HISTORY
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Assam is
the anglicized form of the name of the premier state of North-East India, a
region very strategically situated, close to India’s international borders with
as many as four countries- China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The term Asam,
or Asom is interpreted by some scholars as a formation of Sanskrit derivation,
which means peerless or unparalleled. But the more widely accepted opinion in
the academic circles today is that the term has come from the word Ahom, the
people who migrated to the Brahmaputra Valley in the early thirteenth century
and gave shape to the Assamese society of today after having presided over the
destiny of the land for a long and unbroken stretch of about 600 years till the
annexation of Assam by the British.
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King Bhaskaravarman of Pragjyotishpur offering present to Chinese Scholar
Hiuen Tsang |
Going
back, one finds Assam to be an ancient land which figured prominently in
international trade even before the birth of Jesus Christ. Chang Kien, a Chinese
explorer had traced his country’s trade with Assam as far back as in 100 B.C.
According to the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, Himalayan malabathrum and silk
from Assam had reached Egypt and Rome in the pre-Christian times. Assam also
figured prominently in ptolemy’s geography.
Human
footprints in this land has been traced back to the Early Stone Age. The
earliest footprints were those of Austric aborigins who were followed by the
pre-Dravidians too. The eastern floodgates, when opened, on the other hand
witnessed the arrival, in quick succession, of several Mongoloid groups of
people, which had almost totally engulfed the land by the time of the Vedas.
Most of the present tribal groups of the Northeastern region are offsprings of
those Mongoloids, whom the Vedas had chosen to refer to as the Kiratas.
Absence
of archaeological materials has often made any incursion into Assam’s past a
difficult task. Facts and fancy overlap very often in our efforts to recreate
the past. This land of the Red River and the Blue Hills was known in the ancient
times as Pragiyotisha, with present-day Guwahati being known as Pragiyotishpura,
the City of Eastern Lights. Pragiyotish, subsequently known as Kamarupa, had
then covered a much larger territory, at times extending as far as the border of
Nepal.
The
Kalika Purana and Vishnu Purana have confirmed the extent of Kamarupa’s
territory for about 450 miles in all directions from the Kamakhya temple,
located atop the Neelachal hills in Guwahati.
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King Bhagadutta of Pragjyotishpur
in Kurukshetra War
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According
to a deeply entrenched local tradition, the earliest rulers of Pragiyotisha
belonged to the Danava dynasty, the most important of the line, and also a
founder of that being Mahiranga Danava. The most popular and colourful figure in
the legends of this body of tradition is King Narakasura, founder of the Bhauma
Naraka line, whose birth is ascribed to the union of Vasumati (Mother Earth)
with Vishnu in this Varaha incarnation. Naraka’s descendant Bhagadatta on the
other hand finds honourable mention in the Mahabharata ; he had participated in
the battle of Kurukshetra on the Kaurava side, taking with him a large
contingent of China and Kirata troops. Bhagadatta fought valiantly in
Kurukshetra, to finally die a hero’s death in the hands of Bhima, the second of
the five Pandava princes.
Hiuen
Tsang, the famous Chinese traveler, gives a detailed account of Assam of the
seventh century, when King Bhaskaravarman enhanced the power and prestige of
Kamarupa to an extent never dreamt before.
Bhaskaravarman was a close friend and ally of Emperor Harshavardhana, and his
kingdom covered almost the whole of eastern India and enjoyed great prosperity.
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The
Varmans were followed by the rulers of the Salastambha dynasty who held power
till the end of the 10th century A.D. of the important kings of this
dynasty were Harshadeva or Shri Harsha, who even assurned the imposing title of
Maharajadhiraja Parameswara Paramabhattaraka. The most powerful and prominent
monarch of this dynasty however was Vanamala Varmadeva, whose kingdom extended
far and wide including upto present-day North Bengal.
Then came
the Pala dynasty, set up by Brahmapala, which flourished till the beginning of
the 12th century. Another important ruler of this regionafter the
Pala kings was Prithu, who had successfully resisted the first Muslim invasion
of Kamarupa, led by Mohammed Ibn Bakhtiyar and completely annihilated the Muslim
forces. A second Muslim onslaught however was successful and Prithu was
overthrown. That was in 1228.
It was
exactly the same year that an army of Ahoms of the Tai-Shan family came from
Burma across the Parkai range and entered Assam under an adventurous leader
Sukapha. The Ahom subdued the various local chiefs through a series of
determined and skilful moves, and very soon firmly entrenched themselves as the
masters over a large tract.
Simultaneously had built up the Kamata Kingdom, followed by the Koch Kingdom in
Kamarupa, the latter founded by Biswa simha (1515-1540). His son Naranarayana
(1540-1584) was a truly great ruler, who not only integrated large portions of
Assam and present North Bengali, but also established his suzerainty over many
neighbouring kingdoms like Cacher, Tripura, and the Khasi and Jaintia Hills.
The military achievements of Naranarayana owed a great deal to the extraordinary
valour and intelligence of his illustrious brother Chilarai or Sukladhyvaja. The
two were highly learned persons and were great patrons of literature, art and
culture. After Naranarayana’s death, the kingdom disintegrated ; while the
western part fell prey to Muslim aggression, the eastern part eventually became
a satellite of the Ahom Kingdom.
The Ahoms
on their part embraced the Hindu religion as well as the Assamese language,
overpowered the Chutiyas and other groups, pushed the Kachsris southward, and
gradually established their hegemony over many other contiguous areas. By the 17th
century, the Ahom country extended upto the Manas river in the west. But by the
18th century, the kingdom began to decline . Internal strife,
repeated Moghul aggression, natural calamities, a long- drawn-out civil war, and
finally a series of Burmese invasions took a heavy toll. The British intervened
in 1824, and sent away the Burmese by signing the Yandaboo Treaty on February
24, 1826, which also led to annexation of Assam to the British Empire.
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