The hill itself is the first sacred text. Engraved directly into the exposed rock are images of gods and goddesses whose dates no one can reliably assign. At the entrance, a large relief of Ganesha greets visitors, following the Hindu convention that the remover of obstacles must be acknowledged before any other worship begins. Nearby, two footprints pressed into the rock are believed by devotees to belong to Goddess Durga. A stone formation resembling a boat is attributed to the apsaras, celestial nymphs who, according to local tradition, used it for water sports in a nearby pond. These rock carvings predate the brick temple that now crowns the hill, hinting at a worship tradition that stretches back to a period when the hill itself, rather than any human-built structure, was the object of veneration.

The temple standing today was built between 1714 and 1744 CE under the patronage of Ahom king Swargadeo Siva Singha, with construction supervised by Tarun Duwarah Barphukan, the Ahom viceroy of Guwahati and Lower Assam. The builders chose an unusual approach, raising a brick structure atop a hill of solid rock, with the garbhagriha, the innermost sanctum housing the idol of Goddess Durga, located underground in a small cave. A rock inscription at the back entrance records the royal order for construction and the land grants made in the temple's name. In 1756, Ahom king Rajeswar Singha visited during a royal tour and expanded the endowment, granting additional lands and servants for the temple's upkeep. He also presented a silver japi, a traditional Assamese hat, which is still placed over the idol of Devi Durga during worship.

The annual Durga Puja celebration at Dirgheshwari draws pilgrims from across Assam and beyond. The ceremony's most striking element is animal sacrifice, particularly of buffaloes, a practice that connects the temple to the older Shakti traditions of the region. Devotees travel considerable distances to witness and participate in these rites, which represent a direct continuity with practices documented at Shakta shrines across Assam for centuries. The growing number of pilgrims has required expansion of the temple compound, and in the process, one section of the original Ahom-era brick wall had to be demolished to accommodate the crowds. It is a small irony that the temple's increasing popularity has required the partial dismantling of the very structure that made it historically significant.

The Archaeological Survey of India recognizes Dirgheshwari as an important historical site and has taken steps to preserve its remaining structures. Yet the temple resists becoming merely a monument. A small water tank near the shrine harbors fish and a turtle, tended by temple attendants. Priests appointed under the original Ahom land grants continue the daily rituals. The underground sanctum remains in active use, its cool darkness a sharp contrast to the bright Assamese sky above. For the people of Guwahati, Dirgheshwari occupies a specific and irreplaceable position: the second-holiest site after Kamakhya, the place where the pilgrimage circle closes. The carved rocks on the hillside, the cave sanctum, the silver japi still draped over the goddess, the sacrificial ground below: together they form a shrine where the Ahom past and the devotional present are not separate stories but a single, unbroken thread.