In India’s far northeast, a region overlooked by many a tourist, sits a river island in Assam state: Majuli. Encircled by the rushing waters of the Brahmaputra river, the island has been relatively isolated for years.
Ferries are the only choice for reaching the island, and they only run during daylight hours. Until the last decade, boats were still necessary on the island to cross its numerous wetlands and streams—it used to take three boats to reach the ferry point from one of Majuli island’s central towns.

Majuli island didn’t see its first mobile phones until 2009, plastic packaging is an equally recent occurrence, and it’s still in the process of building roads and bridges through its verdant farmlands and forests.
Flood is a yearly event in Assam. The Brahmaputra and its various tributaries inundate most parts of the state during the rainy season.
As Majuli is located in the middle of the river, it invariably gets flooded every year. This is why many traditional houses here are built at an elevation. So, the monsoon season is a strict no no for tourists unless you are the really extreme type who wants to get into trouble.
This land has been there since the ancient times but the nature of the geography has changed over centuries, as the Brahmaputra and its tributaries changed course. Nevertheless, it has been an inhabited land since the ancient times and it became what it is today in the 16th century with the arrival of Sankardev who founded the neo-vaishnavite movement that was contemporary to the other Bhakti movements that took place all over India in the middle ages.
Interested in visiting Majuli?
YES
NO
Comments