1904.] W. N. Edwards & H. H. Mann —Assamese Fortification. 259 
father’s subjects. This old Daphla could give us no idea of how long 
ago this was reputed to be, or for what length of time they were sup¬ 
posed to have remained there, but it at once connects them with 
Assamese tradition, and with the unexplained ending of the life of 
Arimuri or Arimatta, a former traditional ruler of Nowgong and 
Darrang. 
The local tradition attached to this ruler is as follows; it differs 
somewhat from that which has been published elsewhere, though in 
essentials the two stories are the same. 
About the year 1238 A.D. (1160 Sak.) Arimatta ( i.e ., Arimuri) the 
reputed son of Pratapa Raja was reigning in Assam, holding sway in 
what are now the districts of Nowgong and Darrang. The tradition 
of his birth is as follows : Pratapa Raja was the king of the country 
lying between Visvanatha (Mod. Bishnath) and the Subansiri River, 
and had his capital at Ratnapura. He married Harmati the daughter 
of Hirabinda, King of Saumara, and on taking her to his kingdom, 
built a town for her which he called by her name, the name and ruins 
of which still are to be found at Harmati (on the Dikrang river) in 
North Lakhimpur. In crossing the Brahmaputra the god of the river 
(the son of Brahma) became enamoured of this girl, and in order to 
force her husband to give her up, did much damage to the country. 
Pratapa, eventually, launched her in a small boat filled with food and 
drink on the Brahmaputra, when she was embraced by the river god, 
and some days after landed at Visvanatha, where the villagers at once 
acknowledged her as their sovereign, and built the town of Pratabpur 
for her, the outworks of which are still to be seen at Pertabgarh. 
The more usual form ©f this story represents Pratapa as having remov¬ 
ed his Court to the hills to avoid the requests of the son of Brahma, 
and commanded his wife in future only to bathe in the Buroi river. 
Against his wish she went to bathe in the Brahmaputra, and was at 
once carried off by the current and only emerged at Visvanath. To 
continue, however, the local story, for nine months she remained there 
and then gave birth to a son, who had a man’s body, but the head of a 
fish, an ari fish, hence he was called Arimatta. His mother, to hide 
her shame, sent him to Nowgong, across the Brahmaputra, where he 
grew up, and became a powerful prince conquering most of his neigh¬ 
bours. His mother forbade him to visit the north bank of the river, 
but his curiosity to ascertain who his father was, was too much for him, 
and he disregarded her injunctions. Meeting with Pratapa, he fought 
with him and killed him. 1 He subsequently learnt that Pratapa was 
1 This is said to have occurred in crossing a stream the “ Balara nadi,” the 
river of the Javelin, as it is still called. 
