By road
~200-340 km from Guwahati
Northeast India · Assam
Majuli, Assam
The world's largest river island, satras and slow ferries · ~200-340 km from Guwahati
Getting there
By rail
Jorhat Town or Mariani Junction, ~17-41 km, followed by the same ferry crossing
By air
Jorhat (Rowriah) Airport, ~14-48 km, then a road transfer to Neemati Ghat
Best time to visit
October to March — before the Brahmaputra rises
Don't miss
Auniati and Kamalabari satras
Samaguri mask workshop
River sunsets
Things to do
Cycling island lanes
Satra (monastery) visits
Mising village stays
Birding
Where to eat
Sources: wikimedia, Photo: Udit Kapoor · CC BY-SA 4.0
What to pack
Cycle-friendly clothes, torch (early power cuts), ferry patience
A quieter corner
Mask-makers of Samaguri Satra shaping mythic faces by hand
About Majuli
- Island
- Riverside
Where it is
Majuli is a large river island in the Brahmaputra in upper Assam, across the river from Jorhat, bounded by the Brahmaputra, the Subansiri and a side channel of the Brahmaputra.
History
In the early 16th century the saint Srimanta Sankardev met his disciple Madhavdev on Majuli, and the island became a centre of the Assamese neo-Vaishnavite movement, with dozens of satras, or monasteries, founded here. Floods and erosion have shrunk the island greatly since the 19th century, and in 2016 it became the first island in India to be made a district.
People
Majuli is home to Assamese-speaking communities and to the Mising, Deori and Sonowal Kachari peoples, and Mising villages of houses raised on stilts line the riverbanks. The satras keep alive Sattriya dance, Borgeet devotional songs and bhaona plays, while villagers weave mekhela chadors and shape pottery by hand.
Known for
- Satras such as Auniati and Kamalabari
- Sattriya dance and bhaona plays
- Mask-making at Samaguri Satra
- Mising villages of stilt houses
- Handloom weaving and hand-shaped pottery
Did you know?
Sattriya, the dance tradition created by Sankardev and kept alive in Majuli's satras, was recognised as one of India's classical dances in 2000.
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