A History of Assam c23.9

c23.9

Unfortunately, at this juncture, it was decided that the Jaintia hills were to be treated in the same way as other parts of British India in respect of the levy of the new income-tax, and 310 persons, including all the leaders of the people, were assessed with an aggregate tax of Rs. 1,259. It was paid the first year without overt opposition, but the discontent which it engendered, following closely on the imposition of the house-tax, coupled with rumours of further imposts and the offensive conduct of the police, led to a fresh outbreak in January 1862. The police station at Jowai was burnt to the ground; the garrison of sepoys was besieged, and all show of British authority was swept away. In order to quell the revolt, two regiments of Sikhs and an elephant battery were moved into the hills, but the Syntengs, though armed only with bows and arrows, fought bravely for their independence. Their chief defence, like that of most tribes on this frontier, consisted in a series of stockades, one behind the other; and the paths leading to their villages were thickly planted with *pānjis*, or little bamboo spikes, stuck into the ground.