A record player from Twentieth Century. Yet it still bears all uniqueness. It has found place in a museum-a local museum at Mayong. For the locals, it was the very first record player of Mayong and is still close to everyone's heart. The visitors of Mayong Rural Museum and Research Centre find this record player to be of utmost attraction.

Born with the efforts, dedication and promptness of the local people as well as All Assam Nath Yogi Committee in 2002 this local museum has maintained to unveil the still vibrant tradition of magic, local culture and manners-customs of the people.

The innumerable books, manuscripts preserved there take one to the world of black magic, traditional practices of local medicine etc. Many research works have been pursued on these texts. There was a time when the very name of Mayong used to give people goosebumps, however, what still overwhelm the people are the history of Mayong's widely held practices of black magic, the anecdotes about turning a man into a beast, and those popular ones- if a guest came and sat on a stool, the stool would get stuck to the body, they still amuse the visitors of Mayong.

Once a King ruled Mayong- the various archeological remains, the King's monuments, arms of war, various objects used in daily life as well as the things used by the King himself are preserved in this museum. These things not only keep the vibrant history of Mayong intact, it also consistently reminds the new generation of the magnificent edifice of Mayong's past.

Seeing it through the lens of history, the word Mayong seem to have derived from "maya" meaning illusion. The folk beliefs have it that even human sacrifice was prevalent in this mysterious place although that sounds rather unbelievable to our ears in the present century. The temples appear to give an indistinct hint of such practices.

Only 40 km away from Guwahati surrounded by the hills on the bank of Brahmaputra the serene, aesthetic beauty of Mayong has always attracted tourists. If some efforts are put to make the museum, which is a storehouse of Mayong's unique history and tradition, more beautiful with better ambience then it would definitely attract more tourists thus introducing this mysterious place to every curious mind.

Photo and text - Dolly Nath

( Dolly Nath is an independent journalist based in Guwahati. She can be contacted at 8752829229 )