The Indian state of Assam. Situated in the northeastern region of the nation, it shares borders with the states of Arunachal Pradesh and the kingdom of Bhutan to the north, Nagaland and Manipur to the east, Mizoram and Tripura to the south, and Bangladesh, Meghalaya, and West Bengal to the west. The term asama, which in the now-extinct Ahom language meant “peerless,” is said to be the source of the name Assam. Assam formerly included the nearby states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya. In 1972, the capital, which was once Shillong (now the capital of Meghalaya), was moved to Dispur, a Guwahati suburb. Area 78,438 square miles, or 30,285 square miles
Plains and river basins may be found across Assam, a country approximately shaped like a Y placed on its side. The state is divided into three main geographical regions: the valley of the Brahmaputra River in the north, the valley of the Barak River (upper Surma River) in the south, and the mountainous area in the south-central region that lies between Meghalaya to the west and Nagaland and Manipur to the east. The valley of the Brahmaputra River is the greatest of the regions. Hindu legend states that the Brahmaputra emerges as the god Brahma’s son from the nearby Arunachal Pradesh holy reservoir known as the Brahmakund. The river flows into Assam in the far northeast near Sadiya and travels for around 450 miles westward through the state.