Drums thud across Abhayapuri in mid-April, when Rongali Bihu pulls the town into courtyards to dance and sing. Other rituals here lead back to the Bijni kings, who named their capital after a family goddess and left the Rajbari palace behind, and to the Lalmati-Duramari Ganesh temple, where worship goes on beside carved stones dug from the earth.
Nearby, the Kakoijana forest shelters golden langurs, and a street called Sahitya Sabha Path recalls the time Assam's writers gathered in town. Winters are dry and mild, while monsoon rain soaks the summer months. A Local Friend can open a door you would never have knocked on, from a family courtyard during Bihu to a quiet forest trail at first light.
