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#REDIRECT ]
{{move notice|date=August 2012|Western Assam|discuss=Talk:Western Assam#Move proposal}}

{{Geobox Region
<!-- ***Western Assam*** -->
| name = Western Assam
| native_name =
| other_name = Kamarupa
| other_name1 = Kamrup
| category = Western Assam
<!-- *** Image *** -->
| image =
| image_size =
| image_caption =
<!-- *** Symbols *** -->
| flag =
| flag_size =
| symbol = Kamakhya.jpg
|symbol_type =
|symbol_size = 100
<!-- *** Etymology *** --->
| etymology =
<!-- *** Country etc. *** -->
| country = ]
| state =
| region =
| district =
<!-- *** Parts *** -->
| capital = Guwahati (Ancient)
| capital_lat_d =
| capital_lat_m =
| capital_lat_s =
| capital_lat_NS =
| capital_long_d =
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| capital_long_E =
| capital_elevation_imperial =
| part_type =
| part_count =
| part =
| part1 =
| city = Barpeta
| city1 = Bongaigaon
| city2 = Guwahati
| city3 = Nalbari
| municipality_type =
| municipality_count =
<!-- *** Geography *** -->
| area_imperial =
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<!-- *** Various codes *** -->
| timezone =
| utc_offset = +5.30
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<!-- *** Footnotes *** -->
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}}
]
'''Western Assam''' or Lower Assam is a region in ], covering entire western ].<ref>" territory from Biswanath to Goalpara&mdash;was known as Western Assam; but another name&mdash;Lower Assam&mdash;gradually came into use." {{harv|Banerjee|1992|p=9}}</ref> It was home to the mighty kingdom of ] (3-12 AD), ruled by ] and ] from their capital's ] and ] respectively, both now known as modern Town of ]. Today it is largest city of ] while ], the capital of ], is in Guwahati.

], ], ], Nagas, ], ], Vakatakas]]
], First Historical Kingdom of Assam]]
], ]</center>]]
]

==History==
] Inscription of ]<center>]]
Western Assam was capital of ancient ],<ref>{{cite book |title=Discovery of North-East India |last= Sharma, Sharma |first=Suresh Kant, Usha|authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2005 |publisher=Mittal Publications |location= |isbn= |page=265 |pages=512 |accessdate=|url=}}</ref> ruled by powerful dynasties the ] (350–650 CE) and ] (900–1100 CE) from their capitals at present ].

===Varman Dynasty===
] (350-374) named after ], became first ruler of Kamrup by establishing ]. His son ] (374-398), named after ], was accepted as an overlord by many local rulers. ] (494-518) and his son ] (518-542) offered the ]; and as the ] inscription of Bhaskar Varman avers, these expansions included the region of Chandrapuri visaya, identified with present-day ]. 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 ] that is much larger area than modern Kamrup from which it intially begins.
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, ] (566-590), enjoyed victories over the Gauda of ] 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, ] and Bhaskar Varman fought against an elephant force and were captured and taken to Gaur. They were able to regain their kingdom. 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, ] (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 ] just as the ] king ascended the throne in 606 after the murder of his brother, the previous king, by ] of ]. Harshavardhana finally took control over the kingless ] kingdom and moved his capital to ]. The alliance between Harshavardhana and Bhaskar Varman squeezed Shashanka from either side and reduced his kingdom, making Shasanka escaping to hills further south near modern Bengal-Odisha border. This decisive victory leads to takeover of most of Gauda kingdom by Bhaskar Varman. He issued 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, ] (Xuanzang) visited Bhaskar Varman's court and recorded details of his kingdom. Yuan Chwang mentioned the western border of the Kamarupa kingdom was the ] and eastern boundary as Dikkaravasini (Sadiya). At the end of this visit, Bhaskar Varman accompanied Yuan Chwang to Kanauj, and participated in a religious assembly and a festival at Prayaga (]) with Harshavardhana, spending more than a year away from his own kingdom. Assembly was participated by eighteen vassal kings, while Bhaskar Varman impersonated as "Brahma", Harsha kept himself the subordinate position of "Indra". It seems Bhaskar Varman maintained relations with China. He recounted to Yuan Chwang 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.

===Pala Dynasty===
] (900-920), was founder ] (900–1100 A.D) of Kamarupa. Dynasty ruled from its capital ], modern day Guwahati. The greatest of the Pala kings, ] had his capital at Kamarupa Nagara, now identified with ]. The last Pala king was ] (1075-1100).<ref>{{cite book |title=Readings in the history & culture of Assam |last=Samiti |first=Kamarupa Anusandhana |year=1984 |publisher=Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti|pages=227}}</ref>

==Demography==
The ethnic composition of present Western Assam consists of ] along with tribes like ] in the northern part of Western Assam while ]s in the south and ]es in the southwest.

==Festivals==
Primarily festivals like ], ] along with dozens of other ] are celebrated. Harvesting festivals like ] are also widely celebrated all around Western Assam.
Muslims celebrate ].

==Religion==
] and ] are main religion of Western Assam. Hinduism is further divided into ] and ].

==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 ] (350-374), the founder of great ] of ] Kingdom and which reached its zenith in the reign of ] (600-650).

==Language==
{{Quote box
|title =
|quote =Assamese entered into Kamarupa or western Assam where this speech was first characterised as Assamese. This is evident from the remarks of Hiuen Tsang who visited the Kingdom of Kamarupa in the first half of the seventh century A.D., during the reign of Bhaskaravarman.
|source =Upendranath Goswami, ''A study on Kāmrūpī: a dialect of Assamese''.
|align =center
|border =1px
|fontsize =88%
|bgcolor =#F9F9F9
|title_bg =#F9F9F9
|title_fnt =black
|qalign =left
|quoted =1
}}


] is spoken in once undivided ] district areas<ref>{{cite book |title=A contrastive analysis of the morphological aspects of Assamese and Oriya |last= Baruah |first=P. N. Dutta |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2007 |publisher=Central Institute of Indian Languages |location= |isbn= |page=10 |pages=263 |accessdate=|url=}}</ref> while ] is spoken in once undivided ] district areas. ], ], ] languages are spoken in respective tribal belts.
] belongs to the group of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, here marked in green]]


==See also==
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]


==Notes==
{{reflist}}


==References==
* {{Citation
| first = A. C.
| last = Banerjee
| editor-last =Barpujari
| editor-first =H. K.
| contribution = The New Regime, 1826-31
| contribution-url =
| title = The Comprehensive History of Assam
| volume = IV
| series =
| year = 1992
| pages = 1-43
| place = Guwahati
| publisher = Publication Board, Assam
| url =
| doi =
| id = }}


==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |title= The Social History of Kamarupa|last=Vasu |first=Nagendranath |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1922 |publisher= |location= |isbn= |page= |pages= |accessdate=|url=}}
* {{cite book |title= Kamarupa-Kalinga-Mithila politico-cultural alignment in Eastern India : history, art, traditions|last=Tripathi |first=Chandra Dhar |year=2008 |publisher=Indian Institute of Advanced Study|pages=197}}
* {{cite book |title= Kamarupa|last=Wilt |first=Verne David |year=1995 |publisher=V.D. Wilt|pages=47}}
* {{cite book |title=Ancient India |last=Majumdar |first=Ramesh Chandra |year=1977|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publications |pages=538}}
* {{cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of ancient Indian geography |last=Kapoor |first=Subodh |year=2002 |publisher=Cosmo Publications|pages=364}}
* {{cite book |title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization |last=Sen |first=Sailendra Nath |year=1999 |publisher=New Age International|pages=668}}
* {{cite book |title=The Indian encyclopaedia: biographical, historical, religious,administrative, ethnological, commercial and scientific |last=Kapoor |first=Subodh |year=2002 |publisher=Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd|pages=320}}
* {{cite book |title= Aspects of historical geography of Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa (ancient Assam)|last=Sarkar |first=Ichhimuddin |year=1992 |publisher=Naya Prokash|pages=295}}
* {{cite book |title=The great Indian corridor in the east |last=Deka |first=Phani |year=2007 |publisher=Mittal Publications|pages=404}}
* {{cite book |title=Assam's history and its graphics |last=Pathak |first=Guptajit |year=2008 |publisher=Mittal Publications|pages=211}}
* {{cite book |title=Readings in the history & culture of Assam |last=Samiti |first=Kamarupa Anusandhana |year=1984 |publisher=Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti|pages=227}}
{{refend}}


== External links ==
*


]
]


{{Western Assam}}

Latest revision as of 12:12, 7 August 2022

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