Tezpur Travel Guide

Tezpur is a town located northeast of Guwahati approximately 180 km away and enjoys good connectivity with all the major places of Assam and other states too. It takes only 4 hours to reach Tezpur by road from Guwahati. Besides this, Tezpur is 65 km from the Orang Wildlife Sanctuary, 82 km from Kaziranga, and 60 km from Bhalukpung. Tezpur is the fifth largest city of ASSAM state, and it is also known as the CULTURAL CAPITAL OF ASSAM.

The name Tezpur literally means the "city of blood". Legend has it that the original name of this place was 'Xonitpur' ('Xonit' means blood). When the battle between Krishna's army and Lord Shiva, his disciple Banasura's army fought for the rescue of Aniruddha(who was the grandson of Lord Krishna, according to legend) there was so much bloodshed that the place was stained red. This led to the name of the place becoming Tezpur. The Shiva temples in and around Tezpur shows the love and devotions of King Baanasur for Lord Shiva.

Modern Tezpur was founded by the British colonial administration in 1835 as the headquarters of Darrang district. During World War II, Tezpur received large numbers of refugees fleeing from Burma, particularly the corps of Anglo-Burmese and Anglo-Indian nurses. After the independence of India in 1947, it remained the headquarters of Darrang district. During the Sino-Indian War of 1962 the Chinese army advanced to the Tawang city, Arunachal Pradesh. The town was evacuated. The jails were opened and the prisoners released.