The Sikh heritage of Nagaon: a century of the langar on Assam’s plains

The gurdwara at Chaparmukh, built a century ago by Sikh families who came to Assam with the tea industry, has run its langar kitchen every single day since — through floods, famines and pandemics.

The community kitchen, open to all, feeds hundreds daily, and the gurdwara’s story is woven into the wider story of the plains: tea, migration, and the slow making of a shared place.

Elders say the kitchen’s rule has never changed: ‘No one leaves hungry. That is the whole religion.’