The Ahom kingdom (, ), or Kingdom of Assam, was a late medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley. It is conventionally dated from 1228 to 1826, although the chronology of its foundation is disputed. The kingdom came to incorporate large parts of modern Assam.
Traditionally associated with the arrival of Sukaphaa, a Tai prince from Möng Mao (present-day Dehong, China), it began as a small Tai polity in the upper Brahmaputra valley based on wet-rice agriculture. Guha (1983) characterises the Ahom polity of the late fourteenth century as a “state-like organisation”, rather than a full-fledged state, and identifies the reign of Suhungmung (1497–1539) as the watershed in which it “leaped into statehood”. Major territorial and institutional expansion followed in the early 16th century, particularly through the annexation of the Chutia kingdom, the acquisition of parts of present-day Nagaon then ruled by the Baro-Bhuyans and the Golaghat-Jorhat regions (Dikhou-Dhansiri)“the Ahoms became the master of the territory between the Dikhow and the Dhansiri”Suhummung “annexed the whole Dhansiri valley along with the Kachari possessions up to the Kalang river”; he created the Marangi-khowa-gohain “to administer the Dhansiri valley”. under the Dimasa king. The expanded kingdom became multi-ethnic in character, accelerating a process of social change, ethnogenesis, and inter-ethnic interactions under the ruling Ahom dynasty. During the 17th century, the kingdom defeated multiple attempts by the Mughal Empire to expand into Northeast India. The central authority collapsed following the Moamoria rebellion in the late 18th century. Internal conflicts between dynastic claimants led to Burmese intervention, and the kingdom faced multiple Burmese invasions after 1817. British intervention led to the First Anglo-Burmese War, and control of the kingdom passed to the East India Company through the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826.
The kingdom was largely multi-ethnic, with the ethnic Tai Ahom people constituting less than 10% of the population according to the 1872 and 1881 censuses of British India."The Ahoms were never numerically dominant in the state they built and, at the time of 1872 and 1881 censuses, they formed hardly one-tenth of the populations relevant to the erstwhile Ahom territory (i.e, by and large, the Brahmaputra Valley without the Goalpara district.)" People from different ethnic groups became a part of the Ahom population due to a process known as Ahomisation. The identity of the Ahom people in the kingdom was fluid, with the king controlling who belonged to it and who did not. By emphasizing the fluidity of this identity, the swargadeos controlled and directed the continuous movement within and beyond this group which, in turn, never allowed for developing any sense of loyalty to or cohesiveness of the group. Ahom was not an identity to die for in precolonial Assam; in fact, nobody could ever claim ownership of this label because it was left to the discretion of the swargodeo to award or demote a person to and from this status The Ahoms initially called their kingdom Mong Dun Shun Kham until 1401 (; ), but adopted Assam in the 15th century."Tributes seem to have flowed to their original state in Upper Burma from Mungdungshunkham and probably the covert colonialism ended in 1401 when the boundary between Mungdungshunkham and the Nara kingdom was finally fixed at the Patkai hills. There is reason to believe that the name Mungdunshunkham is closely associated with this covert colonialism of the time and it automatically disappeared when Mungdunshunkham became Asom after their new name Ahom." The kingdom maintained close political ties with other Tai states especially with Möng Kawng (Nara) till the end of its rule in the 19th century."In his letter, the Mong Kwang ruler requested Kamaleswarsingha (1795–1811) for help against the king of Burma who had invaded his territory. Referring to the close tie existing between the two kingdoms, the Mong Kwang ruler hoped for positive response from the Ahom king to repel the Burmese invaders"
History
According to the conventional Buranji-based chronology, the Ahom kingdom was established in 1228 when Sukaphaa, a Tai prince, entered the Brahmaputra valley after crossing the Patkai mountain range from Möng Mao. In this conventional reconstruction, Sukaphaa began his journey with a small number of followers, but he was supported and joined by other Tai chiefs and common followers along the way and entered Assam with approximately 9,000 persons."The Tais under Sukapha left Mong Mao in A.D. 1215 and not Mong Mit in 1227 as suggested by some scholars. There were at least five mong (state or dependencies) chiefs who joined Sukapha with their contingents. Some of them came with their families, and the total strength is computed as 9,000." "See AB, p44; DAB, p6; the Purani Asam Buranji (ed), H.C.Goswami, Guwahati, 1977, p10; ABHB, p11; ABS, p9; ABSM, pp3,5; SAB, p45. From the variation in the numbers it appears that the number of the followers who accompanied Sukapha from Mao-Lung, gradually increased on the way when additional groups joined the march." His destination was Upper Assam, at the easternmost end of the Brahmaputra valley.
The Ahoms were primarily responsible for converting the undulating, forested and marshy alluvial plains of southeastern Upper Assam"In my paper, I avoided generalizations on the basis of speculative reasoning and examined the problem of retardation only in the context of 'the southeastern part of Upper Assam', where the Ahoms had remained contained for the initial three centuries and for which area we have historical evidence." into level, embanked fields capable of retaining water for wet-rice cultivation."Pre-Ahom Upper Assam was an undulating alluvial plain, full of jungles and marshes under the given conditions of a heavy rainfall. Land reclamation was therefore the first task. ... They uprooted the forests and reduced the undulating surface to a dead level so that the plain water, or water led from the bunded hill streams, could remain standing on it, when required. Over the centuries, they built and maintained a network of embankments for overall water control." The Tai migrants brought traditions of wet-rice cultivation, water management and mung-based political organisation, and over time contributed to the extension of reclamation and embankment-based cultivation in areas they controlled. This process, however, did not amount to the wholesale conversion of the region. Saikia (2004) describes early settlers as occupying selected fertile riverbanks for wet-rice cultivation through competition, war, and negotiation with groups such as the Kacharis, who also claimed strategic riverbanks and controlled water supplies."Because rice cultivation was the mainstay, the early settlers at times occupied segments of the fertile banks to practice wet-rice cultivation. For this, they had to resort to different tactics, including war and bribery, to oust other groups such as the Kacharis who were also making claims to the banks at strategic points and controlling the water supply." Scholars have further argued from pre-Ahom inscriptional and Buranji evidence that settled agriculture, wet-rice cultivation and embankment-based water management had important antecedents in Assam before the Ahom entry,"Incidentally, in pre-Ahom Assam the whole economic set-up was contigent on wet-rice cultivation...So, wet-rice cultivation with an irrigation technology dependent on the construction of alis was a common feature of the pre-Ahom rural landscape.""That agriculture was the mainstay of the society can be inferred from epigraphic evidence. Dhanya (rice or paddy) was the staple crop. Cultivation of rice was mostly done following the wet rice cultivation technique. Inscriptions record the existence of surplus agricultural production, one of the essential pre-requisite for an urban economy. Inscriptions throw light on the productive capacity of the granted lands, as well as the names of various categories of land." and that groups like Kacharis already practised wet-rice cultivation when the Ahoms settled in Assam."Maringkhowa Bahbariya Barchetia Gohain was asked to confiscate the rice fields of the Kacharis. From this and other evidence, it is clear that rice cultivation was practised in the Lauhitya valley much before the Tai-Ahoms settled there. This was reported to the Tai-Ahoms by the Barahi chief. The Kacharis had devised a way to build embankments to divert water into channals, thereby creating areas where paddy cultivation was possible. Such a system allowed for more than subsistence-level agriculture. The production of rice-beer was an established Kachari tradition when the Tai-Ahoms occupied their riverine fields. In contrast to the Kacharis, the Morans and the Barahis were mostly gatherers and petty traders.""From the beginning, the Tai-Ahom and Kachari relationship was determined by the struggle for control of the fertile riverine Dikhoumukh. The Kachari culture was a rice culture. Through their knowledge and practice of wet-rice cultivation, the Kacharis distinguished themselves from the 'wild' hunter-gatherers and nonrice cultivators."
The Ahom polity retained Tai forms of kingship and political organisation, including a Lengdon-centred dynastic ideology. Its institutions in Assam, however, developed through interaction with pre-existing political traditions and with the diverse communities of the Brahmaputra valley and adjoining hills. Moreover, the category “Ahom” itself was politically flexible which led to cultural change as well. Brahmanical influence became increasingly important at court from the late fourteenth century, and especially after the early-sixteenth-century expansion, but the Ahom kings were not formally initiated into Hinduism before 1648. The later Tungkhungia kings veered towards Saktism"Gadadhar Singha lent towards Saktism and persecuted the Vaishnava Mahantas and Gosains, His son Rudra Singha in the later part of his rule became an open supporter of faith and from his death onward that faith became the creed of the Ahom monarchs" and the persecution of the shudra Mahantas and their laity that began during the reign of Siva Singha led to the Moamoria rebellion and ultimately to the eclipse of the kingdom."(Phuleshwari Bor-Raja) summoned the Sudra Mahantas to the Durga Puja held in a Sakta shrine and compelled them to bow their heads before the goddess and have their foreheads besmeared with the blood of sacrificed animals and made them accept nirmali and prasad. More than others, the powerful Mayamara Mahanta considered it a serious insult, not to be forgotten or forgiven, and in consultation with his disciples, he decided to take vengeance at an opportune moment. The subsequent history of Assam is essentially a history of the Moamariya rebellion, which was the most important factor causing the downfall of the Ahom monarchy."
Disputed Chronology of Migration
The foundation of the Ahom kingdom is conventionally dated to Sukaphaa's arrival at Khamjang in 1228."Sukāphā is said to have left Maulung in 1215 A.D. ... For thirteen years he wandered about the hilly country of the Pātkāi ... and in 1228 A.D. he arrived in Khāmjāng." The chronological basis of this date is, however, contested. Daniels notes that, although the Ahoms are reputed to have migrated to Assam during the thirteenth century, "no contemporary source elucidates their early history."