Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

A History of Assam c7.s1: Some general considerations

A History of Assam c7.s1

Language
English

Some general considerations

c7.s1.1

The science of history was unknown to the early inhabitants of Assam, and it is not till the Ahom invasion in 1228 A.D. that we obtain anything at all approaching a connected account of the people and their rulers. For several hundred years previously some scattered facts may be gleaned from a few ancient inscriptions and from the observations of a Chinese traveller. Before then nothing definite is known, and our only information consists of some dubious and fragmentary references in the *Mahābhārat*, and in the *Purāns* and *Tantras* and other similar records.

c7.s1.2

The stories culled from the latter sources cannot of course be dignified with the name of history. They are, at the best, ancient traditions, but even this cannot be asserted with certainty, and some of them may have been interpolated by interested copyists in comparatively recent times. They do, however, contain a substratum of fact, and, in any case, they are fondly remembered by the people.

c7.s1.3

But before dealing with these stories, we may refer briefly to some general indications regarding the ancient movements of the people which are suggested by philological and ethnographical considerations. So far as philology is concerned, it is, of course, admitted that language is no real test of race. The Ahoms have abandoned their tribal dialect in favour of Assamese, and the Rābhās, Kachāris and other tribes are following their example. The reason in these cases is partly that Assamese is the language of the priests, who are gradually bringing these rude tribes within the fold of Hinduism, and partly that it is the language of a higher civilization. But there is another way in which one form of speech may supplant another, *viz.*, by conquest. When one nation brings another under subjection, it often imposes its own language on the conquered people. Thus within the last hundred years the Shān tribe of Turungs, while held in captivity amongst the Singphos, abandoned their native tongue and adopted that of their captors. It may safely be assumed that one or other, or both, of these processes has always been in operation, and that, just as Assamese is now supplanting Kachāri and other tribal languages, so these in their turn displaced those of an earlier generation. There is, however, this difference, that whereas now, the caste system, to a great extent, preserves a distinct physical type, the earlier philological changes were accompanied by racial fusion. We know that this occurred after the Ahom invasion of Assam, when many Chutiya, Morān and Borāhi families were incorporated in the Ahom tribal system and, by lapse of time and inter-marriage, gradually came to be recognised as genuine Ahoms. The Ahoms themselves are Shāns, who, according to an eminent authority,* are the outcome of an intermingling of Mons, Negritos and Chinese. The Koches appear to have been originally a Bodo tribe, closely allied to the Meches and Kachāris, but many of them now present the physical characteristics of the Dravidian family.

c7.s1.4

The fact therefore that, excluding immigrants during historic times, a few communities, like the Kalitas, of reputed Aryan descent, and a few others, such as the Doms, of obvious Dravidian origin, the bulk of the population of the Brahmaputra valley is comprised of tribes whose peculiar dialects belong to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Indo-Chinese family by no means indicates racial uniformity. All that it can fairly be held to show is that the most recent conquerors, prior to the Ahoms, were speakers of such dialects, and that they imposed their language on the older inhabitants, whose identity gradually became merged in that of their conquerors.

c7.s1.5

∗ M. Terrien de la Couperie, in his Introduction to Colquhoun's *Amongst the Shans*. See also, *The Cradle of the Shan Race*, by the same author

c7.s1.6

With these preliminary remarks the general conclusions to be drawn from a study of the languages and physical type of the people may be briefly set forth.

c7.s1.7

The human race has been classified by Professor Flower under three main types—the Negroid, the Mongolian, and the Caucasian. The Caucasian is further subdivided into the dark group, which includes the Dravidians, and the fair, which includes the Aryans.* The Negroid type has its headquarters in Africa, the Mongolian in the eastern part of Asia, whence it overflowed into America, and the Caucasian in Europe and Western Asia. The predominant type in the population of India (excluding Burma) is the Dravidian. This type is distinguished by a long head, large and dark eyes, a fairly strong beard, a black, or nearly black, colour, and a very broad nose, depressed at the base, but not so as to make the face look flat. In the south of India there is a Negritic element which is thought to be derived from a stock akin to the Veddahs of Ceylon, the Andamanese and other tribes of the Indian ocean, and possibly the aborigines of Australia. This very primitive type of humanity may perhaps have drifted eastwards from Africa at a very remote period when the remains of the land area that once linked India with Madagascar were far more extensive than they are at the present day. The Negritic element is probably pre-Dravidian, but our knowledge of the very early distribution of the human race is still too rudimentary to justify any positive statement as to the relative antiquity in India of these two elements of her population.

c7.s1.8

Some three or four thousand years ago a number of tribes of Aryan race entered India from the north-west. Like the Dravidians, these tribes had a long head, but unlike them, they were tall and well-formed, with fine and prominent, but not long, noses, and a comparatively fair complexion. They almost obliterated the earlier Dravidian type in the Punjab and adjoining parts of north-west India, while further east and south they produced a mixed race in which the Aryan element diminishes as the distance from the Punjab increases—gradually amongst the higher, more rapidly amongst the lower castes—and eventually in the south disappears altogether.

c7.s1.9

∗ A good deal of confusion has been caused by the fact that the philologists made use of the terms Aryan and Dravidian (which were originally applied to races) to designate linguistic families at a time when it was thought that race and language were correlative terms. It is too late now to rectify this, but it is essential to remember that these words, used philologically, have no racial connotation and *vice versa*.

c7.s1.10

From the opposite corner of India, through Assam and the eastern Himalayas, there was a similar influx of tribes of Mongolian origin, whose main physical characteristics are a short head, a broad nose, a flat and comparatively hairless face, a short but muscular figure and a yellow skin. In Assam (excluding the Surma valley) and North-East Bengal the Dravidian type has to a great extent been replaced by the Mongolian, while in the Surma valley and the rest of Bengal a mixture of races has taken place in which the recognizable Mongolian element diminishes towards the west and disappears altogether before Bihar is reached. The Aryan invaders spoke languages of the “Aryan” or Indo-European linguistic family, and languages of this family have now become the speech of the vast majority of the inhabitants of Northern India, where they have displaced, not only those previously spoken by the Dravidian races but also, to a great extent, those of the later Mongolian immigrants. Except in the south of India, non-Aryan languages survive only in limited areas (chiefly hills and uplands) which were, until recent times, covered with forest and difficult of access.

c7.s1.11

The non-Aryan languages still spoken by people of the Dravidian physical type belong to two entirely distinct families of speech—the Dravidian and the Mundā. Languages of the former family are spoken throughout Southern India and also by certain tribes of Chota Nagpur and the adjacent uplands. Other tribes in the latter area speak Mundā languages. There are traces of the former existence of allied languages in the Punjab hills, but there are no indications whatever of their ever having been spoken in Southern India. The Dravidian linguistic family has no known affinity with any languages spoken outside India. Nor, with the exception of a small tribe in Baluchistan,* is it spoken by any people who are not Dravidians by race. The Mundā family, on the other hand, is allied to the Khāsi of Assam and the Mon-Khmer languages of Burma, and belongs like them to the Austro-Asiatic family: this again is a branch of the most widely diffused linguistic family in the world—the Austric—dialects of which are spoken in many parts of South-East Asia and in islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans as far as Easter Island off the coast of South America. Though there are many exceptions, the majority of the speakers of this widespread linguistic family are Mongolian by race, and recent research points to the coast of Indo-China as the place where it probably originated.

c7.s1.12

∗ it is not clear how the non-Dravidian Brāhuis of Baluchistan came to speak a “Dravidian” language, but the fact that they do

c7.s1.13

These considerations suggest that the Dravidians originally spoke languages of the “Dravidian” family, and that the Mundā languages were imported by Mongolian immigrants through Assam or Burma whose distinctive physical type became merged in that of the earlier Dravidian inhabitants. In this connexion it may be noted that the Mundā-speaking tribes used to erect monoliths in memory of their dead similar to those erected by the Khāsis, who are of unmistakable Mongolian race, and that traces of an apparently Mongolian physiognomy are occasionally to be seen amongst them.*

c7.s1.14

With the exception of Khāsi, the numerous non-Aryan dialects of Assam all belong to the Tibeto-Chinese family and mainly to its Tibeto-Burman sub-family. The dialects of this sub-family which are current in Assam belong in the main to three groups, *viz.*, Nāga spoken in, and east of, the Naga Hills, Kuki-Chin spoken in Manipur, Cachar and the Lushai Hills, and Bodo, which claims practically all the

c7.s1.15

so is not one to which any particular significance need be attached. As already pointed out it is by no means uncommon for people of one race to speak a language appertaining to an entirely different stock. Aryan languages have displaced other forms of speech in most parts of Northern India, and instances of linguistic instability are common amongst uncivilized races, *vide* Census of India 1911, Vol. I, Part I, page 328.

c7.s1.16

∗ It is greatly to be desired that thoroughly reliable measurement should be made of the Mundās and Orāons of Chota Nagpur. Those effected by subordinates under Risley's instructions are not very convincing, and several competent observers disagree with his conclusion that the physical type of these two tribes is indistinguishable.

c7.s1.17

surviving non-Aryan languages of the Brahmaputra valley, the Garo Hills and North Cachar; it includes among others, Kachāri or Mech, Gāro, Lālung, Rābhā and Chutiyā. In more recent times there have been several intrusions of tribes speaking Tāi (or Shān) language, the most noteworthy being that of the Ahoms.

c7.s1.18

Although in Assam, Khāsi is the only surviving language of the earlier Mongolian invaders, the fact that they penetrated as far as Chota Nagpur and (apparently) the Punjab, shows that they must have entered Assam in great numbers. But as their physical type was similar to that of later immigrants, it is impossible to form any idea as to the extent to which their descendants are represented in the present population of the province. It seems probable that, except in the Khāsi and Jaintia Hills, they were subjugated by later invaders, adopted their forms of speech and gradually intermingled with them.

c7.s1.19

The wide extent and long duration of Bodo domination is shown by the frequent occurrence of the prefix di or ti, the Bodo word for water, in the river names of the Brahmaputra valley and the adjoining country to the west, *e.g.*, Dibru, Dikhu, Dihing, Dihong, Dibong, Disang, Diphang, Dimla, etc. In some cases the old name is disappearing—the Dichu river, for instance, is now better known as the Jaldhāka—while in others it has already gone, as in the case of the Brahmaputra, which in the early days of Ahom rule was known as the Ti-lao. The latter word was doubtless the origin of another old name for this river, *viz.*, Lohit or Lau-hitya (red). This name has another derivation in Sanskrit literature, where the water is said to be so called because Parasurām washed off his bloody stains in it,* but there are numerous similar instances of the invention of such stories to explain names taken from the aboriginal languages. Thus the Kosi derives its name from *Khussi*, the Newār word for river, but it is connected in Hindu legends with Kusik Raja; and the Tistā, though its first syllable is clearly the Bodo *di* or *ti*, is regarded by the Hindus as a corruption of *trishna*, "thirst," or *trisrota*, "three springs." The Ahoms ruled in Assam for seven hundred years, but their word for river (*nām*) occurs only in a few instances in the extreme east, *e.g.*, Nāmrup, Nāmtsik and Nāmsāng. They called the Dikhu the Nāmchau, but the earlier Kachāri name has survived in spite of them. The Ahoms, of course, were relatively few in numbers, but they were the dominant race; and the fact that, compared with the Bodo tribes, they have left so few marks on the toponomy of the country may perhaps be taken to show that the period for which the latter were supreme was far longer than that for which the Ahoms are known to have ruled.

c7.s1.20

∗ Kālika Purān, 84th Adhyāya of the Jāmadagnya Upakhyāna. See also Bhāgavat Purān (J. Muir's Sanskrit Texts, Vol. I, pp. 458, 459).

c7.s1.21

The Bodo dialects, though still spoken in Assam by more than half a million persons, are in their turn giving way to Aryan languages (Assamese and Bengali), and their complete disappearance is only a matter of time.

c7.s1.22

Although Aryan languages are now predominant in both the great river valleys this is due mainly to the influence of Hindu priests and to the more advanced character of these languages, as compared with the ruder and less efficient tribal dialects; and the strain of Aryan blood is very thin. It is, however, apparent in some of the higher castes. The Kalitas of the Brahmaputra valley, who number nearly a quarter of a million, have often a distinctly Aryan appearance, and, they are possibly to some extent the descendants of the first Aryan immigrants by women of the country.

c7.s1.23

The soil of the Brahmaputra valley is fertile, but its climate is damp and relaxing, so that, while the people enjoy great material prosperity, there is a strong tendency towards physical and moral deterioration. Any race that had been long resident there, though rising in the scale of civilization and gaining proficiency in the arts of peace, would gradually become soft and luxurious and so, after a time, would no longer be able to defend itself against the incursions of the hardier tribes behind them. The latter would then encroach in all directions, and would harry the plains with constant raids, killing the men and carrying off the women, and reducing the country to a condition bordering on anarchy. Then would come the opportunity for some enterprising hill

c7.s1.24

Probable cause of successive chief to swoop down with his tribesmen, or a confederacy of kindred tribes, and, after sweeping away the effete remains of a worn-out nationality, to establish his followers in its place. For a time the material resources of the plains would add to his strength, and he would be able without much difficulty to consolidate his rule and beat back external aggression. But time would bring its revenge; and, in the end, the new dynasty would sink just like the one which it had subverted. The history of the Ahoms shows how a brave and vigorous race may decay in the ‘sleepy hollow’ of the Brahmaputra valley; and it was only the intervention of the British that prevented them from being blotted out by fresh hordes of invaders, first the Burmese, and then the Singphos and Khāmtis, and also, possibly, the Daflas, Abors and Bhutias.

c7.s1.25

The same was doubtless the case in the Surma valley, which must once have been dominated by Bodo tribes, allied to the Tipperas on the south and the Gāros and Koches on the north. At the present day, there are very few traces of a recent aboriginal element, but this is due largely to the absorbent power of Hinduism: as lately as 1835 Pemberton found that members of the Jaintia royal family were able in course of time to gain admission to the Kāyasth and Baidya castes, and if these castes opened their portals to aborigines of high social position, other less exalted communities doubtless did the same to those of a humbler status.

c7.s1.26

In the Brahmaputra valley Koch, formerly the name of a tribe, has become a caste which admits proselytes to Hinduism from the ranks of the Kachāri and other aboriginal tribes. A similar process has no doubt taken place in the Surma valley where various communities now regarded as Hindu castes consist largely of aboriginal elements.

c7.s1.27

In the hills of the Assam range the changes may have been fewer and less violent, but here also there have quite recently been movements, such as those of the Kukis, who in the last century were pushed northwards by the Lushais, and of the Mikirs, who once inhabited the Jaintia Hills. Amongst the Nāgas also there are well-established cases of slow racial drift. Some of the tribes, again, that are now found in the hills were at one time in occupation of the plains, like the southern Kachāris, who were pushed back into the North Cachar Hills by the Ahoms.

c7.s1.28

Apart altogether from external aggression there was a strong internal tendency towards disintegration. There was no strong national spirit or other cohesive element amongst the Mongolian tribes of Assam, and their natural condition was probably that of a number of small communities, each under its own chief or headman, and independent of its neighbours; a state of things, in fact, very similar to that which existed at the time of the British conquest amongst the Gāros, Khāsis and Nāgas, whose organization in many cases was of a distinctly republican type. From time to time a local chief of unusual enterprise and ambition, or possibly some Kshatriya adventurer, would reduce these petty states and make himself master of the whole country. So long as the central administration was young and vigorous, the tribal headmen would be held in check, but as soon as it became weak and effeminate, as usually happened after a few generations, the latter would recover their lost independence, and enjoy it until it was again subverted in the manner already described.

c7.s1.29

The comparatively short existence of the old Assam dynasties explains the slow and intermittent character of the progress of Hinduism in past generations. Hindu priests and warriors undoubtedly found their way to Assam at a very early date. The Indian king Samuda who, according to Forlong, was ruling in Upper Burma in 105 A.D., must have proceeded thither through Assam, and so must the Hindus who led the Tchāmpās or Shāns in their conquest of the mouths of the Mekong in 280 A.D.* The chief ruler in Assam in 640 A.D. was a Hindu who claimed to be a Kshatriya. And yet, in the Brahmaputra valley, large sections of the population are still outside the pale of Hinduism, or in the lower stages of conversion, where their adopted religion still sits lightly on them and they have not yet learnt to resist the temptation to indulge in pork, fowls and other articles regarded by the orthodox as impure. The reason seems to be that in early days the number of Hindu settlers and adventurers was small, and they confined their attention to the king and his chief nobles, from whom alone they had anything to gain. They would convert them, admit the nobles to Kshatriya rank and invent for the king a noble descent, using, as will be seen, the same materials over and over again, and then enjoy as their reward lucrative posts at court and lands granted to them by their proselytes. They would not interfere with the tribal religious rites, as to do so would call forth the active animosity of the native priests; nor would they trouble about the beliefs of the common people, who would continue to hold to their old religious notions. If the dynasty lasted long enough, the influence of Hindu ideas would gradually filter down to them and they would follow the example of their betters, as has now actually happened in the case of the Ahoms. But before this could come to pass, the dynasty would ordinarily be overthrown; the down-fallen survivors of the old aristocracy would become merged in some Hindu caste,* such as the Kalita, and Hinduism would sink into insignificance until, in course of time, its priests should succeed in inducing the new rulers to accept their ministrations.

c7.s1.30

∗ Phayre, History of Burma, pages 3, 4 and 15.

Linked texts (5)