The History Of Guwahati

The history of Assam is shaped by a union of people from the east, west and the north, the convergence of the Tibeto-Burman, Indo-Aryan, Austro-Asiatic cultures and many more. The history of Assam has been derived from multiple sources. Some like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Kalika Purana, Yogini Tantra, Bishnu Purana, etc has the pre history of Assam as Pragjyotishpur. Later, during the ancient times, Prasastis of Samudragupta also has mentions about Kamarupa, the various rock inscriptions, copper plates, royal grants, etc. During the medieval times the buranjis of Ahom Kingdom says a lot about Assam History.

The country known as Pragjyotisha in most ancient times and as Kamarupa in medieval times has been mentioned in both Ramayana and Mahabharata. The ancient name of Guwahati was Pragjyotishpur. Prehistoric Assam is reconstructed from epics and literature from early times.

According to Mahabharata, Pragjyotishpur included the area of the greater part of modern Assam together with the Bengal districts of Jalpaiguri, Cooch-Behar, Rangpur, Bogra, Mymensing, Dacca, Tipppera, part of Pabna and also parts of Nepal.

According to Ramayana, Amurtarajas, the great grandfather of Rishi Vishwamitra founded the kingdom of Pragjyotisha close to Dharmaranya.

The following Shloka defines the above findings of Pragjyothpura of Amurtarajas:

Tathamurtaraya Dhirachakre Pragjyotishangpuram I

Dharmaranyasamipasya Vasushwakre Girivrajam II

According to the traditional history of Raja-Maharshis, compiled by Dr. A.D Pushalkar, the age of Pragjyotisha 4620 years approximately. It has been mentioned in Ramayana that it was a striking country.

The following Shloka describes the location of Pragjyotishpura:

Yojanaani Chatuhshastharvaraho Nama Parbataha I

SubarnaShringaha Sumahanagadhe Varunalaye II

Tatra Pragjyotishang Nama Jatarupamayang Purama I

Shashmin Vashati Dushtatma Narako Nama Danavaha II

It seems Pragjyotisha included in the ancient times the modern disctricts of Purnea in Bihar and extended on the north-west as far as Kosi river. .[2] In the Kishkindha Kanda of the Ramayana, the kingdom is placed in the west near Mount Varaha on the sea.

In Kalika Purana, Naraka was ruling Pragjyotisha and his friend Bana was ruling Sonitpur.

The earliest political entity seems to have been led by Danava Dynasty. Mahiranga was mentioned as the first king and this dynasty was removed by Narakasura belonging to the Naraka Dynasty. The last Naraka kings were killed by Krishna and his son Bhagadatta took the throne is said to have participated in the great Mahabharata War with the Kauravas.

The historical account of Assam starts with the establishment of the the Varman Dynasty by Pushyavarman in the 4th century in Kamarupa Kingdom and this marks the beginning of ancient Assam. The kingdom reached its zenith during the rule of Bhaskavarman in the 7th century and Xuanzang left a great account when he visited his court. Bhaskarvarman died without any descendent and then the throne passed to Salasthamba from Mlechchha Dynasty. And after the fall of Mlechchha Dynasty in 9th century, a new king came into existence named Brahmapala who established the famous Pala Dynasty. Later after the last Pala King, Ramapala was removed in 1110 A.D, the Gaur king took his place.

Pragjyotisha was a mythological Kingdom that came to be associated with the historical Kamarupa.

According to the Puranic accounts, the temple of Kamakshya was in the centre of the kingdom which extended in all directions for one hundred Yojanas. The kingdom was came to be known as Kamarupa during the Puranic times based on the legend that Kamadeva, the God of Love who was destroyed by Shiva returned to life in this country. The capital of the Kingdom was named as Pragjyotishpur.

Pragjyotishpur means the city of Eastern Astrology or Astronomy. It is the probability that the Navagraha or the nine planets is the name of a temple and is the origin of the name Pragjyotishpur. In Kalika Purana, it is stated that, here the Brahmanas first created the stars and hence the city is called Pragjyotishpur- a city equal to the Indra.

According to Edward Albert Gait, the name Pragjyotishpur is interestingly connected with the mystic culture and the reputation which the country always held as the land of magic and incarnation and with the view that it was in Assam that the Tantric form of Hinduism originated.

Once known as Pragjyotishpur (the light of the east), Guwahati derives its name from the Assamese word “Guwa” meaning areca nut and “Haat” meaning market. Traditionally, Guwahati has been one of the most important administrative and trading center and a river port. There are two theories regarding the origin of ‘Guwahati’. According to some

scholars, ‘Guha’ means ‘a cave’ and ‘hati’ means a row. Therefore ‘Guwahati’ means ‘a city with a row of cave’. This derivation may be similar with the view of B.K. Kakati’s derivation of ancient Pragjyotishpura as ‘city on an extensive hill.

The name Guwahati was spelled as Gowhatty (pre-colonial and colonial), standardised to Gauhati (colonial-British). Which then changed to present form in the late 1980’s to conform to the local pronunciation.

During the rule of Kachari rulers in the medieval times, Guwahati was passed into the hands of Mohammedans. The Koch Dynasty too held it for some time which is evident from the fact that it was Chilarai, the king of Kamata Kingdom in the 16th century who built the Kamakhya Temple in its present form which was later preserved and further strengthened by the Ahom kings in the latter half of the 17th century.  The Ahom kings finally extricated all opposition and firmly established themselves in Guwahati when the viceroy of Lower Assam, Borphukan ingrained himself in Guwahati. When the administration passed onto the hands of the British, they moulded the city into its present form as the gateway to the North-East. History says that Borphukan was a civil mill authority of the lower region appointed by the kings, made Guwahati as the seat of power.

To mark Guwahati’s greatest historical landmark, one has to go back to the Battle of Saraighat in the year 1671 and Bir Lachit Borphukan was the hero of this epic battle. He was the one to defeat the Mughals with his sheer dint of intelligence and ardent patriotism and thus Mughals failed not for once but for the rest seventeen times too.

The city was under Burmese rule from 1817 to 1826 and soon after the First Anglo-Burmese War, Guwahati came under the British Empire after the Yandabo Treaty between the Burmese ruler and the British and played an active role during the independence struggle of India. It had famous  activists like Tarun Ram Phukan, Maniram Dewan, Kanaklata, Piyoli Phukan, Mula Gabhoru just to name a few.

The temples of Guwahati speaks a lot about Guwahati's history. The temples are naturally serene and attractive. The temples of Guwahati consists of three major classes namely, Shaiva, Shakti and Vaishnava. Kamakhya is considered as one of the greatest shaktipithas of India and thousands of devotees visits this great temple throughout the year. Temples are scattered in both the North and South Banks of Brahmaputra River. Ashwakranta Temple, Dirgheshwari Temple, Doul Govinda Temple are some of the examples of Temples in the Northern Bank of Brahmaputra. The temples in and around Guwahati are located in natural settings which gives peace and solace to the minds of the visitors through the ages.

The present scenario of Assam and Guwahati is a matter of concern as the rate of migration is increasing day by the. The population rate is increasing and it seems that we, the people of Assam has to save our pride and glory to keep our identity alive. The Assamese language should be preserved and all these monuments or historical sites needs soecial attention so that our rich history can be known by our future generations too. Assam has always been a very beautiful place and too save our culture we need to look deeper into the situations and the government should also take steps to save our motherland and it's people from getting influenced from outside world. Only then, people can live a happy and peaceful life.

References-

• The Early History of Kamarupa by Kanak Lal Barua.
• A History of Assam by Edward Gait
• A Comprehensive History of Assam by H. K Barpuzari