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Assam is the gateway to the north-east, a state known for its breath taking scenic beauty, rarest flora and fauna, lofty green hills, vast rolling plain, mighty waterways and a land of fairs and festivals. Known in the ancient lore as the kingdom of Pragjyotisha and Kamrupa, the capital having been Pragjyotishpura situated in or near Guwahati. It originally included in addition to modern Assam, parts of modern Bengal and modern Bangladesh. The name Assam is of recent origin. It came into use after the conquest of Assam by the Ahoms. It is also known that “Assam” is derived from the word “Asama” meaning uneven. Assam is almost separated from central India by Bangladesh. Nagaland, Manipur and Myanmar bound it in the east, west by West Bengal, north by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh and south by Meghalaya, Bangladesh, Tripura and Mizoram. It is dominated by the mighty Brahmaputra, one of the great rivers of the world (length: 2900 kms), which not only has a fertile alluvial plain for growing rice, but also is famous for tea. Earthquakes are common.
The Ahoms, a Buddhist Tai tribe, under Sukapha arrived in 1228 A.D., deposed the ruler and established the kingdom of “Assam” with its capital in Sibsagar. The advent of the Ahoms changed the course of Assam’s history. They later intermixed with immigrant Bengalis and most converted to Hinduism. The Mughals attempted to invade without success, but the Burmese finally invaded Assam at the end of the 18th century and held it continuously until it was ceded to the East India Company at the close of the First Burmese War in 1826. The British administered it in name until 1947. Geographically Assam is a shadow of its former self. It has been reduced to one-third of its original size in 30 years. On the partition of India lamost the whole of Sylhet was merged with East Bengal(present Bangladesh). Dewanagiri in North Kamrup was ceded to Bhutan in 1951. In 1948, the N.E.F.A. was separated from Assam. In 1963 Nagaland was carved out of Assam as a full fledged state. On 21st January, 1972 Meghalaya was cut out of Assam as a separate state and Mizoram became a Union Territory. In 1987, Mizoram was granted statehood. Nature has ungrudgingly blessed Assam with an abundance of scenic grandeur, a wealth of rare and near-extinct wildlife.
It forms part of a global bio-diversity “hotspot”, out of 41 listed endangered species of wildlife are found in Assam, which includes Golden Langur, Hoolock Gibbon, Pygmy Hog, Hispid Hare, White-Winged Woodduck, Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Swamp Deer, Gangetic Dolphins, etc. Moreover, during season, flock of resident and migratory birds make Assam their natural habitat. Rainfall, one of the highest in the world (between 178 and 305 cms), is concentrated in 4 months, June to September. Straddling either banks of the Brahmaputra, Guwahati-said to be the legendary Pragjyotishpur or City of Eastern Light was said to have been founded by King Narakasur, who is mentioned in the Puranas and Epics. is a bustling, busy and crowded city. It is the commercial capital of the North-East. Guwahati are actually two words: Guwa meaning areca nut and Hat meaning market or market for areca nuts.
How to Get there
Gateway to North-East India is the City of Guwahati. To get There
By Air: LGB International Airport is conveniently connected to all major cities of India. With daily three flights to Delhi and five to Kolkata and weekly flight to Bangkok with connecting flights to rest of the world.
By Train: Guwahati Railway station is the Hub all Train services. It is connected to rest of India with convenient train connections.
By Road: Guwahati is connected with all other state capitals of North-East India through a network of government and private luxury buses, which are perhaps the best in the country.
Population
Total Population of Assam is 26 million.
People and Culture
The society in Assam is not just a conglomeration of diverse racial and cultural elements but a composite whole arising out of the integration and synthesis of all of them. Indeed, Assam has been a curious melting pot into which have gone the Aryan and non-Aryan, the tribal and the non-tribal, the indigenous and the exotic, making for a delightful fare with wonderful mixed flavor.
The majority of the population in the plains is made up of Hindus, speaking the Aryan Assamese language. But the Aryan racial strain is prominent only in the upper castes, most of the other other castes are of the Mongoloid stock.
The Satras (seat of the religious head Satradhikar) and Namghars (house of names or Prayer hall) plays an important role in the life of an average Assamese and have acted as religious as well as cultural institutions.
Majority of the tribal groups belong to the Tibeto-Burmese family. The colourful people of Assam consist of Bodo-Kacharis, Rabha & Hajongs, Tiwas (lalung), Misings, Sonowal Kacharis, Deuris, Karbis, Dimasa Kacharis, Rengma Naga, Zemi Naga, Kukis and the Hmars.
In Assam, the line between the tribal and the non-tribal is pretty thin and the so-called non-tribal Assamese Hindu society retains many elements, which are patently 'tribal' by orthodox Hindu standards. Castes are not strictly occupation linked, and caste based disabilities are very few.
More than 40 percent of Assam's population is thought to be of migrant origin. During the six hundred years of ruling, the Ahom Dynasty managed to keep the kingdom, independent from Mughal, the Muslim invaders of India before the British, as well as other invaders though Mughal attacked Assam seventeen times. During this era, the Assamese society was exogenous. The British entered Assam in 1824 as tea planters, which was the starting point of the destruction of Ahom Dynasty.
The fairs and festivals in this sparsely populated state are essentially an opportunity for people from far and wide to converge and see the culture of the land. |
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