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Even though systematic errors in the Sanskrit of Kamarupa inscriptions betray an underlying Pakrit in the pre-12th century period, scarce examples of the language exist. The Charyapadas, the Buddhist ballads of 8th-10th century some of whose composers were from Kamarupa and the language of which bear strong affitinities with Assamese (beside Bengali and Oriya), are considered the first examples of Assamese literature. The spirit of the Charyapadas are found in later-day Deh-Bicaror Geet and other aphorisms; and some of the ragas found their way to the 15th-16th century Borgeets. In the 12th-14th century period the works of Ramai Pundit (Sunya Puran), Baru Chandidas (Krishna Kirtan), Sukur Mamud (Gopichandrar Gan), Durllava Mullik (Gobindachandrar Git) and Bhavani Das (Mainamatir Gan) bear strong grammatical relationship to Assamese; and their expressions and their use of adi-rasa are found in the later Panchali works of Mankar and Pitambar. These works too are claimed as examples of Bengali literature. After this period of shared legacy a fully differentiated Assamese literature finally emerged in the 14th century.

Pre-Sankardeva period
This period saw the flourishing of two kinds of literary activity: translations and adaptations, and choral songs.

Translations and Adaptations
Harivara Vipra, a court poet of Durlabhnarayana (1330–1350) of Kamata, with his work Vavruvahanar Yuddha (based on the Mahabharata) and Lava-Kuxar Yuddha (based on the Ramayana) provides the first date-able examples of Assamese literature. Though translated works, they contain local descriptions and embellishments, a feature that describes all translated work of this period. His Vavruvahanar Yuddha, for instance makes references to articles of the Ahom kingdom, which at that time was a small kingdom in the east, and describes the undivided Lakhimpur region, and in Lava-Kushar Yuddha he departs from the original and describes local customs for Rama and Sita's pumsavana ceremony. Other works in this class and period are Hema Sarasvati's Prahlada-caritra and Hara-Gauri-Samvada; Kaviratna Saravati's Jayadratha-vadha; Rudra Kandali's Satyaki-pravesa. All these works are associated with Durlabhanarayan of Kamata and his immediate successors.

The major work from this period that left a lasting impression is Saptakanda Ramayana, composed by Madhava Kandali, and recited in the court of a 14th-century Barahi-Kachari king Mahamanikya (Mahamanikpha) who ruled either in the Nagaon or the Golaghat region. In chronology, among vernacular translations of the original Sanskrit, Kandali's Ramayana comes after Kamban's (Tamil), and ahead of Kirttivas' (Bengali), Tulsidas' (Awadhi), Balaram Das' (Oriya) etc. The literary language (as opposed to the colloquial Assamese) this work adopted became the standard literary language for much of the following periods, till the rise of new literature in the 19th century. That his work was a major influence can be inferred from Sankardeva's tribute to the "unerring predecessor poet". The pada form of metrical verse (14 syllables in each verse with identical two syllables at the end of each foot in a couplet) became a standard in Assamese kavya works, something that continued till the modern times. Though a translated work, it is infused with local color, and instead of the heroic, Kandali instead emphasized the homely issues of relationships etc. Among the two kinds of alamkara's, arthalankaras were used extensively, with similes and metaphors taken from the local milieu even though the original works are set in foreign lands; whereas the shabdalankara (alliteration etc) were rarely used.

Choral songs
Choral songs composed for a popular form of narration-performances called Oja-pali, a pre-cursor to theater and theatrical performances, came to be known as Panchali works. Though some of these works are contemporaneous to Sankardeva's, they hark back to older forms free of Sankardeva's influences and so are considered pre-Sankardeva literature.