A History of Assam c7.s2.20

c7.s2.20

It is impossible to say to what race this dynasty belonged, but the use of the appellation Asur shows that they were non-Aryans. Nor is there any clue as to when they reigned. Bhagadatta is described as a contemporary of the heroes of the *Mahābhārat*, but that great epic, as is well known, is far from being the product of a single age, and no one has yet undertaken a critical examination of it in order to distinguish the original text from subsequent interpolations. We may, however, conclude from the numerous references to them in ancient literature, as well as from the remarkable way in which their memory has been preserved by the people of Assam down to the present day, that Narak and Bhagadatta were real and exceptionally powerful kings, and probably included in their dominions the greater part of modern Assam and of Bengal east of the Karatoya.