Monday 13 February 2017

Assam History (Note Part 1)






The history of Assam is the history of a confluence of people from the east, west and the north; the confluence of the Tibeto-Burman (Sino-Tibetan) and Indo-Aryan and Austroasiatic cultures. The history of Assam can be divided into four eras-
1) Ancient era
2) Medieval era
3) Colonial era
4) Post-Colonial era

(1) Ancient Era:- The ancient era of Assam History began in the 4th century with the mention of 'Kamrupa' in Samdragupta's Allahabad Pillar and with the establishment of Kamrupa kingdom. The following dynasties/kings ruled the Kamrupa kingdom-

(i) The Varmana Dynasty
(ii) The Salasthmbha or Mlechchha Dynasty
(iii) Pala Dynasty
(iv) Non-dynastic independent Kings


(i) The Varmana Dynasty:- The Varmana dynasty was the first historical rulers of Kamarupa kingdom which was established by Pushya Varmana, a contemporary of Samudragupta, in 350 AD.

Pushya Varmana named his son as Samudravarmana as a mark of respect to Samudragupta. The capital of this dynasty was Pragjyotishpur (present day Guwahati)


King Mahendravarman of this dynasty was the first king of Assam to perform Aswamedha yagna or sacrifice.

Bhaskarvarman was the last ruler of this dynasty. During his reign the great Chinese scholar Houen Tsang (Xuanzang) visited Kamrup, in 643 AD. 

(ii) The Salasthmbha or Mlechchha Dynasty:- King Salasthmbha was the founder of this dynasty. This dynasty's capital was Hadapeshvar or Haruppeshwara (present-day Tezpur). Tyaga Singha or Tygasimha was the last ruler of this dynasty.

(iii) The Pala Dynasty:- King Brahmapala established the Pala dynasty with capital in Durjaya (Present day North Guwahati). This dynasty came to an end when Gaur King Rampala invaded Kamrup. 

(iv) Non-dynastic independent Kings:-  The Gaur king Rampala could not hold Kamrupa for long. Kings like Kumarpala, Prithu etc ruled for some years.
In 1205 the Afghan Muhammad-i-Bakhtiyar passed through Kamarupa against Tibet which ended in a disaster. 
Mughith al-Din Yuzbak of the Mameluk rulers of Bengal attacked and defeated an unknown ruler of Kamarupa in 1257. But Yuzbak could not hold on to the capital as he was weakened by the Monsoon rains that led to his defeat and death by the local population.

The Kamarupa kingdom came to an end in the middle of the 13th century when a ruler of Kamarupanagara (Guwahati), named Sandhya, moved his capital to Kamatapur (North Bengal) and established the Kamata Kingom.
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The other parts of Assam history and MCQs related to this post will be updated soon. Thanks and keep visiting for more updates

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