A History of Assam c7.s2.1

c7.s2.1

In the Hindu epics and in Paurānik and Tāntrik literature there are numerous references to ancient Assam, which is known as Prāgjyotisha in the Mahābhārat and as Kāmarupa† in the Purāns and Tantras. Its extent varied from time to time. When the stories relating to it were inserted in the Mahābhārat, it stretched southwards as far as the Bay of Bengal and its western boundary was the Karatoya. This was then a river of the first order, and united in its bed the streams which now go to form the Tistā, the Kosi and the Mahānanda. It was held sacred, ranking almost as high as the Ganges, and its tutelary deity, a mermaid goddess named Kausika, was worshipped all over the Matsya Desh, or the tract between it and the old bed of the Brahmaputra, which formerly flowed past the town of Mymensingh. In the *Kālika Purān* it is said that the temple of Kāmākhyā near Gauhāti was in the centre of Kāmarupa, and in the *Vishnu Purān* it is added that the country extended around this temple in all directions for 100 *yojanas*, or about 450 miles. Allowing for exaggeration, this may be held to embrace the whole of Eastern Bengal, Assam and Bhutān. In the *Jogini Tantra*, which is probably a later work, Kāmarupa is said to extend from the Karatoya river on the west to the Dikhu on the east, and from the mountain of Kanjagiri on the north, to the confluence of the Brahmaputra and Lākhyā rivers on the south; that is to say, it included roughly, the Brahmaputra valley, Bhutān, Rangpur, Koch Bihār, the north-east of Mymensingh and, possibly, the Garo Hills.