The CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and the National Register of Citizens boil down to the fate of Hindu Bengalis in Assam and in the North-east. The country is in turmoil because of the related issue of illegal immigration from Bangladesh. Similar demands relating to the NRC have now been raised by some other states as they are also worried about the fundamental problem ~ the increasing number of Muslims in India. In Assam, the issue is different. In 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in his book, Discovery of India, that Assamese suffer from some inexplicable fear of the Bengalis.

We cannot hide ourselves from the reality anymore. Thus, in this essay I am trying to address the issue of the destruction of Assamese identity by the Hindu Bengalis. Ancient Assam was known as Pragiyotisha in early times and as Kamarupa in later times. The name Pragiyotisha stood for both the kingdom and capital city. The earliest mention of the city of Pragiyotisha is found in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The earliest known king of ancient Assam was Mahiranga Danava.

He had his capital at Mairanka, identified with a hill called Mairang Parvat near Guwahati. He was succeeded in turn, by Hataksur, Sambarasur and Ratnasur. The epithets “Danava” and “Asura” show that they were of non-Aryan origin. After them came Ghatakasura who is called the ruler of the Kiratas. Ghatakasura was overthrown by Narakasura, who is the hero of various stories narrated in the Puranas and the Tantras. Narakasura founded a new dynasty known as Bhouma or Varaha dynasty.

The legend goes that Naraka was born of Prithivi (the earth) by Lord Vishnu, in his Varaha (boar) incarnation and was brought up by Janaka, the king of Videha or north Bihar. It is for this region that naraka is called Bhauma (born of the earth) and on account of his supposedly divine origin, all dynasties ruling in Pragiyodishpur-Kamarupa claimed their descent from Narakasur and called themselves Bhauma except the last royal dynasty which was a Bengali dynasty originating in Bengal (Dev dynasty).

Historically the earliest known kingdoms of Assam were the Kamrup Kingdom and the Davaka Kingdom. Very little is known about the Davaka Kingdom. The Kamrup Kingdom was established by King Purhya Varman in the middle of the 4th century. Historically, Pushya Varman is the first known king of Assam and the progenitor of Varman Dynasty. King Mahendra Varman was the first king of Assam to perform the Ashwamedh and he did it on two occasions.

King Mahendra Varman’s grandson Bhuti Varman also called Maha Bhuti Varman conquered parts of Bengal and donated lands to more than 200 Barhmans exactly in the border of Assam’s Karimganj district and Bangladesh. These Brahmanas were mainly brought from Bengal and to some extent from Maithila. Their descendants are now the present- day Bengalis of Assam’s Barak Valley, original Bengali inhabitants of north Tripura and Bangladesh’s Sylhet. The Nidhanpur copper plates kept in Dhaka museum are a concrete evidence of this fact.

Descendants of many of the Brahmanas settled by King Mahabhuti Varman are now Bengali Kayasthas. King Susthita Varman was defeated by King Mahasen Gupta of Gupta Dynasty under Shashank; his son Supratisthita Varman came to power, who died prematurely without an heir. Thus, the younger son, Bhaskara Varman, came to power in Kamarup Kingdom. Soon after the defeat by the Gupta Dynasty of north India, Shashank declared himself an independent King of Bengal.

The Kings of Kamrup Kingdom had to pay taxes to King Shashank Dev of Bengal. Later King Bhaskar Varman defeated King Shashank Dev. Bhaskar Varman became the supreme Lord of eastern India extending his sway as far as Nalanda. He had also brought under his control Sylhet and Tripura including south-east Bengal. Bhaskar Varman died without an heir. After his death Salasthambh established the Mlechch Dynasty, after overthrowing Bhaskara Varman’s immediate successor, Avanti Varman.

The Sixth King of the Mlechch Dynasty, Sri Harsha or Harsha Dev (c. 725-50 A.D.) was the most famous, being credited with the overlordship of Gauda, Odra, Kalinga, Kosala and other lands. It appears that after conquering Kaling and Kosai, King Harsha Dev led an expedition to the south and was defeated by the Chalukya King of Karnataka, Kirtivarman II. Soon after, he was overthrown and killed by Yasovarman of Kanauj. Thus though for a short period, Kamarup Kingdom, during the rule of Harsha Dev reached the highest point of its military glory when its suzerain power extended from Sadiya in the east to Ayodhya in the west, and from the Himalayas in the north as far as the Bay of Bengal and Ganjam in the south.

King Tyaga Singha was the last king of this dynasty who possibly died childless. After this dynasty King Brahma Pal established the Pal Dynasty in the Kamrup Kingdom. The Pal dynasty of Kamrup is not to be confused with the Pal Dynasty of Bengal. The last king of the Pal Dynasty of Kamrup was Jaypal. During his reign, Kamarup Kingdom was attacked by Mayana, the general of Rampal, the Pal King of Bengal.

The Bengal King placed Tingya Dev as his Vassal King in the part that was replaced by Vaidya Dev. In 1138 A.D. after the fall of the Pal Dynasty in Bengal, Vaidya Dev declared himself an independent king of Kamrup Kingdom and established the Bengali Dev dynasty. The Sena Dynasty of Bengal invaded Kamrup Kingdom twice but was defeated by the Devas. The last King of Dev Dynasty and that of Kamrup Kingdom was Vishwasndar Dev alias Prithy Dev.

During his rule, Assam faced the first Muslim invasion. Prithy not only defeated; the entire army of Bakhtiyar Khilji was also defeated during the second Muslim invasion of Assam. King Prithy Dev was killed during the third Muslim invasion of Assam by Nasiruddin. Nasiruddin appointed Prithy’s son Sandhya as a Vassal of Kamrup. After Nasiruddin’s death King Sandhya declared himself as an independent king of Assam and established the Kamata Kingdom.

(To be concluded)

(The writer is Emeritus Professor in Economics, Nagasaki University, Japan)