A History of Assam c11: Chapter V. The Rise of the Ahom Kingdom

A History of Assam c11

Language: English

Chapter V. The Rise of the Ahom Kingdom

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IN the last two chapters an account has been given of the fortunes of various Bodo rulers, whose ancestors had been domiciled in Assam from time immemorial, and who had already lost much of their energy and martial qualities by long residence in a fertile and steamy plain. We have now to discuss the doings of a race of alien conquerors. Early in the thirteenth century a band of hardy hill men wandered into the eastern extremity of the Brahmaputra valley, led by chance rather than by any deep-seated design, and quite unconscious of the fact that their descendants were destined to bring the whole valley under their rule and to set a limit to the eastward extension of the empire of the Mughal conquerors of India. These were the progenitors of the Ahoms.* They were an offshoot of the great Tāi or Shān race, which spreads eastwards, from the border of Assam over nearly the whole of Further India, and far into the interior of China. The special section to which they belonged, or the Shāns proper, occupied the northern and eastern hill tracts of Upper Burma and Western Yunnan, where they formed a group of states for which, according to Ney Elias, there is no collective native name. The paramount kingdom, the home of the Mau branch of the tribe, was known to themselves as Mungmau, and as Pong to the Manipuris; and the latter term has been taken by some to denote the entire country or collection of states.

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As already stated, the Ahoms had the historic sense very fully developed, and many of the priests and nobles maintained *Buranji*s, or chronicles, which were written up from time to time, and which contain a careful, reliable and continuous narrative of their rule. The following history of the Ahoms has been compiled in the main from the *Buranji*s which still survive.

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∗ The proper spelling is Āhōm, but the word occurs so frequently that I have refrained from putting accents on the vowels.

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The story of the creation as told in Ahom traditions is crude and fantastic, but a brief outline of it may not be altogether devoid of interest.* In the beginning, it is said, there were neither gods nor men, animals nor any living thing. There was no earth, no air, no sun, no moon, no stars, but water only. There was a Supreme Being called Phā, from whom a great light emanated, but he had no corporeal existence and remained suspended in the sky, “like a swarm of bees in a hive.” He first assumed shape himself, and then created from his own body a being named Khun-thiw-khām, whose appearance was that of a huge crab, and who lay floating in the waters with his face upwards. A tortoise was next created and a large serpent with eight hoods, also a large white elephant with long tusks. A mountain was made in the north, and a pillar, to which a rope was affixed, was placed on the top of it. Then two large gold-tinted spiders were brought into existence, and from their excrement the earth gradually formed above the waters. They made the heavens with their webs, passing quickly backwards and forwards like a woman working her loom. In due course Phā created a female counterpart of himself, who laid four eggs, from which were hatched after many years four sons. Three of them were appointed to rule the earth, the serpent and the thunder, respectively, while the fourth remained to assist his father in the subsequent acts of creation. The eldest son, the lord of the earth, contravened his father’s orders, and although he did so inadvertently, he had to suffer death, and became a spirit. His son, who succeeded him as ruler of the earth, died in his turn, and became a household deity who looks after the welfare of families. Another spirit, whose origin is not explained, took up his abode in a *pipal* tree. Seeing that the world was not going on properly, God created a poet.

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Like many other races the Ahoms have traditions of a flood. It is said that once upon a time there was intense heat from the sun, which dried up all the water on the face of the earth, and many people and animals died of thirst. At length the intense heat caused the earth to crack, and an immense volume of boiling water burst out and killed all remaining living things, save an old man named Thāolipling and a cow, who took refuge in a boat made of stone. As the waters rose, this boat was carried to the summit of a high mountain called Ipā far away to the north-east. The old man and the cow stayed on this mountain. The water gradually subsided, leaving the bodies of the dead men and animals to decay. From them such an evil smell arose that it reached the abode of the Gods, who sent fire down from heaven to burn them. The heat caused by the conflagration was so intense, that the old man, unable to endure it, killed the cow and took refuge inside its body. There he found the seed of a pumpkin. After the fire had passed by, he planted this seed, and a tree grew up, which threw out four branches towards the four points of the compass. The northern branch was killed by the cold, the southern branch fell into the fire and was burnt, the western branch was destroyed by the remains of the flood, and only the eastern branch survived.

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∗ A translation of a slightly different version of this legend is given by Dr. Grierson in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for April, 1904. Dr. Grierson points out that the opening portion recalls the cosmogony described in the Babylonian tablets.

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This branch grew and flourished exceedingly, and produced a giant gourd, inside of which were men and every kind of animal, bird, and fish, and every kind of plant. The living creatures tried hard to get out, and at length their cries and struggles reached the ears of Lengdon or Indra,* who sent a messenger named Pānthoi to ascertain the cause of the uproar. Pānthoi went and listened, and heard the cries of men, elephants, cattle, and other animals from inside the gourd. He returned and reported this to Indra, who sent his eldest son Āiphālān to break open the gourd by means of a flash of lightning. Āiphālān descended to earth to carry out his father's instructions. He at first directed his shaft towards the part of the gourd where the men were, but they entreated him not to destroy them and implored him to aim elsewhere, saying that, if they were allowed to live and to escape from the gourd, they would settle down and cultivate. Āiphālān then aimed at the place where the cattle were, but they likewise begged him to spare them, saying that they would be required by the men for ploughing.

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∗ The Deodhāis or Ahom priests identify all their principal deities with gods of the Hindu pantheon. It is impossible now to say when they first did this, but it may have been long before the Ahom conquest of Assam. Aryan princes, as we have already seen, found their way to Further India at a very early date and took the Hindu mythology with them. The word Lengdon means "one-powerful," i.e., The Almighty.

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Lengdon’s son again and again changed the direction of his aim, but was always met by entreaties to discharge his fiery missile at some other part of the gourd. At last the old man Thāolipling, who was sitting at the point where the flower had died off from the gourd, offered to sacrifice himself for the men if they would undertake to give him a feast and to worship him ever afterwards. The men promised to do so, and Āiphālān thereupon discharged his lightning at the part of the gourd on which the old man was seated. Thāolipling was killed, but the gourd was split open, and everything inside it escaped. Āiphālān then taught the men different occupations; he also showed the birds how to build their nests, and the other animals how to support themselves. Thāolipling is still worshipped by the Ahom Deodhāis and Bāilongs, the tribal priests and astrologers, who alone of all the Ahoms still retain any recollection of their ancient beliefs. He receives from them periodic offerings of sweets, grain and other edibles. Lengdon is their main and supreme god, but this, they say, does not prevent them from doing homage to the man, but for whose act of self-abnegation the gourd might have remained unbroken until the present day.

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There are two versions of the origin of the Ahom kings, The one being the story told by the Deodhais, which tallies very closely with that still preserved amongst the Shāns of Upper Burma, while the other is a modification of it, invented by the Brāhmans with a view to encouraging their conversion to Hinduism. Both agree in attributing to them a divine ancestry.

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According to the Deodhāis, Lengdon directed his son Thenkhām to descend to earth and establish a kingdom there. Thenkhām was unwilling to leave heaven, and so it was arranged that his sons Khunlung and Khunlai* should go instead. Lengdon presented them with an idol called Somdeo,* a magic sword, or Hengdān, two drums to be used for invoking divine aid, and four cocks for telling the omens. Khunlung, being the elder, was to be the king, and Khunlai, the younger, his chief councillor.

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∗ Khun-lung means "prince-elder" and Khun-lai "prince-younger."

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Khunlung and Khunlai descended from heaven with their following by an iron (or golden) chain in the year 568 A.D., and alighted in the country of Mungrimungrām,† where the Tāis or Shāns dwelt without a king. On arrival it was found that, in the hurry of departure, the cocks and other gifts had been left behind. One Lango went back to fetch them, and was given as his reward the kingdom of

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† *Mung-ri-mung-rām* means "country-deserted-country-uninhabited," *i.e.*, an uninhabited and deserted country.

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* A very similar tradition is current in the Shan States (*The Shans at Home* by Milne and Cochrane, pp. 18 *et seq.*), but according to that version there were two idols, a male called Sung, and a female called Sang; Ney Elias says they were the images of Khunlung's ancestors. The Somdeo is said to have been still in the possession of Purandar Singh when he took refuge in Bengal in 1819. In 1912 Colonel P. R. Gurdon, c.s.i., found with his descendant, Kuar Chandra Nārāyan Singh of Jorhat, a metal plaque, oblong in shape, but rounded at the top, measuring about 9½ in. by 3½ in. and half an inch thick, which was said to have been used as a pedestal for the Somdeo. There was a hole at the upper end, by means of which it was said to have been suspended from the neck of the Ahom kings at the time of their coronation ceremony. Colonel Gurdon was informed that the Sōmdeō was a jewel set in a cylinder, and that it was sold in Calcutta by a nephew of Purandar Singh when in financial difficulties. A similar fate, he was told, befell a set of seven gold caskets, one inside the other, in which the Somdeo and plaque were formerly kept. The plaque bears on its back, front and sides Chinese inscriptions, *viz.*, on the front, "Letters patent dated the fifth year of Yung Lo" (1408 A.D.); on the back, "By command of his Imperial Majesty, the President of the Board compares both halves"; on the left side, "Be faithful" and on the right side, "Let the rescript have effect. The Royal Commission for conciliation Timāsā."

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The inscriptions on the back and front are complete, but those on the sides, it is said, are only halves, the other halves being on a similar plaque, which it was customary in such cases to retain at the Chinese capital. When tribute was sent in by a dependent ruler, the envoys took the local plaque with them, and the Chinese officials compared it with the complementary plaque in their possession. If the two agreed the tribute was accepted. (J. R. A. S., 1913, p. 253.) Timāsā has been identified with Chingmai, a northern province of Siam which was tributary to China in the fifteenth century. How the plaque came into the possession of the Ahoms, and why it was regarded by them as worthy of association with their tutelary deity, are problems which remain unsolved.

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China and also the magic Hengdān. Khunlung and Khunlai built a town in Mungrimungrām. The latter by a stratagem ousted his elder brother, who thereupon, taking the Somdeo with him, went further west, and founded a new kingdom in Mungkhumungjāo.* He ruled for forty years, and then returned to heaven, leaving seven sons. The youngest, Khunchu, succeeded him, the others having been installed during his lifetime as tributary kings of other countries. The eldest son, whose kingdom was called Mungkang, inherited the Somdeo. Another son, it is said, was made king of Ava. In this connection, it is noteworthy that the Burmese rulers always called the Ahom princes their "brother kings." Mung means "country" and Kang "drum" or "poison," so that Mungkang may be translated either as the "country of the drum" or the "land of poison." Apparently the former is the correct translation, as Ney Elias quotes a tradition that Sāmlungphā found a sapphire drum in the bed of the local river.

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The usurper Khunlai ruled in Mungrimungrām for seventy years, and his son Tyāoāijeptyātphā for forty years. The latter is said to have founded the Aijepi era, which is still current amongst the Narās and Burmese. He died childless, whereupon Tyāokhunjan, of the line of Khunlung and Khunchu, sent one of his sons to fill the vacant throne. This prince ruled for twenty-five years. On his death his kingdom was divided, one son taking Mungrimungrām and the other Maulung on the Shueli river. The latter and his descendants ruled for three hundred and thirty-three years, when the line became extinct and another of Khunchu's descendants was elected king. One of his grandsons was Sukāphā, the founder of the Ahom kingdom in Assam; he had a dispute with one of his brothers, in consequence of which he left the country and, after stealing the Somdeo from the Raja of Mungkang, fled towards Assam.†

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∗ Mung khu-mung-jāo means "country-great-country-wide," i.e., a land of great extent. Ney Elias gives the name as Maingkaing-maingnyaung.

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† I have omitted the long list of kings who are said to have ruled in Mungrimungrām. Their names vary considerably in the different Buranjis, and it is impossible to say which, if any, is correct.

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The Brahmanical account of the origin of the ruling family is very similar to that invented for other kings of aboriginal stock who, from time to time, were induced to enter the fold of Hinduism. It is said that Vasishta Muni had a hermitage on a hill east of Saumārpith. Indra held high revels there, and was one day seen by the Muni sporting with Sachi in his flower garden. In his wrath, the Muni cursed Indra, and condemned him to have intercourse with a low caste woman. This happened; and the woman, who proved to be an incarnation of Bidyadhāri, begat a son who was highly favoured by Indra. He had many children, of whom Khunlung and Khunlāi were the eldest, and ruled in Mungrimungrām. The subsequent events are as already narrated.

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Comparison with traditions of other Shān tribes. The traditions of the Ahoms regarding the origin of their kings tally very closely in their main features with those preserved by the Shāns of Upper Burma, of which an account has been given by Ney Elias in his *History of the Shans*.* There are, as may be well understood, many differences in matters of detail, and especially in the names of the various rulers and of the places where they reigned. A more noteworthy point of divergence is that the Shān chronicles, while they contain no reference to Sukāphā's invasion of Assam, claim that Sāmlungphā, the brother of a king of Mungmau who ascended the throne in 1220 A.D., gained several notable victories in Upper Assam, where he defeated the Chutiyas, as well as in Arakan, Manipur and other countries. The two stories, however, are not necessarily incompatible, and it is quite possible that while Sukāphā was pushing his way across the Pātkāi, with a small body of colonists, rather than of military invaders, and establishing himself in the south-eastern corner of the Brahmaputra valley, the general of another Shān State may have entered the valley by a more easterly route and inflicted a series of defeats on the Chutiyas, whose kingdom was well to the north of the tract where the Ahoms made their first lodgment.

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∗ A less accurate summary of the same traditions is given by Pemberton in *The Eastern Frontier of India*.

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That Sukāphā was the leader of the body of Shāns who laid the foundation of the Ahom kingdom in Assam is a fact established, not only by the unanimous testimony of the *Buranjis*, but also by universal and well-remembered tradition. There is less certainty as to the precise State from which he came, but there seems no reason to discredit the statement of the *Buranjis* to the effect that it was Maulung. In any case, there can be no possible doubt that the original home of the Ahoms was somewhere in the ancient kingdom of Pong. They are genuine Shāns, both in their physical type and in their tribal language and written character. They called themselves Tāi (meaning "celestial origin"), which is the name by which the Shāns still designate themselves, and they maintained a fairly continuous intercourse with the inhabitants of their original home until very recent times. Nor is their movement across the Pātkāi by any means an isolated one. The Khāmtis, Phākiāls, Aitonias, Turungs and Khāmjāngs are all Shān tribes who have, at different times, moved along the same route from the cradle of their race; but the Ahoms were the only ones who did so before the conversion of its inhabitants to Buddhism. The other Shān tribes of Assam are all Buddhists, which shows that they migrated at a later date. The Turungs, in fact, did not reach the plains of Assam until the beginning of the nineteenth century.

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Sukāphā is said to have left Maulung in 1215 A.D. with a following of eight nobles, and 9,000 men, women and children. It may be surmised, though this is nowhere stated, that the great majority of his followers were adult males. He had with him two elephants, and 300 horses. For thirteen years he wandered about the hilly country of the Pātkāi, making occasional raids on Nāga villages, and in 1228 A.D. he arrived in Khāmjāng.

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He crossed a river called the Khāmnāmjāng in rafts, and came to the Nongnyāng lake. Some Nāgas attempted to resist his advance, but he defeated them and perpetrated frightful atrocities on those whom he captured. He caused many of them to be killed and roasted, and compelled their relatives to eat their flesh. This ghastly barbarity created such widespread terror that the other Nāgas of the neighbourhood all hastened to make their submission. Leaving one of his nobles to rule the conquered country, Sukāphā proceeded to Dangkāorang, Khāmhāngpung and Nāmrup. He bridged the Sessa river and ascended the Dihing, but, finding the place unsuitable, he retraced his steps and, proceeding downstream, reached Tipām. Thence he went, in 1236 A.D., to Mungklang Chekhru (Abhaypur), where he stayed for several years. In 1240, this tract of country became flooded during the rainy season, so he left it and descended the Brahmaputra to Hābung, where he spent two years. While here, the Ahoms lived by cultivation. But this place also was liable to inundation, and in 1244 a heavy flood necessitated another move. Sukāphā, therefore, continued his journey down the Brahmaputra till he reached the mouth of the Dikhu. Thence he went to Ligirigāon. In 1246 he proceeded to Simaluguri, leaving a detachment at Ligirigāon. He stayed here for some years. It is said that he contemplated an attack on the people inhabiting the valley of the Nāmdāng (a tributary of the Dikhu), but gave up the idea on finding how numerous they were. In 1253 Simaluguri was abandoned in favour of Charāideo, where a city was built amid general rejoicings. To celebrate the occasion two horses were sacrificed to the Gods, and prayers were offered by the Deodhāis under a mulberry tree.

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Subjugation of Morāns and Borāhis.

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The neighbouring country was at this time in the possession of the Morāns, whose king was named Badanchā, and of the Borāhis, who were then ruled by Thākumthā. The Morāns still survive as a separate tribe. At the end of Ahom rule they occupied the country between the Dāngori and Dibru rivers; they paid no revenue but supplied various products of the jungle, such as elephants, dye, honey and mats. Many now profess to be Ahoms, and they have adopted many Ahom rites and customs; their language, however, is unmistakably Bodo. Sukāphā fought with and defeated these tribes in turn, after which he wisely adopted conciliatory measures, and, by treating them as equals and encouraging intermarriage, he welded them all into one nation. He made friends with his brother rulers in his ancestral home, and sent them presents of gold and silver. He died in 1268 A.D.

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Sukāphā was an enterprising and brave prince, and his treatment of the conquered Morāns and Borāhis was most judicious, but his fair fame is sullied by the brutal means he adopted to overawe the hostile Nāgas of the Pātkāi. The memory of his wanderings along the valley of the Dihing river is still preserved in various local names and traditions. Following the practice in his native country, Sukāphā appointed two great officers of State, known as the Bar Gohāin and the Burhā Gohāin, who exercised powers second only to those of the king himself.* It may be mentioned here that the Ahoms called Assam Mungdunsunkhām (country-full-garden-gold) or the country full of golden gardens.

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Sukāphā was succeeded by his son Suteuphā, who ruled for thirteen years and died in 1281. In his reign the Kachāris abandoned to the Ahoms the country east of the Dikhu river. It is related in one Buranji that there was a war between the Narās, or Shāns of Mungkang, and the people of Māntara or Burma. The former were worsted, and appealed for help to Suteuphā, who replied that he would send a force to their assistance if the Narā king would give him a daughter in marriage. The latter declined to do so. A quarrel ensued and Suteuphā sent an expedition against the Narās, but his troops were defeated and the Burhā Gohāin, who commanded them, was slain. The Bar Gohāin was promptly despatched with a second force, but, instead of fighting, he came to terms with the enemy. On his return he was disgraced and imprisoned. He was subsequently forgiven on the intercession of the other nobles.

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The Narās are regarded by the Ahoms as their close kinsmen, but Ney Elias inclines to a somewhat different view. In the fabulous or half fabulous account of Khunlung and Khunlai, the former is credited with having occupied the western portion of the country, *i.e.*, the tract around Mungkang in the Hukong valley. From this time, down to its conquest by Sāmlungphā, about 1215 A.D., the Shān

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Suteuphā, 1268 to 1281.

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The Narās.

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∗ An account of the Ahom system of government will be found in Chapter IX. That chapter also contains an explanation of the titles of the Ahom kings and nobles.

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chronicles contain only a few vague references to this tract as the country of the Narās, and it seems to have formed an entirely independent state. Ney Elias adds that, from the little he was able to glean of the Narās from native sources, they formerly constituted the aboriginal population of the region in question, but afterwards became mixed with the Mau and Khāmti Shāns; their original seat was probably in Khāmti. However that may be, the Narās were a comparatively civilized people, and the few who still remain in Khāmti, Mogaung and Upper Assam are regarded as a learned class. They are Buddhists, and are generally employed as astronomers and writers.

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The next king was Suteuphā's son Subinphā. He reigned from 1281 to 1293. During his reign no addition was made to the territory conquered by Sukāphā. He distributed his Ahom subjects in equal proportions between the Bar Gohāin and the Burhā Gohāin.

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This prince was succeeded by his son Sukhāngphā. During the long period of peace that followed their victory over the earlier inhabitants of the tract in which they had settled, the Ahoms had greatly increased in numbers, not only by natural growth, but also by the admission to their tribe of many local recruits and, probably, by the arrival of fresh emigrants from their old home; and they were now in a position to hold their own against the more powerful Rajas around them. The result was a succession of wars which eventually made them masters of the whole of the Brahmaputra valley. It is said that, they first tried their strength, not against their immediate neighbours, the Chutiyas and Kachāris, but against the Raja of Kāmatā. Hostilities continued for some years with heavy losses on both sides. At last, their adversary grew weary of the war, and, on the advice of his ministers, sent an envoy to sue for peace. A treaty was made, and his daughter Rājani was given to the Ahom king in marriage.

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Sukhāngphā died in 1332, after a reign of thirty-nine years. He left four sons Sukhrāngphā, Sutuphā, Tyāokhāmthi and Chāo Pulai. The last-mentioned was by the Kāmatā princess, Rājani. In one Buranji it is mentioned that the ruler of Mungkang sent to Sukhāngphā to demand tribute, on the ground of his being the lineal descendant of the chief of Maulung in whose reign Sukāphā had emigrated. The demand was not complied with, but soon afterwards the Mungkang Raja died and the matter was dropped.*

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Sukhrāngphā, the eldest of the late king’s four sons, ascended the vacant throne. He soon became unpopular, and his half-brother Chāo Pulāi, whom he had appointed to be Sāring Raja, hatched a conspiracy against him. The plot being detected, Chāo Pulāi fled to his kinsman, the Raja of Kāmatā, who agreed to help him and marched to Athgāon and thence to Sāring. Sukhrāngphā became alarmed and, not feeling sufficiently certain of the loyalty of his troops, opened negotiations and became reconciled with Chāo Pulāi.

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According to some accounts, Chāo Pulāi’s conspiracy was instigated by the Bar Gohāin, while others say that it was that officer who had poisoned the king’s mind against him. But all agree that the Bar Gohāin was the one to suffer, and he only escaped being put to death under the king’s orders by concealing himself until the affair had blown over. He was subsequently forgiven and taken back into favour. Sukhrāngphā died in 1364 after a reign of thirty-two years.

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He was succeeded by his brother Sutuphā. There were frequent disputes with the Chutiyās during this reign. At last, in 1376, the Chutiyā king visited Sutuphā at Chāpāguri, and, pretending to be reconciled, invited him to a regatta on the Sāfrāi river. He enticed him on to his own barge without attendants, and there treacherously murdered him.

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After Sutuphā’s death, there was no prince whom the great nobles thought worthy of the throne, and so, for four years, the Bar Gohāin and Burhā Gohāin carried on the administration themselves.

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At last, in 1380, finding it difficult to govern the country without a king, they raised Tyāokhāmti, the third son of

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Sukhrāngphā, 1332 to 1364.

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Sutuphā, 1364 to 1376.

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Interregnum, 1376 to 1380.

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Tyāokhāmti, 1380 to 1389.

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∗ This affair is not mentioned by Ney Elias. In his table of the Mogaung Tsaubwas, Chā-kun-lāo is shown as reigning there from 1248 to 1308 and his son Chā-pureing from 1308 to 1344. The alleged length of the former’s reign leads one to suspect that the record is incomplete.

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Sukhāngphā, to the throne. One of his first acts was to lead an army against the Chutiyās to punish them for the treacherous murder of Sutuphā. The elder of his two wives was left in charge during his absence. She was on bad terms with the younger queen, who was the king’s favourite, and took advantage of her position as regent to cause a false accusation to be preferred against her. The charge was investigated and declared true, whereupon the elder queen ordered her to be beheaded. The ministers, however, seeing that she was pregnant, instead of killing her, set her adrift on the Brahmaputra on a raft. The king was victorious in his campaign against the Chutiyās, but was horrified, on his return, to hear of the execution of his favourite wife, especially when a new and impartial enquiry showed that the allegations against her were false. He was, however, too much under the influence of the elder queen to venture to take action against her. This, and his failure to prevent her from committing numerous acts of oppression, irritated the nobles so much that in 1389 they caused him to be assassinated.

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There was again no suitable successor to the throne, and the great nobles ruled once more without a king. Some years later, a man named Thāo Cheoken went across the Brahmaputra to trade in cattle, and there, in a Hābung village, he saw a youth, named Sudāng, of such noble aspect that he made enquiries about him, and learnt that he was the son of Tyāokhāmthi’s younger queen. The raft on which she was set adrift had floated to this Hābung village, where a Brāhman gave the unfortunate woman shelter. She died, after giving birth to this boy, who was brought up by the Brāhman along with his own children. The Burhā Gohāin was informed of these facts and, after verifying the story and consulting the other ministers, he brought the youth to the capital and placed him on the throne.

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Sudāngphā became king in 1397. He was then fifteen years of age. From having been brought up in a Brāhman’s house, he is often known as the “Brāhman Prince.” He built a town at Dholā, but afterwards made his capital at Charguya near the Dihing river. His accession marks the first stage in the growth of Brahmanical influence amongst the Ahoms. He brought with him from the Hābung country the Brāhman who had sheltered him and his sons. The latter were given posts of importance on the frontier, while the old Brāhman himself was installed as his confidential adviser, and, under his influence, many Hindu rites and ceremonies began to be observed.

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The Tipām chiefs, who were dissatisfied with the new régime, hatched a plot against the young king. This came to his ears, but instead of at once taking open steps against the conspirators, he caused a stockade for catching elephants to be constructed, and having caught some elephants, invited them to join him in celebrating the occasion by a feast. Cows and buffaloes were slain and, when the festivities were in full swing and all suspicion had been allayed, the conspirators were suddenly overpowered and put to death. According to a practice which was common amongst the Ahoms and many other Asiatic tribes, their heads were piled up in a heap as a trophy.

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Having thus disposed of his more active enemies, Sudāngphā endeavoured to conciliate the rest of the Tipāmias by marrying the daughter of one of their chiefs named Khuntai. The girl, however, had already become enamoured of a Tipāmia named Tāi Sulāi, and the latter, after dining one night with the king, sent a ring to the queen by one of his servants. The king was informed of this, and called for an explanation from Tāi Sulāi, who fled forthwith to Surumphā, king of Mungkang, and begged for help. The latter sent his Bar Gohāin with an army against Sudāngphā, who met the invaders in person and defeated them, near Kuhiārbāri in the Tipām country, but sustained a slight wound from a spear-thrust while riding on an elephant at the head of his troops. The enemy were pursued by the Ahom Bar Gohāin as far as the Pātkāi. There were no further hostilities, and a formal treaty was concluded in 1401 by which the Pātkāi was fixed as the boundary between the two countries. The meeting of the two Bar Gohāins, who conducted the negotiations for peace, took place on the side of the Nongnyāng lake, twenty-eight miles south-west of Margherita, and statues of them are said to have been carved in the rock there. A solemn oath of amity was sworn, and consecrated by the cutting up of a fowl. The word Pātkāi is said to be derived from this incident. The full name was Pāt-kāi-seng-kau, which means "cut-fowl-oath-sworn." The former name of the pass was Dāi-kau-rang or "the junction of nine peaks." Nong-nyāng means "lake-shaking."

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Tāi Sulāi, being thus deprived of his asylum, took refuge with the Raja of Kāmatā, who refused to give him up. An expedition was despatched under the Bar Gohāin to invade Kāmatā, but the Raja averted war by giving his daughter Bhājani to Sudāngphā, with a dowry of two elephants and a number of horses and of male and female servants, as well as a quantity of gold and silver.*

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Sudāngphā devoted the remaining years of his reign to completing the subjugation of the Tipām, Khāmjāng and Aiton tribes, whose chiefs had again refused to pay tribute. It was found that they had received encouragement from the Narā Raja. Messengers were sent to remonstrate with him; he warned the recusant chiefs not to expect any further aid from him and they then submitted. Sudāngphā died in 1407 after a reign of ten years. Gunābhirām says that this king gave himself up to a life of self-indulgence, but none of the Buranjis in any way confirm this statement, and its accuracy is doubtful. His reign was a very eventful one, and in one battle at least he fought at the head of his troops.

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The late king's son Sujāngphā ascended the throne. Nothing of any importance is recorded during his reign. He died in 1422.

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One of his sons, Suphākphā, was the next king. He reigned seventeen years, and died in 1439. His reign also was uneventful.

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Susenphā, a son of Suphākphā by a Tipām princess, now ascended the throne. The chief occurrence of his reign was an expedition against the Tangsu Nāgas in retaliation for raids committed by them. The king, who led his troops in person, attacked and routed the Nāgas, but the Ahoms lost one hundred and forty men in the battle.* A ruler of some country to the east of Assam is said to have sent presents to Susenphā in order to make friends with him, and the Ākhāmpā Nāgas came in with a present of swords as a token of their submission.

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∗ Blochmann, relying on Prinsep, says that during this reign the Ahoms conquered North-East Bengal as far as the Karatōyā (J. A. S. B., 1873, p. 235). The source of Prinsep's information is not known, but the statement probably refers to this dispute with the Raja of Kāmatā.

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Susenphā died in 1488 after a reign of forty-nine years. The scanty references to his long reign in the *Buranjis* may perhaps be taken as proof that he was a good king and that under his rule the people were contented and prosperous.

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Susenphā was followed by his son Suhenphā. War was renewed with the Tangsu Nāgas, who were ultimately defeated, though, at the commencement of hostilities, they routed a detachment of Ahoms, and cut off the head of the Bar Gohāin who was in command. In 1490 war broke out with the Kachāris. The Ahom army was defeated at Dampuk, on the bank of the Dikhu, with the loss of a commander and one hundred and twenty men killed and many more wounded. The Ahoms sued for peace, and a princess was sent to the Kachāri king with two elephants and twelve female slaves as her dowry.†

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† This is the version given in the *Buranjis*. Gunābhirām says that the battle was indecisive and that, when peace was made, the Kachāris ceded some territory.

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Suhenphā was assassinated in 1493 by some men of the Tāirungbān clan. They had been punished for stealing some paddy from the royal granary and, in revenge, stabbed the king to death with a pointed bamboo, while engaged on some repairs in the palace. According to some accounts the murder was instigated by the Burhā Gohāin.

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Suhenphā was succeeded by his son Supimphā, who at once set himself to trace out and punish his father’s murderers. This led to the revolt of the Burhā Gohāin, who appears to have been suspected of complicity. There is a story that one of Supimphā’s wives happened to see a Nāga chief, who had come to pay tribute, and praised his beauty in the king's hearing. The latter was so incensed at this that he sent her to the Nāga's village. She was pregnant at the time and subsequently gave birth to a son of whom more will be heard later on. Supimphā died, or, as some say, was assassinated, in 1497.

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∗ This is the general version. According to one account the Ahoms were defeated, while another writer says that Susenphā himself fled from the field in a litter, being so overcome with panic that he was purged as he sat there, and that the Bānrukia Gohāin then took command and defeated the Nāgas with heavy loss. The word Tangsu is said to be derived from the Ahom *tang* "chase" and *su* "tiger."

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His son Suhungmung ascended the throne at Charguya with great ceremony. The increasing influence of the Brāhmans is shown by the fact that he assumed the Hindu title Svarga Nārāyan.* He was better known as the Dihingia Raja, because he made his capital at Bakatā on the Dihing and settled a number of Ahoms in the neighbourhood, after erecting an embankment along the river to prevent inundation when it was in flood. In 1504, the Aitonia Nāgas revolted, and the Bar Gohāin and the Burhā Gohāin were placed in charge of an expedition against them. The Nāgas were defeated, and acknowledged the supremacy of the Ahom king, to whom they sent a daughter of their chief and a present of four elephants as a peace offering. They also agreed to pay a yearly tribute of axes, gongs and amber.

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In 1510 an enquiry was made into the number, condition and distribution of the people, and they were divided into clans. In 1512 the Hābung country was annexed.

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In 1513 the Chutiya Raja, Dhir Nārāyan, invaded the country with an army and a flotilla of boats.† His land forces were defeated at Dikhu Mukh by the Ahoms, who were also victorious in a naval encounter at Siraāti. The Chutiyas lost heavily in both engagements and were compelled to retreat, whereupon Suhungmung took possession of Mungkhrāng, and of the country round Nāmdāng, where he built a town. Dhir Nārāyan now invoked the aid of the Raja of Mungkang, who was at first disposed to help him. He was, however, dissuaded by a Bānpara chief, and eventually sent presents to Suhungmung and made an alliance with him.*

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∗ This title, or its variant Svarga Deb became henceforth the designation by which the Ahom kings described themselves in their official documents.

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† According to some accounts, the invasion occurred in 1516, and the name of the Chutiya king was Chandra Nārāyan, not Dhir Nārāyan as stated in the text.

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Failing to obtain help from outside, the Chutiyas made no effort to recover their lost territory until 1520, when they attacked the Ahom fort at Mungkhrāng. The Ahom commander was killed in a sortie and the garrison fled; and for a time the Chutiyas once more ruled this tract of country. For some reason, not disclosed in the Buranjis, two years elapsed before Suhungmung equipped a fresh expedition. The Chutiyas were then engaged and defeated near the mouth of the Sessa river; and not only was the lost territory recovered, but a further advance was made to the mouth of the Tiphāo river, where a fort was erected.

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In 1523 the Chutiyas laid siege to this fort, but met with a stubborn resistance. Suhungmung hurried to the place with strong reinforcements, and arrived on the very day on which the Chutiyas were delivering their assault. He at once made a counter-attack, and the Chutiyas were utterly routed. They sued for peace and sent valuable presents, but Suhungmung would accept nothing less than the heirlooms of the Chutiya king, his gold cat, gold elephant, and gold umbrella. These being refused, the war was continued. The Chutiyas fortified a position at the mouth of one of the rivers near Sadiya, but were easily dislodged by the Ahoms, who crossed the river on a bridge of boats and pursued the retreating Chutiyas as far as the Kāitara hill. The latter then occupied the hill Chautan (Chaudangiri), and for some time kept the Ahoms in check by rolling down heavy stones. As it was found impossible to win the position by a frontal attack, a force was detailed to take the enemy in the rear. The back of the mountain was precipitous, and, at first, the ascent seemed impracticable; but the Ahom soldiers were not to be denied, and, by holding on to creepers, they at last gained the summit. The Chutiyas, taken by surprise, fled hastily to Jāngmungkhām (Māthādāng), when another engagement was forced on them. Their king was killed by an arrow, and his eldest son, who rushed forward to avenge his death, was also slain. The Chutiyas then gave way, and fled, hotly pursued by the Ahoms, who took a great number of prisoners, including the whole of the royal family except the principal queen who, preferring death to captivity, killed herself with a spear. The captives and loot (including the royal heirlooms) were presented to Suhungmung, together with the heads of the Chutiya king and his son. These were buried under the steps of the temple at Charāideo, so that the Ahom king might walk over them whenever he entered the temple.

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∗ According to Ney Elias, it is stated in the Shān chronicles that Chaukaaphā, who ascended the throne of Mungkang or Mogaung in 1493 and might, therefore, well have been still alive at the time of the projected invasion mentioned in the text, set out to undertake the conquest of Assam, but that, on reaching the boundary, the Ahom king sent him large presents of cattle and horses and he retreated peacefully. This apparently refers to the same incident.

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The whole Chutiya country was now annexed, and a new officer of State, known as the Sadiyā Khowa Gohāin, was appointed to administer it. In order to strengthen his position, three hundred Ahoms of the Gharphaliya clan, with their families and twelve chiefs, were removed from Garhgāon to Sadiya, and another contingent of the same clan were settled on the banks of the Dihing river. The royal family, with the leading men amongst the Chutiyas, were deported to Pākariguri, while a number of Brāhmans and of blacksmiths and other artisans were taken from Sadiya to the Ahom capital. Having settled all these matters, Suhungmung returned to Charāideo where he performed the Rikkhvān ceremony.

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This is an Ahom ceremony for obtaining long life (from rik, “revive,” and khvān, “life”). It was generally performed at the installation of a new king, or in time of danger, or after a victory. The procedure was as follows. The king sat in full dress on a platform, and the Deodhāi, Mohan and Bāilong pandits, i.e., the tribal priests and astrologers, poured holy water, purified by the recitation of sacred texts, over his head, whence it ran down his body through a hole in the platform on to the chief Bāilong, or astrologer, who was standing below. The king then changed his clothes, giving those which he had been wearing and all his ornaments to the chief Bāilong. The same ceremony, on a smaller scale, was also frequently performed by the common people, and still is, on certain occasions, *e.g.*, when a child is drowned.

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The Sadiyā Khowā Gohāin was shortly afterwards attacked by Phukāngmung, a chief of one of the neighbouring hill tribes. The latter was defeated and slain, but not before he had himself killed one of the Ahom commanders with his spear. Another local chief, who had been inclined to give trouble, thereupon made his submission and sent a daughter to the royal seraglio. In 1525 Suhungmung proceeded in person to the Dihing country and appointed officers to administer the frontier provinces of Hābung, Dihing and Banlung.

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It is narrated that the wife of the late king Supimphā who had been sent by him to a Nāga chief, subsequently gave birth to a son named Senglung. Suhungmung, on seeing this youth, was struck by his high-bred appearance, and learning that his mother was already pregnant before Supimphā sent her away, he took him into favour, and created for him the new appointment of Barpātra Gohāin, which he made equal to those of the Bar Gohāin and the Burhā Gohāin. These two functionaries objected to the new appointment and refused to give up for it any of the men under their control. The king, however, overcame this difficulty by allotting to the Barpātra Gohāin, the Barāhis, Chutiyas and Morāns, who had not been placed under either of the other Gohāins. He then called a council of all the leading nobles, and, giving Senglung a seat between the Bar Gohāin and the Burhā Gohāin, publicly invested him with his new appointment and declared his rank to be equal to theirs.

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∗ A stone pillar has recently been found by Mr. O'Callaghan amongst the remains of what must once have been a town of some importance, on the bank of the Deopāni river, about seven miles north of Sadiya. This pillar (like the coins of the Ahom kings) is octagonal in shape, and bears an inscription in Ahom by the "Dihingia Bar Gohāin," confirming the Mishmis in the possession of the hills near the Dibong river on the payment by them of tribute, including four baskets of poison. The official in question was perhaps the Bar Gohāin of the Dihingia Raja; and if so, the inscription refers to the settlement made with the Mishmis when the country round Sadiya was first brought under Ahom rule. It may, however, refer to the later settlement effected with the Mishmis in the reign of Suklāmphā.

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Kachāri war.

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In November 1526 Suhungmung marched against the Kachāris, and ascended the Dhansiri to Barduār, where a bathing ghāt was constructed under his orders. He caused a fort with brick walls to be built at Marangi, and spent several nights there. He then advanced with his army, the leaders of which were mounted on elephants, to Maihām or Kāthkatia. The vanguard was here surprised and put to flight with the loss of 40 men killed, and Maihām was reoccupied by the Kachāris. The Ahoms were rallied and advanced again to the attack; and this time, although the Kachāris defended themselves valiantly with bows and arrows, they were at last overpowered and forced to retreat with heavy loss. They were closely followed by the Ahoms, and a fresh engagement was forced on them, in which they sustained a decisive defeat, leaving, according to one account, 1,700 dead upon the field.

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Chutiya revolt.

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Early in 1527 the Chutiyas revolted. They were soon reduced to submission, but the Dihingia Gohāin lost his life during the disturbances.

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Muhammadan invasion.

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In the same year occurred the first Muhammadan invasion recorded in Ahom history. The name of the Mussalman commander is not given, but he is called the great Vazir.* The Ahoms attacked his army in front and on both flanks and defeated it. They carried the pursuit as far as the Burai river and captured forty horses and from twenty to forty cannon. On hearing of the victory, Suhungmung proceeded to Salā and sent a force to take possession of Duimunisila. A fort was constructed at the mouth of the Burai river and a detachment was posted at Phulbāri. After making these dispositions the king returned to his capital. In 1529 he again went to Salā, whence he despatched filibustering expeditions down the Kallang and up the Bharali. The slaves and booty taken in these forays were made over to the king who, after leaving a guard at Nārāyanpur, returned to Dihing. At the close of the year, the Chutiyas again revolted, but they were defeated in various engagements on the Chandangiri and Dangthang hills, and on the banks of the Brahmaputra, Dibong and Kundil rivers.

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∗ This is apparently the invasion referred to by the author of the Riyāzussalātin in the following passage:-- "After having reduced the Rajas of the districts as far as Orissa, Husain took tribute from them. After this he resolved to invade the kingdom of Āsām, in the north-east of Bengal, and he set out with a large army of foot and a numerous fleet, and entered the kingdom and subdued it as far as Kāmrup and Kāmatā and other districts. The Raja of the country, unable to withstand, withdrew to the mountains. Sultan Husain left his son with a strong army in Āsām to complete the settlement of the country, and returned victoriously to Bengal. After the return of the Sultan the Prince pacified and guarded the conquered country; but when the rains set in, and the roads were closed, the Raja issued with his men from the hills, surrounded the Prince, and cut off his supplies. In a short time they were all killed." The expeditions against Kāmatā and against the Ahoms are here spoken of as forming part of the same operations. If this were so, there would be an error of more than twenty years in the date given in the Ahom Buranjis, as the fall of Kāmatāpur took place 1498 A.D. The author of the Riyāz does not, however, give his authority for his version, and it does not tell very strongly against the theory that there were in reality two separate expeditions, the one against

c11.87

In 1531, the Ahoms again erected a fort at Marangi. This gave offence to Khunkhara, the Kachāri king, and he sent his brother Detchā to drive them out. A battle was fought, in which the Kachāris were routed and their commander was killed. In order to punish Khunkhara for this attack, and for his encroachments elsewhere, Suhungmung proceeded up the Dhansiri with a large army, and halted at the junction of the Doyang and Dhansiri rivers. A night attack was made on a place called Nika, which was taken and burnt. The Ahoms then advanced to Dengnut, where the army was divided into two divisions, one ascending the left, and the other the right, bank of the Dhansiri. Another battle was fought, and the Kachāris were again defeated and

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Kāmatā in 1498, and the other against the Ahoms some twenty years later. The Riyāz was not compiled until 1787, and two expeditions in the same direction might easily be confused, and treated as one and the same, in the lapse of years and the uncertain record of oral tradition or loose writing. It is known that the invasion of Kāmatāpur ended with the death of the Raja Nilāmbar. In Husain Shāh's inscription of A.H. 907 (1501 A.D.) at Gaur the conquest of Kāmrup and Kāmata only is referred to, and there is no mention of any expedition against the Ahoms, so that it had probably then not taken place. In these circumstances there seems no reason to doubt the accuracy of the Ahom chronology. In the Fathiyah i'Ibriyah it is said that Husain Shāh's army consisted of 24,000 foot and horse and numerous ships. (J. A. S. B., 1872, pp. 78 and 335, and 1873, p. 209).

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Linked texts (1)

Riyāẓ al-salāṭīn — Ghulām Ḥusain Salīm Zaidpūrī 1786, Persian