POLITICAL CONDITION OF ASSAM ON THE EVE OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE AHOMS

       POLITICAL CONDITION OF ASSAM ON THE EVE OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE AHOMS.

The establishment of the Ahom kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley is an important event in the history of Assam. The Ahoms ruled Assam for nearly a long period of six hundred years from 1228 AD to 1826 AD, a period which is unprecedented in the history of the world. During their long rule they brought the political unity of the Brahmaputra Valley on the one hand and gave a new form to its culture on the other.

However, there were many small kingdoms in the Brahmaputra Valley at the time of the establishment of the Ahom kingdom there. They were politically disunited and this situation paved the way for any courageous fortune-seeker to attack and occupy them.

History is the echo of the past and it gives us informations of the same. The respective history of the kingdoms then existed in the Brahmaputra Valley gives us some light about their own historical accounts. Moreover, “A History of Assam” by Sir Edward Gait, “The comprehensive History of Assam” by Dr. S. L. Baruah, ‘The Ahom Buranjis’ and “Ahom Tribal Relations – By. Dr. Lakshmi Devi give us much informations about the kingdoms established in the Brahmaputra Valley.

There were many small kindgoms dividing among themselves the whole of the eastern part of Assam on the advent of the Ahoms in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Of these Kingdoms, the small kingdom of the Chutias was also one of them. The Ahoms established their kingdom on the bank of the river Brahmaputra covering the area in the South-East of the undivided district of Sibsagar lying between the Disang and Dikhu rivers while the Chutias ruled on the bank of that mighty river occupying the region east of the rivers Subansiri and Disang.

The Chutias are the indigenous people of Assam and like the Kacharis they were very powerful at the time of the coming of the Ahoms in Assam. Their original language was closely akin to the Bodo language. According to W. B. Brown the language of the Chutias, “may fairly claim to be the original language of upper Assam.”

The Chutias were divided into four divisions as Hindu, Ahom, Barahi and Deori. They were the followers of the Shakti, i.e., female energy of God and worshipped the goddess “Kesai Khati” or Kali in the temples of Sadiya.

Nothing definite is known about the early history of the Chutias. It seems that possibly their history was very old. The Chutias were bound to accept the suzerainty of Sukapha after the Barahis and the Morans. The first king of the Chutias was Birbal or Birpal, whose queen was Rupavati. After him his son Gaurinaray ascended to the throne of the Chutia kingdom in 1244 AD who was a very powerful king.

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GUPTAJIT PATHAK

Lecturer, Department of History,

 Kanya Mahavidyalaya,

 Gitanagar,  Guwahati-21,

Assam, INDIA

Mobile :  +91 99548-85175

E-mail : guptajitpathak@yahoo.com