Hengrabari

Hengrabari (also called and pronounced as "Hengerabari") is located in the capital city of Guwahati of Assam, a state on the north-east of India. Densely populated, Hengrabari resembles the character of a small town in the heart of Guwahati. A few decades ago the areas around Hengrabari were covered with dense forest, tall trees and wild bushes. However, with the pressure of increase in population, these forests were burned and cleared, the hillocks were cut down and the plain agricultural land were filled up for building houses and commercial shops.

Hengrabari has now been divided into two parts, lower hengrabari and upper hengrabari. Borbari which borders upper hengrabari are populated by the indigenous tribal people. With the construction of a national highway road passing through upper hengrabari and borbari, the area has been emerging as a commercial hub.

Thamakitilla is a small hillock on the southern side of the areas bordering upper hengrabari. This hillock is densely populated and consisted of around seventy residential houses. A vernacular high school and a college is situated to the south of Thamakitilla. To the eastern side of Thamakitilla is a low-lying paddy fields. In the rainy season these low-lying paddy fields remain submerged with rain water, limiting cultivators to grow paddy only on a part of the considerably elevated land.

Culture

An old mythological story runs that the present elevated land Thamakitilla was the divine place where Gods and goddesses were used to hault during their journey. People believe that there exist a divine boat made of stone on the eastern side of Thamakitilla that touches the low-lying paddy fields. On the north-eastern part of the hillock, there is a temple of Goddess Mata Vaishno Devi. It is believed that this place has been a favourite destination of the supreme divine.

A temple also exist on the top of the hillock and people gather there for prayer on various occasions. This temple belongs to the Hindu God, Lord Shiva, the protector of living beings. (inputs from Bharat Prasad, shall provide more..)

Reserved forests

There are several Reserved Forests (Indian Forest Act, 1927) in and around Guwahati. The reserved forests within the limits of Guwahati Municipal Corporation, are Hengrabari, Phatasil and Jalukbari. These forests are under the administrative control of the Divisional Forest Officer, Kamrup (East) Forest Division. The other reserved forests around Guwahati are Rani and Garbhanga RFs. Deepar Beel, which is a vast expanse of water body on the western side of the city is not only a Ramsar site, but also is a Wildlife Sanctuary. The forests act as the green lung of Guwahati, but, unfortunately, a large chunk of the area is encroached by unauthorized occupants.

The Rani and Garbhanga RFs have a large population of elephants. Sometimes, wild elephants come down and damage the paddy crops around the Deepar Beel area. To control the menace, and streamline wildlife management in and around Guwahati, the Government of Assam constituted Guwahati Wildlife Division in the early parts of 2006.