Ugratara Temple

The Ugratara Temple is a Shakti shrine in central Guwahati, in the Latasil area beside the Jorepukhuri tanks. Legend links it to the navel of Sati, Shiva's first consort, and the goddess Ugratara is identified in Assam with Buddhist deities such as Ekajata. The present temple was built in 1725 by the Ahom king Siva Singha, who had dug the tank to its east three years earlier. An earthquake later brought down the upper part of the temple, and a local resident had it rebuilt.

There is no image in the sanctum: a small pit filled with water is worshipped as the goddess. A Shiva shrine stands beside the temple, with a pond behind the two. The local legend tells how Shiva ordered Ugratara to drive people out of Kamarupa and she sent her army, and how the sage Vasishtha, disturbed at his meditation, cursed her, after which she became a goddess of left-hand Tantric worship. Her rites follow those of Kamakhya.