Ancient Assam Its Different Dynastise

This paper is confined the ancient kamrupa and its different dynasties at different times. There were many kingdoms in ancient Kamrupa which are elaborate in this paper. This paper contains different kingdoms and their rulers' tenure. Several monarchs rose and fell in ancient Assam throughout the Dynastic period. The territory of Assam, formerly known as Kamrupa or Pragjyotishpur, had been occupied by a variety of ancient kingdoms, including Varman, Mlechchha, and Pala, among others, since the early stages around 350 AD.

RESEARCH REVIEW International Journal of Multidisciplinary

Ancient Assam history roughly covers the period from the days of the epics to the early part of thirteenth century. Assam is a part of the country known in ancient period as a Pragjyotisha. By this name the country was known in the great epics, The Mahabharata and The Ramayana as well as in some of the principles puranas. In early period authentic political history of course may be said to have begun from the middle of the fourth century AD. The reconstruction of ancient Assam history is a difficult work, mainly because of the lack in pure and reliable historical materials. During the time of pre historic analysis neoliths played a very important rule to re-establish and restore the lost history of the period. Even for the historical period of study a few existing or local inscriptions and small architectural remains and scattered literary documents as source of information.

D.K.Chakrabarti and M.Lal ed., History of Ancient India, Vol. 5, Political History and Administration, 2014

[Whatever may be the starting historical dynasty of the Assamese inscriptions, there is little doubt that the political chronology of Assam should date from the period when the first evidence of its early history appears in its archaeological record. In an exposed river section of Tezpur, the profile of a terracotta ring-well is clear and it is also in the Tezpur ruins that one notices potsherds of indisputably pre-Christian era. Corroborating evidence has also appeared in the recent find of Sunga-Kushan terracottas in the Ambari area of Guwahati. We do not have any doubt that the Brahmaputra valley was very much a part of the Mauryan orbit.]

Puravritta: Journal of the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of West Bengal, vol. 1, pp. 115-32, 2016

Like many other parts of India, modern history writing of Assam began with colonial intervention and the nationalist response to it. Since Assam was made a part of the Bengal Presidency in 1826, socio-geographical and historical investigations into the region were actively carried out under the auspices of Government. Though the early colonial accounts contain important information on the region, they are mostly administrative documents with descriptive contents. The period between the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century witnessed not only a gradual accumulation of historical materials, but also a rising popular awareness of Assamese history. During this time, Kāmarūpa known as the ancient kingdom of the Brahmaputra valley began to occupy the first page of the history of Assam unanimously and its importance was accentuated by the group of nationalist historians. Their main concern was to find out a proper place for Assam in the mainstream of Indian history and civilization. Kāmarūpa became an entrance through which Assam could connect herself with the rest of India. In the last century, there was a considerable progress in the quantitative compilation of historical information about Kāmarūpa gleaned from epigraphic and textual records and some archeological evidences. Nonetheless, barring a few, the history writings on Kāmarūpa have been limited to a dynastic history emphasizing a unilineal political continuity of Assam. The divergent perspectives could scarcely address fundamental problems of the colonial historical paradigm. Either a number of controversial issues remained unsolved or they were conveniently erased from the dominant history writings on Kāmarūpa. This article presents a critical review of historiography of Kāmarūpa in the colonial and post-colonial period of Assam.

The chronicles of the Ahom Kingdom and the Rajvamsavali of the Koch do not contain much direct information on the economic condition of Assam. However, they bear indications as to the condition of the people and their status vis-a vis the state and the land settlement system. These help us to draw certain conclusions about the prevailing economic condition of the different strata of the inhabitants. In this respect the inscriptions of the period serve as invaluable source for information on the economic history of Assam more particularly that of Kamrup. Despite the fact that most of the inscriptions are primarily donation documents, they also record contemporary information relating to agriculture and agricultural products, land divisions, unit and lineal measurement of land, units of weight and measurement, land disputes, land revenue, medium of exchange, various taxes and ownership of land. The chronicles of the Ahom Kingdom and the Rajvamsavali of the Koch do not contain much direct information on the economic condition of Assam. However, they bear indications as to the condition of the people and their status vis-à-vis the state and the land settlement system. These help us to draw certain conclusions about the prevailing economic condition of the different strata of the inhabitants 1 . In this respect the inscriptions of the period serve as invaluable source for information on the economic history of Assam more particularly that of Kamrup. In many literature, Assam was also referred to as Kamrup. Despite the fact that most of the inscriptions are primarily donation documents, they also record contemporary information relating to agriculture and agricultural products, land divisions, unit and lineal measurement of land, price of commodities, units of weight and measurement, land disputes, land revenue, medium of exchange, various taxes and ownership of land. 2 Agriculture: As elsewhere agriculture was the mainstay of the people of Assam. Both in the plains as well as in the hills, rice constituted the staple food in Assam. The Assamese people high and low from the humble peasant to the members of the royal blood were engaged in agricultural pursuits. Hardly was there a family that was not engaged in the culture of land. Even the artisans and craftsmen carried on agriculture in addition to their time-honoured pursuits. 3 The people of Assam were primarily dependent on agriculture for their sustenance. 4 That agriculture was basic to the whole economy in the medieval time is evident from the varieties of crops raised and from the names of different categories of land under paddy cultivation. 5 In Kamrup, Ahom kings granted numerous lands to different sections of people for cultivation. 6 Land grants record

Economic and Political Weekly https://www.epw.in/journal/2023/45-46, 2023

History, by nature, is the description of an event happened in the past. In this phenomenon there includes all the good and evil deeds done by people. The portrayal of the historical event also depends upon the historian. The most important task for a historian is to depict the event in a clearer, truer and a logical way. The sole aim of the author is to illustrate how an outsider is very much successful in the depictions of others' history. Though Sir Edward Gait was by birth a colonialist, he understood the social, political and economical conditions of Assam. He was the counterpart of Assamese historians like Gunabhiram Borua (Assam Buranji), Kanaklal Borua (Studies in the early history of Assam). In his masterpiece A History of Assam he very beautifully revealed from the prehistoric era to the British rule. Thus to project his interest of writing A History of Assam is prime concern in this paper.

IAEME PUBLICATION, 2020

The Ahom dynasty, who ruled in medieval Assam, has brought tremendous changes to the socio- economic and cultural scenario of Assam. In the economic aspect the Ahom introduced several new mechanisms in Assam which brought certain novelties to the agricultural sector that led to the surplus production and thus enriched the state economy. Along with the cultivation of various crops, different crafts and industries were promoted by the Ahom rulers. Hence, this paper tries to make an attempt to reflect the economic aspects of the Ahom rule in Assam with a special reference to the role of the paik system in the economy

This paper carries out a critical review of the trends of historical writings in Assam. The historiographical study reveals that the beginning of the historical phase was, in fact, late in the North East region. Moreover, in many of these historical writings, the importance of the local histories of the communities of the region was ignored. The author highlights the fact that a pan-Indian history for the region may not be authentic enough to understand the cultural dynamics of the complex society of the Northeast. The author also focuses on corroborating ‘proper’ historical source material for reconstructing the history of the region rather than deriving inferences from mythology and legends. However, the importance of recent trends in historiography such as selective utilisation of oral traditions, folklores and memory studies has been emphasised. An alternative and more precise periodisation of the historical phase has been provided which does not, however, project any clear marker between periods and eras but emphasises on slow and steady transformations. Importance of archaeological sources and material evidence has been kept in mind while deriving periodical divisions. Relooking at the history of the Koches, Kacharis has been emphasised. Key words: Historiography, Kamarupa, Ahom, Kachari, Archaeology, Periodisation, Chronology

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 65, pp.583–617, 2022

To show how a frontier power of pre-modern South Asia defined its history and identity in different ways in changing political contexts, this article presents an analysis of the unusual asura lineage of three lesser-known dynasties between the seventh and twelfth centuries in succession: the Varmans, the Mlecchas and the Pālas, who sequentially all ruled Kāmarūpa, a historical region located in the present state of Assam. Examination of three distinct phases of genealogical claims enables us to understand the ways in which the peripheral rulers negotiated with dominant supra-regional discourses, challenged political tradition of their predecessors, and carved out their own space in a new world of regional sovereignty.