JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



No. I.— 1855. 



Notes on Assam Temple Ruins, by Capt. E, Taite Dalton, Prin- 

 cipal Assistant of the Commissioner of Assam. 



The claim of Assam to a high position, amongst the classic lands 

 of the east, which has so long lain dormant, would, in all probability, 

 have been earlier investigated, had not an idea generally prevailed 

 that no works of antiquity were to be found in the valley to sustain 

 it ; that it was a country without such relics of past ages as are 

 found in other parts of India, and therefore, without a history that 

 was worth enquiring into. 



But it is not thus barren ; for from the Sub-Himalayas, which 

 form its northern barrier, to the ranges of mountains separating it 

 from Sylhet and from Bengal, and as far east, up the valley, as our 

 knowledge extends, evidences are found of a once teeming population 

 and a highly advanced state of art. 



The trackless forests, in which most of these remains of human 

 power and skill are found, and the present condition of Assam, with 

 its scanty indolent population and vast wildernesses of waste, are 

 melancholy indications that they are the works of an age and race 

 long since passed away, and curiosity cannot fail to be excited as to 

 who the people were that constructed them, and where they lived. 



Having been authorized by Mr. Eobinson to submit to the Society 

 his views on the ancient history of Assam, I thought the subject 

 might be made more interesting, if illustrated by some account of 



No. LXXIL— New Seeibs. Vol. XXIV. b 



