Assam Tourism
Assam is a
north eastern state of
India with its capital at
Dispur, a suburb of the city
Guwahati. Located south of the eastern
Himalayas, Assam comprises the
Brahmaputra and the
Barak river valleys and the
Karbi Anglong and the
North Cachar Hills. With an area of 78,438 km² Assam currently is almost equivalent to the size of
Ireland or
Austria. Assam is surrounded by the rest of the
Seven Sister States:
Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland,
Manipur,
Mizoram,
Tripura and
Meghalaya. These states are connected to the rest of India via a narrow strip in
West Bengal called the "
Chicken's Neck".
Assam also shares international borders with
Bhutan and
Bangladesh; and cultures, peoples and climate with
South-East Asia—important elements in India's Look East Policy.
Assam is known for Assam tea,
petroleum resources,
Assam silk and for its rich
biodiversity. It has successfully conserved the one-horned
Indian rhinoceros from near extinction in
Kaziranga, the
tiger in
Manas and provides one of the last wild habitats for the
Asian elephant. It is increasingly becoming a popular destination for wild-life tourism and notably Kaziranga and Manas are both
World Heritage Sites.
Assam was also known for its
Sal tree
forests and forest products, much depleted now. A land of high rainfall, Assam is endowed with lush greenery and the mighty river
Brahmaputra, whose tributaries and
oxbow lakes provide the region with a unique hydro-
geomorphic and aesthetic environment.
Assam and adjoining regions have evidence of human settlement from all periods of the
Stone ages. That the known hills settlements belonged to earlier periods may suggest that the valleys were populated later, or it may reflect sampling bias due to mountainous areas being more likely to remain less disturbed over long stretches of time.
The earliest ruler according to legend was Mahiranga (sanskritized form of the Tibeto-Burman name Mairang). He was followed by others in his line: Hatak, Sambar, Ratna and Ghatak. Naraka removed this line of rulers and established his own dynasty. The Naraka king mentioned at various places in Kalika Purana,
Mahabharata and
Ramayana covering a wide period of time were probably different rulers from the same dynasty.
Kalika Purana, a Sanskrit text compiled in Assam in the 9th and 10th century, mentions that the last of the Naraka-bhauma rulers, Narak, was slain by
Krishna. His son Bhagadatta, mentioned in the Mahabharata, fought for the
Kauravas in the battle of Kurushetra with an army of
kiratas,
chinas and
dwellers of the eastern coast. Later rulers of
Kamarupa frequently drew their lineage from the Naraka rulers.
Ancient Assam was known as
Kamarupa and was ruled by many powerful dynasties. The
Varman dynasty (350-650AD) and the Xalostombho dynasty led Kamrupa as a strong ancient kingdom. During the rule of the greatest of the Varman kings, Bhaskarvarman (600-650AD), a contemporary of
Harshavardhana of Kanauj, the Chinese traveler
Xuan Zang visited the region and recorded his travels. Other dynasties that ruled the region belonged to the Indo-Tibetan groups, such as the
Kacharis and
Chutias.
Two later kingdoms left the biggest impact in the region. The
Ahoms, a
Tai group, ruled eastern Assam for nearly 600 years (1228-1826). The
Koch, a
Tibeto-Burmese, established their sovereignty in 1510 which later extended to western Assam and northern Bengal. The Koch kingdom later split into two. The western kingdom became a vassal of the
Moghuls whereas the eastern kingdom became an Ahom satellite state.
Despite numerous invasions from the west, mostly by Muslim rulers, no western power ruled Assam until the arrival of the British. The most successful invader was
Mir Jumla, a governor of
Aurangzeb, who briefly occupied
Garhgaon the then capital of the Ahoms (1662-1663). But he found it difficult to control the people, who made
guerrilla attacks on his forces, forcing them to leave the region. Attempt by the Moghuls under the command of Raja Ram Singh resulted in victory for the Ahoms at
Saraighat (1671) under the Ahom general
Lachit Borphukan.
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