A History of Assam c15.s1: Law and justice
A History of Assam c15.s1
- Language
- English
Law and justice
c15.s1.1
In civil matters the Hindu law, as expounded by the Brāhmans, seems to have been generally followed in later times; at an earlier period the judge decided according to the custom of the country and his own standard of right and wrong. The joint family system was in vogue, but amongst all except the highest classes, the family usually separated on the death of the father, when the sons took equal shares to the exclusion of daughters. The criminal law was characterized by the greatest harshness; and mutilation, branding with hot irons, and even more terrible punishments were common. In the case of offences against the person, the general principle was that of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," and the culprit was punished with precisely the same injury as that inflicted by him on the complainant. The penalty for rebellion was various forms of capital punishment, such as starvation, flaying alive, impaling and hanging, of which the last mentioned was esteemed the most honourable. The death penalty was often inflicted, not only on the rebel himself, but on all the members of his family. No record was kept in criminal trials, but in civil cases a summary of the proceedings was drawn out and given to the successful party.
c15.s1.2
The chief judicial authorities were the three Gohāins, the Bar Barua and the Bar Phukan, in their respective provinces, and trials were conducted before them or their subordinates, each in his own jurisdiction. An appeal lay to them from their subordinates and, in the case of the Bar Barua and Bar Phukan, a second appeal could be made to the sovereign, which was dealt with on his behalf by the Nyāy Khoda Phukan. The president of each court was assisted by a number of assessors (Katakis, Ganaks or Pandits) by whose opinion he was usually guided. Prior to the Moāmariā disturbances, the administration of justice is said to have been speedy, efficient and impartial.
c15.s1.3
The chief nobles cultivated their private estates with the aid of slaves, *i.e.*, persons taken in war or purchased from the hill tribes, and of their retainers, who were either hill men or manumitted slaves. These persons were entirely at their masters' disposal, and they were not required to render service to the State. Their position was thus in some ways better than that of the paiks who, it is said, often took refuge on private estates and passed themselves off as slaves.
c15.s1.4
The owning of slaves, however, was by no means confined to the nobles, and all persons of a respectable position had one or more of them, by whom all the drudgery of the household and the labour of the fields were performed. The widespread prevalence of the institution is shown by the fact that David Scott is said to have released 12,000 slaves in Kāmrup alone. Many of these unfortunates were free-men who had lost their liberty by mortgaging their persons for a loan, or the descendants of such persons. They were bought and sold openly, the price ranging from about twenty rupees for an adult male of good caste to three rupees for a low-caste girl.
c15.s1.5
The social distinctions between the aristocracy and the common people and, in later times, between the higher and lower castes, were rigidly enforced. None but the highest nobles had a right to wear shoes, or to carry an umbrella, or to travel in a palanquin, but the last mentioned privilege might be purchased for a sum of one thousand rupees. Persons of humble birth who wished to wear the *chaddar*, or shawl, were obliged to fold it over the left shoulder, and not over the right, as the upper classes did. The common people were not permitted to build houses of masonry, or with a rounded end, and no one but the king himself was allowed to have both ends of his house rounded. Musalmans, Morias, Doms and Hāris were forbidden to wear their hair long, and members of the two latter communities were further distinguished by having a fish and a broom, respectively, tattooed on their foreheads.
c15.s1.6
As was usually the case in India, the standard coin of the Ahoms weighed a tola (two-fifths of an ounce) or 96 *ratis*. The peculiarity of the Ahom coins lay in their shape. Instead of being circular, they were octagonal, in accordance with the *sloka* in the *Jogini Tantra* which describes the country of the Ahoms as having eight sides. In other respects they bore a marked resemblance to the coins of the Koch kings. The earliest Ahom coins bear a date equivalent to 1543 A.D. and were struck by Suklenmung in the fourth year of his reign. More than a century elapsed before any of his successors followed his example. It then became the practice for each new ruler to mark his accession to the throne by the issue of coins bearing his name, but it was not until the reign of Rudra Singh that the mint was kept constantly at work and smaller coins weighing 48 and 24 *ratis* respectively were issued. Still smaller coins, weighing 12 and 6 *ratis*, were first issued by Sib Singh, and coins weighing 3 *ratis* by Gaurināth. A regular gold currency was introduced by Sib Singh; before his time the only gold coins extant are those of Suklenmung and Udayāditya.
c15.s1.7
The legend on Suklenmung's coins was in the Ahom language and character. The coins of Jayadhvaj Singh and Chakradhvaj Singh bore Sanskrit legends in the Bengali script. The next three rulers reverted to Ahom, but from Rudra Singh onwards the use of Sanskrit became the rule. Two later kings (Pramata Singh and Rājesvar Singh) struck coins with Ahom legends in the year of their accession, but these were probably in the nature of medals for ceremonial distribution, as Sanskrit was the language used on all the other coins issued by them. Square coins with Persians legends were issued by Sib Singh in 1729 A.D. and by Rājesvar Singh in 1752. A square coin with a Sanskrit legend was issued by Lakshmi Singh in 1770.
c15.s1.8
The Ahom and Sanskrit legends were all of much the same tenor. The obverse gave the name of the king* and the date of issue, and the reverse the name of his favourite deity. Thus the translation of the Ahom legend on Suklenmung's coins runs as follows:—
c15.s1.9
*Obverse.* The great king Suklenmung, fifteenth year (of cycle).
c15.s1.10
*Reverse.* I the king offer prayers to Tārā.
c15.s1.11
The cycle referred to is the greater Jovian cycle of sixty years, known to Hindu astrologers as *Vrihaspati Chakra*, or wheel of Jupiter, which was in use amongst the Chinese 2,000 years before the Christian era.
c15.s1.12
As a typical coin bearing a Sanskrit legend we may take that of Chakradhvaj Singh which reads:—
c15.s1.13
*Obverse.* Of Svargadeb (heavenly deity) Chakradhvaj Singh, Sak 1585 (1663 A.D.).
c15.s1.14
∗ For the reason given in the account of his reign, most of Sib Singh's coins bore also the name of his chief queen for the time being.
c15.s1.15
† An account of the Ahom system of Chronology will be found in Appendix B.
c15.s1.16
*Reverse.* Devoted (genitive) to the feet of Siva and Rām.
c15.s1.17
The deities most commonly mentioned are Indra on the coins with Ahom, and Siva (with or without his consorts) on those with Sanskrit legends; but the Vaishnava usurpers, Bharath and Sarbanand, invoked Krishna, while Brajanāth invoked both Rādhā and Krishna.*
c15.s1.18
Formalities observed by ambassadors When a neighbouring ruler sent ambassadors to the Ahom court, it was customary for them to wait on the frontier while the king's orders was being obtained. Transport was then provided for them to the capital where the Bar Barua supplied them with food the first day and the three great Gohāins on the three succeeding days. On the next four days this procedure was repeated, and they had interviews in turn with each of these high officers. They were next taken by a Barua to the royal presence, when presents were given, the object of their mission was explained, and the letter from their ruler was handed to the Ahom king. From this time till their departure they received their supplies from the royal store. When the time came for them to return home they were escorted to the frontier, and were usually accompanied by Ahom ambassadors who, in their turn, awaited on the frontier the pleasure of the ruler concerned, after which the procedure was similar to that described above †
c15.s1.19
† Ambassadors, or envoys of high rank, were called *bairāgis*, as distinguished from ordinary messengers or *katakis*.
c15.s1.20
Explanation of titles of Ahom kings and nobles. The tribal names of the Ahom kings usually commenced with *Su*, meaning "tiger" (cf. *Singh*, lion), and ended with *phā*, meaning "heaven." Thus Sukāphā, "a tiger coming from heaven" (*kā*, come); Sunenphā, "a beautiful tiger of heaven" (*nen*, beautiful); Supātphā, "a lace-like tiger of heaven" (*pāt*, lace); and Sukhrungphā, "a furious tiger of heaven" (*khrung*, furious). In a few cases the final syllable was not *phā*, as in the case of Suhungmung, "the tiger of a renowned country," (*hung*, renowned and *mung*, country).
c15.s1.21
∗ A list of all known Ahom coins (with plates) will be found in the *Numismatic Chronicle*, Fourth Series, Vol. IX. Reference may also be made to Mr. Stapleton's notes on the coinage of Assam, J. A. S. B., 1910, page 619.
c15.s1.22
The kings' Hindu names were often the Assamese equivalents of those given them by the Deodhāis. Gadādhar Singh was so called because *gadā* is the Assamese translation of the Ahom *pāt*; and Rudra Singh, because *rudra* in Assamese corresponds to *khrung* in Ahom. It has been suggested that the first syllable (*Su*) is the same as the Shān *Chāo*, meaning great, and ought to be written *Chu*. This, however, does not appear to be the case. The word *Chāo* also means "great" or "God" (Deb) in Ahom, and it is frequently used in addition to the regular prefix *Su*; Sunenphā, for instance, is described as Chāo Sunenphā on his coins. In this connection it may be mentioned that the Assamese title *Svargadeb* is the equivalent of the Ahom and Shān Chāo-phā, which is also the origin of the Burmese term *tsaubwa*. The word Gohāin, the title of the original three great officers of state, is also a translation of the Ahom *Chāo*. In the first instance, the word was Gosāin, but the Ahoms pronounced the *s* as *h*, and the spelling was altered accordingly. The Bar Gohāin was known in Ahom as Chāothāolung (God-old-great), the Burhā Gohāin, as Chāophrāngmung (God-wide-country) and the Barpātra Gohāin as Chāosenglung (God-holy-great).* The Bar Barua was known to the Ahoms as Phukenlung (male-noble-great) and the Bar Phukan as Phukanlung (male-origin-great).
c15.s1.23
Many attempts have been made to trace the origin of the word Assam. Muhammadan historians wrote Āshām, and in the early dates of British rule it was spelt with only one *s*. According to some the word is derived from *Asama*, in the sense of "uneven," as distinguished from Samatata, or the level plains of East Bengal. This however seems unlikely. The term nowhere occurs prior to the Ahom occupation, and in the *Bansābali* of the Koch kings, it is applied to the Ahoms rather than to the country which they occupied. There is, I think, no doubt that the word is derived from the present designation of the Ahoms. At first sight, this does not carry us much further. The Ahoms called themselves Tai, and it still remains to be explained how they came to be known by their present name. It has been suggested that this may be derived from Shān, or as the Assamese say, Syām. This word, however, is not used by the Assamese when speaking of the Ahoms, but only with reference to the people of Siam. The tradition of the Ahoms themselves is that the present name is derived from Asama, in the sense of " unequalled " or " peerless." They say that this was the term applied to them, at the time of Sukāphā's invasion of Assam, by the local tribes, in token of their admiration of the way in which the Ahom king first conquered and then conciliated them. Asama, however, is a Sanskrit derivative which these rude Mongolian tribes would not have been acquainted with, and, on this account, the suggested etymology has hitherto been rejected. But, although we may not accept the way in which the word is said to have come into use, it is nevertheless very probable that this derivation is, after all, the right one. The Ahoms, as we have seen, called themselves Tai, which means " glorious " (cf. the Chinese, " celestial "), and of this Asama is a fair Assamese equivalent, just as is Svargadeh of Chāuphā and Gohāin of Chāo. The softening of the s to h, i.e., the change from Asam to Aham or Ahom, has its counterpart in the change from Gosāin to Gohāin.
c15.s1.24
∗ Senglung was the personal name of the first Barpātra Gohāin.
c15.s1.25
It may be mentioned here that the Burmese called Assam, Athan or Weithali; to the Chinese it was known as Weisāli, and to the Manipuris, as Tekau. Van Den Broucke and other early European geographers called the country west of the Bar Nadi, Koch Hājo, and that to the east of it, Koch Āsām.
c15.s1.27
GATE WAY, TAMLUK
Linked texts (1)
- Yoginītantra — Sanskrit