Asom, the "Shangrila- La" of the North Eastern India is a state of breathe taking beauty, rarest floras and faunas, lofty green hills, vast rolling plains, mighty waterways, forests all combine to make her a pristine jewel of North East . The name "Asom" meaning "uneven" is reference to her undulating and uneven landscapes. The word "Assam" is just the anglicized version of the word "Asom" , by which the British referred to. In February 2006, the government of Asom passed a bill in the state assembly and officially changed the name "Assam" to "Asom".
HISTORY:
The history of Asom traces back to 2500 years B.C., when high civilization flourished in the land. The ancient names of Asom was Pragjyotishpura which later changed to Kamrupa. The first known ruler of Asom was Mahiranga Danava of the Danava dynasty. Another great ruler of the Asom was Kumar Bhaskar Varmana of the Varmana dynasty, who placed Asom in the forefront of Indian politics in the 7th century AD. Then came the Ahom dynasty which ruled Asom for more than six hundred years, until Asom was annexed by the British. The great general of Asom Lachit Barphukan , during the rule of king...., fought the famous battle of Saraighat on river Brahmaputra to save Asom from becoming a part of Mughal empire during the reign of Akbar.
PHYSIOGRAPHY:
Nestling at the foothills of Himalayas, Asom is popularly known as the land of blue hills and red rivers. The mighty rivers of Brahmaputra and Barak divide the state into - the Brahmaputra valley running from east to west and the Barak valley to the south of the state. The state is surrounded by all the six other states of North East as well as by West Bengal and Bangladesh. The total area of Asom is about 78500 sq.km. and has a population of around 26 million. It is the second biggest and the most populous state of Northeast.
PEOPLE AND CULTURE:
All the major races of the world , the Austro-Asiatic, the Indo-Aryans, the Indo-Tibeto Burmese, the Mongolians have combined to make the great Assamese people. Asomiya or Assamese is the lingua-franca of Asom. English is second most important language used in official and commercial circles. Bengali and Hindi are also widely spoken. The tribals of Asom have their own dialects. The Bodo and Missing (or Miri) are the biggest tribes of Asom.
The principal festival of Asom is the Bihu. It is celebrated thrice a year on different occasions. The most important one is the Rongali Bihu (celebrated in the month of April). The other two Bihus are Bhogali Bihu (January) and Kongali Bihu (September). The Kongali Bihu, unlike the other two Bihus, is not celebrated with great pompous. Other festivals of Asom are Saraswati puja, Durga puja, Holi, and Naam Kirtan (of the Vaishnavas) etc. The tribals of Asom have their own festivals too.
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION:
The principal cities of Asom viz., Guwahati and Dibrugarh are well connected to rest of India by rail. There are six civil airports in Asom all of which are connected to Kolkata directly. There are direct flights to New Delhi from Guwahati and Dibrugarh. These airports also connects other cities of the North East too. A good network of National Highways connect all the major towns and cities of Asom with rest of the North East.