A History of Assam c7.s1.3

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.