A History of Assam c7.s2.47

c7.s2.47

Though occurring at distant intervals, violent earthquakes are, in Assam, quite as great a cause of destruction as fluvial action; there are few masonry structures which could resist a shock like that of 1897, which not only laid in ruins the towns of Shillong, Gauhāti and Sylhet, but also overthrew many of the monoliths, which are so marked a feature of the Khāsi and Jaintia Hills, and broke down most of the piers of the Sil Sāko, an ancient stone bridge, not far from Hājo, which marks the bed of a river that has long since left it and taken another course. A less sudden, but almost equally potent, cause of damage is found in the luxuriant vegetation of the country. The *pipal* (ficus religiosa) in particular is a great enemy of masonry buildings; and once a seed of this tree has germinated in the interstices of such a building, its downfall is only a question of time. Owing to this cause, many even of the more recent Ahom palaces and temples are already in a state of decay.