16 THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE ASAMIYA LANGUAGE rūpa having been brought up by another Vrátya king, Janaka of Videha. Again Pragjyotiga with Magadha, Kosala and other ancient kingdoms is considered by Barul as a product of Alpine culture while R. D. Banerji calls it a monument of Mediterranean civilization. But like the Nigar Brahmans and others, the modern history of the Kalitas show them more on Intellectuals than athlets and hence more Alpine than Meliterranean. And they may even be an amalgam or hybrid between the twe;'or probably yet, the Nordic-cum-Mediterranean culture of the Punjab and Midland might meet here the Alpine-eum-Mediterranean culture of Eastern India, Baxua suggests (nulan Culture, Vol. III, No. 1). So much on the rocial and cultural side in general. Curiously chough, some particular customs of the Kalits, and of the early Asamiya Society for that matter, have been cited both by oth Barua and Kaliram Medhi (AVR) without any mutual reference whatsoever to prove that it is definitely influenced by Alpine culture similar to the one seen in the Mogian or Early Iranian Alpine civilization, We are not ourselves so sure, but both Borul and Medhi vouch- sale that like the Zoroastrians, Asamiya people of old used to expose human corpses in the open to be eaten by vultures and jackals. Both of them maintain that though they have now taken recourse to crema tion, and burial in certain cases, as a rule, the old method of disposing the dead body still lingers It is of course a fact that as hy the Vendidad of the Early-Tranians the Asarly people de always consider the dead body unclean and the house where one dies is thought Impure; and unclean and impure are also those who come in contact with them. Like the Maglans also the Asamtys take the corpte immediately out of the house, and then cleanse it as best as they can with gomes (Sans gomaye) or cowdung. Though like the Zoroastrians, the house where one dies is not cleaned with fire, the corpse-bearers after their return from the crew mation and bathing with all their clothes, have to cleanse themselves by a fire burnt outside, with hey and dry jute leaves, throwing some oil seeds into it, and they have to stand on stone and chew some green leares of jute plants tasting bitter. Then alone they are allowed to touch other people and enter the house. Asamlyis also consider a destin or menstruous woman unclean and impure as the Zoroastrians do by the dictates of Zend Avesta. Such a woman is not touched, and food is not passed to her from hand to hand. She is not to sleep in the usual bed of wood even alone, but is to sleep on the floor on a bed of hey or straw. She is not to touch any body and
