"E.A. Gait (1863-1950), who served as Assistant Commissioner of Assam and, from 1890 as Provincial Superintendent for the 1891 census in the region, linked the word Pragijyotisa to astrology. He stated, Prag means former or eastern and jyotisha a star, astrology, shining. Pragjyotishpur may, therefore, be taken to mean the City of Eastern Astrology. The name is interesting in connection with the reputation which the country has always held as a land of magic and incantation and with the view that it was in Assam that the Tantrik form of Hinduism originated (Gait 1906: 15)."