Golden pagoda- Namsai

We had stayed in Naharlagun when we were travelling to Northeast India. From there, we had visited Zero, Cardo, Itanagar Then we took a train from Nahrlagun to go to Tinsukia. It is a very beautiful road. Naharlagun is the name of the railway station at Itanagar. Naharlagun is about 15 km from Itanagar.

From Nahar Lagun to Itanagar

Please see this video to get the idea about the beautiful road!

https://youtu.be/JNztM_dFN3I

The road is picturesque and eye-pleasing! Greenery, ponds, mountains, cleanliness... all these make the road just beautiful!

From Nahar Lagun to Itanagar

From Nahar Lagun to Itanagar

The train was comfortable. It was a chair car. All the passengers seemed to be going for job in nearby cities.

The train!

We came across the largest rail-road bridge in India, the Bogibeel Bridge. We crossed this 5 km bridge over the river Brahmaputra in October 2019. The bridge was inaugurated in December 2018 by Hon. Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi. This bridge has made the travel very convenient for passengers, students, patients and businesses.

This video will show you how big this bridge is! The train keeps on going over this bridge for some minutes! It’s a five minute video, even though I had started doing the video when I realized that train had already started to cross the bridge!

https://youtu.be/yV_7b_9ezT8

The pre booked car was waiting for us at New Tinsukia Railway station.

New Tinsukiya Railway Station

It was about 11 o'clock in the morning. When we asked the driver, whether we will find a good place to eat on the road or not, the driver said we will. But there are no places on the way, where vegetarians can eat. Then we had to eat the snacks which were with us instead of lunch. So in case you are travelling on the same route, may be it will be a better idea to buy some food at Tinsukia.

We had booked a villa for our overnight stay at Namsai. Before that, we were going to see Roing as well. We wanted to see the newly created museum and center, in scenic Roing.

But on the way there, we missed the road. We went on absolutely wrong road! The driver, had no clue of the area. Such small things happen on a big trip! But at least a solace was there, that the roads were very good. Very smooth, no shocks!

We had planned to reach Namsai before it gets dark. It gets dark very early in Arunachal, around 5p.m.

It is necessary to take such precautions while traveling in a new area. So without wasting more time, we went to Tengapani. This road was also very nice. Before reaching the destination, the golden peaks of the pagoda were occasionally visible, on the turns of the road.

It was getting dark. It was raining. The journey from Naharlagun had started early in the morning around 4 a.m. and continued throughout the day. Hence, when we reached to the Golden Pagoda Resort, we were very very happy.

Though there were no lights in the campus due to some electricity problem, there were lights inside the villas. These are very beautiful villas. Each villa has an veranda, hall, huge bedroom, a big bathroom and a balcony overlooking the garden. There are well-maintained gardens and trees all around.

There is a restaurant in the resort. But the order has to be placed in advance. It takes about an hour and a half to get the food prepared. Because they make everything fresh.

Going to the restaurant in the dark, in the rain, was really boring, as it is at some distance from the villas. But if we wanted to eat, we had to go!

We could see the beautiful premises of the resort, next morning. There are villas but I think there are one room accommodations also available in the resort. The space is used open handedly. Even the roads inside the resort are wide and there is ample distance between two villas. The garden is well maintained and the open spaces and greenery together contribute to a pleasant ambience.

Villas

The Golden Pagoda Resort

The Campus

There we could see an unusual sight. The roots and stems of the trees were at some distance, but at the top, the trees were growing so close as if it's one tree!

Unusual cluster!

Reception

That day was a typical rainy day of Arunachal with consistent rains, clouds and cold weather. After having breakfast in the resort restaurant, we started for the Golden Pagoda.

If you take the first turn from the main road, you will have to climb many steps to reach the pagoda. But if you go further on the resort side then, your vehicle can go till the pagoda. There was a shortcut from resort to pagoda. We took the shortcut, but our car however had to go till main road and then could reach pagoda.

This pagoda is built on some 20 hectares area. It is a brand new project, started in 2008 and completed in 2010. It is located in the eastern Himalayan range. Namsai district was formerly part of Lohit district. This Golden Pagoda at Tengapani in Namsai District is a major tourist attraction.

A bronze statue of Buddha was presented by a Buddhist monk from Thailand to spread Buddhist principles in India. Then a temple with Burmese architecture was built. This idol is found in the main pagoda today.

The Main Buddha idol

The pagoda has several small peaks and a high peak in the middle. Due to the golden paint, the pagoda keeps on shining brightly.

Golden Pagoda -main entrance

Guardian Deity outside the main pagoda

Pair of lions guarding each entrance

Three entrances

Golden Pagoda has entrances on four directions. There is a Jaystambh (a tower) in front of the main entrance which can be seen in the first photograph.

The Buddha idol is facing North Direction. Each entrance is guarded by a pair of lionlike mythological creatures. Each of the four corners either do have a bell or guardian deity.

There are many buildings in the premises. Library, residential quarters for the Bauddha bhikkhus, meditation hall, cultural research center etc. When we had visited the pagoda in October 2019, some constructions were going on.

Other Buddha Temple
P.C. - G. D. Sathe

This Buddha idol in another temple, is covered with golden pieces in mosaic style. This is the largest idol of this type in India.

P.C. - G. D. Sathe

One More Building and Ashok Stambh
P.C. - G. D. Sathe

A Rainy Day

The circumambulation path is built in concrete.

P.C. - Girish Tilak

One More building in the premises

P.C. - Girish Tilak

Main Entrance

Students

It will be remembered as a quiet, beautiful place. Buddhism originated in India. Buddhism spread from India to other countries. Now this Buddhist temple is completing a full cycle! Here the idol is from Thailand, which was given to spread the principles of Buddhism in India and the architecture of the temple is Burmese!

#Namsai #Tengapani #NamsaiGoldenPagoda #DibrugarhToGoldenPagoda #Roing #WhereToStayInNamsai #PlacesToVisitInArunachal #Buddha #Thailand

#BurmeseArchitecture #Tinsukia #GoldenPagodaEcoResort #Naharlagun

Comments

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राष्ट्रीय अस्मितेची चिन्हे परकीय आक्रमक पुसून टाकायचा प्रयत्न करतात, करतातच. जगभर अशी असंख्य उदाहरणे सापडतील. कारण त्याशिवाय त्यांना त्यांची सत्ता निर्माण करता येणार नसते. पण मग त्या त्या देशातील, देशावर प्रेम असणारे लोक काय करतात हे जाणून घ्यायचे असेल तर एक उदाहरण सांगते. आपल्याला सेऊल मधील ग्यानबोक पॅलेस याच्याविषयी वाचायला हवे. ------------- तसा पोचायला आम्हाला थोडा उशीरच झाला होता. शेवटची इंग्लिश गाईडेड टूर चुकते की काय अशी भीती वाटायला लागली होती. अनेक कोरियन युवक युवती राजवाड्याकडे जाताना दिसत होते. विशेष म्हणजे त्यांनी पारंपरिक कोरियन पोशाख घातले होते. फार छान दिसत होते ते सगळे. आम्ही गेलो होतो, कोरियाच्या सार्वभौमत्वाचे मानचिन्ह असलेल्या ग्यानबोक पॅलेसला ( Gyeongbok Palace ) भेट देण्यासाठी. तिकिटाच्या काउंटर जवळच राजवाड्याचे मुख्य प्रवेशद्वार आहे. त्याचे नाव आहे ग्वान्गमन गेट.( Gwanghwamun) . सेऊलच्या पुरातन इतिहासाचे प्रतीक असलेले हे प्रवेशद्वार १३९५ मध्ये बांधले गेले आहे. आज हे प्रवेशद्वार कोरियाची ओळख बनलेले आ...

Deoriatal - Chandrashila trek - Part 1 - Preparation

We dream… we dream about many things … but we strive to make only few of them a reality and leave the rest of the dreams as dreams only, to cherish them someday in our leisure time. A high altitude trek was one such dream of mine, always enthralling and yet a little daunting. So for years that dream remained a dream without becoming a reality. In November, my friend Dhanshree Jagtap did the Deoria Tal Chandrashila trek with Indiahikes. While chatting with her, I could get detailed information about this trek. She told that in March and April, rhododendron flowers will be blooming in this region … and the dormant dream was awakened once again. It is said that DeoriaTal is the lake where the famous Yaksha and Yudhishthira conversation had taken place. On the way to the summit, Tungnath is the highest temple of Shankara in the world, one of the Panch Kedars. It is said to have been built by the Pandavas. The summit point of the trek is Chandrashila. The place where Chandra did Tapas. It i...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 2- - Sari to Deoriatal.

The next morning, the trek started with a steep climb!! At one point during the climb, we turned back and bade goodbye to the Sari base camp. It was not known whether we would successfully complete the trek or not. But I was sure that we will definitely come back with a life changing experience. Sari Base camp 📷 Supan Shah The road was paved with rough stones. But while climbing I was telling myself that these stones were better than walking in the slippery soil. 📷 Pawan Gowda You can guess how much the climb was, from this photo, but if you want to know how we were climbing, there is a video! विडिओ - सम्राट दर्डा https://youtube.com/shorts/CJuWDSml8XU?feature=share The initial, few meters part of the road passed through populated areas. But the houses there were very few and sparse. Green fields were visible everywhere. Farming was done on the mountain slopes, by step method. This greenery enlivened the entire slope. The view 📷 Supan Shah 📷 Samrat Darda After walking o...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 3- Deoriatal to Syalmi

That was the third day of the trek. I was feeling contented. Yesterday's journey from Sari to Deoria was beautiful. Neither were my legs paining nor was I feeling tired. Today was surely going to be a tough day. I had read the description on the Indiahikes website, which gave a rough idea about the day. Today the distance was more than nine kilometers. But there were many peaks which will be visible on the way. We were going to pass through a dense forest, so there was a chance to watch variety of birds. So I was curious and excited about the journey. All of us, left from Deoriatal campsite and started our journey. Even though we had only been there for a day, we had already grown attached to the place. Even if it has only been a day, surely there is always attachment with the place.There was a fork in the forest path on the left side of the road to Deoriatal. We went that way. After walking for a while, most likely we were goi...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 5(Last part)- Baniyakund - Tungnath- Chandrashila

📷Samrat Darda A beautiful photograph of the moon taken from Baniyakund campsite, April 15. That day should be Saptami or Ashtami of Shukla Paksha. Because Ram Navami was on 17th April. In the intense and tranquil darkness of the beautiful night, though the full moon day was still seven or eight days away, the moon was already bright. The shining moon, occasionally hiding behind the clouds, the curiosity of the summit in our minds.. it was a very unique night. There was going to be a two o'clock wakeup call tomorrow. we had to pack up, have breakfast, and be ready to leave for the day at three o'clock. I packed the essential things in the day pack and packed everything else in the bag to be offloaded. That bag was to kept in the main tent while leaving in the morning. Tomorrow, in few hours we would gain an altitude of 4000 ft. I closed my eyes to sleep, but even before my closed eyes, the images of the snow-capped peaks were floating. I woke up at quarter to two in ...

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