Umananda Island is the smallest inhabited river islet in the middle of river Brahmaputra, flowing through the city of Guwahati in Assam, a state in northeast India.
Its name derives from Assamese Uma, another name for the Hindu goddess Parvati, the wife of Shiva; and ananda, which translates to “joy”. A British officer named the island Peacock Island for its structure, which he thought resembled the splayed feathers of a peacock. It is also known as Bhasmachal, from the words bhasma, meaning ‘to destroy’, and chal, meaning ‘place’. The legend giving rise to this name is that Kamdev, the god of love in Hindu mythology, after interrupting Shiva in the middle of a deep meditation on the islet, was burnt to ashes.
It is mostly visited for its Shiva temple, the Umananda Temple, and was also home to a large population of golden langurs, an endangered species of primate.
The islet can be reached via a 10-minute ferry, available from Umananda Ghat, located near the Guwahati High Court.
According to Hindu mythology, Shiva created the island for his wife Parvati’s happiness and pleasure. Shiva is said to have resided here in the form of Bhayananda. According to a myth in Kalika Purana, Shiva burnt Kamadeva with his third eye on Umananda when he interrupted Shiva’s deep meditation, hence its alternative name Bhasmachal.
