A History of Assam c11.17

c11.17

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.