| Temples & Legends Of Assam |
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| Temples & Legends Of
India |
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INTRODUCTION |
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| The Tibeto-Burman
and the Shans today constitute the bulk of the population of Assam, Valley as well as
Hills. Risley rightly remarks that the Assamese are unmistakably Mongoloid.' Elwin
considers them a rather modified Mongoloid with a dolichocephalic or long head but with
the typical flat nose, high cheekbones and oblique slit-eyes. At what period of
history the Aryan speakers came into the valley of the Brahmaputra we cannot say. But
there is no doubt that they arrived at a fairly early period, as evidenced by the
references in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and the Nidhanpur Copper plates grant. The Aryan influence became so wide spread and penetrating that even minor
Vedic customs and rituals became deep - rooted in the life of the common people. For
instance, the Vedic custom of worship of Indra by setting up Indradhvaja still survives in
Assam in the popular festival of Bhatheli (Bhasthali). |
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