A History of Assam c22.5

c22.5

The Akas, or Hrusso as they call themselves, are divided into two sections, which are known to the Assamese as the Hazāri Khowas, or taxers of a thousand hearths, and the Kopaschors, or cotton thieves. The commutation of their exactions for a fixed money payment has already been described. For many years the Kopāschor chief, Tangi or Tagi Raja, committed numerous robberies and murders in the plains. In 1829 he was captured and imprisoned in the Gauhāti jail. He was released in 1832, when he immediately resumed his attacks; and three years later he massacred the inhabitants of the British village and police outpost of Bālipāra. He continued his depredations till 1842 when he submitted, accepted a small pension, and agreed to take up his residence in the plains. The demarcation of the boundary, in 1874-75, caused some discontent amongst the Akas, but it was not until 1883 that they again gave any real trouble. In that year the Kopāschor chiefs, Medhi and Chandi, carried off and detained several native officials. A punitive expedition occupied Medhi's village, and recovered the captives and some loot, which had also been taken, but it did not wait there long enough to force the chiefs to submit. A blockade of the frontier followed, but it was not until 1888 that the chiefs came in and tendered their submission.