Indigenous Aryans were inter-related, and the notion of biological race came to the forefront The "Aryan race," the presumed identity of Indo-European language speakers was prominent among such races, which was seen to be further subdivided into "European Aryans" and "Asian Aryans," each with their own homelands. Max Mueller, who translated the Rigveda during 1849–1874, postulated an original homeland for all Aryans in central Asia, from where a northern branch was believed to have migrated to Europe and a southern branch came to India and Iran. The Aryans were fair-complexioned Indo-European speakers who conquered the dark-skinned "dasas" of India. The upper castes,
Etymology of Assam feature that is also seen in Sanskrit ("sur"/"asur"); therefore, "Asham" could mean the same as "Sham", and the name could be derived as "Sham" () > "Āshām" () > "Āsam" () > "Asam" (). Amalendu Guha, too derives it from "Sham"; but instead of using an Indo-Aryan rule, derives it from the Bodo form, "Ha-Sham", meaning the land of the "Sham" people. Masica too believes that "Assam" derives from an earlier attested form of "asam", "acam" which in turn is from a Burmese corruption of the name "Shan/Shyam". derives the name from a Tai root, "cham" (defeated), with an Indic