A History of Assam c21: Chapter XV. Consolidation of British Rule
A History of Assam c21
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Chapter XV. Consolidation of British Rule
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The condition of the Brahmaputra valley at the time of the expulsion of the Burmese was most deplorable. No less than thirty thousand Assamese had been taken away as slaves, and a well-known native authority was of opinion that the invaders, by their barbarous and inhuman conduct, had "destroyed more than one-half of the population, which had already been thinned by intestine commotions and repeated civil wars."* Those who survived had been so harassed by the long-continued wars and repeated acts of oppression that they had almost given up cultivation, and lived chiefly on jungle roots and plants; and famine and pestilence carried off thousands that had escaped the sword and captivity. The Ahom nobles and the great Gosāins, with few exceptions, had retired to Goālpāra, after losing the whole, or the bulk of, their property; and they were followed by large numbers of the common people. The former eventually returned to their homes, but the poorer refugees did not, and their descendants still form a large proportion of the inhabitants of the eastern part of Goālpāra.
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The Burmese had now been finally ejected from Assam, but it still remained to be decided how the country which they had evacuated should be dealt with. Manipur was restored to Gambhir Singh, who had himself been the chief means of driving out the Burmese, and for this and other reasons was considered to have a better claim than either of his brothers. The Jaintia Raja, Rām Singh, was confirmed in his possessions, both in the hills and in the submontane tract on the north bank of the Surma river. Gobind Chandra was reinstated as Raja of Cachar. By a treaty executed at Badarpur on the 6th March, 1824, the last-mentioned prince acknowledged his allegiance to the East India Company and agreed to pay a tribute of Rs. 10,000 a year, and to submit to the Company’s arbitration in the case of disputes with other Rajas; on the other hand the Company undertook to protect him from external aggression, to leave him to manage his own internal affairs, and to make provision for the Manipuri princes who had lately occupied his country.
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∗ "Observations on the Administration of the Province of Assam," by Anandirām Dhekiāl Phukan, printed in Mill's Report.
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The problem in the Brahmaputra valley was more difficult. Not only had the Burmese been in possession for several years, in the course of which they had overthrown most of the old administrative landmarks, but the people were split up into many conflicting parties, and the elevation of any particular pretender to the throne would have resulted, as soon as the British troops were withdrawn, in a renewal of the fatal dissensions and civil wars which had prevailed for so many years before the Burmese occupation. With the exception, therefore, of two tracts in Upper Assam, *viz.*, Sadiya and Matak, it was decided, for a time at least, to administer the country as a British province.
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Its management was entrusted, in November 1823, to David Scott who had been appointed Agent to the Governor-General for the whole eastern frontier from Cachar and Sylhet in the south to the Sikkim country in the north.[*] He was at the same time Special Civil Commissioner of North-East Rangpur, *i.e.*, Goālpāra and the Gāro Hills, and Judge of Circuit and Appeal in the Zilla of Sylhet; but in spite of this multiplicity of appointments, he was left to perform his new duties with a wholly inadequate staff. In Upper Assam he was relieved of the direct control of affairs by the appointment of an assistant. This post was filled, first by Colonel Cooper and afterwards, in 1828, by Captain Neufville, who had distinguished himself as Intelligence Officer during the Burmese war. The headquarters of this officer were originally at Rangpur, near Sibsāgar, but were afterwards moved to Jorhat. For the conduct of the administration in Lower Assam, David Scott was left absolutely single-handed until, after urgent and repeated requests, Captain Adam White was deputed to help him.
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∗ Letter No. 1, dated 14th November, 1823, from the Secretary to the Government of India, to Mr. Scott.
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Captain Neufville also commanded the Assam Light Infantry, a corps of about a thousand men, which had been raised in Cuttack in 1817, under the name of the Cuttack Legion, and was subsequently transferred to the Rangpur district of Bengal. After its permanent location in Assam, it consisted mainly of Hindustanis and Gurkhas, with a sprinkling of Manipuris and natives of the province.
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It has already been mentioned that Matak and the country round Sadiya were excluded from the direct administrative control of the Agent to the Governor-General. The former tract, which lay to the south of Sadiya, in the angle between the Brahmaputra and the Burhi Dihing, and was chiefly inhabited by persons of the Moāmariā sect, was governed by a chief called the Bar Senapati, the son of the man who had been given that title by Purnānanda Burhā Gohāin. He had shown considerable ability as a ruler, and had protected his people during the Burmese occupation, alike from the predatory inroads of the Burmese* and from the raids of the Singphos, who, during this troublous period harried the other parts of the Ahom king's dominions as far west as Jorhat. His capital was almost in the centre of his jurisdiction, at Rangagora on the Dibru river. This Chief was left in semi-independent possession of his country; and, in May 1826, he executed a treaty, in which it was provided that he should supply to Government two-thirds of the total number of his pāiks. This arrangement worked badly, and gave rise to much friction, which was increased by the encouragement which he gave to runaway pāiks to settle on his lands. It was therefore proposed by Government to substitute, in lieu of all other demands, a fixed tribute of Rs. 12,000 a year, or Rs. 2,000 more than he had paid under the Ahom Government. He objected strenuously to the payment of so large a sum, and at last succeeded in getting it reduced to Rs. 1,800, but only for the term of his own life. A new treaty was executed in January 1835, by which he undertook to pay this amount as tribute, and to supply, when required, a contingent of troops, for whose armament he was given ammunition and three hundred muskets. He derived his revenue from a poll-tax of three rupees per head in the case of Morāns and Kachāris, two rupees eight annas for Bihis or gold-washers, and two rupees for ordinary Assamese.
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∗ He employed a Burmese subject as the intermediary in his negotiations with the Ava authorities, and was always studious to avoid giving them any ground for complaint; but his immunity from attack was no doubt due, in a large measure, to the jungles which surrounded his territory and to its comparative poverty.
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We have seen how the Khāmtis, in 1794, overthrew the Ahom viceroy of Sadiya, known as the Sadiya Khowā Gohāin, and gave his name and jurisdiction to a chief of their own race. They were suppressed in Kamalesvar's reign, but rose to power again during the subsequent commotions. Their chief was now recognized by the British Government as the lawful ruler. He was not required to pay any tribute, but he agreed to maintain a force of two hundred men, who were provided by the Government with arms and ammunition, and were drilled for four months in the year by a native officer of the Assam Light Infantry, of which force from two to four companies were stationed at Sadiya, as a protection against the restless tribes inhabiting the surrounding hills. The internal management of the Khāmtis vested in their own chief, who also dealt with petty cases amongst the local Assamese and collected from them a poll-tax of one rupee a head. This they remitted to the Political Officer, who tried serious offences committed by the Assamese.
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The Singphos, who occupied the level tract of country extending eastwards from the Moāmariā borders across the Noā Dihing and Tengāpāni rivers, also made their submission. No revenue was demanded from them, but the Gām, or chief, of Bisa, was required to supply, if needed, a contingent of eighty men, and to give immediate information to the British authorities of anything calculated to excite apprehension that might occur in the vicinity of the Pātkai pass. This was the route traversed by the Ahoms when they first found their way to Assam, and also by the more recent Burmese invaders.
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It was not to be expected that David Scott, with his multifarious duties and inadequate staff of Assistants, would be able to effect many reforms in the administration of those parts of the Brahmaputra valley which remained under his direct management; nor, indeed, so long as the question of permanent control remained undecided, was this expected or desired. He was most persistent in his efforts to correct the worst abuses, such as the widespread institution of slavery; but his energies, and those of his assistants, were, in the main, directed to the assessment and collection of the revenue.
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The ordinary criminal and civil duties were performed by councils of the local gentry, designated panchāyats, of which there were some half dozen. More heinous cases were tried, with the assistance of a panchāyat, by the Commissioner's Assistants, who also disposed of appeals from the panchāyats, and from whose decisions, both appellate and original, a further appeal lay to the Commissioner himself.
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In regard to the revenue administration, it was thought inadvisable to make any radical change until the ultimate destiny of the country had been settled. The only important alteration adopted was the imposition of a poll-tax of three rupees per pāik in lieu of the old liability to personal service for three or four months in the year. The duty of collecting this tax was entrusted to the old staff of khel officials, but the pāiks of the different khels had become so scattered during the recent disturbances that this method of realizing the Government dues was found most tedious and uncertain, and the amounts which were eventually paid into the treasury were ridiculously small. The method of collection was therefore changed from a personal, to a territorial, basis. The whole area of a district was parcelled out into blocks called mauzas* or mahāls, and the dues realizable from all persons resident in a given *mauza* were collected by the officer in charge of it, who was variously known as the *mauzādār*, *bishayā*, *chaudhuri*, *kāgoti* or *pātgiri*. The poll-tax was soon abandoned in favour of a regular assessment of the land, based on actual measurement. To carry out the arrangements which these changes involved, Captains Mathie, Rutherford and Bogle were appointed "Principal Assistants," or Collectors, of Darrang, Nowgong and Kāmrup. The cultivated area was divided into *basti*, or homestead; *rupit*, or land on which the transplanted rice called *sāli* is grown; *bāo-toli*, or land growing *bāo* rice; and *faringati*, or land growing dry crops, such as mustard, and *āhu* rice.* For a time, the homestead lands were assessed at so much a house, the amount varying in Kāmrup from Rs. 3 to Re. 1-8-0 according to the circumstances of the occupants. The *rupit* lands in the same district were originally assessed at one rupee per *pura*, the *bāo-toli* at twelve annas, and the *faringati* at four annas. These rates were gradually raised, and in 1848 they had reached Re. 1-4-0 per *pura* for *rupit*, and one rupee for all other kinds of land, including *basti*.
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∗ The Assam mauza of the present day is a very different thing from the territorial village, or revenue unit of area, which is the meaning attached to the term in Bengal. Originally it had that meaning in Assam also, but it soon came to be used primarily with reference to the area in charge of a mauzādār, or revenue collector;
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The rates differed slightly in other districts, and the change from the old manner of assessment to the new took much longer to effect in some parts than it did in others. In the north of Darrang the indigenous *khelwāri* system lingered on until 1841, when a plough tax of three rupees was levied; a regular land assessment was first introduced there in 1843.
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For the first few years annual settlements of the land revenue were effected, but subsequently the plan was tried and, as it was found advisable, for many reasons, gradually to reduce the number of *mauzādārs*, by increasing the areas assigned to each, the *mauza* came to include more and more villages, so that at the present day it often contains twenty or thirty, or even more.
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∗ *Rupit* is, of course, derived from *rupan*, to plough. The origin of the word *faringati* is unknown. Possibly it comes from *farkhaiti*, an acquittance, or rent receipt. This was the only class of land which in former times was always held subject to the payment of rent.
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of settling for a term of years with the *mauzādār*, who took upon himself all the risks of loss, while, on the other hand, he enjoyed the additional rents which accrued from extended cultivation. By 1854, however, annual settlements had again been reverted to.
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The revenue of Kāmrup, Darrang and Nowgong under the *khelwāri* system amounted in 1832-33 to Rs. 1,10,181, Rs. 41,506 and Rs. 31,509 respectively. Ten years later, the land revenue, which replaced it, amounted to Rs. 2,52,991 in Kāmrup, Rs. 1,35,454 in Darrang, Rs. 1,10,314 in Nowgong, Rs. 80,843 in Sibsāgar, and Rs. 34,730 in Lakhimpur, or to a total for Assam proper of Rs. 6,14,332. A decade later, this had risen to Rs. 7,43,689.
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The arrangements for the introduction of this improved method of assessing the land revenue had been initiated by David Scott, but before they could be completed, his unremitting labours in a relaxing climate had proved too much for an already enfeebled physique, and he breathed his last in August 1831. He was deeply regretted by the natives of the province, for the amelioration of whose lot he had always been most solicitous. He was buried at Cherrapunji and his tomb bears the following inscription:—
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IN MEMORY
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of David Scott, Agent to the Governor-General of the North-East Frontier of Bengal, and Commissioner of Revenue and Circuit in the District of Assam, North-Eastern part of Rangpur, Sherpur and Sylhet. Died 20th August 1831, aged 45 years and 3 months. This monument is erected by order of the Supreme Government as a public and lasting record of its consideration for the personal character of the deceased and of its estimation of the eminent services rendered by him in the administration of the extensive territory committed to his charge. By his demise the Government has been deprived of a most zealous, able and intelligent servant whose loss it deeply laments, while his name will long be held in grateful remembrance and veneration by the native population, to whom he was justly endeared by his impartial dispensation of justice, his kind and conciliatory manners and his constant and unwearied endeavours to promote their happiness and welfare.
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The late Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in his *North-Eastern Frontier of Bengal*, penned the following eulogy on this able and devoted officer:—
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The name and fame of David Scott are still green on the North-East Frontier. He was one of those remarkable men who have from time to time been the ornament of our Indian services. Had the scene of his labours been in North-West or Central India, where the great problem of Empire was then being worked out, he would occupy a place in history by the side of Malcolm, Elphinstone and Metcalfe.
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Meanwhile the question of restoring the other parts of the Brahmaputra valley to native rule continued to be discussed. It was recognized that it would not be right to withdraw the British troops altogether, as this would be certain to lead to a revival of the internecine disturbances which had previously brought the country to the verge of ruin. But, on the other hand, it was not desired to resort to permanent annexation, if any other alternative could be found. It was, therefore, decided to follow a middle course, i.e., to instal a native ruler in one part of the province, and to retain the other part as a means of providing the revenue required for the maintenance of an adequate British garrison.
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It remained to settle what portion should be retained and what restored, and to whom restoration should be made. David Scott was at first in favour of establishing a native Government in Central Assam, but this proposal was not viewed with favour by the higher authorities, who did not, in this case, see how to deal with the territory lying to the east of the proposed State. At the time of his death, Scott had matured an alternative project for reinstating Purandar Singh in the country east of the Dhansiri river. This plan was recommended to Government by his successor Mr. T. C. Robertson, who subsequently became Deputy Governor of Bengal; and, early in 1833, the whole of Upper Assam, except Sadiya and Matak, was formally made over to that prince. In his report to Government Mr. Robertson wrote as follows regarding Purandar Singh’s qualifications:—"I have had several interviews with Purandar Singh at Gauhāti, and see no reason, from his outward appearance and manners, to doubt of his fitness for the dignity, for which all unite in preferring him to his only rival Chandrakānt. Purandar Singh is a young man, apparently about 25 years of age. His countenance is pleasing and his manners extremely good. His natural abilities seem respectable and his disposition mild and pacific. . . . Major White and Lieutenants Mathie and Rutherford are all decidedly of opinion that Purandar Singh is the person best fitted to be at the head of the State which it has been decided to create."*
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By a treaty entered into with him at the time of his installation, Purandar Singh was placed on the same footing as other protected princes; the entire civil administration was left in his hands, and his territory was secured from the attacks of hostile States on condition of his paying a yearly tribute of Rs. 50,000† out of an estimated revenue of Rs. 1,20,000. The British Government still maintained direct political relations with the Chiefs of Matak and Sadiya, and with the surrounding hill tribes, and continued to keep a garrison and a Political Officer at Sadiya. Jorhat was made the capital of the new State, and the headquarters of the Political Agent and of the Assam Light Infantry were transferred from that place to Bishnāth. A detachment of the latter was left at Jorhat for the protection of the Raja and the preservation of peace.
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† In 1822, when a fugitive from the Burmese, he had offered to pay a tribute of Rs. 3,00,000 if reinstated in the whole of his ancestral kingdom, and in addition to repay all the expenses connected with the expulsion of the Burmese.
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In 1834 Mr. Robertson was succeeded as Commissioner and Agent to the Governor-General by Captain, afterwards General, Jenkins. At this period the British portion of the valley was divided into four districts, viz., Goālpāra, Kāmrup, Darrang, including Bishnāth, and Nowgong.
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The capital of the last-mentioned district, which extended as far east as the Dhansiri, and was often called Khāgarijān in the early records, was originally at Nowgong. It was removed in 1834 to Rangagora, and subsequently to Purāni Gudām, whence it was eventually re-transferred to Nowgong.
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∗ Political Proceedings of the Government of Bengal, dated 4th February, 1833, Nos. 123—4.
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Kāmrup included the country along both banks of the Brahmaputra, from the Monās in the west to the Bar Nadi in the east; its capital was at Gauhāti which was also the headquarters of the Commissioner of Assam. The Darrang district takes its name from the western part, which was formerly under the rule of the Darrang Rajas, and the officer in charge was at first stationed at Mangaldai. But this place was found unsuitable in several ways; it was unhealthy and liable to inundation, and the encroachments of the river were at one time so great that it seemed in danger of being washed away; it was accordingly abandoned, in 1835, in favour of Purāpur, or Tezpur, which is in every way a far better site.
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Goālpāra, including the Gāro hills but excluding the Eastern Duārs, was originally administered from Rangpur and, as such, formed part of the province of Bengal which, by the Mughal Emperor's *farmān* of the 12th August 1765, was transferred to the East India Company. Under the provisions of Regulation X of 1822 it was cut off from Rangpur and formed into a separate district with headquarters at Goālpāra. When David Scott was entrusted with the administration of the tract taken from the Burmese, he was already in charge of Goālpāra, and from that time this district was treated as part of the ordinary jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Assam. In 1867, when the Bengal Commissionership of Koch Bihār was formed, it, with the newly acquired "Eastern Duārs," was included in that Commissionership. In the following year the judicial administration was restored to the Judicial Commissioner of Assam, but the executive control remained with the Commissioner of Koch Bihār until the formation of the Chief Commissionership of Assam in 1874. As will be seen further on, the Gāro hills were constituted a separate district in 1869. When the daily mail steamer service was inaugurated, about a dozen years later, the headquarters of the Goālpāra district were removed to Dhubri, which was made the steamer terminus.
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The legal position of these four districts was defined by Act II of 1835, which placed all functionaries employed in them under the control and superintendence of the Sadar Court in civil and criminal cases, and of the Bengal Board of Revenue in revenue matters; and further declared that the superintendence of these authorities should be exercised in conformity with such instructions as might be issued by the Government of Bengal. When the semi-independent tracts in Upper Assam were resumed, a few years later, the provisions of this Act were extended to them also. In 1837 a set of rules, known as the Assam Code, was drawn up for the regulation of procedure in civil and criminal cases. No special instructions were laid down for the conduct of revenue business, but the local officers were directed to conform as nearly as circumstances would permit to the provisions of the Bengal Regulations.
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In 1835 the population of the entire valley was estimated to be 799,519, *viz*., Native States in Upper Assam 220,000, Darrang 89,519, Nowgong 90,000, Kāmrup 300,000 and Goālpāra 100,000. Except in the case of Goālpāra, for which a rough estimate was made, these figures appear to have been taken from the official returns prepared in connection with the assessment of the land revenue. It would not be safe to place much reliance on them.
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Something had already been done to improve communications, but they were still very bad. The Calcutta post was carried to Goālpāra overland, *viâ* Murshidabad, Malda, Dinājpur and Rangpur. This route was almost impassable in the rains, and ordinary travellers at all seasons went by water. The journey down stream from Goālpāra to Calcutta occupied from twenty-five to thirty days, and that in the opposite direction about eight days more. The upward journey was even more tedious in the case of large craft. Captain Wilcox in the Appendix to his Memoir in the 17th volume of the *Asiatic Researches*, says:—"When coming down the river in the latter end of October 1825, I saw a fleet of commissariat boats (at that time very much required with their supplies for the army) which had been twenty-five days between Goālpāra and Nāgarbera hill a distance of thirty miles, and there was no remarkable wind to impede their progress."
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Trade.
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In spite of this, a number of enterprising Mārwāri merchants had already established themselves in the province, and four of them were engaged in business at Sadiya. The trade of the province had been considerable, even in 1809, when the imports from Bengal were estimated to amount to two-and-a-quarter, and the exports to that province to one-and-a-third, lakhs of rupees. In 1834 the imports were valued at about two-and-a-half, and the exports, at a little more than three, lakhs. The last-mentioned figures were returned from the custom house at Hādira opposite Goālpāra, where all imports and exports, except grain, paid a duty of ten per cent. or thereabouts, according to the terms of a commercial treaty executed with Gaurināth Singh by Captain Welsh on behalf of the East India Company in 1793.
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The imports included 31,222 maunds of salt valued at Rs. 1,40,502, and the exports, 162,704 maunds of mustard seed, valued at one rupee per maund, and 224 maunds of muga silk thread, the value of which was placed at Rs. 53,889. In 1835 the custom house was abolished, and all transit dues were remitted.
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Formation of a Sebundy regiment.
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About the same time a Sebundy regiment of eight companies was raised, and the strength of the Assam Light Infantry was reduced from twelve to ten companies. Gauhāti was the headquarters of the new force, which was composed mainly of Rābhas, Kachāris and other kindred tribes. Sebundies were irregular foot soldiers, who, in pre-British times, constituted the armed force which always accompanied the tax gatherers. They were also employed on police duties. The main object in raising this force was to protect the people of Lower Assam against raids by the Bhutias and other tribes; and, in the cold weather, outposts were occupied by it at Udalguri and other points along the frontier. The control exercised from headquarters over these isolated garrisons was not always as close as it should have been; and the Principal Assistant of Darrang, writing in 1853, complained that the conduct of the men on outpost duty was most objectionable. They were, he said, regarded by the people "as oppressors worse dreaded than the Bhutias, rapacious, insolent and tyrannical, abusing men from the highest to the lowest rank unless their most trifling wants are satisfied."
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It may be mentioned here that the defence of the Surma valley was entrusted to a force called the Sylhet Local Battalion, afterwards the Sylhet Light Infantry, with headquarters at Sylhet. It was raised in 1824, and was recruited chiefly from Manipuris who had left their own country and settled in Sylhet and Cachar during the internal troubles and frequent Burmese invasions of the first quarter of the last century. Two companies of this regiment were stationed at Silchar, and at a later date it also occupied Cherrapunji.
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The introduction of peace and settled Government soon led to a marked improvement in the condition of the cultivating classes, which was described a few years later as one "of great comfort both as regards living and clothing." That of the aristocracy, on the other hand, had seriously deteriorated. Their slaves had been emancipated, and they had lost the services of their liksus, or the pāiks formerly assigned to them; and, being no longer able to cultivate their estates, they had either thrown them up, or allowed them to be sold for arrears of revenue, or for debt. Some members of the late ruling family were in receipt of pensions from the British Government, and some other persons, e.g., members of the Darrang Raja's family, held land, granted to them by former rulers, either rent-free or at half rates. But, with these exceptions, the quondam nobles found themselves deprived of their old sources of livelihood, and had either to content themselves with small appointments under the British Government or to sink to the level of ordinary cultivators.
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While the settlement and development of the new province were still engrossing the attention of the local officers, they found themselves engaged in hostilities with the Khāsis, a group of small independent communities of the same race as the hillmen of Jaintia, who occupied the tract of country between the Jaintia hills on the east and the Gāro hills on the west.
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As soon as the Brahmaputra valley had passed under British rule, the shrewd mind of David Scott had been impressed by the expediency of opening direct communication between it and the valley of the Surma; and in 1827 he had an interview at Nungklow with Tirat Singh, the Siem of that place, and other Khāsi chiefs, at which they unanimously gave their consent to the construction of a road from Rāni, *viâ* Nungklow, to the Surma valley. The project was at once put in hand; a track was cleared, and bungalows were erected at Nungklow. The officers employed on the work mixed freely with the tribesmen, and for eighteen months the greatest apparent cordiality prevailed. But, in April 1829, the Khāsis, alarmed by the foolish boast of a Bengali peon, who, in a quarrel, taunted them with the prospect of subjugation and taxation as soon as the road should be completed, made a sudden attack on the small party. Lieutenant Bedingfield, one of the two officers at Nungklow, was enticed to a conference and massacred; the other, Lieutenant Burlton, defended himself all day against greatly superior numbers, and at night fled some way towards Gauhāti. He was overtaken and put to death with most of his followers, of whom only a small remnant escaped to British territory. David Scott himself had a very narrow escape, having left Nungklow for Cherrapunji only a short time before the rising.
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Troops were immediately called up from Sylhet and Kāmrup, and vigorous reprisals were undertaken. The hillmen, favoured by the difficult character of their country, offered a stout, though desultory, resistance. They brought off several counter-raids in the plains, but were gradually overborne; and, after suffering frequent defeats, one chief after another made his submission. On the 9th January 1833 the ringleader, Tirat Singh, surrendered himself, and a general pacification followed almost immediately. The chiefs were allowed to retain a large measure of independence; but they had to submit to the general control of a Political Agent, who was thenceforth stationed in the hills and dealt with all serious cases of a criminal nature. They had also to agree to the construction of such roads, bridges and roadside bungalows as might be considered necessary. The first Political Agent was Captain Lister, of the Sylhet Light Infantry, who held the post for more than twenty years.
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There are in all twenty-five petty States in the Khāsi hills. Fifteen are presided over by Siems who, though taken always from one family, are chosen by popular election; one is a confederacy under elected officers styled Wāhadadārs; five are under Sardārs, and four under Lyngdohs, both of which offices are entirely elective. The election, however, is subject to ratification by the British Government, and the new chief is required on investiture to confirm the cession to the paramount power of the minerals, elephants, forests and other natural products of his state, on the condition of receiving half the profits accruing from these sources.
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The States of Cherra, Khairam, Nongstain, Lyngrin and Nongpung were originally classed as semi-independent, having always been friendly, or never having been actually coerced by a British force; but in practice no real distinction has ever been made between their position and that of the dependent States.
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The advantages to be gained from a sanitarium in the hills had already been recognized. David Scott had favoured Nungklow, but that place was found to be unhealthy and liable to mists. Some advocated the claims of Mairang, while others preferred the tableland between the Shillong Peak and Nongkrem, and others again a site near Serrarim. The decision was eventually given in favour of Cherrapunji, mainly on the score of its accessibility from Sylhet. In 1864 this place was abandoned for Shillong. The native name for the site of this town is Yeddo, but there is another place of this name in Japan, and its founders preferred, therefore, to call it Shillong, after the peak which dominates it.
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In Cachar the hapless Gobind Chandra soon found himself involved in a sea of difficulties. In spite of every effort to expel him, Tulārām remained in possession of the hills. The latter was now growing old, and, in 1828, he entrusted the command of his troops to his cousin Gobind Rām, who, after defeating Gobind Chandra’s levies, abused the trust reposed in him and turned his arms against his patron. Tulārām fled to Jaintia, but in July 1829, with the aid of a Manipuri detachment, lent by Gambhir Singh, he ousted his ungrateful cousin, who in his turn fled to Dharampur and entered into an alliance with Gobind Chandra. At this stage David Scott induced the Kachāri Raja to recognize Tulārām as the ruler of a considerable tract of country in the hills. In spite of this, he soon afterwards instigated three separate attacks on him, but the Commissioner caused the persons concerned to be apprehended and confined, and thus put a stop to further attempts of the kind. In the rest of Gobind Chandra’s domain, there was no overt opposition to his rule, but he was equally unfortunate in other ways. During the troubled period which followed the death of Krishna Chandra, the Kukis had made constant raids, and the south of the district had in parts relapsed into jungle; while the depredations committed by the Burmese had left the rest of the country in a state of hopeless destitution. The Raja, however, was no sooner restored to the throne than he commenced a series of unsparing exactions on his own people. He almost killed the trade between Manipur and Sylhet by imposing the heaviest transit dues on all articles of merchandise. He behaved most tyrannically towards the Manipuris who had settled in his territory. His tribute also fell into arrears. It would have been impossible to allow this state of things to go on indefinitely, but in 1830, before matters had reached a climax, he died at the hands of a Manipuri assassin. He had no descendants, either lineal or adopted, and the country was annexed by a proclamation dated the 14th August 1832, “in compliance,” says Pemberton, writing three years later, “with the frequent and earnestly expressed wishes of the people.”
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Tulārām had laid claim to the vacant Rāj, alleging that he was the descendant of an ancient line of princes, anterior to that to which the late ruler had belonged, but his pretensions were proved to be groundless and were summarily rejected. He was, however, confirmed in the possession of the greater part of the tract assigned to him by Gobind Chandra, which was bounded on the south by the Mahur river and the Nāga hills, on the west by the Doyang, on the east by the Dhansiri, and on the north by the Jamuna and Doyang. He agreed to pay a yearly tribute of four elephants' tusks, each weighing seventy pounds, but this was afterwards commuted to a money payment of Rs. 490. On the other hand, he was granted for life a pension of fifty rupees a month. He was not given the title of Raja, nor was he permitted to deal with criminal matters, other than those of a trivial nature; all serious offences were tried by the officer in charge of the Nowgong district.
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On the annexation of Cachar, it was formed into a district with headquarters at Silchar, and was placed in charge of a Superintendent, who was subordinate to the Commissioner of Assam. In 1836 it was transferred to the Dacca division, and the title of the officer in charge was subsequently changed to Deputy Commissioner. By Act V of 1835, Cachar, like the Brahmaputra valley, was placed under the jurisdiction of the High Court of Bengal in civil and criminal matters, and under that of the Board of Revenue in respect of the revenue administration. The first Superintendent was Captain Fisher, of the Survey Department, who was described by Pemberton as "an officer of approved ability and great local experience." His first care was to cope with the irruptions of the Kukis. This he did by the expedient of settling along the frontier as many Manipuris as possible, who, when supplied with a few firearms, easily kept off the Kukis, and so protected, not only themselves, but also the less warlike plainsmen behind them.
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The advent of good Government soon wrought a remarkable change in the state of this district, and Pemberton, writing in 1835, says:—
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"On both banks of the Surma from Badarpur to Bānskāndi villages have been established and the plains which, six or seven years ago, were wholly deserted and covered with reeds, now present a scene of newly-awakened industry and a broad belt of as fine and varied cultivation as can be found in any part of Bengal."
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At that time the old name, Hidimba or Hiramba, was still in common use, and it appears, instead of the more modern designation of Cachar, on a seal used by the Superintendent in 1835.
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During the unsettled conditions which prevailed for some time after the Burmese war, the Raja of Jaintia encroached considerably on the southern border of the Nowgong district; and between 1830 and 1832 he was repeatedly called upon to remove an outpost which he had established without authority at Chappar Mukh, at the confluence of the Kopili and Doyang rivers. He evaded compliance, but before any coercive measures had been taken a fresh cause of dispute arose. In 1832 the Raja of Gobha, in the west of Nowgong, one of the petty chieftains dependent on Jaintia, acting under the orders of his suzerain, seized four British subjects, three of whom were afterwards immolated at the shrine of the Goddess Kālī. The fourth escaped and gave information of the occurrence. At this juncture Raja Rām Singh died, and was succeeded by his nephew, Rājendra Singh. For two years the Government endeavoured to induce him to give up the perpetrators of the outrage, and reminded him of the consequences of refusal, and of the solemn warnings which had been given on previous occasions when similar attempts had been made on the lives of British subjects in the district of Sylhet. The young Raja, however, was obdurate, and at last, failing to obtain satisfaction, it was resolved to dispossess him of his territory in the plains.
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On the 15th March 1835, Captain Lister with two companies of the Sylhet Light Infantry, took formal possession of Jaintiapur and issued a proclamation announcing the annexation of the Jaintia parganas to British territory. A few weeks later Gobha, in the Nowgong district, was similarly taken over by a detachment of the Assam Light Infantry. The only income derived by the Raja from his possession in the hills was one he-goat yearly from each village, with a small quantity of parched rice and firewood for his annual religious ceremonies; the villagers were also bound to cultivate the crown lands. On his territory in the plains being annexed, the Raja professed himself unwilling to retain that in the hills, and so this also passed into the hands of the British. It was placed under the Political Officer of the Khāsi hills and the direct management was vested in an Assistant who was stationed at Jowai. The hillmen, or Syntengs, were interfered with as little as possible; no revenue was demanded from them and, although heinous offences were tried by the Political Agent or his Assistant, petty cases, both civil and criminal, were dealt with by the local headmen, of whom there were nineteen in all, *viz.*, fifteen *dolois* and four *sardārs*. Act VI of 1835 was passed to provide for the judicial control of the Khāsi and Jaintia hills.
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The deposed Raja accepted a pension of Rs. 500 a month and retired to Sylhet, where the whole of his personal property, valued at more than a lakh-and-a-half of rupees, was made over to him.
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At the time of the annexation of the Jaintia parganas there was a considerable trade in cotton, iron ore, wax, ivory and other articles, which were brought down from the hills and exchanged for salt, tobacco, rice and goats, but business was much restricted by injudicious monopolies and heavy transit dues. Moreover, very little money was in circulation, and nearly all transactions were by means of barter; "the labourer mostly satisfied the demand against him with labour and the producer with produce." All rents were paid in kind, and one of the difficulties experienced by the early British administrators of the tract lay in the substitution of money for produce rents. Under the native administration it had been the custom to remunerate the official staff by grants of service lands. Civil suits and criminal cases were referred to a *mantri* or other official, who after hearing the parties and their witnesses, made a verbal report to the Raja. The latter, on all important occasions, was under the necessity of consulting the Queen Mother, the officers of state and the *dolois*, or chiefs of districts. In appointing the latter he had to consider the wishes of the people, who were of a very independent and rather turbulent disposition.*
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Condition of people in Jaintia parganas in 1835.
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∗ This account is taken from a Report by the Commissioner of Dacca, made in the year 1835.
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Annexation of Purandar Singh's dominions,
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We have seen that in the beginning of 1832 Purandar Singh was put in possession of the whole of Upper Assam, except Matak and Sadiya, on condition of his paying a yearly tribute of half a lakh of rupees. In less than three years he began to make default in his payments and begged for a considerable reduction in the amount which he had agreed to pay. Enquiry showed that, owing to mismanagement and the general system of corruption which he apparently encouraged, his revenues had fallen to such an extent that he would soon be incapable of paying even one-half of the stipulated amount. His subjects were oppressed and misgoverned, and his rule was very distasteful to the bulk of the population.* His administration having proved a failure in all respects, he was deposed and pensioned, in October 1838, and his territories were placed once more under the direct administration of British officers. They were formed into two districts *viz.*, Sibpur or Sibsāgar (so-called from the place selected as the district headquarters) which included the tract south of the old course of the Brahmaputra, and Lakhimpur; or the part north of the same river. The formal proclamation giving effect to these arrangements was issued in 1839.†
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McCosh, writing a year previously gives the following description of this parody on royalty:—
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"The present representative of this once powerful dynasty (Svargadeo or Lord of Heaven, as he is pleased to call himself) now resides at Jorhat in noisy pomp and tawdry splendour; his resources limited to that of a zamindar; his numerous nobility reduced to beggary or to exist upon bribery and corruption; and his kingly court (for he still maintains his regal dignity) more resembling the parade of a company of strolling players than anything imposing or sovereign."
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and of Sadiya.
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The old Sadiya Khowa Gohāin died in 1835 and was succeeded by his son. About the same time there was a fresh immigration of Khāmtis from beyond the border.
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∗ Report by Captain Fisher quoted in Pemberton's "Eastern Frontier," page 220. † In 1853 the pensions payable to various Ahom noble families still exceeded Rs. 12,000 a month.
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Their advent was welcomed by the British authorities, who still regarded a fresh Burmese invasion as possible, and whose policy it was to impede it by the settlement of friendly warlike tribes along the route which they would have to follow. A dispute arose between the new Sadiya Khowa Gohāin and the Bar Senapati regarding a certain tract of land. The British officer at Sadiya, to prevent a collision, attached it and told the disputants to appear before him and urge their respective claims. The Sadiya Khowa Gohāin, in defiance of this order, took forcible possession and refused to give it up when called upon to do so. His post was accordingly abolished, and he was removed to another part of the province. The Khāmtis themselves were left untaxed, and were still allowed to manage their private affairs under their own chiefs. But they were deprived of their control over the local Assamese, the jurisdiction over whom was thenceforth exercised by the Political Officer at Sadiya. Their slaves were also released, and they suspected the Government of a design to tax them and to lower their status to that of the ordinary Assamese. Thus, although they shortly afterwards assisted in the operations against the Singphos, as a reward for which their late chief was permitted to return from exile, they remained thenceforth in a state of simmering discontent. In January 1839, this culminated in a treacherous night attack on the British garrison at Sadiya. Colonel White, the Political Agent, was killed, and eighty others were killed or wounded. A punitive force was at once despatched to Sadiya. The insurgents sought refuge amongst the Mishmis. They were followed up and repeated defeats were inflicted on them; and in December 1843, the last of the rebels made his submission. Some were deported to Nārāyanpur, on the Dikrāng, in the western part of the district, and others were settled above Sadiya town to form a screen between the Assamese and the Mishmis.
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The Bar Senapati, or chief of the Matak country, after nominating his second son, known as the Māju Gohāin, to succeed him, died in 1839. The specially favourable arrangements sanctioned by the British Government for the term of his own life only thus came to an end. It was proposed to resume a portion of the tract, the inhabitants of which had asked to be placed under British rule, and, in the remaining portion, to take a fresh count of the population, and to fix the Government share of the revenue according to the scale originally proposed by David Scott. These terms were rejected by the Māju Gohāin; they were then offered to other members of his family, who also refused to accept them, whereupon the British representative, Captain Vetch, assumed direct management of the entire country. This measure was subsequently approved by the Governor-General. Pensions aggregating seven thousand rupees a year, or considerably more than half the total revenue of the estate, were awarded to the late Senapati's family, and several members of it were given appointments under Government.
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In 1842 a proclamation was issued announcing the incorporation of Matak and Sadiya in British territory. Both tracts were added to the Lakhimpur district, the headquarters of which were transferred to Dibrugarh in the Matak country. From this time the Principal Assistant at Dibrugarh or, as we should now call him, the Deputy Commissioner, has generally performed the duties of Political Agent,* with the help, since 1882, of an Assistant Political Officer stationed at Sadiya.
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Formation of a second Sebundy regiment. A second Sebundy regiment of six companies, consisting partly of Rābhas and Kachāris from Lower Assam and partly of Doāniyas, or Singpho half-breeds, and other local men of low caste, was raised for the defence of the newly-acquired territory. Its headquarters were at Rangpur, and it occupied the outposts on the Matak frontier.
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Subsequent history of Assam regiments. There were now three regiments in the Brahmaputra valley; the Assam Light Infantry with headquarters at Sibsāgar; and the two Sebundy corps, which were stationed at Gauhāti and Rangpur respectively. The last-mentioned was disbanded in 1844. In the same year, the Lower Assam, Sebundy corps was transferred into a regular regiment, known as the 2nd Assam, or Kāmrup, Light Infantry, and later as the 43rd Gurkha Rifles. The 1st Assam Light Infantry, which was afterwards moved to Dibrugarh, developed into the 42nd Gurkha Rifles, and the Sylhet Light Infantry became the 44th; according to the recent renumbering of the regiments of the Indian Army, the 42nd, 43rd and 44th regiments have become respectively the 6th, 7th and 8th Gurkha Rifles.
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∗ On one occasion at least the duties of Political Agent were discharged by another officer; and Major Vetch, after his transfer from Lakhimpur to Kāmrup, continued for some years to be the Political Agent for Sadiya. This anomalous arrangement was criticized by Mill in his well-known report of 1854.
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In 1844 the Government of India sanctioned an application by Tulārām Senapati, who died soon afterwards, to transfer the management of his estate of his two sons, Nokul Rām Barman and Brijnāth Barman. They were, however, quite unequal to the task. They quarrelled among themselves, became involved in debt and incurred the enmity of the Angāmi Nāgas, who made frequent raids on the Kachāri villages, which the new managers were unable to prevent. In one of these raids eighty-six persons were killed and many more were carried off as slaves. At last, in 1854, the tract was resumed and added to the North Cachar sub-division, the headquarters of which was then at Asalu, and which, since 1839, had been included in the Nowgong district. When the Nāga hills district was constituted in 1866, this sub-division was closed and the territory included in it was distributed amongst the surrounding districts. It was re-established in 1880 and placed in charge of a junior police officer, who was stationed, first at Gunjong and subsequently at Haflong. Liberal pensions were given to the surviving members of Tulārām’s family.
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The strip of level country at the foot of the Himalayas, from Darrang westwards, is divided off in native parlance into a series of Duārs, or “doors,” through which access is gained to the various passes into the hills. In the direction of Bhutān there were eighteen of these Duārs, eleven on the frontier of Bengal and Goālpāra, and seven, with an area of sixteen hundred square miles, in the north of Kāmrup and Darrang. The former had been annexed by the Bhutias long before the British came into possession of Bengal, but the latter were held by the Ahoms until Gaurināth’s reign, when they were surrendered to the Bhutias in consideration of an annual tribute of Rs. 4,785. It was agreed that, so long as this sum was paid, the Kāmrup Duārs were to remain permanently with the Bhutias, while those in Darrang were to be managed jointly, the Ahoms holding them from July to November, and the Bhutias, for the remaining seven months of the year. After the British conquest, the tribute due by the Bhutias gradually fell into arrears, and frequent outrages and dacoities were committed in British territory. Various punitive measures were taken, but without lasting result. It was therefore decided, in 1841, to take over the whole of this section of the Duārs, and a yearly payment of Rs. 10,000, or one-third of the estimated revenue at the time, was paid to the Bhutān authorities in their stead. This sum was subsequently merged in one of Rs. 25,000, which was sanctioned after the Bhutān War of 1864, when the Duārs north of Goālpāra and Koch Bihār were also annexed. Payment is now made to the Bhutān representatives by the Commissioner of Rajshahi at Buxa. East of the Bhutān Duārs of Darrang is another, known as the Koriāpāra Duār, which was held by certain Bhutia chiefs called Sāt Rajas, whose hills form part of the province of Towāng, an outlying dependency of Lhassa. Here also, there were numerous outrages and disputes until 1843, when the local chiefs ceded the Duār in return for an annual payment of Rs. 5,000, or one-third of the supposed revenue, which is handed over to them every year at the time of the Udalguri fair.
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