Thursday, February 8, 2007

Childhood memory and the forts around Guwahati

Few days back, a very good friend of mine advised me to write a note on the medieval forts of Assam. I was startled as when I took to the pen, I was horridly taken aback by the inadequacy of my knowledge on the subject.

Since my childhood, I have been listening to the stories of Lacit Borphukon, the great hero of medieval Assam, who is credited to have repulsed the invasion of the Mughal army of Aurangzeb in the year 1665. The Mughal army was headed by none other than the great Rajput commander Raja Ram Singh. As a child I used be thrilled by the bravery displayed by the Assamese army. The glorious victory in the naval battle of Saraighat on the waters of the mighty Brahmaputra made a strong imprint in my mind and memory as well. More was I stunned at the courage shown by Lacit, the Commander-in-Chief of the Assamese army, who despite being bedridden owing to high fever caused by a painful boil on his left armpit, lead the Assamese fleet to the water and took the enemy by surprise. The battle was won at that very moment. Lacit did not survive for long after this great victory. The festive mood of the victorious Assamese camp was dampened and all were engulfed with grief at the loss of their great warrior, a real hero. I used to question: why should he die just after that victory? Why didn’t he live longer? He could have achieved so much in his life!.....I am ashamed of my childish anxiety, as I could not realize that had Lacit not died at that time, his fame would have dissipated. That single achievement was enough to make him immortal and secure his name among the great heroes of all time. Also I was ignorant of the reality that he was one of the two great warriors of the contemporary India, who stood firmly against the might of the invulnerable army of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The other one was Shivaji, whose achievement Lacit could hear from his home. Shivaji’s feat was a real source of inspiration for Lacit.

Let me keep aside my emotions for a moment and focus on some vital questions. They are many: Who was Lacit and how many of us know him? Is he considered to be a national hero in the similar lines of Shivaji and many others? Who is responsible in case we have not remembered him?....I must confess that although I have committed not to be emotional while I state these questions, yet they are borne out of my emotions only. These emotions, in a way, helped me realize some horrendous truths, which I shall focus on at a later stage.

The seat of the Assamese army during this war with the Mughals was at the heart of the modern city of Guwahati. There is a considerable amount of historical source material to know about the preparation of the Assamese army for the war. It is clearly mentioned in the buranjis that the Assamese constructed a series of fortification walls surrounding the main military camp at Guwahati. These forts were made of mud, and bamboo was used to strengthen it. Walls were raised to height of 25m. Lacit’s head office was situated inside the fortified camp of ‘Itakhuli’, which can be identified with the present Panbazar area just on the south bank of the Brahmaputra. ‘Itakhuli’ has been mentioned in the historical sources as an impenetrable fort initially constructed the Fauzdar under the Nawab of Dacca, when the administrative headquarters of Lower Assam was shifted from Hajo to Guwahati. This was a time when the kingdom of Koch Behar already declined and the Lower Assam region went to the hands of the Bengal Nawabs. Lacit defeated this Fauzdar in the famous battle of Itakhuli and captured the lost Guwahati. He sensed immediate danger of the inevitable war with the Mughals after this victory, and so, along with Aton Burhagohain, the shrewd minister of the Ahoms, made an elaborate plan to bring about an array of fortification walls surrounding Guwahati. Aton Burhagohain became the in-charge of the northern bank of the Brahmaputra, while Lacit himself settled on the south.

The fort of Itakhuli was well protected by small army camps on all sides. These camps were the gates to the main fort and were situated amidst thick and impenetrable forests. The western gate was known as 'Andharu Soki', and the northeastern one was known as 'Joiduar Soki'. The eastern gate was known as 'Dharmaduar Soki'. Beyond the Andharu Soki on the western side, there was another gate known as 'Bogoribari Soki'. One gate to the south was known as 'Daurgondalah Soki', while further east near the boundary of the Dimaria kingdom, there was another gate known as 'Jamuguri Soki'. We need to know about the geographical set-up of Guwahati to have a clear picture of the positioning of these gates. From the south bank of the Brahmaputra upto the foothills of the Khasia Pahar, the modern Guwahati city is spread upto almost 15 km north-south, and from the Bonda Hills in the east to the Jalukbari Hills in the west, its extent is 25 km. topographic maps show that almost 2/3rd of this area is covered by several isolated low hills. These scattered hills are interspersed with several low-lying and marshy flat lands. It is through these low-lying passes between the hills that one could enter the heart of the city.

The Assamese army constructed imposing fortification walls in each of these passes between the hills. Moreover, the banks of the Brahmaputra were also fortified with long-stretching ramparts on both sides, barring a small section near the fort of Itakhuli. Soldiers were stationed at each fortification with kamans and weapons. There is a lot to be studied on this warfare tactics of the Assamese soldiers. Looking at the strategic positioning of the forts, it was virtually impossible for an advancing enemy to penetrate into the heart of the camp, as they would have to destroy and surpass at least four to five gates to come anywhere near the fort of Itakhuli. The Mughals realized the difficulties and tried to blast open a few such fortifications with gun-powder, but in vain. A helpless ram Singh, the Commander Supremo of the Mughals, at last, had to take resort to the waterway via the Brahmaputra, of which unpredictable nature was no one better aware of than the Assamese. The Mughal fleet was destroyed in the final combat near Andharubali in 1665. This battle came to be known as the Battle of Saraighat.

Thomas Wood, an engineer who accompanied the detachment of Cpt. Welsh to Assam in the year 1794, recorded the fort of Itakhuli. Where now stand some imposing buildings of the District Commissioner’s office and the GPO, and also the bustling market place of Panbazar, according to Wood, was once occupied by the Itakhuli Fort surrounded by a bad ditch. This fort is impossible to trace now. Not only this, but most of the peripheral fortification walls, which once stood as the protector of Assam’s pride, have disappeared now, thanks to the unscrupulous vandalism done in the name of urbanization.

My mind is again flashing back to a childhood memory. After watching a play on Lacit Borphukon, I used to enact at home a memorable scene from the play with my brother. It was on the beheading of his maternal uncle by Lacit due to the formers negligence of duty. The story goes like this:

An important outer fortification was damaged by the Mughals by gun powder blasting. This created grave concern in the Assamese camp. Lacit assigned his uncle with the responsibility to repair the portion of the wall as quickly as possible. But his uncle became complacent as he thought Lacit won’t do any harm to him because of his blood relations. Such an act of truancy could not escape the vigilant eyes of Lacit, who took no time to unhesitatingly behead his uncle.

The fort came to be known as the Momai Kota Garh (meaning fort where uncle was beheaded) after this incident. As a child, I was really very excited to repeatedly enact the patriot Lacit and make my brother the poor uncle. Later on, I could realize the impact that this unique incident had on the minds of the Assamese soldiers. One way, it created a kind of fear for a madly patriotic General, while on the other hand, it showed an unparalleled precedent of patriotism and will to protect the motherland. Both helped in the tactful management of the Assamese army. This was a real achievement of the ‘General Lacit Borphukon’.

I have lived in the city of Guwahati for a major part of my life, and have always wanted to see this special ‘Momai Kota Garh’. But never has anyone, nor even any archaeologist, been able to locate this fort on a firm basis. Certain scattered remains of this series of medieval fortification can still be seen in and around Guwahati, and also in the North Guwahati on the other bank of the Brahmaputra. Most of these remains are known as Momai Kota Garh. This has created a baffling confusion among archaeologists to find the exact ‘Momai Kota Garh’. My knowledge, at present, is insufficient to suggest a solution to this problem.

All these medieval remains of Guwahati need proper conservation and careful study. There is no other better way to make our heritage known to the world.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

The Heritage of Kachari

The Kacharis are the most enigmatic population of modern Assam, a state in the northeast region of India. The 1881 census reports the Bodos and other related Kachari groups to be the majority in the whole of the Brahmaputra valley, followed by the Kalitas, and then the Daibagnas and the Brahmanas. Koches and Rajbanshis were included in the Kachari group, but were considered as totally Hinduised tribes.

The 1881 Census is important in many respects. It was the first census that covered the whole length and breadth of the valley. But most importantly, it can be presumed that in 1881, the population of the valley would have been similar to that of the medieval period, and the early medieval and the early historic periods for that matter, considering the growth rate of population to be constant throughout this span of time. Someone might raise the question that beginning from the British occupation of Assam in 1836, several groups of people from the mainland India migrated to Assam, thereby changing the demographic set up in a drastic manner. But then, we have to keep in mind that Assam’s population was reduced to 2/3rd after the incessant invasions of the Burmese which continued till the British occupied the region.

What I am trying to emphasize here is that the Kacharis (including the largest group Bodos) were the most dominant population in the valley throughout its history. That they were once very influential too, can be gauged from the fact that most of the place and river names of modern Assam still continues to be that of Bodo origin. The prefix Di, meaning water in Bodo languages and dialects are invariably used in naming most of the rivers and places in Assam (e.g. Di-bru, Digboi, Disang, Dihang, Dikhou, etc). The river Brahmaputra was also earlier known as Ti-lao or Di-lao.

At present, two important divisions among the Kachari population of Assam is conspicuous, viz. the Bodos (plain Kachari) and the Dimasas (hill Kachari). There are several other groups like Hajongs, Lalung (Tiwa), Garos, Rabhas, Karbis, Morans, Chutias, etc. which are included in the greater Kachari fold. There are reasons to believe that once upon a time, such divisions among the Kacharis were not so distinguishable. Two evidences are sufficient to prove this assumption:

1. All these groups speak dialects and languages belonging to the Tibeto-Burman (TB) language sub-group of the Sino-Tibetan Family. This takes back us to a single parentage to this entire group, which probably had originated in the southern province of Sichuan in China in the prehistoric times.

2. All these Kachari population (barring the Bodos of Western Assam), until recently, used to pay an annual homage or tribute to the Kesaikhaiti Gosani Temple at Sadiya. This proves a single lineage of these various tribes, a religious knot to say more precisely.

I shall elaborate on these two points in the remaining part. The difference between the Bodos and the Dimasas is sharp at present. Traditions, however, indicates a single root to both. The Bodos call themselves Bodo-sa or Bodo-fisa (sons of the Bod country), while the Dimasas call themselves Dima-sa or Dima-fisa (sons of the great river), although they have a similar tradition of the origin of the universe, which speaks of a flood and the subsequent creation of the earth. There is another tradition among the Bodos which speaks of the existence of two groups among them, one of which happened to cross a big river because of some disputes. It seems probable that the Bodos were the ones who crossed the river and settled down on the foothills of the Himalayas and later were disowned by the Dimasas, who initially settled on the foothills of the Patkai and the Naga Hills and the Dhansiri and Kopili valleys. In all likelihood, they entered the Brahmaputra valley through the Patkai Hill Range. When did it happen?

This is, perhaps, the most intriguing issue which I can see, will dominate the archaeological and anthropological studies in Assam for the coming decades. I shall just try to present the recent trends in both these disciplines to come out with a solution.

Renowned linguist George Van Driem, a professor in the Leiden University in the Netherlands suggested that a western group of the Proto Tibeto-Burmans branched out from the original homeland, i.e., the Sichuan Province of Southern China (Archaeology and Language II 1998). Looking at the corresponding archaeological evidences, he confined a date between 6000-2000 BC for this supposed migration. He preferred to state that there were several waves of migrations. But recent genetic studies on the TB people of the Northeast India and those of Eastern Asia and Southeast Asia has proved that the TB of Northeast India spread out into the region from a single stock. The Y-chromosome of the Northeast India tribes, which corresponds to a male lineage shares a lot of characteristics with the East Asian TBs, and also shows a genetic bottlenecks. This proves the fact that, the TBs migrated from East Asia in a small number to the Brahmaputra valley and dispersed in subsequent times. Another explanation regarding the date of the arrival of these people can also be made from such studies: the Northeast Indian TBs got separated from the parent group at an earlier date. Another group migrated to Southeast Asia more or less at the same time.

Archaeological records, however, conflict this view to some extent. The Neolithic implements of Bangladesh, Tripura, and also North Kachar Hills and Manipur share interesting characteristics, especially the raw material (fossil wood) and the technique of manufacturing. Could this have been a different belt of Neolithic culture, separate from the Neolithic of the other regions of the Brahmaputra valley, and having affinities with the South East Asian Neolithic? Could there have been a different migration of the Tibeto-Burmans from South East Asia? These are questions to be answered on the basis of farther research. But one thing seems clear that the Kacharis, who were the forbearers of the Neolithic culture of the Brahmaputra valley entered through the Sadiya region at an early date, may be around or before 2000 BC, although no sequential or absolute dating is available to confirm this view at present.

The greatest contribution of the Neolithic TBs to Assam is the introduction of rice cultivation. Manjil Hazarika (Ancient Asia, Vol.1. 2006) has highlighted this point in a recent article. Archaeological remains of rice cultivation are, however, difficult to find in Assam. But I have a strong feeling that the foothill regions of the Himalayas bordering Arunachal Pradesh and also Naga Hills will provide definite evidence of early rice cultivation in Assam and thus will help in establishing a cultural sequence. The distribution of the Kacharis (TB) within the valley happened hand in hand with the spread of this Neolithic tradition.

In regard to the medieval kingdom of the Kacharis, situation is not far too good to get conclusive results. When I see the enormous remains of the brick-built fortified towns of the Dhansiri valley, the brick monuments of Sadiya, the tanks and pottery of the Kopili valley, I am left without the slightest doubt that they are the extant remains of the early medieval and medieval kingdoms of the Chutias and the Kacharis. The brick size and texture is remarkably similar, or rather I would prefer to say, they are typically Kachari bricks. It is wonderful to see that the Kacharis developed the art of burnt brick-making as early as the 7-8th CAC, while the Ahoms could never master this art till the 17th century, when Rangpur was built. All the Ahom ramparts and forts were totally devoid of bricks! Brick-making is definitely another significant contribution of the Kacharis to the Heritage of Assam.

The makers of the medieval kindom of Sadiya were definitely the Chutias and those of the Dhansiri valley were Dimasas, which can be put beyond any doubt. The Chutias, later on, got amalgamated to the greater Assamese society, while the Dimasas fled from the Dhansiri valley following their defeat at the hands of the Ahoms in 1536, and dispersed in the North Kachar Hills. They formed a petty kingdom initially at Maibong and later shifted to Khaspur. A detailed history of this kingdom can be found (Kachari Buranji, S.K. Bhuya). But the most of this compact Dimasa people got dispersed and became isolated after their retreat from Dhansiri valley. One such group of Dimasas was noticed even in Nagaland by K.S. Singh (Scheduled Tribes, People of India Series 1994). We do not have concrete evidence for the earliest date of these Kachari kingdoms. But it might have started after the degeneration of the Kamarupa Kingdom, around 10-11th CAC. But that the Kacharis were even dominant during and before the Kamarupa regime can be put beyond doubt. Such a situation in the early history of Assam helped in assimilation to a great extent which later on became the greater Assamese identity.

There were several other petty kingdoms or rather principalities of various Kachari groups (e.g. Dimarua, Beltola, etc.) in the middle and lower Assam regions which continued to exist independently until recent times. Archaeological remains are also found. As for the Bodos of the northern bank of the Brahmaputra, it is however, difficult to say whether they formed a dynasty of their own. They remained in relative isolation for most part of the history, although practically remaining within the Kamarupa regime during the early historic and Kamata kingdom during the medieval periods. The Koch kingdom of Koch Behar can also be attributed to the greater Bodo family (the Koches were Hinduised Bodos with admixture with the Indo-Europeans).