A History of Assam c8.25

c8.25

The short stature and yellow complexion of the inhabitants, and their alleged affinities with the tribes on the south-west of China, may be taken as proving their Mongolian origin. To what extent the common people had come under the influence of Hinduism is uncertain, but it was the religion of the Court. The king is described as a Brāhman, but most probably this merely means that he was a Hindu and not a Buddhist. Varman (*Varmma*, armour or defence) was a common Kshatriya title and, as such, was frequently appropriated by aboriginal converts to Hinduism of high rank; it was used, amongst others, by Harjjara, who was ruling in 830 A.D., and, in more recent times, by members of the Kachāri aristocracy. Hiuen Tsiang speaks very positively regarding the absence of Buddhists, both in his own time and at an earlier period. It was formerly thought that Buddhism had at one time great vogue in Assam, but this view seems to have been erroneous. There is no trace of this religion in the old records and inscriptions. The tradition amongst the Tibetans that Buddha died in Assam has been proved to be incorrect. The old rock-carved figure at Gauhāti, which is now worshipped as Janārdan Buddh, is said by Bloch to be an image of Vishnu; and the same authority asserts that the image in the temple at Hājo, which was once thought to have been a Buddha, is really a statue of the Man-Lion incarnation of Vishnu of the ordinary mediæval type. On the other hand, Bhāskara Varman was well disposed towards Buddhist monks, and this religion was firmly established both in Samatata to the south and in Paundra Vardhana to the east, both of which kingdoms boasted of monasteries and of Stupas erected by Asoka.