PREFACE

The reason for this total obliteration of old sites, as given by Gait, is that nature has vied with man in destroying them. The Brahmaputra valley is an alluvial country, and the impetuous, snow- fed rivers which debouch from the Himalayas find so little resistance in its friable soil that they are constantly carving out new channels and cutting away their neighbourhood can be expected to remain for more than limited time, except few points like Gauhati, Tezpur, where solid rock pierces through the alluvium.

Further,though occurring at distant inter- vals, violent earthquakes are, in Assam, quited as great cause of destruction as fluvial action. A less sudden, but almost equally potent, cause of damage is found in the luxuriant vegetation of the country. Instances are also not wanting where religious zeal led the early Moslem invaders to raze the temples to the ground.

We have therefore, very little material for the study of temples in Assam although there are quite a few legends. We have here selected some of the important once and have also added a chapter on Vaisnava religious centres or Satras so as to make them intelligible to those outside Assam.

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