The tradition of Shakti worship in Assam and other parts of the NE region is not at all new. In fact, the Aryan style of Shakti worship in this part of India is nearly two thousand years old. Indications of Shakti worship prior to the advent of the Aryans to this part of the country are also there, even though scientific research on this aspect is yet to be conclusive.

Dr Banikanta Kakati, in his The Mother Goddess Kamakhya, maintains that Naraka of Mithila, who established himself in power somewhere between 200 AD and 500 AD, is believed to have initiated the Shakti cult in ancient Assam. (The Mother Goddess Kamakhya, Third Edition, pp 29, Publication Board of Assam, December 2004).

According to Rai Bahadur KL Barua, it is found from the epigraphic evidence that about the beginning of the sixth century AD, the western boundary of Pragjyotisha was the Kosi river. Pragjyotisha, therefore, touched Videha (Mithila) on the west. (pp2, Early History of Kamrupa, Third Edition, 1988, Lawyers Book Stall).

Dr Kakati says that this Naraka found in the local Goddess Kamakhya a manifestation of the divine energy. After his death in tragic circumstances, his name got mixed up with the earlier legendary Naraka of Pragjyotisha and the author of the Kalika Purana collected the salient features from both the legends and built up a unified and composite figure that strides across centuries. (Mother Goddess, pp 29-30).

Dr Kakati also maintains that it was under the banner of Goddess Kamakhya that the first empire in early Assam was built. Again, he has said, “It was over Her emergence and recognition as the presiding deity of the State that the Saivites and the Vaisnavites went into silent conflict and Naraka, the first builder of the state lost his life. Later, religious history also centres round Her and other Goddesses recognised as Her varied manifestations.” (Ibid pp33).

The two principal Sanskrit works that bear upon the subject are the Kalika Purana and the Yogini Tantra, both composed in or near about ancient Assam, says Dr Kakati. (Ibid pp33).

The original Kamakhya temple was destroyed during a Muslim invasion early in the sixteenth century and the present structure of the temple was built in 1665 AD by Coch king Naranarayana. Dr Kakati says that the Coch king fitted the temple with all the paraphernalia of a mediaeval Hindu temple. But he opines that what the original forms and features of the temple worship were, it is difficult to say. (Ibid pp37).

Dr Kakati, who has refrained from arriving at any conclusion on the beliefs and practices linked with the Shakti cult in Assam, and has made a scholarly examination of the fusion of Aryan and non-Aryan religious beliefs and practices connected with it in his Mother Goddess Kamakhya, in a bid to enlarge the scope of discussion on the subject, also observes, — “…Saivism in some gross form associated with wine and flesh was the prevailing religion of the aboriginal Kiratas (of Assam). The Aryanised conquerors held this religion in disdain and placed it under a ban. At the same time, to secure easy recognition by aboriginal people, they brought into prominence another local cult— the cult of the Mother Goddess worshipped in the Yoni symbol as opposed to the cult of Siva worshiped in the phallic symbol. This mother cult of Kamakhya must have belonged to certain matriarchal tribes like the Khasis and the Garos… The Mother Goddess in Kamakhya could very easily be brought into alignment with other forms of the Mother Goddess like Durga, Kali, etc…” (Ibid pp16).

Professor RD Choudhury, former Director General of the National Museum and ex- Vice-Chancellor of the National Museum Institute, in his Archaeology of the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam (Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi, 1985) says that apart from the Mahishamardini form of the Durga, a few images representing two other aspects of the deity have been noticed in Assam (pp83).

Most of the existing images of Mahishamardini, which are seen in different places of Assam, are rock-cut images. However, a few images of the deity carved on stone slabs are also found. Stylistically, most of these images belong to the ninth or tenth century AD, observes Professor Choudhury.

He also informs that an eighteen-handed rock-cut image of the deity was found near the old water supply works, on the bank of the Brahmaputra, Guwahati. This is the only eighteen-handed image of the deity found so far in Assam.

RD Choudhury (Historical Archaeology of Central Assam from the earliest period to AD 12 th century, New Delhi, 1985), writes that he noticed a miniature bronze image of the deity in the residence of UC Bora at Rangmahal, North Guwahati. It was an eight-armed figure of the deity. The work of the figure is dated back to the 12th century AD.

Professor Choudhury has stated that the theme of the images of the Mahishamardini Durga found in Assam so far is the same as it is found to be elsewhere in India. However, he maintains, the style of representing the vahana of the deity and the asura or the placements of these two, noticed in our images, differ from the images found in other parts of the country.

Two big images of the Durga in the santa form, contrary to the ferocious Mahishamardini form, are also found in Assam. One of them is found at Deopani in Golaghat district and it is now housed in a modern temple. The image is quite big in size and carved on a block of granite. The deity has four hands in this image.

The other image of the sort is found in Dimapur, which is now leased out to Nagaland. But this image, which has also depicted the deity as a four-armed one, is in bad shape.

Moreover, the terrifying form of the deity—the Chamunda—was also carved by the sculptors here. According to Professor Choudhury, five images of this form of the Durga have so far been found in Assam.

The third of these images is noticed inside the natghar of the Kamakhya temple. The fourth image of the Chamunda is noticed at Nabhanga and it was carved on a slab of stone. However, the image is ‘very awfully mutilated,’ says Professor Choudhury.

The last of these images is preserved at the Purva-Bharati Museum, Nalbari. Carved on a block of stone, the image was collected from Karbi Anglong.

The State has also recorded a number of Mahakali images, says Professor Choudhury. He adds that four, eight, ten and eighteen-handed images of the Mahishamardini Durga are found in the State and all these images can be dated back to 9th century AD onwards. Among all the Shakti Goddesses, he says, most probably Mahishamardini was the most popular in old Assam, as in Bengal and some other regions of the country.

Here, one needs to have some idea of the ancient boundaries of Pragjyotisha or Kamarupa. Let us first take into consideration the views of the geologists, which are also relevant in this connection. Geologically, the Assam-Meghalaya plateau was a part of the Deccan plateau. The Deccan plateau got detached some two hundred million years back. Gradually, the Assam–Meghalaya plateau which thus got detached from the Deccan plateau, was pushed towards the Northeastern part of the Indian sub-continent. It was existing as a continental nuclei surrounded by the sea and this sea was very shallow towards north, whereas, towards east, the sea was very deep.

The northern shallow sea gave rise to the Himalayas, whereas the deep sea gave rise to the Arakan Yoma Mountain ranges of the Indo-Myanmar border. The shell sediment deposited over the continental nuclei gave rise to the land mass of the Upper Assam region, including the southern parts of the Assam-Meghalaya plateau. Due to the tectonic upheaval, this part of the plateau was uplifted and gave rise to the Borail ranges, etc, young-folded mountain ranges of the NE region.

The sediment carried by Ganga and Brahmaputra gave rise to the plains of Bangladesh, West Bengal and parts of Bihar and UP, etc, said geologist DK Barman of the Directorate of Geology and Mining.

Rai Bahadur KL Barua, in his Early History of Kamrupa, maintains that the Pragjyotisha kingdom included, at the time of the Mahabharata war, the greater part of modern Assam, together with the Bengal districts of Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Rangpur, Bogra, Mymensing, Dacca, Trippera, part of Pabna and also probably part of east Nepal. He has quoted Ancient Countries in Eastern India, JASB, pp106, in support of this view.

Ajit Patowary