This term referred to the whole area east of Bengal province in northeastern India before to Indian independence in 1947; since then, it has been split into seven administrative divisions, one of which is the current state of Assam.
- Much of contemporary Assam, like the other northeastern states, is culturally different from the rest of India.
- Language is one indicator of this cultural divide: although most Indians speak Indo-Aryan or Dravidian languages, many tribal people in Assam speak Tibeto-Burman languages.
- The Brahmaputra River valley, which is home to the majority of Hindus in the northeast, makes up the majority of contemporary Assam.
Despite its isolation from the rest of India, Assam has one significant holy site, the goddess Kamakhya temple located outside the city of Gauhati.
- This is one of the Shakti Pithas, a network of shrines dedicated to the Mother Goddess that were built where it is thought that the dismembered goddess Sati's bodily pieces fell to the ground.
- Because it is said to be where Sati's vulva (a highly charged feminine body part) descended to earth, Kamakhya is considered the most potent of all the Shakti Pithas.
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