Guwahati
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Guwahati is the gateway to north-east India. A Guwahati suburb, Dispur is the capital of the Indian state of Assam. The city is between the southern bank of the Brahmaputra river and the foothills of the Shillong plateau.
The name Guwahati is derived from two words: guwa (betel nut) and haat (market place). It was situated midway between two powerful kingdoms: the Ahom and the Koch kingdoms. Later when the Koch regions were overrun by the Mughals, Guwahati would intermittently be the seat of a forward Mughal commander. Neither the Mughals nor the Koch could maintain power at Guwahati, however, and it became better known as the seat of the Borphukan, the civil and military authority of the region appointed by the Ahom king.
Geographically, Guwahati straddles the valley of the river Bharalu, a small tributary of the river Brahmaputra. It is surrounded by hills, except where the Bharalu discharges into the Brahmaputra. To its west the Nilachal hill is said to be the home of the goddess Kamakhya, a shakta temple. In the past, this was an important seat of tantric and Vajrayana Buddhism. To the north, on top of the Navagraha hills, is the Navagraha (nine planets) temple, a unique astrological temple. To the south of the city lie the Narakasur hills, named after a legendary king of ancient Assam. An ancient name of this city is said to be "Pragjyotishpur".
Guwahati today is important because it is close to the seat of power in Assam, is a commercial centre, and is the node that connects six other northeastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Tripura.
History
The Ambari excavations trace habitation in the city to the sixth century C.E. It was a Mughal outpost when they occupied lower Assam, and became the seat of the Borphukan, the Ahom viceroy for the western part of the Ahom kingdom.
There are a number of historical features in Guwahati. The Dighalipukhuri is a rectangular lake that was connected to the Brahmaputra, and was probably dug for naval reasons by the Ahoms.