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 APPENDIX C 197 Saciya, extending the plain beyond the mountain, is said to be possessed by a powerful nation called Kolitas, or Kultas, who are described as having attained a high degree of advancement and civiliza- tion, cqual to any of the nations of the East." (A.R., 1828, p. 346) Wilcox describes From Sadiya to Kolita (kingdom) is a journey forty-two days and six hours; in the middle of the way the route lles through hills where the dense jungles make it very difficult to proceed." (AR, Vol. XVII, p. 456) Curious as it may appear, one Vai avite biography that of Gopal Äta of Bhawanipur, in prose, not only mentions but also describes the way to the Kalita Kingdom whence the mother this Saint made good her escape to the plains to avoid some catastrophe. The relevant por- tions translated literally would stand as: "Now the life sketch of the Ata (Saint) of Bhs (wa) nipur. The Ati's (Forestiers) (original) habitat was in the Kalita country. His family was called the House of the Kali Kalita. (It was) in the village named Cek-cham-Hit Tingi. The stepmother.... belonged to the family of Hari Bar Kalit... Finding no alternative, the Biother of the Ata) had arrived at the country of Asom in fifteen days having made good her escape and leav- ing her own country through dense forests, crossing the Cari hili, through the Tini Muni Pass and by the Abar, Miri, Chrimāti-Miri (hills).".... Gopal Älä, by the same biography, had then been in the ninth month of conception and was born in a midnight of Bihag (April-May) of a Wednesday on the seventh day of the bright moon. It is estimated to be Sak 1436 (1514 A.D.), during the reign of Ahom king Cuhumum (1497-1539) according to Saillardev and Madhatodew, (p. 235). SA the Kalila lingdom must have been in a very prosperous condition at least till the sixteenth century. Nay, it was much more, for which we quole authority: "The power, dominion and resources of the Kulta Rajd are stater to exceed by for those of ASAM (Ahoms) under its most flourishing circumstances, and in former times a communication appears to have been kept up between the estates, now long discontinued. To this nation are attributed the implements of husbandry and domestic life washed down by the flood of the Dihong before mentioned...There is said to be an entrance to this country from upper Asas by a natural tunnel under mountains.... All accounts agree in stating that colony of ABASE under two sons of a Bara Gohain about eight gone rations back [in 15th century? D.N.) took refugo in the country of the Kolitas, on the banks of the Sri Lohit, whence till within about two hundred years, they, at intervals, maintained a correspondence with who resigned lands to them for a settlement, and they had naturalised and Intermarried with the inhabitants. Since that period, however, no troce either of them or of the Kullas had been found until the Hood