala Mitra(1956), the temple was originally Chaturayatana, i.e. having four shrines, built of sandstone and granite and located in the south-east section of the rectangular brick enclosure, prakara roughly measuring 208 ft by 130 ft. The compound wall was 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall and had a stone gateway on the eastern side.  In the floods of 1959, due to deposit of silt in the banks of Paya river the structure was completely submerged in the waters.
caption: Ruined gateway of Tamreswari temple
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