A History of Assam c3.1

c3.1

A SSAM is in many ways a country of exceptional interest. Hemmed in, as India is, by the sea on the south-east and south-west, and by the lofty chain of the Himalayas on the north, the only routes between it and the rest of Asia which are practicable for migration on a large scale, lie on its north-west and north-east confines. The so-called Aryans, and many later invaders, such as the Greeks, the Huns, the Pathāns, and the Mughals, entered India from the north-west, while from the north-east, through Assam, have come successive hordes of immigrants from the great hive of the Mongolian race in Western China. Many of these immigrants passed on into Bengal, but in that province they have as a rule, become merged in the earlier population. Their influence is seen in the modified physical type of the present inhabitants, who are classed by Mr. Risley as Mongolo-Dravidians, but there are very few who possess the distinctive Mongolian physiognomy or who speak Mongolian dialects. In Assam, on the other hand, although in the plains large sections of the population, like that of Bengal, are of mixed origin, there are also numerous tribes who are almost pure Mongolians, and the examination of their affinities, in respect of physique, language, religion and social customs, with other branches of the same family forms one of the most interesting lines of enquiry open to Ethnologists.