Spellbound: Occult a way of life in Assam's Mayong
When Mughal general Raja Ram Singh was ordered by Aurangzeb to take an army to Assam and subdue the Ahoms in 1667, he picked up the assignment with trepidation. He didn't fear the Ahom military might, but Assam's fearsome reputation as a land of black magic. Mayong, a village some 40 km from Guwahati, was the deemed capital of occult.
<snip>
"When 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2' was released in India on July 15, 2011, we conducted an informal survey among 200 people in Guwahati about whether they had heard about Mayong," Borpujari says. "The results were surprising. Many hadn't heard about it, while those who had, didn't know where it was located. While they knew everything about Harry Potter, they were largely unaware that in Mayong, the practice of magic has been a way of life. The irony is that many had travelled to Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, famed for its one-horned rhino population, without knowing they had passed through Mayong," he says.
Incidentally, Assamese author Sushil Rajkhowa's book, 'Rinkur Rajsabha Part I', too is inspired by the magic practised in Mayong. Rajkhowa says there is a mine of historical texts in Mayong that has not been tapped. Borpujari too confirms this.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Spellbound-Occult-a-way-of-life-in-Assams-Mayong/articleshow/16896900.cms