Assam

A light, tangy Assamese fish curry soured with tomato, lemon or elephant apple.

The signature Assamese dish: raw papaya and pulses cooked with kola khar, an alkaline liquid filtered from the ash of dried banana peel.

Boiled potato mashed with raw mustard oil, onion, green chilli and coriander, the simplest and most loved Assamese side dish.

Brinjal roasted over a flame until smoky, mashed with mustard oil, onion and chilli.

Roasted or boiled fish mashed with mustard oil, onion and chillies, a quick and flavourful Assamese side dish.

Thin rolls of sticky rice flour toasted on a pan and filled with sesame and jaggery, the best-known sweet of Magh Bihu.

Small fried cakes of rice flour and jaggery, crisp outside and soft inside, made for Bihu and as a tea-time snack.

A soft rice-flour cake filled with coconut and jaggery, steamed on a cloth tied over the mouth of a water pot (tekeli).

Balls of fresh coconut cooked with sugar or jaggery, made in every Assamese home for Bihu.

Small balls of roasted sesame bound with jaggery, a warming winter sweet for Magh Bihu.

Flattened rice soaked and served with thick curd and jaggery, the classic Assamese breakfast and Bihu jolpan.

Boka (soft) rice that needs no cooking: it softens in cold water and is eaten with curd, milk or jaggery.

The joyful folk dance of Assam, performed by young men and women at Rongali (Bohag) Bihu in spring to the beat of the dhol and the pepa horn.

One of India’s eight classical dances, born in the Vaishnava monasteries (satras) of Assam in the tradition of Srimanta Sankardev.

The graceful dance of the Bodo women of Assam, often called the butterfly dance for its soft, fluttering movements.

An old Assamese narrative performance in which a lead singer (oja) and his chorus (palis) sing, act and dance stories from the epics and Puranas.

Devotional one-act plays created by Srimanta Sankardev, performed as Bhaona in namghars and satras with music, dance, masks and a narrator called the sutradhar.

A lively group dance of the tea garden communities of Assam, with women in a line and men playing the madal drum.

The Assamese New Year and spring festival in mid-April. It begins with Goru Bihu, when cattle are bathed and honoured, and continues with Manuh Bihu, Bihu dance and songs, and gifts of the gamosa.

Assam's harvest festival in mid-January. On Uruka night communities feast in temporary huts, and at dawn the meji (bonfire) is lit.

An annual fair at the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati during the monsoon, when the temple stays closed for three days and reopens to large crowds of pilgrims.

A Shakti Peetha at Nilachal hill, Guwahati, where Sati's yoni is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Kamakhya.

Floodplain grasslands, wetlands and forest on the south bank of the Brahmaputra, home to most of the world’s great one-horned rhinos.

A forested park on the Manas river at the foot of the Bhutan hills, a tiger reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site rich in rare wildlife.

An ancient temple of the goddess Kamakhya on Nilachal hill in Guwahati, one of the most important Shakti pithas in India.

A large inhabited river island in the Brahmaputra and the heart of Assam’s Vaishnava satra culture.

The old capital of the Ahom kings, with royal palaces, a royal pavilion and temples around a great man-made tank.

Grassy burial mounds of the Ahom royal family at Charaideo, the first Ahom capital, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A Shiva temple on Peacock Island in the middle of the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, reached by a short ferry ride.

Assam’s hill station in the Dima Hasao hills, with a lake, cool weather and green ridges.

Home to the world's largest population of the one-horned rhinoceros.

Forests and grasslands in the Himalayan foothills with tigers, elephants and rare species.

Royal burial mounds of the Ahom kings at Charaideo. The first cultural site from the North-East.