martri Tripura Sundari Mandir (h4.30am-1.30pm & 3.30-9.30pm), a 1501 Kali temple where a steady stream of p

Tripura Sundari Mandir (h4.30am-1.30pm & 3.30-9.30pm), a 1501 Kali temple where a steady stream of pilgrims make almost endless animal sacrifices that leave the grounds martri as bloody as the temple s vivid-red shikhara (Buddhist monastery). Even more people come here at the big Diwali martri festival (October/November) to bathe in the fishfilled tank by the temple. The temple is 100m east of the NH44, 4km south of Udaipur. A rickshaw from Udaipur costs 50.

Despite being an oil-service town, Sivasagar exudes a residual elegance from its time as the capital of the Ahom dynasty that ruled Assam for more than 600 years. The name comes from waters of Shiva , the graceful central feature of a rectangular reservoir dug in 1734 by Ahom Queen Ambika. Three typical Ahom temple towers rise proudly above the tank s partly wooded martri southern banks to the west Devidol, to the east Vishnudol and in the centre, the 33m-high Shivadol Mandir, India s tallest Shiva temple. Its uppermost trident balances upon an egg-shaped feature whose golden covering the British reputedly tried (but failed) to pilfer in 1823.