The entire area of Sadiya was a well developed city in the medieval times. The ruins like Bhismaknagar, Rukmininagar,
Tamreswari temple, Pratima garh, Bura-buri temple built during the Chutia period.
Tamreswari (Kechai-Khati) Temple This was the most notable among the temples built by Chutia kings. The temple was dedicated to
Kechaikhati (literal meaning:
eater-of-raw-flesh), a primordial female tribal deity commonly found among other groups. The other name for Kechaikhaiti is Pishasi meaning "
The Elder Daughter". Scholars assert that
Kesaikhaiti is equivalent to the
Tai-Khamti female deity
Nang Hoo Toungh. The deity Pishasi or Kechaikhaiti is considered to be the daughter of Gira-Girasi and the younger sister of Pishadema. The temple was taken care of by the tribal priest known as the
Deoris and was worshipped by the
Borgaya Khel of the Deoris. When the British visited the temple complex, the main temples has disappeared and only a small square structure remained. The wall and doors of the temple were well designed with beautiful works. There were two giant elephant sculptures with silver tusks at the main door of the complex. The walls were made without any mortar and instead used iron dowels and brackets. The whole temple was surrounded with brick walls and on the western wall there was a place for human sacrifice. Although the temple is now completely submerged under marshy lands due to silt deposition in 1959, previous studies show that the main statues of the temple were built of sandstone and granite. The stone inscription found in the temple reads: The inscription describes that the walls of the temple have been built by the son
Mukta Dharmanarayan of the old king (name not specified) in the Saka year 1364 (1442 AD). The roof of the Tamreswari temple was originally sheeted with copper as mentioned in the
Changrung Phukan Buranji (1711 AD), from which the name is derived. In 1848, when Dalton visited the site, he found a stone structure, but the copper roof was already removed. As per T. Block who visited the site in 1905, this square structure in the corner cannot have been the main building inside the complex and the brick wall evidently enclosed some sort of a grand temple in the center which has disappeared with time. According to S.F. Hannay, the temple complex was as near as possible square with the doorway to the west. There was a substantial brick wall, about 4.5 feet thick rising to the height of 8 feet, on the foundation of rudely cut blocks of sandstone. The entrance of the complex was on the west face, where there had been a stone enclosure and door. The ruins of the gateway which remains include the lintel carved on the edge in a chain of lotus flowers, some ornamented small pillars and an elephant statue. The three blocks forming the doorway, each of 7.5 feet long and 2 feet by 18 inches in girth, along with the blocks of the projecting wall, were reddish porphyritic granite of an adamantine hardness. There was another stone gateway at the southeast corner leading to the stream, in the bed of which are several carved and plain blocks of granite and sandstone. According to Debala Mitra(1956), the temple was originally Chaturayatana, i.e. having four shrines, built of sandstone and granite and located in the south-east section of the rectangular brick enclosure, prakara roughly measuring 208 ft by 130 ft. The compound wall was 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall and had a stone gateway on the eastern side. In the floods of 1959, due to deposit of silt in the banks of Paya river the structure was completely submerged in the waters.
Bura-Buri (Gira-Girasi) Than The Bura-Buri Than is another important temple built by the Chutia kings. It was dedicated to Primordial parents
Gira-Girasi or
Bura Buri (literal meaning:
the-old-ones), which were later sanskritised as
Shiva and
Sakti. The two deities are also known as Kundil Mama. The temple was looked upon after by tribal priest called the
Deoris and was worshipped by the
Dibongia khel of the Deoris. Gira-Girasi or Bura-Buri are considered to be a wedded pair and are the parents of Pishasi or Kechaikhaiti and Pishadema. Although the structure has fallen due to natural calamities, the base still remains intact upon which a new temple has been built. The foundation is an octagonal shaped base made of stone with each edge spanning 3.4 meters in length. The temple was built using granite stone and fixed using iron dowels and brackets similar to the ones used in
Malinithan and Tamreswari temple. The temple was surrounded by a wall built using bricks of 18–25 cm length and 12–17 cm breadth.
Bhismaknagar Fort The Bhismaknagar Fort located in
Roing is an important monument built by Chutia kings with the walls of the fort spread over 10 km2. The name is derived from
Bhishmaka of
Vidarbha, the Hindu lineage created for the
Chutias in the 16th-century
Rukmimi-harana by
Srimanta Sankardeva. A brick with the name of the Chutiya king
Lakshminarayan indicates that the fort was repaired during the early 15th-century. The Bhismaknagar central complex extended over an area of 1860 square meters and displays three halls, six ingresses and two extension rooms. There is also a 2 meters high stone wall inside the complex. The architecture of the fort displays medieval culture. While quarrying in the fort, enormous pieces of work of art like potteries, terracotta figurines, terracotta plaques and decorative tiles were recovered. Fabricated from the burnt bricks gave this fort an impressive and remarkable top view and thus explores the dexterity of people of ancient era. This fort can still be signified as an astonishing work of art. The city's area is 10 square km. It is surrounded by a wall 4.5 meters high and 6 meters wide made using granite stone (6–9 courses) and bricks on the east, west and south directions. In the north, the
Mishmi hills provided a natural barrier. Although very less excavation has been carried out by the Arunachal government, preliminary excavations have revealed three tanks and two gates in the eastern and western directions. The Bhismaknagar central complex extended over an area of 1860 square meters and displays three halls, six ingresses and two extension rooms. There is also a 2 meters high stone wall inside the complex. The architecture of the fort displays the medieval culture. While quarrying the fort the enormous pieces of work of art like potteries, terracotta figurines, terracotta plaques and decorative tiles were preserved.
Rukmini Nagar In the hills north of Roing lie scattered some old brick structures, mainly between the Chidu and Chimri villages situated at an altitude of about 305 m. The local people, the
Idu Mishmi, were desirous of giving an Idu word to the name, and hence it came to be called Rukmini Nati (nati—the Idu word for bricks). An exploration-cum-excavation work, undertaken by the Research Department of the
Government of Arunachal Pradesh, to study the ruins, has thrown some light on the antiquities. In course of the progress of work, which continued from January 1973 to April 1974, excavation of two mounds at Chimri, II km from Roing, unearthed two rooms, 10x10 m and 10x12 m respectively built on a slope, at a distance of 14 m from each other. The contents dug out from inside the walls of the rooms were of river-borne materials, a fact which suggests that they were destroyed by floods. The potsherds resembling those of Bhismaknagar in shape, fabric and technique that were unearthed bear ample evidence to the extension to this area of the same culture as of Bhismaknagar. The other archaeological sites in this area are located (I) near Chidu Inspection Bungalow, (2) at Cheko Nati between Chidu and Chimri and (3) in the hills north of Chimri. No relics, however, could be found at the first two sites, although potsherds at Chidu and brick walls, steps, etc. at Cheko Nati were reported to have been seen earlier. The third site north of Chimri is situated at a high altitude of about 610 m. Not a single brick found there was in alignment, and everything seemed destroyed. The situation of all the four sites on a hilly terrain suitable for defence indicate that they are parts of a single complex representing a fort which extended from Chidu to Chimri. It is probable that the main centre of this complex was at Cheko Nati. Another archaeological site called Duku Limbo is on the left bank of the Dibang at'the foot of Elopa hill. The brickbats found at this site suggest that the Brismaknagar culture had extended to this point.
Tezu Fort An old Mud Fort in the Tindolong area, six km from
Tezu, was explored in 1972. It falls on the main road from Sadiya to Tezu. The area of the fort, enclosed by earthen ramparts—365.76 m X 350.52 m, is square in shape. The rampart is eight ft high, and equally broad at the top with sloping sides. On both the -inner and outer sides of the rampart run two ditches about 6 m wide. There is a prominent mound, circular in shape (diameter 30.48 m approximately) and about 3 m in height, almost at the centre of the enclosure. The mound appears to be a cavalier for lookout purposes. Some potsherds found at this site are too fragmentary to bear any conclusive evidence. It may, however, be assumed that the Mud Fort linked by the route from Bhismaknagar to
Parshuram Kund was probably associated with the early culture that flourished in and around Sadiya and Bhismaknagar. The complex seems to represent a defensive mud-fort or redoubt of a modest dimension unlike the fortified city of Bhismakanagara. It was suitable for a small band of soldiers to maintain vigilance against the enemies from their hide-outs inside jungle especially in guerilla warfare, the normal practice in the region. Scarp and counter-scarp provided by the rampart and ditches immensely strengthened the defence in the topography of the country. Strategic considerations are palpable from the situation of the fort on principal route from Sadiya and
Bhismaknagar to Parshuram Kund facing the Lohit river, perhaps to keep watch on the enemy from its left bank around
Chowkham and hence the position of the mound meant for this purpose nearer the river. The fort has been assigned roughly to a period about the 14th–15th century. == Geography ==