The Tai Ahom National Council Memo Scheduling

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 8 th 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 7 th August 1967 by the All Assam Ahom Association
On 16 th &17 th August 1968 by the Ahom Tai Mongoliya Rajya Parishad
In 1979 by several Tai Ahom organizations
On 2 nd March 1981 by an Ahom deputation representing different organizations
On 19 th July 1982 by the All Assam Tai Ahom Juba-Chatra Parishad
On 26 th December 1981 by the All Assam Tai-Ahom Society
On 21 st May 1988 by the Tai Ahom Council of Assam
In August 1991 by the All Assam Tai Ahom Student Union
On 3 rd 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 4 th 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, 6 th 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 4 th International Conference on Tai Studies, Vol IV, May
1990, Kunming, China, p.377).
Ahom Demand for Minority Status:
On 2 nd 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 20 th 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 5 th 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, 2 nd 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 supposedmarriage
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 28 th 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 31 st 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, 4 th 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 subbranch
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 clanwise
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 19 th 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 antiestablishment
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-senmong,
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 selfgovernance.
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
Jorhat Engineering College
2 (two)
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
Assam Civil Service
Assam Police Service
1(one)
Army Commissioned Officer
Principals in Colleges in Assam
NA