A review of the book 'Land of the Eastern Light: Assam Before the Ahoms' written by Nabaarun Barooah.
Ask most people when Assam’s history begins and they say 1228, when Sukaphaa crossed the Patkai hills. Nabaarun Barooah’s Land of the Eastern Light: Assam Before the Ahoms (HarperCollins India, foreword by Vikram Sampath) argues that this answer erases well over a thousand years of kings, grants, trade and ritual power. In this episode we walk through the book’s arc, from the Naraka and Bhagadatta myths through Bhaskaravarman and Xuanzang’s Kamarupa, the Salastambha and Pala dynasties, Kamakhya and Tantra, and Prithu’s stand against the Turkic invasion. We also look at what its sources can and cannot carry.
Order links of the book 'Land of the Eastern Light' below:
Amazon India:
Paperback
Kindle
Amazon USA:
Kindle
Padhega India:
Paperback
HarperCollins India:
Paperback
Launch Video of "Land of The Eastern Light" ft. Sanjeev Sanyal, Vikram Sampath & J. Sai Deepak
Please feel free to our social media ID's for latest updates. Links below:
https://www.facebook.com/historylogy/
https://twitter.com/historylogy
https://www.instagram.com/historylogy/
https://www.youtube.com/@historylogypodcast
Affiliate Earnings Disclaimer:
This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
Coming up: A review of the book 'Land of the Eastern Light: Assam Before the Ahoms' written by Nabaarun Barooah.
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
Before I proceed, a full disclosure: This book was bought with my own money and not been provided to me by the author or publisher.
Little bit about the author:
Nabaarun Barooah is an author, columnist, researcher, documentary filmmaker and policy consultant based in Guwahati, Assam. He is currently the editor-in-chief of On Record India. From 2021 to 2022, he served as an assistant research executive in the Chief Minister's Office in Assam. He is a regular contributor to national publications such as The Indian Express, The Hindu BusinessLine, Swarajya and The Wire. This book was written during his tenure as a Sir Jadunath Sarkar Fellow at the Foundation for Indian Historical and Cultural Research. He is the co-author of From Frontiers to the Heartland: A Century of Sangh Parivar in the Northeast, as well as academic articles on the history, politics and political economy of Assam and the Northeast.
Let me read a brief description of the book:
QUOTE
Long before Sukaphaa, the Tai-Ahom king, crossed into the Brahmaputra valley in the thirteenth century, Assam had lived under different names: Pragjyotisha in epic memory, Kamarupa in historical record—around which had gathered a world of kings and gods, elephant armies and sacred rivers, fortified cities and ritual power.
In Land of the Eastern Light, Nabaarun Barooah tells the story of Assam from mythic antiquity to the eve of the Ahom age. We encounter, among others, Naraka, the legendary king of Pragjyotisha, whose fall transformed him into a demon; Bhagadatta, the ruler who rode his elephant into the epic war of the Mahabharata; Bhaskaravarman, who reshaped the politics of the Gangetic belt; and Prithu, who decimated the Turkic-Afghan general Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji. From the origins of Kamakhya and the rise of tantric power to the defence of Kamarupa against foreign invasion, this book journeys through one of the least remembered yet most arresting arcs of India’s ancient past.
Erudite, searching and vividly rendered, Land of the Eastern Light restores pre-Ahom Assam to scale, revealing a realm shaped by war, myth and political ambition well before the histories we more readily remember.
UNQUOTE
While modern narratives surrounding North-East Indian history often center on the formidable 600-year rule of the Ahom dynasty, Nabaarun Barooah in this, his second book, tells the story of pre-Ahom Assam in six chapters plus an epilogue.
Barooah sets out to address a crucial historical gap: the ancient civilizations, mythic origins, and powerful classical dynasties that defined the Brahmaputra Valley long before Chaolung Sukaphaa crossed the Patkai hills in 1228 CE. Published by HarperCollins India, this work serves as an essential effort to re-integrate early Assamese heritage into mainstream Indian historiography.
The author envisions this work as the first installment of a three-part project. This volume establishes the ancient roots of Assam, tracing its dynasties, religious life, cultural achievements and political resilience long before the arrival of the Ahoms. It sets the state for a fuller understanding of Assam as a continuous civilizational entity.
The book showcases ancient Kamarupa as a major empire that engaged directly with Northern and Eastern Indian geopolitics.
Barooah balances academic rigor with an engaging, narrative-driven prose style. Complex epigraphic details, copper-plate inscriptions, and dynastic genealogies are translated into an accessible sequence suitable for both casual history enthusiasts and scholars.
The book is anchored in primary material. The Nidhanpur, Dubi, Bargaon, Nowgong, Gauhati and Gachtal grants, the Nalanda seal, the Harshacharita and Watters on Xuanzang carry the middle chapters.
The Classical Triad of Dynasties:
The core of the book systematically unpacks the three main classical ruling houses that governed Kamarupa:
Varman Dynasty: Highlights the high point of regional power under King Bhaskaravarman, examining his diplomacy, trade networks, and relationship with Harshavardhana.
Mlechchha Dynasty: Explores the transition of political power under Salastambha, analyzing shift patterns in statecraft, culture, and territorial boundaries.
Pala Dynasty: Chronicles the late ancient period under Brahmapala and his successors, detailing the evolution of art, Tantric traditions, and royal patronage.
Cultural and Sacred Geography:
Barooah goes beyond political lineages to present Assam as a vibrant crossroads of trade routes connecting Mainland India, Southeast Asia, and Tibet. The book illuminates the synthesis of indigenous tribal belief systems with Vedic and Tantric traditions, particularly surrounding key pilgrimage hubs like the Kamakhya temple.
The book has 16 colour plates which show the various locations, temples, copper plates and inscriptions mentioned in the book.
If you were to buy this book just for the beautiful locations, temples and heritage sites, that in itself would be worth the money you paid for the book. Everything else is a BIG bonus.
Final Verdict:
Land of the Eastern Light: Assam Before the Ahoms is a timely contribution to Indian historical literature. Nabaarun Barooah succeeds in casting a bright light on a foundational yet under-discussed epoch, offering a comprehensive narrative that honors the deep antiquity and strategic significance of ancient Assam.
For readers interested in ancient Indian history, the kingdoms of the Northeast, regional religious traditions and the relationship between mythology and historical evidence, this is a promising addition to the bookshelf. It also offers an opportunity to reconsider how much of India's past remains unfamiliar simply because it falls outside the narratives most frequently told.
The history of Assam should not begin and end with the Ahoms. To understand the region more fully, we must look further back—to Pragjyotisha, to Kamarupa, and to the people and traditions that shaped the land before the arrival of Sukaphaa.
That is the larger historical journey this book invites us to undertake.
As the author says in the last paragraph of the book:
QUOTE
And so the chronicles close on one age and open on another. Where the blood of a martyr once darkened the soil, the footsteps of a migrant king now traced the path of a new civilization. From Prithu’s pyre to Sukaphaa’s coronation, Assam’s story was reborn. And that is a story we shall tell another day.
UNQUOTE
I give this book 4.25/5 and I eagerly await to see how Nabaarun carries this story forward.
The book is currently available in Paperback and Kindle formats on Amazon India. And only in Kindle format on Amazon USA. It is yet to be made available in Audible format at the time of recording this podcast episode. I have given the respective buy links in the show notes. Please check them out for the latest prices.
I have also provided a link to the YouTube video of the book launch ceremony.
Last but not the least, thank you for spending your valuable time listening to this book review. Really grateful. Please don't forget to subscribe to the Historylogy podcast on your favourite podcasting app and also feel free to leave a review. Also, please check historylogy.com for all previous episodes. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you. Take care and bye!