The Ambari excavations trace habitation in the city to the sixth century. Epigraphic sources place capitals of historical kingdoms, like Pragjyotishpurnagara, in the Guwahati area. Guwahati was a Mughal administrative and military center for lower Assam, and it became the seat of the Borphukan, the Ahom viceroy for the western part of the Ahom kingdom.The Dighalipukhuri is a rectangular lake that was connected to the Brahmaputra, and was probably dug for naval reasons by the Ahoms.

 The name Guwahati is derived from two Assamese words: guwa (betel nut) and hat (market place). It was situated midway between two powerful kingdoms: the Ahom and the Koch kingdoms. This city is surrounded by hills and from the top, it looks like a cave (Guha in assamese) and with river Brahmaputra and bharalu, the looks like a picture of an elephant (Hati in assamese). Many people believe the name was Guhahati which later took the form of Gauhati (under British dynasty) and then changed to Guwahati.