A History of Assam c14.16

c14.16

The people gradually lost heart and would gladly have accepted the Moāmariā supremacy, but for the untiring efforts of the Burhā Gohāin, who alternately coaxed them by presents of food and clothing and coerced them by inflicting severe punishment on those who disobeyed his orders. But if their sufferings were great, their condition was still far better than that of the people living in the country held by the Moāmariās, where the burning of villages, the looting of supplies and the wanton destruction of crops led to a terrible famine: rice was not obtainable, and the sufferings of the people were so great that many abandoned their own children. Even persons of the highest castes, it is said, were reduced to eating the flesh of cows, buffaloes, dogs and jackals. Some roamed about in the jungle, devouring wild fruits and roots, while others fled to the Burhā Gohāin or to the neighbouring hill tribes, and even to Bengal.