Additional Information and Further Justification for enlisting the Ahom Community as

Scheduled Tribe (Plains) under the Indian Constitution

Submitted on behalf of the Ahom also called Tai-Ahom represented by Tai-Ahom

National Council as constituted in a convention held at Simaluguri, Sivasagar on 8th May 2005

comprising of Tai Sahitya Sabha, All Assam Ahom Sabha, All Assam Tai-Ahom Students’

Association, Deodhai-Bailung-Mohan Sanmilan, All Assam Phura-long Sangha, Chaodang

Jatiya Parishad, All Assam Chaodang Sanmilan, other associated bodies, and individuals who

include intellectuals, university and college teachers, doctors, advocates, businessmen,

contractors, and others belonging to different strata of the Ahom society.

This representation is in continuation of the earlier ones hereunder dated and submitted

by different Ahom/Tai-Ahom organizations, which failed to find favour of the Statutory High

Authorities, and may be received in that context.

On 7th August 1967 by the All Assam Ahom Association

On 16th &17th August 1968 by the Ahom Tai Mongoliya Rajya Parishad

In 1979 by several Tai Ahom organizations

On 2nd March 1981 by an Ahom deputation representing different organizations

On 19th July 1982 by the All Assam Tai Ahom Juba-Chatra Parishad

On 26th December 1981 by the All Assam Tai-Ahom Society

On 21st May 1988 by the Tai Ahom Council of Assam

In August 1991 by the All Assam Tai Ahom Student Union

On 3rd July 1992 by the All Assam Phra-long Council

In August 1995 by the Co-ordination Committee of the Tai Ahom organizations

Preliminaries

A brief recount of the Ahom position after 1826, in which year the British occupied the

independent Ahom kingdom, may facilitate to appreciate the Ahom outlook and the background

of their present demand. Following the internal chaotic political condition that prevailed in the

Ahom kingdom towards the close of the eighteenth century; the Burmese army came in 1817,

1819 and 1821, and by defeating the Ahom royal force they became the overlords. The

aggressive imperial policy of the Burmese Government caused armed conflicts with the British

at several frontier points in Assam, Chittagong and Arracan that ultimately led to the First

Anglo-Burmese War of 1824-26. To oust the Burmese from its occupation, the British army

entered the Ahom kingdom from Goalpara in March 1824. In less than two years, the British

drove the Burmese and their allies across the Patkai hills and occupied the Ahom kingdom.

Although the Treaty of 1826 (Treaty of Yandaboo) did not legalize the British

occupation of Assam, they continued their occupation without demur. The Ahom kings, who had

their legal claims to the throne, were either pensioned off or kept away. The British set aside the

time-honoured existing systems and introduced new ones suitable to their needs. The Ahoms

were now turned into subjects. They could neither imagine nor expect this sudden turn of events;

they were crestfallen.

The Ahom in Extreme Crisis after 1826:

It needs to be emphasized that for nearly seventy years after 1826, the Ahoms as a community

had passed through a period of extreme hardship and acute depression in political, economic and

social life. As was natural for the new conquerors, the British adopted the deliberate policy of

turning the Ahoms into political “untouchables” and had marginalized them socially and

pauperized them economically.

Systematic Discrimination:

“They systematically followed a policy of discrimination against the Ahom in matters

relating employment and deprived them of other benefits of the new economic order”.

(Professor Giirin Phukan, “Search for Tai-Ahom Identity in Assam: In Retrospect”,

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Tai Studies, Vol. IV, May 1990,

Kunming, China, p. 377).

Ahom Aristocracy turned Destitute:

P. R. T. Gurdon writes,

“The condition of the old Ahom aristocracy becomes worse and worse each year, owing

chiefly to the failures of its members to realize the new conditions of life. Families in

Sibsagar which a generation of two back held positions of power and comparative wealth

at the Ahom Raja’s court are now practically destitute.”(Encyclopaedia of Religion &

Ethics, Vol. I, edited by James Hastings, p. 235)

Ruthless Downgrading of the Ahom Royalty & Nobility & Others:

The British followed a subtle policy of downgrading the Ahom politically, socially,

economically, and even psychologically to affect the collapse of their moral. One classic

example of the contemptuous treatment meted by Francis Jenkins, the Agent to the Governor-

General in North East, to a genuine complaint lodged by ex-King Purandar Singha (1833-38)

may be cited here. Just after one year he was dislodged from power and his territory of Upper

Assam annexed to the British dominion, Purandar Singha protested against the desecration of the

sacred royal moidams at Charaideo and the pulling down the bricks from the royal palace at

Garhgaon by the Assam Tea Company. The representation (its English translation made by the

British official authority) runs as below:

“It was the custom of my ancestors from the time of Chukapha Rajah not to burn their

dead but to bury them, and when any royal person died all the ornaments and golden

plates to the value of from 20,000 to 25,000 Rupees were buried with him, and the body

was buried at Cherry Deo and mound raised over it. It was called a moidam. I have now

heard that some gentlemen are preparing to cultivate the tea there. Sir, these tombs are in

a manner holy with us and the cultivating the tea or anything on them would much affect

me, and they are destroying the Rajah Palace at Ghergong and building factories there.

Sir, whereas any one builds a grave it is not the custom of the country to destroy them but

these gentlemen not having regarded this have caused me great distress, and I have

addressed you trusting that they will be order to leave these to remain and to repair these

they have destroyed.”

The complaint was addressed to Captain T. Brodie, the then Deputy Commissioner of

Sibsagar, who forwarded it to Francis Jenkins. The contemptuous comments of the latter are

unbecoming on the part of the highest officer of the East India Company’s government in the

North-East. Jenkins’ official letter runs:

“I mention that in my opinion the Rajah’s objection to the pulling down the Palace

and Fort were of little weight. The Palace and Fort are of little to the govt. But they

may prove a great convenience to the Assam Company, and is my opinion the whole

had better be cleared away as the Fort is now only a harbour for wild beasts,…”

(Letter No. 67, from the Agent to the Governor-General to the Secretary, Government of

India at Fort William, 6th April 1840, in Vol. No. 9).

Marginalization and Pauperization of the Ahom:

The British deliberate policy for “the marginalization and pauperization of the Ahom

chieftains and the emergence of the a Caste Hindu bureaucracy” and their dominance, had soon

turned the Ahom “overnight from princes into paupers, from benefactors into beneficiaries, from

lords into untouchables, thus had to fight a bitter struggle for survival and re-emergence”

(Devabrata Sharma, “Tai-Ahoms: From Social Mobility to Political Aspirations”, Indian

Journal of Tai Studies, Vol. III, March 2003, p. 86).

Ahom Turned Leaderless:

Without their ruling kings and nobles who were their political leaders, without power,

without land holding and money, the Ahom in general became rudderless and dumb as in stupor,

and had began to lead a life like cocoons encased. At the same time other communities

particularly those of the higher class Hindus, who had earlier enjoyed political patronage and

economic benefits in the form of large land grants and high social status, continued to enjoy the

same even under the new rule. While the Ahoms kept themselves away from the “foreign

usurpers” the non-Ahom communities showed no hesitation to take up employment under the

British and readily sent their wards to schools opened by the British.

Ahom Became Backward Educationally:

It is under such circumstances that the Ahom backwardness, politically, socially, in economic

sphere, and educationally must be considered. Even after a lapse of more than one and a half

century the Ahom did not recover from the great disaster caused by the sudden loss of power.

Even today the Ahom are comparatively backward in respect of economic and educational

spheres.

P. R. T. Gurdon, the high British official noted, “In educational matters the Ahoms are

more backward then even the ordinary Assamese Hindus.” (Encyclopaedia of Religion and

Ethics, p. 235).

Absence of Private Ownership of Land in Upper Assam:

It may be noted that under the proper Ahom system that was in force in Upper Assam private

ownership of land did not exist. All land belonged to the state and all men belonged to it. A

separate land-holding class did not exist except the religious institutions and Brahmin priests that

enjoyed grants rent-free. In the absence of such land holdings, the Ahoms were turned into

landless people. Though they were now free to take up land by clearing jungles, because of the

abolition of the paik system, even the members of the nobility had to clear jungles, till the soil

and pay revenue to the British government.

Absence of Monetized Economy& Prevalence of Barter in Upper Assam:

And the Ahoms were not traders and there was no trading class among them either.

Common trade was transacted by barter; hence circulation of metallic currency was practically

absent in Upper Assam.

Professor Nirode K. Barooah writes

“ the Ahom state drew little for its revenue in money: the Ahom economy was barter

rather than a monetised economy”, and “The revenue of the state were, for the most part,

realized on articles of produce and personal labour, for not only the soil, but the subject

was the property of the state.”

(David Scott in North-East India, 1802-1831, pp. 89-90).

As the memory of the Ahom rule was very fresh, the British adopted a subtle devise of

keeping away the Ahom from employment opportunity, at the same time bestowing favour to

intelligent non-Ahom people.

Ahoms Entered the Inerior:

To save themselves from the humiliating situation, many old aristocratic Ahom families

left for the interior and led a life of isolation in poverty and penury. As was not unnatural, the

advanced sections of certain communities took advantage of this situation and came closer to the

foreign masters and joined the British in the chorus to downgrade the Ahom socially. Thus,

while certain communities could make rapid rise in the social and economic ladder, the Ahom

faced unmitigated hardship. It threatened their very material existence.

The Ahoms were turned “Untouchables”:

It is under such circumstances that the Ahoms were made “untouchable” (mlechcha) in

the eye of the Assamese society as in politics. It is well reflected in the writings of Haliram

Dhekial Phukan, a Brahmin appointed as Assisstant Magistrate by the foreign masters (the

British), whose forefathers were posted as the “Duaria Borua” in the Assam Chouky near

Goalpara, and had earlier received the title of “Dhekial Phukan from Ahom King Chandrakanta

Singha (1815-22). In his Assam Buranji written in Bengali and published in 1829, he wrote

thus

“the Ahom were great fools…and were barbarous in their administration” (p.101)

and “they are untouchables…and even water cannot be taken from their hands” (p.

89). They were bracketed with the Kacharis, Mikirs, Lalungs (Tiwa) (Ibid.p. 100).

Such demeaning writings were unthinkable during the days of the Ahom kings. But alas, it now

appeared with impunity. Thus right from the beginning of the British rule, a systematic

vilification campaign against the Ahom started to make them socially outcaste in the eye of the

people.

Chronology of the Ahom Demand.

Hereunder further particulars are presented more or less chronologically dividing

them into pre-Constitution and post-Constitution periods and may graciously be received

in that context and spirit.

Ahom Demand During pre-Constitution Period

The Ahom Sabha Formed in 1893:

It was towards the close of the nineteenth century that a few sensible and right thinking

educated Ahoms came forward to organize themselves into an association called the Ahom

Sabha in 1893. The programmes of the Sabha must be understood in the light of prevailing

political situation when Indian constitutional development was at its nascent stage, and Indian

National Movement was just beginning. Its primary objective was, therefore, to amend a

situation in which the Ahoms had fallen. It wanted to give a healing touch to a deep wound that

the Ahoms had been suffering. It is case of avoiding further degradation by seeking recognition

of the Ahom community. The only appropriate course left to them is to seek special and liberal

consideration from the British government to obtaining a tolerable political status in society by

having separate representation of the Ahom community in the newly constituted Legislative

Council of the Province set up under the Morley-Minto Reforms, and also to seek liberal

opportunity in the advancement of education and economic stability of the Ahom masses.

The Ahoms were recognized as Separate Community:

In recognition to their claim, the Government nominated an Ahom to the Assam Legislative

Council in 1912. The appointment letter issued to Padmanath Gohain Barua reads thus: “You

have been appointed a member of Assam Legislative Council representing the Ahom

community”. Thus the Ahoms were recognized as a minority community in 1912. He

represented the Ahom in the Assam Legislative Council till 1916.The claims of the Ahom were

also recognized in the appointments to the public services, in the award of educational

scholarship and in the nomination to the local bodies, etc.

In 1918, on behalf of the Ahom community, Padmanath Gohain Baruah as the President of

the Ahom Sabha, gave a deposition before Lord Southborough, the Chairman of the

Franchise Committee when it came to Calcutta and submitted a 12-page memorandum. He

justified before the Committee for separate franchise of the Ahom community.

“Under the Act of 1919, while the Ahoms voted on the non-Mohammedan roll, provision

remained for their further representation through nomination, in the Provincial

Legislative Council. Besides, it was the declared policy of the Government to give the

Ahom a share in Government service by reserving definite percentages of total number of

appointments in services administered by the Provincial and District authorities. It may

be noted that till then members of the Scheduled Castes, the Tribal Communities and

Indian Christians as such had no sort of communal representation in the Assam

Legislative Council.” (Memorandum of the Ahom Tai Mongoliya Rajya Parishad

submitted to the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Home Minister of India, April, 1968,

p.38).

Recommendation for Ahom quota in the Provincial Legislature:

Before the passing of the Government of India Act, 1935 when enquiries were made for

details of the constitutional structure, the Government of Assam in its memorandum to the

Statutory Commission proposed that a certain quota of seats in the Legislature of the

Province should be allocated to the Ahoms. (Vide Recommendations of the Government

Assam to the Simon Commission, pp. 49 and 54 as given in the above Memorandum of the

Ahom Tai Mongoliya Rajya Parishad, p.38). But in the First Round Table Conference, which

was attended by a non-Ahom representative, only a feeble voice in its support was raised, and

“as a result the community was excluded from the list of those for whom separate representation

was specially provided under the Communal Award” (Ibid, p. 38).

Since then the struggle of the Ahom Association was directed towards securing minority

rights.

“They (Ahom Association) opposed, rather strongly, the proposed scheme for

tabulating the Ahom as ‘Hindu’, and demanded that the word ‘Ahom’ be retained in

the Census Report of 1941” (Professor Girin Phukan, “Search for Ahom Identity in Assam:

In Retrospect”, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Tai Studies, Vol IV, May

1990, Kunming, China, p.377).

Ahom Demand for Minority Status:

On 2nd July, 1941, Rai Bahadur Radha Kanta Handique, an Ahom elite in his inauguration

speech of the Tenth Annual Conference of All Assam Ahom Association held at Sivasagar on 5

and 6 April, 1941, maintained “This conference will have to come to calm conclusion as to the

nature and extent of safeguards that the Ahoms must claim in this forthcoming future

Constitution of India. “The Conference will further have to decide upon the form of the

legitimate struggle which may be necessitated to secure the acceptance of the demand of

‘separate electorate’ for the community” (The Assam Tribune, April 25, 1941).

In the memorandum submitted by Rai Bahadur Radha Kanta Handique, the president

of the Ahom Minority Rights Sub-Committee of the All Assam Ahom Association, it

claimed ” The Ahoms as a community are educationally more backward than certain

sections of the Schedule Caste and the Hill tribal population of the province. It must be

mentioned here that this claim of the community for treatment as a minority is being made

more as a matter of right than as a matter of favour …the community’s position must be

estimated not only on its numerical strength but in respect to the political and historical

importance of the Community” (Memorandum of the All Assam Ahom Association, Jorhat,

July 2, 1941).

Surendra Nath Buragohain, the Member of the Assam Legislative Assembly elected on Ahom

platform (subsequently he became a Deputy Minister in the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Cabinet),

moved a Private-Member Resolution on 20th November, 1943 urging the inclusion of the

Ahom among the recognized minorities in the new Constitution of India. It reads “This

Assembly is of opinion that the Ahom community of this province be included among the

recognized minorities for the future Indian Constitution and that the Government do move the

Government of India and His Majesty’s government for consideration and acceptance of the

community as such a minority”. (The Ahom Question in the Assam Legislative Assembly,

Jorhat, 1946). But the Assamese Caste Hindus in the Assembly did not give weight to his lone

voice.

Ahom Demand During Post-Constitution Period

In 1968, the Ahom Tai Mongoliya Rajya Parishad in its comprehensive memorandum

forcefully claimed that the Ahom of Upper Assam have their own culture, language and distinct

tradition which need to be preserved and developed. It claimed that the Ahom have a strong

desire to save their socio-cultural institutions from ‘political and cultural domination of

outsiders’. The dominant economic characteristic of the Ahom villages is extreme poverty and

the average income being barely sufficient to maintain the minimum level of subsistence and

leaving little surplus for capital formation. The position is even worse at present as other

privileged classes have improved themselves while the Ahom further deteriorated.

Demand for Scheduled Tribe Status:

Following this demand, for the last quarter of a century, other Ahom organizations have

been demanding and urging the Government of India for their inclusion of the Ahom in the list

of Scheduled Tribe (Plains). However, in spite of many pleas and exhortations of the Ahom

organizations, and the recommendations of the Tribal Research Institute of Assam, and also the

resolution passed unanimously by the Assam Legislative Assembly on 5th August, 2004, there

has still been some hesitation of the highest authority for recommending the Ahom case for the

inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribe (Plains). Under the circumstances, more details and

recent information from various original and authoritative sources are supplemented here.

Recent Studies on Ahom & Tai:

It may humbly be pointed out that during the last half a century, there has been a vigorous study

on the Ahom and other Tai peoples at both institutional and association levels. At the

institutional level, a good number of scholars have been awarded Ph. D. degrees on subjects

relating to the Ahom in the Departments of History, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science,

and Language in the Gauhati and the Dibrugarh Universities and in the Pune University. At the

association level, a series of international conferences on Tai studies have been orgnaised not

only in India but also in several other countries.

The First International Conference was held at New Delhi (India International Centre,

1981), and thereafter in Bangkok, Canberra (Australia), Kunming (PRC), London, Chiengmai

(Thailand), Amsterdam, and other places. Consequently a large number of new historical,

sociological, ethnographic and other details relating to the Tai including the Ahom have come

out not only in English but in Thai, Japanese, German, French, Chinese and other languages. In

some of the scholarly papers presented and published in the proceedings, old theories have been

discarded; and new and scientific hypotheses have been presented.

At the local and regional level, seminars, discussions, and workshops have been organized by

the Ahom organizations on their culture, language and religion. Research papers are published

by the Tai Historical and Cultural Society in its journal Lik Phan Tai, and by Institute of Tai

Studies and Research in Indian Journal of Tai Studies, and also by the Tai Sahitya Sabha (a

literary organization) dealing with history, people, language, religion, society, etc. In addition,

foreign scholars from Chulalongkorn and Thammasat, both in Bangkok, Chieng Mai (Thailand),

Canberra and Monash (Australia), and Berlin and Humburg have done and are doing research on

the Ahom.

It is, therefore, fervently prayed that the information and justifications given here be read

without prejudice to what has already been written about the Ahom by some of the

administrators and writers of the colonial period.

Erroneous View:

Some of the writers had the erroneous view, without proper verification of actualities and

ground realities, that the Ahom during the course of their long period of settlement among the

large non-Ahom population in the Brahmaputra valley got mixed up in blood, speech and

religion. As a result an erroneous theory was built up that the Ahom had lost their ethnicity as a

result of mixed marriage and that they became a sort of “mixed” people indistinguishable from

others at the first sight; and they lost their Tai or Ahom language giving way to the Assamese,

their original religious beliefs and practices had given way to Hinduism of various cults, and thus

they became “Hindu”. This view persisted and influenced the writings for several decades. (E. T.

Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal; Alexander Mackenzie, History of Relations of the Government with

the Hill Tribes of Nor-East Frontier of Bengal, 1884; L. A. Waddell, Tribes of the Brahmaputra

Valley). “Assimilation” of the Ahom into the fold of Assamese is taken to be “complete” and

their loss of religion and language is taken for granted. Such opinions received wide circulation,

both within and outside the country, and in consonance with this theory local writings appeared

extolling the Ahom virtue for their loss of language and religion by referring to the “adage”

prajar dharmoi rajar dharma (meaning religion of the subject people is the religion of the ruler).

The Ahom received high praise for their “loss” of language and religion, and were acclaimed for

their patronization of Hindu religion. In this way, a very “ironic” situation was created, and the

Ahom themselves unconsciously fell victim to it by forgetting that the Ahom rulers had never

forsaken their original faith and practices, their culture and languages, rather they maintained

them to the end. However, such opinion influenced many subsequent writers who, without

properly verifying facts, dittoed it.

Curiously enough the same yardstick has not been applied to other local Hindu or Hinduised

communities of Assam such as the Kachari, Chutiya, Rabha and also the Brahmin and Kayastha

and even the Muslim in Assam, who had also received blood from others more than the Ahoms

did. Nobody harps on the “mixed” blood of the Brahmins in Assam but considered them as

“pure” Brahmins. “The Kachari are very mixed” and scattered population, writes Professor

Gordon T. Bowles (The Peoples of Asia, p. 348). Yet nobody raises purity of blood of the

Kacharis-Sonowals in Upper Assam who are now Scheduled Tribes. Why then the case of the

Ahom is singled out?

Ahom Retained Ethnicity: No Large-scale Mixing with Pre-Ahom Locals:

Hard Historical Evidence. Their own chronicles called buranj,i written in their own Ahom

language, records that they came from Mong Mao now included in the Dehong Dai-Singpho

Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan. The original number is given a little more than nine

thousand. (Ahom Buranji translated and edited with original text by Rai Sahib Golap Chandra

Barua published by the Assam Administration, 1930, p. 44; Deodhai Asam Buranji edited by

Suryya Kumar Bhuyan, M.A., B.L. (Cal.), Ph. D. (Lon.), D. Litt. (Lon.) published by the

Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, Gauhati, second edition 1962, p. 6. Dr. S.K.

Bhuyan was a very well known and reputed historian.). These nine thousand persons were

comprised of families that included women and children. On this basis Sir Edward Gait, the

well-known scholar-administrator, wrote that Sukapha (the Ahom prince who led the Ahom)

came “with a following of eight nobles, and 9,000 men, women and children. He had with him

two elephants and 300 horses”. (A History of Assam, 2nd edition, 1926, p. 77). In the latest

authoritative work viz.The Comprehensive History of Assam, Vol. II, edited Professor H.K.

Barpujari, the doyen of historians and the past president of the Indian History Congress, and a

very well known authority on the North East, and published by the Publication Board Assam,

Govt. of Assam in 1992, this number is supported. We emphasize the number and the inclusion

of women and children is to show that this number 9,000 is larger when compared to the

smallness of the local population of the Barahi and the Moran, who lived in the tract where the

Ahom settled. “At the time of Sukapha’s appearance in the Brahmaputra valley, these two tribes

together had 4000 fighting men only” (A Comprehensive History of Assam by Dr. (Mrs.) S.L.

Baruah, Head, Department of History, Dibrugarh University, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1985, p.

192). But Dr. Padmeswar Gogoi, a highly respected teacher of Gauhati University and a great

scholar, in his Tai and the Tai Kingdoms with Fuller Treatment of the Tai Ahom Kingdom in the

Brahmaputra Valley, notes that the local communities together numbered only 4000 souls.

(Gauhati University, 1968, p. 269). In any case the population was greater in number that the

locals of the area. The Ahoms employed the Barahis in various capacities, and in course of time

some of them got merged into the Ahom fold, and many Morans too followed the suit. Thus at

the first phase of the Ahom rule, instead of the Ahom merging into the local population, some

pre-Ahom local population got assimilated into Ahom society. This situation continued till the

end of the 1500 A.D.

It was in the reign of Siu-hum-mong (1497-1539) the Ahom kingdom made rapid expansion.

The Chutiya kingdom on the north and northeast and the Kachari kingdom in the south and

southwest were annexed to the Ahom kingdom. On the west, the Bhuyans or petty land-holding

class in the central Assam covering both banks of the Brahmaputra were absorbed. With this a

vast territory with a larger number of population who were not Ahoms had been added to the

Ahom kingdom. The newly added population was either Hindu or Hinduised people whose

major language was Assamese. It had created a new situation. From now in the Ahom kingdom

itself the Ahom became minority in terms of population, speech and religion. This situation was

further aggravated during the seventeenth century when the whole of lower portion of the

Brahmaputra Valley upto the Manaha River, was annexed to the Ahom kingdom after defeating

the Mughal army in 1681 A.D. The territorial limit of the Ahom kingdom now extended from the

Upper Chindwin valley beyond the Patkai on the east to Goalpara on the west covering both

banks of the river Brahmaputra. This territorial limit of the Ahom kingdom remained unchanged

till its occupation by the British during 1824-26 following the First Anglo-Burmese War.

However, this expansion did not follow by a transfer of large Ahom population from

their core area in Sibsagar to the newly acquired lands, and there is no such instance either in

history or in tradition of the Ahom. Only some Ahom officials and their entourage (and their

families as well) had been posted at certain centres for administrative purpose. In course of time

there grew up only certain small pockets of Ahom settlements and these are still to be found.

Under the circumstances there was no circumstance appeared for a large scale social mixing of

the Ahom population with the non-Ahom population of the Central and Lower portions of the

Valley. As such the unfounded theory that the Ahoms got mixed up with all sorts of people to

loose their social and cultural identity, including biological, is a baseless surmise rather than a

fact of history. The Ahoms never evinced any desire at any time of their history of six hundred

years to ascend the caste hierarchy (Hindu) or to merge themselves in other non-Ahom

communities.

Biological and Anthropological Studies on the Ahom

Ahom Distinct ‘Gene’ Identity Remained:

Anthropologically, the Mongoloid Ahom have their high epicanthic fold with relative high skin

colour bears the fact. “Brachycephalic and hyperbrachycephalic heads are few, though among

the Ahom (1) this rises to very high figure (31 p.c. + 26 p.c.)” (The Gazetteer of India, Country

and People, Vol. I, p. 302). Some two decades ago as noted by the well-known Professor

Emeritus of Anthropology of Syracuse University, New York, Gordon T. Bowles “that there

is no single monogenic or polygenic trait that is common to all so-called Mongoloids” (Peoples

of Asia, 1977, pp. 344-45), and therefore one need not proceed from a supposition that when the

Ahom arrived in the thirteenth century they carried the characteristics of an ideal Ahom

Mongoloid. But their blood mixture does not display erratic behaviour.

Theorizing the distinctive mixture of population Professor Bowles writes,

“The majority population of the seven present states of continental south-east Asia –

Assam, Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam – represent

distinctive mixture of population which have contributed to the respective gene

pools…” (The Peoples of Asia, p. 194).

He places the Ahom in any of the four East Asia regional divisions based on morphologically

determined groups in his map given at page 346.These morphological divisions are

XI -Himalayas, North Assam and North Burma,

XII-Assam, Burma and South-west China,

XIII- Yunnan, Kweichow and Vietnam,

XIV- Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaya.

Thus he writes,

“The few thousand Shan-speaking Ahom are so scattered and mixed that different series of

the same nominal group might fit into any of the four groups of south-east Asia”. (Ibid. p.

348).

L. A. Waddell, a hundred years ago, who carried anthropometrical measurement of the tribes of

the Brahmaputra valley including the Ahom (pp. 74-77), admitted that the Ahom still possess

“fairer colour and Mongoloid features”. He further writes,

“In appearance the Ahoms are tall, with rather large eyes and regular features for a

Mongoloid race; see plate VII. 1 and 2. The face-hair of the men is scanty”. (The Tribes of the

Brahmaputra Valley, 1901, pp. 17-18).

E. A. Gait also admits that in their physical type they are genuine Shans (A History of Assam,

1926, p. 118), which means that the Ahoms have not yet lost their physical features of the

original Shans.

Again, anthropometrical survey conducted among the Ahom reports “the Ahoms are

characterized by below medium stature (162.83)”. Brachycephalic (81.71) head, predominating

with resorrhine nose (71.67)”. They have ”in majority hypsiciphalic (69.05) and acrocephalic

(85.54) head and prosopic to mesoprosopic face. (B.M. Das et al., 1972). In respect of ABO

blood groups frequency, 9 decreases from ‘O’ to ‘A’ and then B, G, is more frequent than P

(Platz et al. 1972, Das et al. 1980, Senguputa and Dutta , 1980).”Haemoglobin variants:- HbE

gene (0.3271) is highly prevalent in them”.( Anthropological Survey of India Series, Assam,

XV, 2003, p. 49)..

All these go to prove that the Ahom did not loose their tribal identity due to their supposed-

marriage with other local communities. Although it cannot be denied that some Ahoms had taken

wives from non-Ahom communities, bit in general such theory is applicable to all societies

throughout ages. Therefore to find a people of “pure blood 100 p.c.” is to chase a chimera only.

Even among the hill people who live in isolation there is sufficient admixture of blood. As J. P.

Mills, the very well known author of The Ao Nagas says, “At the same time the Aos have

probably received more admixture of actual Assamese blood than most Naga tribes” (p. 4 f.n.2).

Similarly other tribes of North East India too received foreign blood. Yet for this reason nobody

has questioned the distinct identity of these tribes. But in the case of the Ahom, the negative

aspect of blood-mixture has always been highlighted and blown out of proportion by some non-

Ahoms only to deprive the Ahom community, which is long striving to maintain its own identity,

of its legitimate constitutional rights.

The moot question is –Did the Ahom get mixed up with non-Ahoms by marriage? This

question must have its answer in the light of two basic considerations –(1) the social system of

the Ahom and (2) other historical and circumstantial evidences.

In their social system the Ahom are an endogamous community but follow clan (phoid)

exogamy so that they married from other Ahom clans and would not normally marry non-Ahom

brides. “The Ahoms are an endogamous community, but clan and lineage exogamy is strictly

followed. Marriage within the sub-phoid and phoid is strictly prohibited.” ( Anthropological

Survey of India Series, Assam Vol. XV, General Editor K .S. Singh, 2003, p.51) This is

continuing even today.

About the other, for the first 300 hundred years of their settlement in the Brahmaputra valley,

they had no close contact with tribes other than the Mongoloid Barahi and Moran; while the

Chutiya and the Kachari (also Mongoloid) who lived on either side of their state then were their

political enemies. It is absurd to suppose that Ahom young men of marriageable age went to

distant lands in search of their wives. It was after 1530 A.D. there appeared the opportunity for

Ahom marriage with Kacharis, Chutiyas, Miris (all having tribal culture and characteristics),

when these people became subjects of the Ahom kingdom. But Ahom history and family

tradition do not speak of the Ahom marriage with Brahmins, Kalitas, Kayasthas or Scheduled

Caste population, which was but a rarity. This is not an imagined theory but a fact of history.

Under the circumstances, it is only travesty of history to suppose that Ahom marriage with the

local Mongoloid tribes led them to loose their distinct Ahom identity.

Records in the Buranji:

The Ahom chronicles are very specific about occasional adoption of non-Ahom into the

Ahom fold. Ahom Buranji (cited above pp. 26-38) and Purani Asam Buranji (edited by Pandit

Hemchandra Goswami, 1922, pp.27-45)) have recorded the non-Ahom families who had been

adsorbed in the Ahom fold. From these historical records the origin of any family of rank can be

traced and confirmed. These historical records and family traditions current among the Ahom go

to support, rather strongly, that the Ahom were ever conscious of their ethnic identity and social

institutions. On the other hand by recording such non-Ahom origin of families, the posterity is

indirectly reminded who came from which stock for social matters, and in the days of the kings

for administrative purposes.

Chronicles exclusively dealing with the origin of families are called Chakari Pheti Buranji.

Like a king cobra such chronicle exposes the non-Ahom origin of any Ahom family having any

connection with the Ahom administration. A classic example is the case of Kirtichandra

Barbarua, one of the highest official of King Rajeswar Singha (1751-69). Kirtichandra was said

to be of non-Ahom origin of Jalambata (Chang Sai) family. This caused considerable commotion

in the Ahom administration affecting the dignity and status of the office of the Barbarua that

Kirtichandra held. Things came to such a pass that in order to retrieve his honour, he brought

some of his kinsmen from Nora (Mogaung) in Upper Burma to prove his genuine Ahom origin.

This episode of the late eighteenth century goes to show how conscious the Ahoms were about

their genuine identity. The Ahom thus maintained their ethnicity.

Ahoms have been called a Tribe All Along:

L. A. Waddell characterized the Ahom as “tribe “of the Shan family who still possess

“fairer colour” and “mongoloid features” (The Tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley, first edition,

1901, second reprint, 2000, pp. 17-18). William Robinson as early as 1841 observed that a small

portion of the Ahom “still remain unmixed, and retain unaltered their ancient habits and

institutions”.

In the first regular census taken during 1871-72 in the districts of Sivasagar and Lakhimpur,

the Ahom (Aham) population numbering 94, 304 and 43, 942 souls respectively and shown as

cultivators, had been classified under head Semi-Hinduized Aboriginals, and not under

Hindu/Hinduized Castes or even Intermediate Castes. (W. W. Hunter, A Statistical Account of

Assam, Vol. I, pp. 236-37)

. In 1901, B.C. Allen, the Census Superintendent, Assam while declining to enlist the Ahom

as Kshatriya admitted that the Ahom are “the aboriginal tribe in Assam”. He writes thus “The

Ahom gentry lay claim to the title of Kshatriya, a claim which, if admitted, would place them

above the Kayastha; but the claims to the title of Kshatriya made by aboriginal tribes in Assam,

can hardly, I think, be taken seriously”(Report on the Census of Assam, 1901, Vol. I, Chapter

XI, p. 118).

In 1926, Sir Edward Gait observed, “They (the Ahom) are genuine Shans, both in their

physical type and in their tribal languages and written character”. (A History of Assam, second

edition, 1926, p. 77). In connection with the names of Ahom kings and titles of officials, Sir

Edward Gait thus indirectly admitted the Ahom as tribal when he writes “The tribal names of

the Ahom kings usually commenced with Su meaning “tiger”, and ended with pha, meaning

“heaven”…the kings’ Hindu names were often the Assamese equivalents of those given them by

the Deodhais”. (A History of Assam, second edition, pp.244-45).

The Ahom is not a Dead Language:

The Ahom language is the original language of the Ahom. No doubt in course of time many

Ahom adopted the Assamese as their mother tongue, but all records of the early period are made

in the Ahom language. Moreover, the Ahom priests in the Ahom language performed all

religious Ahom rites and ceremonies, and they do so even today. The Ahom priests read and

write, and chant mantras in Ahom language on all rites and rituals. The view that the Ahom

language is totally dead is erroneous.

Writing in 1662-63, Shihab-ud-din Talish observes, “The language of the Ahom differs

entirely from the dialects spoken in Eastern Bengal” which means that all the Ahom people

spoke the Ahom language till the middle of the seventeenth century A.D.

Chronicles were written in the Ahom language till the end of the Ahom rule, and the Ahom

Buranji edited and translated by Golap Chandra Barua is a proof. Land grant copper plates

inscribed in Ahom language and issued even by King Chandrakanta Singha (1815-22 A.D.) are

in existence. Moreover, coins continued to be issued in the Ahom legends.

Ahom Tribal Religious Culture is Distinct from those of non-Ahoms of Assam:

(a) Multiplicity of Formless Gods and Spirits:

The Ahom believed and still believe, in spite of the fact that many of them adopted

Hinduism, in multiple of gods (pha) both on earth and in the sky above. Among the gods in the

sky (heaven), they believe that Leng-don is the greatest of all gods (Pha-niu-ru Leng-don) who

presides over the council of gods who include among others Ja-sing-pha, Lang-din, Jan-sai-hung,

Nyot-sai-lum. Every year at particular time these gods are required to be propitiated by offerings

of their best and the choicest food that includes beautiful young fat cow, fine young pig, fat

chicken, egg, best rice-wine, glutinous steamed rice, and other things. It is Leng-don who finding

the earth below in a state of chaos due to lack of a good ruler sent, after consulting his

councilors, his two grandsons, Khun-lung and Khun-lai with nobles, attendants and others down

to the earth by a ladder. Instructions were imparted to them as to how they should rule for the

good of the subjects. Certain sacred objects such as an idol of Seng-mong, a heng-dan (Ahom

type of sword), a pair of holy chicken for divination by the priests, a drum and other things were

sent down. They came down and founded a kingdom at Mong-Ri Mong-Ram some scholars

identified as in the Upper Mekong Valley. It was from Khun-lung, the eldest prince that the

Ahom royal family descended. There are other lesser gods who support and assist Leng-don

among who include Chao Pha-phan, Ai Pha-lum, Bao Haw-khe, Baw Pang-mong, Lang-ku-ri.

These gods and spirits are formless.

(b) Animistic Character of Ahom Religion:

The available recorded data and also the religious rites and practices performed by the

Ahom through their priests, lead to the conclusion that the Ahom did not follow any major

religious faith like Buddhism or Taoism. It is not unlikely that they came under some influence

of these religions. But they were not firm adherents of any of such religion. Rather animistic

character and multiplicity of gods and spirits (as noted above) are very prominent in their

religious faith.

Acharya Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, the very internationally reputed scholar clearly says

that the Ahom followed their “old animistic religion”(Kirata-Jana-Kriti, Asiatic Society, 1974,

pp. 102-04).

Dr. Padmeswar Gogoi, another writes, “The Ahoms invoked supernatural powers,

formless spirits … with rice eggs, flowers and sometime animal sacrifices.” (Tai-Ahom religion

and Customs, 1976, p. 9).

Professor Amalendu Guha thinks the religion of the Ahom a “form of animism tinged

with elements of ancestor worship with that of degenerated Tantric Burddhism and tribal

fertility cults “ (Neo-Vaishvavism to Insurgency, Occasional paper by Centre for Social Sciences

Studies, Calcutta, 1984, p. 7).

David K. Wyatt, the reputed Yale University Professor of Thai History writes, “As the

Ahom were not Buddhists, but practiced an animistic religion”. (Thailand ,1984, p. 41).

Dr. Lipi Ghosh of South-East Asian History in Calcutta University observes “the Ahom

maintained their ancestral religion even after the acceptance of Hinduism”. (“Tai Ahom and

Historical Jurisprudence of Assam in Tai Culture, Berlin, Vol. VI, Nos. 1&2, p. 143).

Earlier about the religion of the Tai, W.A.R. Wood observes, “as a nation they (Tai)

were almost certainly animists, worshipping the beneficent spirits of the hills, forests, and

waters, and propitiating numerous demons with sacrifices and offerings.” (History of Siam,

1924, pp. 38-39).

In the same vein, Erik Seidenfaden in his book The Thai Peoples (1967, p.40) writes,

“The original religion of all Tai was probably animism perhaps coupled with ancestor

worship”.

A large number of earthly supernatural are believed to exist who are known as phi, a term

usually translated as ‘spirit’. Some of these are guardian gods of the earthly objects like Phi Nam

(guardian spirit of water/river), Phi-Tun (guardian spirit of tree), Phi Phai (guardian spirit of

fire), Phi Ruen (guardian spirit of the house), Phi Doi (guardian spirit of hill), and others. Hence

for the protection of paddy, fruits, plants, water, fields, their guardian spirits must be propitiated

with prayer and by offerings such articles as they like to have. Otherwise the belief is that they

will cause trouble. In addition to these spirits, the Ahoms believed and still believe that there are

malignant spirits also called phi who cause trouble and disturb peace. Hence they are also

regularly offered articles like chicken, fish, rice, and other things to keep them happy. Thus the

Ahom priests regularly worshiped all the gods and spirits.

© Ahom System of Divination:

The Ahoms throughout their history believed in divination.

Mirza Nathan, whose real name was ‘Alau’d-Din Isfahani, the commander of the

Mughal army that fought wars against the Ahom from 1608-24 A.D. records,

“the Ahom system of taking augury thus: It is the custom of the Assamese (Ahom) that

whenever they engage in a war, they perform some sorceries a day previous to the battle

in this – The send some magic object floating down the river towards the enemy’s side. If

it floats down towards the enemy’s side, they take it as a good omen. If it travels

upstream out of its own accord, they take it as foreboding something against them and

consider it as a sign of their defeat and they do not go out to battle”. He then gives details

of the rites. (Baharistan-I-Ghaybi, translated into English by Dr. Moidul Islam Borah

from original Persian, published by the Department of Historical and Antiquarian

Studies, 1936, Vol. II, p. 487).

They Ahom also resorted to divination by several other methods. One method is the

consultation of book of divination by the priests. It is called Phe-ban. The other is the divination

by the examination of chicken thighbone, which is a very old devise among the Tai and is still

practiced by the Ahom priests. Before undertaking any important job or function, it was usual

even for the Ahom king to direct the priests to examine chicken thighbone.

Some instances are reproduced below. The Ahom King Gaurinath Singha worshipped

the Ahom gods as late as 1793 A. D.. The chronicles record “The king called in the Deodhai,

Mohan and Bailung Pandits and asked them to examine the legs of fowls. The Pandits

accordingly examined the legs of fowls and found the calculation favourable. The king

ordered the Pandits to perform Umpha Saragpuza and worship the Gods. In obedience to king’s

order, Umpha ceremony was performed. One white buffalo, one white cow, many white fowls,

ducks, and pigeons were sacrificed to the gods. All the heavenly gods were daily worshiped. “

(Ahom Buranji, op.cit, p.356). Records in chronicles evidence that the system continued till the

beginning of the nineteenth century. Thus in the reign of Kamaleswar Singha (1795-1810

A.D.),

“ Then one Nagarial Mohan Barua and one Meki Deodhai examined the legs of fowls

and performed Umpha Deopuza on the side of the Kapili River. Sacrifices were offered

to all gods” (Ahom Buranji, op. cit., p.370). Umpha continued to be observed by the

Ahom, and even today this is being observed at the sacred shrine at Lakuwa on the

Disang River.

B. C. Allen in 1905 wrote,

“The venerable (Deodhais and Bailongs) men were required to consult the omens, by

studying the way in which a dying fowl crossed his legs, a system of divination which is

in vogue amongst many of the hill tribes of Assam to the present day”. (Assam District

Gazetteer, Nowgong, p. 5).

P.R. T. Gurdon witnessed a divination by chicken-bone and he gives a description of it.

“Some Deodhai near Luckwa (in Sibsagar district) once performed the divination ceremony for

the writer’s benefit. It was as follows. An altar of plantain trees and bamboos was set up

(mehenga); plantain leaves and fruit, rice, sugar-cane, and liquor (lau) were brought, and a lamp.

Three fowls and three fowls’ eggs were placed upon the altar. The officiating priest sprinkled

holy water on the spectators with a spring of blak singpha (the King flower). Prayers were then

offered up to Jasingpha (the god of learning), and the fowls’ necks were wrung. The flesh was

scraped off the fowls’ legs until the latter were quite clean, and then search was made for any

small holes that existed in the bones. When the holes were found, small splinters of bamboo were

inserted in them; and the bones were held up, with the bamboo splinters sticking in them, and

closely compared with diagrams in a holy book which the priest had ready at hand. This book

contained diagrams of all sorts of combinations of positions of splinters stuck in fowls’ legs, and

each meant something, the meaning appearing in verses written in the Ahom character, which

were duly droned out by the Deodhai.” (Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics, Vol. I, 1959, p.

236). Such divination is till prevalent among them.

(d) Communal Worship of Ahom Gods:

Om-Pha is the grand worship of all gods and spirits. The Ahoms continued to worship

their gods and spirits throughout the period of Ahom rule. Even after the loss of political power

by them, they continued, particularly by the Ahom priests to perform worship, though in a much

reduced scale. But it never ceased to exist.

Maheswar Neog, a great literary figure and reputed scholar remarks “Ompha at Lakuwa

Dewhal has been performed in a grand style every ten years since the time of king Purandar

Singha, 1833-38” (Pabitra Asam, Assam Sahitya Sabha, 1991, pp. 45-46). At the present time,

this grand worship is done on an auspicious day every twelfth year when all gods are propitiated

at the same place on that day. This is called Om-Pha Puja.

In 1829, Haliram Dhekial Phukan wrote “ahom kachari lalung mikir prabhriti

parbatiya jatiyera asurik mate chungdeo puja kare” (the hill tribes like the Ahom, Kachari,

Lalung, Mikir perform chungdeo puja in a barbarous way), and “purba dharmeo onek lok

ache” (many Ahoms are still in their old religion). (Assam Buranji, p.90).

The three clans that performed all sorts of religious ceremonies namely the Mo-Sam,

Mo-Hung and Mo-Sai commonly known as Deodhai, Mohan and Bailung were the custodians of

all religious matters of performing rites and rituals, chanting mantra, praying to the gods,

interpreting religious books, divination by means of chicken thigh-bone (kukuratheng), and other

matters. Even today they maintain this distinctive character in the Ahom society. Hence the

traditional tribal traits are very much found among them.

“Traditional beliefs and practices are still observed, particularly among the royal

family members” ( Anthropological Survey of India, Assam, Vol. XV, 2003, p. 54)

Distinctive Mortuary Culture

Belief in Khwan

The Ahom belief is that a man possesses his khwan, variously translated as “essence

of life” (Rath-Inge Heinze, Tham-Khwan, 1982), “live-soul” (Stanley Tambiah, Buddhism

and Spirit Cult in Northeast Thailand, 1970), or vital essence of life. Whenever there is some

ailment in any part of the body, it is believed that the khwan or guardian essence of that part

has taken some offence and has gone away. A religious ceremony called Rik Khwan

meaning “the Calling of the Khwan” is performed in which the khwan is entreated to come

back. On the death of a man, the core “life-essence” is split up into two parts, one part

remains with the dead which then becomes dam, the other part goes to the sky above and

takes the form of a phi (deity). According to Tambiah, the khwan is definitely a Tai

concept dealing with life and changing existence.

Here is a basic difference of the concept of life between transcendentalism of soul

in Hinduism and in Buddhism. As a part of the khwan remains with the dead, in olden

times, the Ahom buried all their dead with the objects of his use and love, and an earthen

mound was raised over the grave. This is an original custom among all Shan Tai (Erik

Seidenfaden, The Tai Peoples, 1867, p. 41).

Ahom Buried Their Dead:

The burial mound is called moi-dam where the dam of the dead resides for eternity.

Hence the burial place of the dead (moi-dam) is sacred to the Ahom and therefore carefully

maintained. In Upper Assam one can see at some places rows of raised mound, or moi-dam

even today. Shihabuddin Talish, the Persian Waqia Navis of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb

who accompanied Nawab Mir Jumla to Garhgaon, the Ahom capital in 1662 A.D saw the

royal burial mounds at Charaideo, the center of Ahom royal burial. Shihab-ud-din noted the

digging up of the moi-dam by the Mughal army thus

“They bury their dead with the head towards the East and feet towards the West. The

chiefs erect funeral vaults for their dead, kill the women and servants of the deceased,

and put necessaries, etc., for several years, viz. elephants, gold and silver vessels,

carpets, clothes, and food, into the vaults. They fix the head of the corpse rigidly with

poles, and put a lamp with plenty of oil and a mash’allchi [torchbearer] alive into the

vault, to look after the lamp. Ten such vaults were opened by order of the Nawab, and

property worth about 90,000 Rupees was recovered. In one vault in which the wife of

a Rajah about 80 years ago had been buried, a golden pandan was found, and the pan

in it was still fresh.” (Fathiya-I-Ibriya, translated by H. Blochmann and published in

the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1972, p. 82).

Graves Are Sacred:

The royal graves were carefully maintained and were considered sacred. “It was the custom

of my ancestors”, says Purandar Singh, the last Ahom king, “from the time of Chukapha

Rajah not to burn their dead but to bury them, and when any royal person died all the

ornaments and golden plates to the value of from 20,000 to 25,000 rupees were buried with

him, and the body was buried at Churry Deo and mound raised over it. It was called a

moidam”, (Swargadeo Purandar Singha’s complaint against the Assam Company for

cultivating tea over the moidams at Charaideo in February, 1840). In Letter No 67 of April

1840 to the Political Secretary to the Governor-General by Francis Jenkins, the Agent

to the Governor-General in the North-East at Guwahati). After hinduisation the ashes and

bones were buried and mound was raised over it. King Kamaleswar Singha (1810-15) was

buried at Charaideo which is recorded the chronicle thus “The dead body of the deceased

king was conveyed to Mulberry garden (Charaideo) where it was burnt there. A mound was

raised upon the grave. All the Ahom including the Deodhai, Mohan and Bailung priests were

entertained with a grand feast by killing buffaloes and hogs.” (Ahom Buranjsi, pp. 374-75).

However even today there are many Ahom families in Upper Assam who bury their dead

instead of cremation.

Me-Dam Me-Phi:

Every year at a particular time, families propitiate the dam and the phi of the dead at

home, and by the king at Charaideo. This is an inalienable part of the ancestor worship of

the Ahom and is called Me-Dam Me-Phi (worshipped the Dam and the Phi). Here are some

instances - King Siu-huim-mong “performed the ceremony of Me-dam Me-phi” (Ahom

Buranji, cited above, p. 77). King Gadadhar Singha performed Me-Dam Me-Phi and offered

sacrifices to the Ahom gods. (Ahom Buranji, p. 264). Recording the events of King Pramatta

Singha (1744-51) the chronicle says “on the 28th of the month of Dinkam (Pausa), on the day

of Dap-plao the king left for Charaideo. On the day of Mong-Mao of the month of Din Sam

the king worshipped all the Ahom gods” (Ahom Buranji, p. 279). King Rajeswar Singha

(1751-69 A.D.) “In the month of Din Sip Song on the day Rai Si-Nga worshipped the Ahom

gods at Charaideo. (Ahom Buranji, p. 313). “Me Dam Me Phi still occurs every year at

Charaideo”, writes Professor B. J. Terwiel, an Anthropologist at present at the Homburg

University. (The Tai of Assam, Vol. II, 1981, p.61).

The observance of Me-dam Me-phi continued. At present the Ahom people observe

Me-Dam Me-Phi communally all over Assam on 31st of January each year, and are

attended by other people as well. Recognizing the importance of the day, the Government of

Assam declares this day as public holiday.

The Casteless Ahom Society

Belonging to the Mongoloid genus of human division and of Tai ethnicity, Hindu

caste system was totally unknown to the Ahom. They perform every kind of job in their

daily life that is abhorred or detested by a Caste Hindu. Fishing, hunting, weaving, cutting

meat, washing clothes, disposing the carcass of animal, etc. are inalienable parts of the daily

life in the Ahom villages. Fishing, either individually or in communal form in seasons, is a

regular activity in an Ahom village all throughout the year. There is no specific group among

them for fishing as is found among the Hindus. Similarly the villagers organize and go for

hunting. Of course hunting has been totally restricted due to lack of forest and the

enforcement wild life protection law at the present time. In the same way, rearing of cocoons

of eri (Entheria Erica), a variety of rough silk and weaving among the Ahom women was

universal. “All women from queen downwards were proficient in spinning and weaving” (S.

L. Barua, A Comprehensive History of Assam, p.422). It was due to the efforts of several

Ahom officials and queens the weaving became universal among the Assamese women, a

feature that is totally absent in other parts of India, but is a part of life of the tribes. The

weaver’s class only existed in the lower portion of Assam where Hindu caste system

prevailed. The Ahom never stride to ascend the caste ladder of non-Ahom society.

Traditional Food-Habits:

The Ahom food habit is akin to South-East Asian peoples. They made and still make

no distinction in partaking food from anybody.This was quite contrary to what prevailed

among the people in North India.

Shihab-ud-din Talish, the Persian writer who was in the Ahom kingdom during

1662-63 surprised this Ahom behavious, and therefore observed thus,

“They eat whatever they get, and from whomsoever it be, following the bent of their

uncivilized minds. They will accept food from Muhammadans and other people; they

will eat every kind of flesh except human, whether of dead or killed animals.”

(Fathiya-i-Ibriya, as translated by H. Blochmann under title Koch Bihar and Asam in

the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1872, p. 80).

It bears a true picture of the Ahom life in the middle of the seventeenth century, and this

picture did not change much during the following centuries although some of them became

“Hindus” by taking initiation from Hindu gossain.

In 1908, P.R. Gurdon observed,

“Pigs and fowls abound in the Deodhai villages. Ahoms who have not been

Hinduized, sometimes even those who have become the disciples of Vaishnavite

gossains, eat pork and fowls, and drink rice beer and rice spirit, much to the scandal

of their sanctimonious Assamese Hindu neighbours, who regard them with horror.”

(Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics, Vol. I, 1959, New York, p. 235).

B.C. Allen observes,

“the Ahoms found the restrictions of their new religion irksome …Rudra Singh,

though he had been publicly admitted to the church by the Auniati gosain, feasted his

followers on buffaloes and pigs on the occasion of his father’s funeral; while not only

buffaloes but even cows found a place in the menu of his coronation banquet”. “This

clearly shows that even towards the end of the eighteenth century, the Hinduism of

the Ahom kings was one of the most liberal variants of that catholic creed” (Assam

District Gazetteer, Nowgong, Vol.VI, 1905, pp. 50-51).

Food at the Ompha:

Any one witnessing the present-day Umpha rituals performed on every twelfth year at Lakwa

in Sivasagar, he will find no difference of Ahom food habit between then and now. In the

present day Umpha, a white buffalo, a white cow, a red dog, scores of pig, several goats,

hundreds of ducks and chicken are sacrificed to the gods and spirits. At the end of the ritual

there starts among those present a scramble to get portions of flesh of these animals and

birds. No inhibition is shown whatsoever for eating the flesh of the sacrificed animals. The

Ahom people are fond of eating duck, pork, young bamboo shoots grinded and fomented,

dried fish hukati (pa niu), as are very common among the tribal all over South-East Asia.

They eat crabs, maggot, woodworm, frog, and many varieties of insects both of land and

water.

In 1901 L. A. Waddell wrote,

“still the majority of the Ahom even now, although professing Hinduism, eat

beef and pork, and bury their dead instead of cremating bodies, as do the Hindus”

(The Tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley, Reprint, 2000, p, 18).

The drinking of rice-wine called nam-lao was universal and is still favourite to many Ahom

in the villages in Upper Assam. In many families, no ritual is complete without rice-wine,

and offering of rice wine to the ancestors is customary and obligatory for those Ahom

who still perform the traditional rites.

P.R.T. Gurdon’s Observation:

“The Ahoms are heavy drinkers, consuming large quantities of rice beer, called by

them lau, which they in their own villages. The Bihus are celebrated by more than

usually heavy potations. The deodhais, or Ahom priests, distil a spirit from rice. “ (P.

R. Gurdon in Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics, Vol. I, edited by James Hastings,

first impression 1908, 4th impression 1959, New York, p. 235).

Dr. Sathip Nartsupha of the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, who has undertaken a

major project of social and cultural history of the Tai people in Burma, southern China and

India, says “these findings suggest that the ancient Tai society was an Asiatic type and that

the ancient Tai culture revolved around worship of nature and ancestors” and this is

very much true to the Ahom, and “The Ahom worship of nature and ancestors is a belief

system different from Aryan Hinduism”(Sathip Nartsupha and Ranoo Wichasin, “The

State of Knowledge of Ahom History”, in Tai Culture, International Review on Tai Cultural

Studies, Vol. III, No. 1, June 1998, SEACOM, Berlin, pp. 16-48)

The Ahom Tribal Socio-Cultural Institutions:

The Ahom adhered to their traditional tribal institutions like the primo-genitural exogamous clan

system, marriage by chak-long and the pi-nong system.

The clan is very basic to the Ahom and they maintained their clan system, and clan exogamy in

marriage throughout their ruling history of 600 years and even to this day. “The Ahoms are

divided into a number of exogamous groups called phoids or khels.” (P.R.T. Gurdon,

Encyclopedia of Religion & Ethics, vol. I, p. 235). That is they have been preserving the clan

institution for the last 780 years in Assam.

A person of a family is primarily recognized and enjoys his place at all levels of

social functions in relation to his clan called tun in Ahom (phoid in Assamese). A branch of the

clan is called ruen (ghar in Assamese). It is important to note that in their Buranji or chronicles,

an officer is usually mentioned by his family or clan, and not by his first name. Thus for instance

at page 207 of the Ahom Buranji (op. cit) it says “Then our Luthuri, one Ladam, the son of

Khuntai, one Mandam Lasam Chaodang Barua of Mungkangia Ahom Clan, the Kongar Bara,

one Hu of Lanbakal family and Latum Saikia of Luk-kha-khun family rushed out of the fort to

met the enemies.” In this sentence, the names are qualified by the family names. In many cases

the names are not at all given only the official title and the family name.

The Ahom never allowed the clan to be lost sight of under any circumstances as a man is

primarily identified with reference to his clan or family. If a person is asked who are it does not

mean his name or his place of residence is enquired. He is expected to state his clan or the sub-

branch of the clan to which he belongs. He might say that he belongs to such and such family.

Many titles of the Ahom people are simply clan names such as Rajkonwar, Konwar,

Borgohain, Buragohain, Borpatragohain, Chetia, Handique, Lahan, Deodhai, Bailung, Mohan,

Chiring, Luk-khu-ra-khan, Changmai, or their sub-branches. Villages had been founded clan-

wise and even today many such villages as Chetia Gaon, Handique Gaon, Gohain Gaon, Deodhai

Gaon, Bailung Gaon, Konwar Gaon, Lahan Gaon, Mohan Gaon, Changmai Gaon, etc. are found

all over Upper Assam.

Ahom Pi-Nong Bond:

The Ahom pi-nong (which means pi=elder-brother, nong=younger brother), covers

the relationship not only between immediate consanguineous siblings i.e. elder and younger

brothers, but also applied to the whole range of related groups. The pi i.e. the elder must get

preference to the nong i.e. younger in all matters in society. It therefore controls the family

relations of the members of the same clan, and in its extended form it also covers the close

neighbours and thus acts as bond in the society.

Ahom Clan Lineage:

The patrilineal Ahom have been maintaining their clan bond by the updating of

groups or clan lineage from time to time. On such occasions the members of a clan meet to feast

and to physical verification. On such gathering, it is customary on the part of elder members to

identify the different elder and younger branches, and present the members present. On this

occasion, the members of the junior families pay their respect to those of the senior lines. On that

occasion, the members of the senior most branch of the clan is given the first seat. Even an

elderly or aged person belonging to the junior branch of the clan will have to address a person of

the senior branch with respect due to him though the latter is much younger in age.

The genealogical gatherings of Ahom clans called Vamsavali such Konwar,

Buragohain, Borgohain, Handique, Lahan, Chetia and others are regular features today. This is a

tribal trait of society. (John S. Mbiti, African Religion and Philosophy, 1971, p. 105)

Chak-Long:

The Ahom marriage by chak-lang, the original system is another instrumentality

by which the Ahom maintain their social coherence. “The real Ahom rite is the saklang”,

writes P. R. Gurdon in Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics, Vol I, p. 235). In the chak-long

marriage, the Ahom priest normally recounts the family trees and great deeds of forefather of

both families to the new couple thus reminding them of their past history.

In a judgement of the Hon’ble High Court of Gauhati gave recognition to the

chak-long as the customary Ahom marriage system. Marriage by Homa or saptapadi

ceremony before the sacred fire is unknown to the Ahom even to this day. Except a section of the

Ahom, others perform Chak-long marriage.

Ahom Women do not suffer from the Disabilities of Hindu Women:

In other parts of India Hindu women suffer greatly from certain social customs and institutions.

But the Ahom women are free from such disabilities. An Ahom woman does not suffer, as such

social customs do not exist in Ahom society. A woman does not loose claim on the household

authority after the loss of her husband, rather she assumes the headship of the family unless

disabled by old age or physical disabilities. In society too a widow is never treated as outcaste

and never have to observe the austerity measures in food, dress or in associating herself in social

functions. Widows were and are not considered liability in the Ahom society, as it is among the

Caste Hindu society. Earlier Ahom women moved about without having any covering on their

head. Even today in some interior villages Ahom women go bare head. The observance of

purdah was unknown to them.

Sihab-ud-din Talish when he was in Upper Assam in 1662-63 was surprised to see this to

remark,

“Neither the women of the Rajah, nor those of common people, veil themselves; they go

about in the bazaars without head-coverings”.

This practice was applicable to all women, even to the widows as well.

B. C. Allen writes “

The Ahom, …held their women folk in honour, and even at the present day, the purdah

and all that it implies, is almost unknown in the country inhabited by the Assamese”.

(Gazetteer pf Assam, Vol. VI, Nowgong District, 1905, p. 51).

Ahom women go for fishing, which is a very common sight in the Ahom villages during the

rainy season, take the hoe, rear cocoon, ducks and chickens, weave clothes, plant paddy, cut

paddy when ripe, raise kitchen garden, tether cows and goat, and help their men folk in a variety

of ways. Bihu is the season when both boys and girls meet and often select their life partners. It

is the occasion of free mixing. Boys and girls dance together. This is a picture of a tribal society.

Tattooing:

“Ahom girls are not married till they reach a nubile age – sometimes much later.” And

girls did even tattooing. Gurdon writes, “The girls of the Deodhai, or priestly clan, tattoo

star-shaped devices on their hands and arms, the dye used being prepared in the Ahom or

Nora villages.” (Encyclopaedia, p. 235).

Anthropological Survey reports,

“A divorcee, a widow, or a widower may remarry. In case a widow remains unmarried,

she lives with the husband’s household members till her death. In case she is left

widowed with a male child, there is no difficulty for her since her son would inherit the

property for the late husband.” ( Anthropological Survey Series, Assam, Vol. XV,

2003, p. 52)

Wet-Rice Culture:

Wet-rice culture came with the Ahoms to this part of the country. Since the beginning of

their arrival in the upper Brahmaputra valley region, the Ahoms engaged themselves in wet-rice

cultivation in low-lying or marshy fields. While the local inhabitants of the area- the Barahi and

Moran lived on high land and thrived on broad-sowing variety of paddy, and production was at

bare subsistence level to feed their small population. (Comprehensive History of Assam, Vol. II,

edited by Prof. H. K. Barpujari, p.60).”The Ahoms were an advanced plough-using tribe “,

writes Prof. Amalendu Guha. (Medieval Economy of Assam”,.in The Cambridge Economic

History of India, Vol. I, Appendix).

“Wet-rice cultivation and a valley type of economy constitute the root of Tai

culture”, writes Jean Barlie of Hongkong University. (“A Preliminary Essay on Classification,

Globalization, and New Frontiers: A Cultural Overview of the Tai”, Tai Culture, Vol.1 no. 2,

1966, pp25-26) Compared to the Barahi and Moran, the Ahom were valley-dwelling peasantry,

the cultivators of muddy and marshy soil inundated by annual flood in their own homeland. They

therefore selected and settled on low-lying river valleys right from the beginning. These

settlements all located in flooded land avoided by the locals. Soon these were turned into

flourishing settlements of the Ahom villages.

There thus grew up Ahom ethnic settlements (ban) centering rive-field (na) or pathar.

Pathar or paddy fields concept is thus particularly based on the Ahom na (field) system. Even

today many Ahom villages surrounding field (pathar) may be found Being situated in low-lying

areas, the Ahom villages lay in the interior where communication was possible either by the

country boat during the rainy season or on foot during the dry months. This character of the

Ahom villages remained unchanged till the end of the Ahom rule, and even today the Ahom

villages in the erstwhile Sibsagar and Lakhimpur are located in outlying or remote areas Hence

these are isolated or partially isolated areas without having communication network. During the

rainy season, such villages remain cut off for several months. Even at the present time due to

constant flood many Ahom villages remain isolated during the rainy season.

Ahom Paik System & Communal Land-Holding:

Like all tribal societies, the Ahom did not possess land individually. During the Ahom

rule, all land belonged to the community, and in this case it belonged to the state. Hence, the

Ahoms were not a landholding class like those in other parts of India at any time in history. ((S.

K. Goswami, A History of Revenue Administration in Assam 128-1826, 1986, pp.31-32; B.B.

Hazarika, Political Life in Assam during the 19th Century, 1987, p. 170). E. A. Gait says, “The

rice lands were redistributed from time to time, but homesteads descended from father to son.”

(A History of Assam, 1926, p. 240).

There was no purely private land holding in the Ahom state proper. There was no

payment of money for rendering services to the state in various capacities. Everyone was paid a

certain quantity of land and also certain number of paik (persons rendering physical services to

the state) all according to rank and status. These they held so long as they were in office, but on

removal or death of the holder, all material benefits reverted to the state possession. This system

peculiarly of Tai origin introduced by the Ahom in Upper Assam districts continued

uninterrupted till the end of the Ahom rule. It is this system that the British found in 1826. Such

a system did not allow any land-owning class to grow, and in fact there was no land-owning

zemindsar as existed in the neighbouring Mughal Bengal and Bihar of that time. It also obviated

the need for metallic currency circulation.

Trade was done by barter; it was the universal system in the Ahom kingdom. Land revenue did

not exist in the proper Ahom kingdom, and unemployment was unknown. During 1662-63

Shihab-ud-din Talsh noted, “The bazar road is narrow, and is only occupied by pan-sellers.

Eatables are not sold as in our markets; but each man keeps in his house stores for a year, and no

one either sells or buys.”(H. Blochmann’s translation, p. 83).

When the Ahom kingdom was taken over by the British during 1824-26, the Ahom people in

Upper Assam faced great crisis due to lack of money with them for payment of poll tax of Rs 3/-

per head, and later on tax on land. Since private land did not exist under the Ahom rule, the

Ahoms were now turned into landless. The royalty, the nobility and the subjects were overnight

became destitute cultivators. Without money and without land, the Ahoms turned into paupers.

The British intentional policy of downgrading the Ahom politically at this stage further

aggravated their economic condition. The British policy “had the effect of reducing the Native

gentry to poverty, and left no class, either in fact or in theory, intermediate between the cultivator

of the soil and the supreme authority”. (Alexander Mackenzie, The North-East Frontier of

India, reprinted, 1989, p. 6)

It is indeed very painful to cite that in the early years of British rule there had been many

appeals made to the Government for financial assistance or for pension by the dispossessed

members of the Ahom royalty and nobility who ruled Assam for 600 years. For instance, in 1846

the widow of Malbhog Borgohain, one of the last Ahom ministers received Rs 10/-(ten only) as

annual pension; in 1849 an annual pension of Rs 20/- (twenty only) was granted to Narayani

Aideo, grand-daughter of King Gaurinath Singha (1780-95); in 1850, Tarabati and Padmabati,

sister and daughter of Jogesawar Singha, the last Ahom king received each Rs 10/- (ten only) as

annual pension; in 1851, Rani Surya Prava Kunwari, widow of Puddo Kunwar Singha received

Rs 10/- (ten only); in 1858, Khageswar Singha, the Saring Raja received a sanction of Rs300/-

(three hundred only) for the sradha of his lately deceased wife. (Reference K. N. Dutta, A

Handbook of Old Records, Govt. of Assam, pp.196, 202, 204, 205, 217). The list is too long to

reproduce here.

Considering their backwardness the Kaka Saheb Kalelkar Commission recommended

them as Other Backward Class (OBC).

No doubt, there are some other communities in Upper Assam who are equally backward

like the Ahom. But the present trend is from Bad to Worse, poor to poorer. The Ahom demand

for the inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes (Plains) needs to be considered in its historical

perspective, and its century-old struggle for recognition and assertion for existence.

The claim of the Ahom to be included in the list of Scheduled Tribe (Plains) is further

justified by the new trends of developments that have been taking place in Upper Assam, the

core of Ahom settlements, and also in its surroundings. The erstwhile districts of Sibsagar and

Lakhimpur now bifurcated into seven districts viz. Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Dibrugarh,

Tinisukia, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji that comprise Upper Assam have the concentration of Ahom

population with certain pockets in the districts of Morigaon, Sonitpur, Nogaon, and Karbi

Anglong. The Upper Assam districts are rich is tea, petroleum and coal. The tea gardens occupy

highest acreage of highland and engage and employed the highest number of worker. Of these

the majority are directly engaged in tea production that includes labourer, clerical staff, and

managerial personals. The number of labour population is the highest in number. The number of

clerical and managerial persons constitutes only a small percentage. The tea garden population is

in the organized sector of plantation industry and they are mainly concentrated within the tea

gardens and are provided with housing accommodation, water supply, electricity, hospital

facility, primary education, and road communication. They also receive certain quota of ration at

concession rates. Besides, the wage of industrial employees is assured.

The petroleum industry covers a wide belt of territory along the southern plains mainly in

the district of Dibrugarh, Tinisukia, Sivagar and Golaghat. Oil explorations are still going on,

and it appears that these districts are floating on oil. The two refineries are the Digboi, the oldest

and the Numaligarh, a new one, are located in Upper Assam. These refineries directly engage a

few thousand of workers in the oil production. The majority of the workers are from outside the

State, only a handful of them are local and indigenous. Most of the technically qualified are

drawn from outside. The Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) under the Government of

India is engaged in the exploration and extraction of oil with its headquarters at Sivasagar

engages employees, both of permanent category and wage basis, and their number runs to several

thousands. The percentage of Ahom in oil is small. Again, since oil is found in the agricultural

land or land under cultivation, such land has been acquired by the ONGC. Compensation is ,

however, paid but they are deprived of their land or are uprooted from the land. Being

agricultural people they could choose no alternative avenue of employment.

Another important mineral found in Upper Assam is coal but mainly concentrated at the

foothill areas along the Patkai hill range covering a distance of about 160 km. But extraction of

coal is done in the Ledo-Margherita and Jaipur-Naginimora areas and is mainly done by opencast

mining method. Although the number of persons engaged in this industry is not very large in

comparison to tea and petroleum, yet most people are drawn from outside the State, and the

benefit goes to them. The Ahom populations who live mainly in the agricultural zones and are

engaged in agriculture derive little or less benefit from these industries. Whatever they get, it is

only peripherally. Backward in the their education to grab the technical jobs, they turned into

unemployed. The unemployment rate among the agricultural population is very high. The gravity

of unemployment has become a high risk and it is easier to lure them to anti-social or anti-

establishment activities.

These industries are only geographically located in Upper Assam. The local people do

not derive benefits from them in any reasonable measure.

It may be recalled that the forefathers of the present day Ahom made great sacrifices for

the protection and preservation of the integrity of Assam. They proudly remember the great

deeds of their heroes in the battles of Bharali (1616 A.D.), the battle of Hajo (1617-18), the naval

battle of Koliabar (1662 A.D.), the battle of Itakhuli (1667 A.D.), the Battle of Saraighat (1671

A.D.) and the second battle of Itakhuli (1682 A.D.) fought against the mighty Mughal army.

They respectfully remember the heroic deeds of the great generals and statesmen like Phra-sen-

mong, Lachit Barphukan, Atan Buragohain, Mula Gabharu and many others. It is historical fact

that the Ahom kingdom stood as a rock against the concerted and determined expansion to

Burma and South-East Asian countries, and even China.

That ever since the British took over their kingdom in 1826 and then in 1838, the Ahom

have been living in the interior and backward areas of Upper Assam by engaging themselves in

subsistence agriculture. In these tracts their neighbours are the Sonowal-Kacharis, Deoris,

Mishings, Chutiyas, Moran-Matak and Koch, and later on came the tea tribes when the tea

gardens were opened.

That an altogether new political and social imbalance was created when, after

Independence, the Sonowal-Kacharis, Deoris, and Mishings were listed as Scheduled Tribes

(Plains) with reserved seats in the State Assembly and provision for reservation of jobs and

educational benefits. Afterwards, however, a balance was sought to be maintained by declaring

the Ahom, Chutiya, Koch, Matak-Moran and Tea Tribes as OBC and MOBC. But the enlistment

of the Ahom, Chutiya, Koch, Moran-Matak and Tea Tribes in OBC & MOBC did not much

improve their lot, and their aspirations largely remained unfulfilled.

There is another anomalous situation faced by the Ahom today. “On the basis of the 1945

July resolution the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation 1886 was amended in 1947 (Vide Act

XV of 1947) and a new chapter (Chapter X) under the caption “Protection of Backward Classes”

was added to it. The new legislation firstly, authorized the State Government to specify the

backward classes who need ed protection…” Under the authority given by this new law, the

State government identified the following classes of persons as “Protected Classes” for the

purpose of Chapter X namely, - plains tribals, hills tribals, tea garden triblas, Santhals, Scheduled

Caste, and Nepali Grazers or Cultivators.” (Anthropological Survey of India, Assam, Vol. XV,

Part One, 2003, p. 35). The Ahoms are not included in the list..

The ever-rising immigration of Bangladeshis has further worsened the condition of the

Ahoms in the area. On the other hand local tea gardens have been following a closed economy

paying attention only to its ever-increasing labour problem in a manner without considering the

plight of the indigenous people of the area. This has added to the economic plight of the Ahoms

being without a cash supply means to them.

Another very recent development in the progress is that the Deori, Mishing, Sonowal-

Kachari who are Scheduled Tribes (Plains) and whose population are mainly concentrated in the

seven districts of Upper Assam will have Autonomous bodies in governance of local affairs. The

Government of Assam has finalized this process. This is certainly a good beginning for self-

governance. But what concerns the Ahom is that the population of these scheduled tribes are not

concentrated in one area but are spread over many localities interspersed by other non-scheduled

tribes such as the Ahom, Chutiya, Moran and others. This might create some problems of

covering contiguous areas and ultimately leading to political uneasiness among the local

population who have been living in amity and social harmony. The creation of the Bodo

Territorial Council covering the Bodo-living villages is a pointer in this respect. This problem

will not arise if the Ahom, Chutiya, Moran-Matak, Koch and Tea Tribes are declared as

Scheduled Tribes (Plains) and Autonomous Territorial Council is granted to several Tribes

jointly to share governance in proportion to population. Such territorial autonomous bodies in the

forms of county, district, prefecture, region have been granted and are working in several regions

in the Peoples’ Republic of China.

The case of Ahom is also reasonable and justified in the context of present-day

multinational economy and globalization of the world order where the existence of small

groups of population is increasingly in danger of being wiped out of their political and cultural

existence. It therefore urgently calls for provisions for proper constitutional safeguards to them.

Let not such a day come to the Ahom. It seems to be an irony of fact that the community that

sacrificed so much for this land and these people are now required to try for the status of

Scheduled Tribe to avoid further penury and marginalisation in the present constitutional set up

for the country.

Taking into consideration all information and particulars placed herein, the Ahom firmly

believe that their case is genuine, and their demand is reasonable and justified in enlisting them

in the list of Scheduled Tribe (Plains) by the High Statutory Authorities.

Ahom population (officially computed) in different districts:

Districts

Dibrugarh (LA Constituencies) Approx. 4,03,000 + (based on voters’ list in 2005)

Tinisukia (LAC) Approx. 1,14,713 +

Lakhimpur (LAC) Approx. 1,99,572 + (supplied by DC)

Dhemaji (LAC) Approx. 1,90,000 + (based on Census figures)

Sivasagar (LAC) Approx. 6,31,000 + (based on Census supplied by DC)

Jorhati (LAC) Approx 1,08,063 + (based on 2001 Census).

Golaghat Approx. 1,46,951 (collected by AhomSabha)

Total Approx. 17,93,299 ( this does not include in other districts)

Total No. Staff (teaching) Ahom P.C.

Gauhati University 230 8(eight)

Dibrugarh University

Tezpur University

Silchar University

IIT (Guwahati)

Assam Medical College

Silchar Medical College

Gauhati Medical College

Gauhati High Court 2000 125

Assam Engineering College 96 2 (two)

Jorhat Engineering College

Regional Engineering College, Silcher

Indian Administrative Service 1(one)

Indian Police Service Nil

Indian Foreign Service Nil

Indian Allied Service NA

Indian Forest Service Nil

High Court Judge 1(one)

Assam Civil Service

Assam Police Service

Army Commissioned Officer NA

Principals in Colleges in Assam