The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c15.2

v1.c15.2

Assam lies on the north-eastern border of Bengal, and is situated roughly between 23° 40′ and 28° 16′ N. and 90° and 97°12′ E. It is bounded on the north by the eastern section of the great Himalayan range; on the east by the Patkai Hills and by the Burmese frontier which marches with that of Manipur; on the south by the Chin Hills, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and the State of Hill Tippera; and on the west by the Bengal Districts of Tippera, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Jalpaiguri and the State of Cooch Behar. The province falls into three natural divisions: the valley of the Surma, the valley of the Brahmaputra, and the intervening range of hills, which projecting at right angles from the Burmese systems, runs like a wedge from east to west. Assam, under the names Prāgjyotiṣa and Kāmarūpa, is often mentioned in the Epic, Pauranic and Tantric tradition of India. The *Mahābhārata*, mentions *Kāmākhyā*, near Gauhati, and Bhagadatta, the powerful ruler of Prāgjyōtiṣa. The latter is said to have led a mighty *Mleccha* army of Kirātas and Cīnas in the field of Kurukṣetra. In the *Kālikā Purāṇa*, it is said that the temple of the goddess Kāmākhyā stands in the centre of Kāmarūpa. According to the *Viṣṇu Purāṇa*, the boundaries of Kāmarūpa extended around this temple for 100 *Yojans* or about 450 miles. Allowing for all exaggeration, Sir E. A. Gait has calculated that the area indicated by the *Purāṇa* must have embraced nearly the whole of the old province of Eastern Bengal, Assam and Bhutan.