A detour around Namsai

“Why you chose Arunachal Pradesh?”, Youngwa Chaupoo asked this very first question when we met him at Namsai. “We always love to explore something unique. The places which are less explored and raw. And, Arunachal Pradesh was on the top of our list for the same.”, we replied.

Please check our blog on things you should take care before visiting Arunachal Pradesh.

On the first day of our trip, we landed at Dibrugarh airport around 9:30 in the morning. We have pre-booked our cab and Mr Raju, a local Assamese was going to be our driver for the next five days. Our plan was to go to Namsai first, celebrate the Poi Pee Mau Tai 2116 festival, and then the next day leave for Dong Valley. It takes an entire day to reach Dong Valley from Namsai.

Around 1:30 PM we reached Namsai and met Youngwa Chaupoo. There were still 4-5 hours left to start the evening celebration of the Poi Pee Mau Tai festival. This means we could explore the nearby places around Namsai during that time. Youngwa suggested us to go Parshuram Kund which is 85 kilometres from Namsai. Along with that, he also suggested going to the Golden Pagoda which was on the way to Parshuram Kund.

In northeast India, the sun sets around 4-4:30 PM during December. It was already 2:30 PM, so we decided to go to Parshuram Kund first before it gets dark. And while returning we will visit the Golden Pagoda.

Story of Parshuram Kund

Parshuram Kund is a Hindu pilgrimage place which is located at the Bank of Lohit river which comes in the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh. Every year during the “Makar Sankranti” festival Parshuram Kund Mela (Fair) gets celebrated at this place. This is also known as the Kumbh Mela of North East India. Pilgrims take holy baths in this Kund during this Mela, as it is believed that all your sins will be washed away once you take a holy dip in Parshuram Kund.

Coming to this place was a divine and soothing experience for us. On top of that, the beauty of nature was incredible. Both of us did not feel like leaving Parshuram Kund, it was so peaceful.

According to a Hindu mythology, Parshuram, the sixth Avatar (Incarnation) of lord Vishnu, killed his mother Renuka with an axe on the order of his father named Jamadagni. The moment he killed his mother, the axe got stuck in his hand. He regretted his action of killing his mother. To remorse his action, he started roaming in India and he reaches the bank of the Lohit river. The moment he took a dip in the water, the axe gets detached from his hand. And after this, this place came to be known as Parshuram Kund.

We sat on one of the rocks and started talking about the life of lord Prashuram. The main purpose of Parshuram was to assassinate the wicked, irresponsible, and atheistic kings to free the earth’s burden. As per hindu mythology, it is also said that Sudarshan Chakra was given by Parshuram to lord Krishna (Eighth incarnation). Also, Parshuram will be the Guru (Teacher) of the tenth and last incarnation of lord Vishnu i.e. Kalki.

Golden Pagoda, Namsai

We had to leave Parshuram Kund as it was already getting dark. Also, we had to visit the Golden Pagoda on our way back to Namsai. Golden Pagoda is also called as Khongmu-kham by Tai-Khamti people. It is built in Burmese architectural design in the year of 2010. The Golden Pagoda is a temple complex situated on about 20 hectares of land. This complex has a meditation hall, guest houses for travellers and devotees, a library, a monastery to accommodate around 100 Bhikkhus (Buddhist monk) and living quarters for the monks.

It was around 6:30 PM when we reached the Golden Pagoda. Few Buddhist child monks were praying in the main sanctum and singing their holy song in their local language. We were getting a spiritual feeling by listening to their song. During the night, surrounded by lights, the glowness of Golden Pagoda was mesmerizing. Around 8 PM we reached Namsai and enjoyed the first day of the Poi Pee Mau Tai festival.

Next morning we visited to The Bamboo Buddha. Which is placed inside the premise of the Vipassana Meditation Centre besides the Golden Pagoda. And, it is religiously called ‘Fra Sutongpey Lubhamuni‘ by locals. It is 111th and currently considered as world’s highest Bamboo Buddha whose hight is around 42.7 feet.

It was a pleasent experience visiting both the Parshuram Kund and the Golden Pagoda. Both the places had their different stories and rituals. But the spiritual feeling we had was the same at both the places. And that is the power of spirituality. No matter which religion you follow, you will get the same spiritual feeling everywhere.