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Lower Assam or Western Assam is a region of Bharat (India) situated in the great plains of the Brahmaputra valley. It was home to the mighty kingdom of Kamarupa (3-12 AD). Guwahati, the largest city of North-East India is located here while Dispur, the capital of Assam is in Guwahati.
History
Ancient Lower Assam, known as Kamarupa was ruled by powerful dynasties: the Varmanas (c. 350–650 AD), the Salstambhas, (c. 655–900 AD) and the Kamarupa-Palas (c. 900–1100 AD). In the reign of the Varman king, Bhaskar Varman (c. 600–650 AD), the Chinese traveler Xuan Zang visited the region and recorded his travels. Later, after weakening and disintegration (after the Kamarupa]]-Palas), the Kamarupa tradition was somewhat extended until c. 1255 AD by the Lunar I (c. 1120–1185 AD) and Lunar II (c. 1155–1255 AD) dynasties. Pushya Varman(350-374) established the Varman Dynasty, by fighting many enemies from within and without his kingdom; but his son Samudra Varman (374-398), named after Samudragupta, was accepted as an overlord by many local rulers. Nevertheless, subsequent kings continued their attempts to stabilize and expand the kingdom. Narayana Varman (494-518) and his son Bhuti Varman (518-542) offered the ashwamedha (horse sacrifice); and as the Nidhanpur inscription of Bhaskar Varman avers, these expansions included the region of Chandrapuri visaya, identified with present-day Sylhet division. Thus, the small but powerful kingdom that Pushya Varman established grew in fits and starts over many generations of kings and expanded to include adjoining possibly smaller kingdoms and parts of Bangladesh.
After the initial expansion till the beginning of Bhuti Varman's reign, the kingdom came under attack from Yasodharman (525-535) of Malwa, the first major assault from the west. Though it is unclear what the effect of this invasion was on the kingdom; that Bhuti Varman's grandson, Sthita Varman (566-590), enjoyed victories over the Gauda of Karnasuvarna and performed two aswamedha ceremonies suggests that the Kamarupa kingdom had recovered nearly in full. His son, Susthita Varman (590-600) came under the attack of Mahasenagupta of East Malwa. These back and forth invasions were a result of a system of alliances that pitted the Kamarupa kings (allied to the Maukharis) against the Gaur kings (allied with the East Malwa kings). Susthita Varman died as the Gaur invasion was on, and his two sons, Supratisthita Varman and Bhaskar Varman fought against an elephant force and were captured and taken to Gaur. They were able to regain their kingdom due probably to a promise of allegiance. Suprathisthita Varman's reign is given as 595-600, a very short period, at the end of which he died without an heir.
Supratisthita Varman was succeeded by his brother, Bhaskar Varman (600-650), the most illustrious of the Varman kings who succeeded in turning his kingdom and invading the very kingdom that had taken him captive. Bhaskar Varman had become strong enough to offer his alliance with Harshavardhan just as the Thanesar king ascended the throne in 606 after the murder of his brother, the previous king, by Shashanka of Gaur. Harshavardhana finally took control over the kingless Maukhari kingdom and moved his capital to Kanauj. The alliance between Harshavardhana and Bhaskar Varman squeezed Shashanka from either side and reduced his kingdom, though it is unclear whether this alliance resulted in his complete defeat. Nevertheless, Bhaskar Varman did issue the Nidhanpur copper-plate inscription from his victory camp in the Gaur capital Karnasuvarna (present-day Murshidabad, West Bengal) to replace a grant issued earlier by Bhuti Varman for a settlement in the Sylhet region of present-day Bangladesh.
In about 643, the Xuanzang visited Bhaskar Varman's court. Xuangzang confirms that the western border of the Kamarupa kingdom was the Karatoya river. At the end of this visit, Bhaskar Varman accompanied Xuanzang to Kanauj, and participated in a religious assembly and a festival at Prayaga (Allahabad) with Harshavardhana, spending more than a year away from his own kingdom. It seems Bhaskar Varman maintained relations with China. He recounted to Xuanzang a Chinese song about the Jin dynasty which became very popular in his kingdom. After the death of Harshavardhana, he helped a mission from China led by Wang Hiuen-ts'oe according to a Chinese account. Bhaskar Varman, also called Kumar, or Shri Kumar, was a bachelor king and died without an heir.
Demography
The ethnic composition of Lower Assam consists of Indo-Aryans along with tribes like Bodos in the northern part of Lower Assam while Rabhas in the south and Koches in the southwest.
Festivals
Primarily festivals like Eid, Bihu, Durga Puja, Kali Puja along with dozens of other Pujas are celebrated. Harvesting festivals are also widely celebrated all around Lower Assam.
Religion
Hinduism and Islam are main religion of Lower Assam. Hinduism is further divided into Vaishnavism and Shaktism.
Culture
Villages still contained the traditional Vedic culture while in case of towns and cities it relaxed a bit. Vedic culture largely flourished in the reign of Pushya Varman (350-374), the founder of great Varman dynasty of Kamarupa Kingdom and which reached its zenith in the reign of Bhaskarvarman (600-650).
Language
Kamrupi is spoken in once undivided Kamrup district areas while Goalparya is spoken in once undivided Goalpara district areas and Bodo, Rabha, Koch languages are spoken in respective tribal belts. Genealogically, Kamrupi belongs to the group of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, here marked in yellow.
See also
Notes and References
- Wilt, Verne David, Kamarupa
{{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - Gorakhpuri, Raghupatisahaya, Kamarupa
{{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - Vasu, Nagendranath, The Social History of Kamarupa
{{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - Tripathi, Chandra Dhar, Kāmarūpa-Kaliṅga-Mithilā:a politico-cultural alignment in Eastern India : history, art, traditions, Indian Institute of Advanced Study