Asura kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Status | Mythical |
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Assam |
|---|
 |
| Categories |
Asura kingdom, or Sonitpura kingdom, is a mythological kingdom that is mentioned in a multiple of Hindu epics[1] which later came to be associated with modern-day Tezpur in central Assam and Banasura Hill in Kerala. The kingdom was contemporary of Pragjyotisha. In Puranic literature, Pragjyotisha and Sonitpura were located to the north-west of the Indian subcontinent in what is modern-day Punjab and Sindh.[2] In Assam, the name of the legendary kingdom might be applied to the local inhabitants who were outside of the Hindu fold.[3] In Kalika purana, Banasura, the last ruler of the asura kingdom is represented as an anti-Brahminical character.[4]
- ^ Caudhurī 1985, p. 67.
- ^ (Shin 2018:36)
- ^ Shin (2018), p. 321:"These accounts show the Puranic perception of the Saiva cult in early medieval Kamarupa, which consisted largely of popular cults of local inhabitants or people out of the Brahmanical ambit."
- ^ Shin (2018), p. 321: "(H)e was imagined or represented as an anti-Brahminical character in the Kalika Purana.."