"Since time immemorial, Assam has been a part of the Indian civilizational axis. It is a continuation of a connected history of the ancient kingdom known as Pragjyotishpura and Kamarupa. In his monumental work Early History of Kamarupa, Rai K. L. Barua Bahadur argues that Pragjyotisha, which was then a powerful kingdom, is often mentioned in the epics and Puranas. Long before Bengal was even fit for habitation, Kamarupa underwent the process of Aryanization at an earlier time than central and lower Bengal."