Told in the hills
A riverbed where the hills begin
The Jayanti river comes out of the Bhutan hills and spreads across the plain in a wide braided bed, as all the Dooars rivers do. In the monsoon it can fill the whole bed with brown water and move boulders; in winter it is a few shallow streams. That rhythm of flood and drought makes the open riverbed that elephants, gaur and deer cross, and that visitors walk across in winter.
Local Hindu tradition reveres the Mahakal cave in the hills above Jayanti as a seat of Shiva, and pilgrims walk there, especially at Shivaratri. The limestone formations inside are natural stalactites and stalagmites, which pilgrims see as forms of the deity. The cave's sanctity is a matter of faith; its geology is the product of water working through limestone over a very long time.
Pinned to the board
Did you know
Jayanti lies inside Buxa Tiger Reserve, which joins Bhutan's Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary to the north and allows elephants to move across the border.
The Mahakal cave above Jayanti is a natural limestone cave with stalactites, revered locally as a shrine to Shiva.
A forest trail of about 13 km links Buxa Duar near the fort with Jayanti.
