Asura Kingdom (Sonitpura Kingdom) is a mythological kingdom that is mentioned in a multiple of Hindu epics[1] which later came to be associated with modern-day Tezpur in central Assam and Banasura Hill in Kerala. The kingdom was contemporary of Pragjyotisha. In Puranic literature, Pragjyotisha and Sonitpura were located to the north-west of the Indian subcontinent in what is modern-day Punjab and Sindh.[2] In Assam, the name of the legendary kingdom might be applied to the local inhabitants who were outside of the Hindu fold.[3] In Kalika purana, Banasura, the last ruler of the asura kingdom is represented as an anti-Brahminical character.[4]
^Shin (2018), p. 321:"These accounts show the Puranic perception of the Saiva cult in early medieval Kamarupa, which consisted largely of popular cults of local inhabitants or people out of the Brahmanical ambit."
^Shin (2018), p. 321: "(H)e was imagined or represented as an anti-Brahminical character in the Kalika Purana.."
References
Caudhurī, Niśipada (1985). Historical archaeology of central Assam.
Shin, Jae-Eun (2018), "Redefining Divine Presence: A Study of Hidden Lingas in the Mid-Brahmaputra Valley", in Bopearachchi, Osmund; Ghosh, Suchandra (eds.), Early Indian History and Beyond:Essays in Honour of Professor B.D Chattopadhyaya, Delhi: Primus Books, pp. 313–34
