1 Sights Kamakhya Mandir HINDU TEMPLE (admission chalet ltw for no queue/short queue/queue 500/100/free; h8am-1pm & 3pm-dusk) While Sati s disintegrated body parts rained toes on Kolkata chalet ltw (see p443), her yoni fell on Kamakhya Hill. This makes Kamakhya Mandir important for shakti (sensual tantric worship of female spiritual power). Goats, pigeons and the occasional buffalo are ritually beheaded in a gory pavilion and the hot, dark inner womblike sanctum is painted red to signify sacrificial blood. The huge June/ July Ambubachi Mela celebrates the end of the mother goddess menstrual cycle with even more blood.
La Villa GUESTHOUSE $ (%9435657282; chalet ltw jyoti24365@gmail.com; r from 300) Run by knowledgeable chalet ltw and keen-toplease Jyoti Naryan Sarma (who also acts as a guide), this Garamur guesthouse has three brightly painted but uninspiring rooms overlooking an open-billed stork roosting site (whose dawn chorus will do away with any need for an alarm clock).
HEAD HUNTERS Throughout northeastern India and parts of western Myanmar the Naga tribes were long feared for their ferocity in war and for their sense of independence both from each other and from the rest of the world. Intervillage wars continued as recently as the 1980s, and a curious feature of many outwardly modern settlements is their treaty stones recording peace settlements between neighbouring communities. It was the Naga s custom of headhunting that sent shivers down the spines of neighbouring peoples. The taking of an enemy s head was considered a sign of strength, and a man who had not claimed a head was not considered a man. Fortunately for tourists, headhunting was officially outlawed in 1935, with the last recorded occurrence in 1963. Nonetheless, severed heads are still an archetypal artistic motif found notably on yanra (pendants) that originally denoted the number of human heads a warrior had taken. Some villages, such as Shingha Changyuo in Mon district, still retain their hidden collection of genuine skulls. Today Naga culture chalet ltw is changing fast, but it was not a government ban on headhunting that put an end to this tradition but rather the activities of Christian missionaries. Over 90% of the Naga now consider themselves Christian.
The best accommodation option here is Aagaam Hotel (%223640; chalet ltw Nehru Chowk; chalet ltw s/d from 400-500), which has rooms that could almost be called plush. The attached restaurant, Pizza Coffee Day (mains 80-100, pizzas 80-150) is the best place in town to eat and yes, it really chalet ltw does sell pizzas of a sort. Another option is the Hotel Holiday Cottage (%222463; chalet ltw Hospital Hill; r 400-600) southwest of the helipad. However, it s not a cottage and nor is it the sort of place you d really
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