Traditionally, Guwahati has been an important administrative and trading center and a river port. The name Guwahati is derived from two Assamese words: 'guwa' (areca nut) and 'haat' (market place). The name used to be spelled as Gowhatty (pre-colonial and colonial), standardized to Gauhati (colonial-British), which was then changed to the present form in the late 1980s to conform to the local pronunciati .There is almost a magic that hovers over the city.
Epigraphic sources place capitals of many ancient kingdoms in Guwahati. It was the capital of the mythological kings Naraka and Bhagadatta (reference in the Mahabharata). The ancient sakti temple of Kamakhya in the Nilachal hill (also important seat of tantric and Vajrayana Buddhism), Navagraha, the nine planets temple (ancient and a unique temple for astrology) located in Chitrachal Hill and archaeological remains in Basista and many other locations support the mythological characters and the city's ancient past.
