A History of Assam c15.s1.3

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.