Places to Visit at Tezpur | Agnigarh

Agnigarh is located in Tezpur. There is a very famous legendary story behind this place. This renowned mythological place is connected with the romance of Prince Aniruddha and Princess Usha. Aniruddha was the grandson of Lord Krishna, whereas Usha was the daughter of Banasura, the famous Asura king and prime devotee of Lord Shiva. It is believed that Agnigarh is the very place where a fortress was built by the Asura king, to keep his daughter in isolation. As the name suggests, Agnigarh (Agni meaning fire and Garh meaning fortress or wall) was surrounded by fire at all times, in order to prevent anyone from entering or exiting the fortress without permission. All these protection measures were done to prevent the union of the Usha and Aniruddha. The story goes that princess Usha was renowned for her beauty and charm and had a very talented painter, Chitralekha, for a friend. Once, while sleeping, the princess saw a very handsome man in her dreams and fell in love with him. Using her rare artistic skills, Chitralekha not only painted the picture of the prince, but also recognized him as Prince Aniruddha, grandson of Lord Krishna. Chitralekha also spirited away the prince using her magical powers and secretly married him to Usha, under Gandharva rites. King Bana was not happy with this relationship and threw Aniruddha into a prison and built the fort at Agnigarh, to keep Usha from meeting him. On knowing this, Lord Krishna came to the rescue of Aniruddha. Not much time later, a very fierce battle ensued Between the Lord and the Asura king. Banasura was a great devotee of Lord Shiva, and as a boon had asked him and his entire family to guard the gates of his city, Tezpur. A war ensued between the Lord Krishna and the Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma requested both of them to stop the war by putting him between them. A discussion followed in which Lord Krishna made Lord Shiva see that Banasura was acting wrongly in imprisoning his grandson, and had even disrespected Lord Shiva himself in asking him and his family to be his gate keepers. Lord Shiva agreed, and Banasura was brought. Fearing his life he immediately agreed to the marriage.