Introduction :
History and histories have always played a very significant role in society since a very long time be it in
the Greek Classical Age or the contemporary Society. The Historian has to be “objective “ while looking,
interpreting and presenting the facts . History is almost never free from the bias of the historian. Taking
this in mind, one while studying the colonial history of India should always keep in mind the biases that
exists.1 This same bias exists in while one ventures into the study of North East India. The colonial
records are the most relied source of information about the tribal area of the north east as these records
were written from their official tours and visits. They referred to the tribes of northeast India as
primitive, barbarous, savage, wild-men, head-hunting, opium-eating, etc. and as those who lived as
‘cultural isolates in terra- incognita’, who were not civilized as the colonial writers came from very
developed lands of Europe.2
When questions of if history writing existed in India during the pre colonial period, the answers carried
over from the British colonial period would be a no. For the question of the existence o traditions of
history writing in eastern India is answered positively by the presence of a distinctly north-eastern genre
called the buranji. The buranji chronicles began to be recorded from the thirteenth century in the Tai-
Ahom language as the history of Ahom rulers who came from Yunnan and Upper Burma.
To counter the colonial bias, it is important to refer to vermicular literature like the buranjis of the Ahom
that provide an unbiased opinion about North East India as they were composed before the colonial
power entered into the north East. Vernacular literature plays a key role in the reconstruction of the
history of northeast India . The Buranjis, like the Tungkhungia Buranji gives us a vivid description of the
time they were written . 3
The Buranji Tradition :
The Ahoms, who had established their rule in the Brahmaputra Valley during the medieval period, ruled
for a period of 600 years from 1228 A.D to 1826 A.D. They had a very strong historical sense and
introduced historiography in Assam. They took the task of writing history from the year 1228 AD
onwards and this resulted in the writing of a number of Buranjis during the Ahom dynasty. The tradition
of historiography in medieval North East India started when Sukapha, the founder of the Ahom dynasty
had directed two of his ministers – Burhagohain and Bargohain to write down all the happenings of the
kingdom without any bias ; they were directed to write all the things that happened in the kingdom be it
good or bad be it a lost or gain.
Quoting S.K Bhuyan in his History of Assam 1681-1826AD (Tungkhungia Buranji ), “the Buranjis were to
the Assamese what the Bakhars were to the Maratthas, the Twarikhis to the Monguls and the Persians,
the Yazawins or Rajawins to the Burmese and the P’ongsawadans to the Siamese.”4 That is, the Buranjis
1
Manorama Sharma, History and history Writing in North East India (Second Revised Edition), Regency
Publications, New Delhi,2006, pp 34-36
2
Cited in Amrendre Kumar Thakur, THE VERNACULAR TEXT AND ‘OBJECTIVE’ HISTORY WRITING IN NORTHEAST
INDIA in Lanukumla Ao (ed), Historical Development in Northeast India : Trends and perspectiv, Research India
Press, New Delhi,2021,p27
3
PARTHA CHATTERJEE, Introduction History in the Vernacular, in Raziuddin Aquil & Partha Chatterjee(eds), History
in the Vernacular, Permanent Black, Ranikhet,2012,pp5-
4
S.K Bhuyan ,introduction in History of Assam 1681-1826AD (Tungkhungia Buranji), D.K.F Trust, Delhi, 1993 p.
were historical narratives written in the vernacular language of that time which is Ahom language. The
Ahom rulers maintained regular historical narratives or chronicles of their rule even up to their
termination.
The term Buranji comes from the Ahom language and its meaning is rendered as bu means ignorant
(person), ran means to teach and ji means a storehouse. Padma Goahin Baruah was the first to givd
meaning to the Buranji it stating that it translated to storehouse imparting knowledge to the ignorant or
a storehouse of (knowledge) that teaches the ignorant person. The same meaning is also given by
Goalap Chandra Baruah. 5
The Buranjis are a treasure trove of information regarding not only the Ahom kingdom about also about
their neighboring areas and their people. They provide information about the various aspects of the
Ahom rule in Assam . No two Buranjis are the same as the Buranjis were official document which were
written in a chronological order by different scribes appointed by the different rulers of the Ahom
Kingdom.6 They were also compiled by private scholars with the help of other existing materials and
chronicles collected by them. The Buranjis were originally written in Tai-Ahom language till the end of
the 16th century and from where onwards it was written in Assamese as the Ahom kings had adopted
Assamese as their own language after their conversion to Hinduism. The earlier Ahom Buranji written in
the Tai Ahom language is of the utmost importance among the Buranjis as they contain a complete
account of the Ahom rule in Assam.
The Ahom rulers had maintained a vast treasure of literary sources including the Buranjis. Quoting Surya
Kumar Bhuyan, who says “One would be justified in saying,’ Give me the Buranjis of Assam, and I will say,
what the People are’ ”. The Buranjis are our strongest ties to connect us to the past and maintain
solidarity of the Assamese people. The Ahom conquerors and their Assamese compatriots maintained a
rigorous system of writing about every 7
These Buranjis apart from talking about the Ahom rulers and their rule, it also deals with the foreign
relations with the neighboring states and the hill tribes and throws light on the Ahom-Mughal conflict.
There are also different kinds of Buranji. The Kataki Buranji contains different reports and records. The
Datiyalia Buranji gives us information regarding the different neighbors of the Ahom Kingdom. The
Kachari Buranji, the Jaintia Buranji and the Tripura Buranji belong to the Datiyala Buranji and gives an
account of the political relationship of the Ahom rulers with the Kachari, Jaintiya and Tripura
respectively.
The Padsha Buranji is a very important source which is also an account of the Delhi Sultanate and the
Mughal Emperors . It was compiled in the 17th century when the Mughal invasions of Assam were very
frequent, with the aim that the knowledge of the history and tradition's, customs and methods of the
invaders would enable the people to organize effective resistance.
Each Buranji contains an account of the different rules and their reign. The Tungkhungia Buranji contains
the history of the Tungkhungias which as the last dynasty of the Ahom king. The Tungkhungia Buranji
5
Phukan, J. N. "Buranji as source of history of Assam." Indian Journal of Tai Studies, IV (2004),p.3
6
Manorama Sharma, History and history Writing in North East India (Second Revised Edition), Regency
Publications, New Delhi,2006, pp 80-81
7
Cited in S.K Bhuyan , Studies in the History of Assam, Srimati Laksheswari Bhuyan, Guwahati, first edition 1965,
p.229
describes in great detail the happenings starting from the reign of Gadadhar Singha to Chandrakanta
Singha. 8
THE TUNGKHUNGIA BURANJI
The Tungkhungia Buranji is one of the numerous Assamese chronicles or Buranjis that were written and
preserved in the olden times. It is a chronicle of the Tungkhungias, the last dynasty of the Ahom kings
and it was written by Srinath Barbarua. The Tungkhungia Buranji contains the final phase of the Ahom-
Mughal conflict, detailed account of the Moamariya insurrections, working of the administrative
machinery and relations with neighboring States and frontier tribes. The buranji is also an eye witness or
participant of many of the events of the period, the Tungkhungia Buranji has its unique importance as
contemporary source of a significant period of the Ahom rule in Assam. 9
King Siva Simha (1714-44) directed the chronicler that ‘histories of his predecessors should be compiled,
that succession of Ahom monarch mentioned in detail (and) that history should only contain the names
and transactions of the Swargadeos. ‘ Compiled under the direction of the king , the chroniclers
invariably narrated events and made no comments of their own nor could they record facts that would
make their kings angry. In fact, "A convention grew up according to which it was a taboo to compile
Buranjis of a dynasty which was still in power."10 Though this convention had grown, the buranji still
continued to be written. The Tungkhungia buranji gives us information not only about the ruling
monarchs but also about the relationship of the Ahoms with their neighbors.
A clear note on the relationship of the different Ahom rulers with the Jaintia Kingdom is mentioned in
the Tungkhungia Buranji. The Ahom rulers initially had a very relationship- one of commerce and trade.
This peaceful relationship lasted till 1695 where things started to change. To understand this
relationship, we must also try to understand a short history of the Dimarau King. The Kacharis and the
Jaintias always had a clash between them and it was not a simple one as it included the murder of the
Jaintias by the Kacharis and the capture of Dimarau by the Jaintia for not paying the land revenue. When
they failed to make the Jaintias release Dimarau, they came and conquered the kingdom. The new
Jaintiya ruler came to power and formed an alliance with the Ahom which lasted till 1695.
During the rule of Rudra Singha, relationships became strained between the Ahoms and the Jaintiya
Kingdom. Jai Singh, the Kachari ruler sent an ambassador and diplomatic letters asking the ‘Heavenly
King’ to restore their old territories which had extended up to Mahang. This was seens as an insult by
the Ahom ruler Rudra Singha, who responded saying, How does the Servile Kachari venture to make such
a proposal” The letter was torn into pieces and an army was sent to invade the Kacharis, which ich ended
up being successful 11. 12 The Kachari king ran towards Kaspur and send a message to the Jaintia ruler.
G.A Gaits says that the Kachari king was imprisoned by the Jaintiya king but the Tungkhungia buranji
8
CH Niranjan Pathak and Guptajit Pathak , History and Historiography of Assam, Lakshi Publisher’s and
Distributors, New Delhi, 2013. Pp.-111-114
9
H.K Bharbujari, The Comprehensive History of Assam, Volume Two Medieval period : Political From Thirteen
Century A.D, to the Treaty of Yandabo, 1826, Publication Board Assam Guwahati, December 2003,pp. 1-7
10
Ibid,p.3
11
S.K Bhuyan ,History of Assam 1681-1826AD (Tungkhungia Buranji), D.K.F Trust, Delhi, 1993 pp, 34-36
makes no mention of this rather when Rurda Singha asked them to hand over the Kachari ruler, the
Jaintiya king responded that a refugee should not be betrayed.
Two years after the death of Barbarua, Jaintiapur was occupied. The new Raja agreed to the annual
tribute to the Swagardeo. As a result of this Jaintia became a tributary of the Ahom state. After the
commercial contact was restarted, Barkonwar refused to pay the annual tribute, thus breaking his
promise. The Buranji is a witness to this and observes that as the ruler had failed to pay the tribute, the
Jainitia ruler was imprisoned for fourteen years and was released during the reign of Siv Singha. The
Buranji also mentions ambassador of the Jaintia who came bearing gifts to Siv Singha. This was the last
political upheaval between the tow neighboring areas.
The Tungkhungia Buranji helps to demystify this colonial buas. An example can be taken from the things
written about the Singpo tribes of Arunachal Pradesh .The colonial writers and the writers of the
independent India those who heavily depended upon the records and the writings of the colonial
masters created much distortions in the historiography of the hill tribes. The records of the British period
and consequent continuity in the historiography of Arunachal Pradesh created by the Indian scholars
states how “….the Singphos, had taken advantage of the weakness of the Assam Government, and
carried their ravages beyond the capital Rungpore, laying waste the whole country as far as Jorhaut, and
carrying off the inhabitants into slavery…..” but the Tungkhungia Buranji has not indicated the atrocities
and thus, the harsh punitive measures against the Singphos and others were not justifiable.13
Conclusion :
The Buranjis had also become an important sources for historians to write about Assam. Though the
biases exist in the works of the colonial writers, they too turned to the vernacular literature as a source.
The history writing in English in Assam had begun with the coming out of Edward Gait’s History of Assam
in the early twentieth century , to compile which he made use of vernacular literature like the Buranji
which was already considered as an ‘authentic’ representation of the past. Initially Git relied on coins
and inscriptions which were authentic sources for Gait in trying to locate the political lineage of Assam.
Another important source was the Buranji to which Gait attributed great value and preferred to use the
dates given because they were ‘original documents’.
The Buranjis have till today are regarded as authentic source of the history of the Ahoms as well as of
Assam. Many historians who write on the history of Assam draw from the Buranjis. Hali- ram Dhekial
Phukan, whose work encompasses both past and present , drew profusely from the Buranji tradition of
the present as well as of that of the Ahom period.14
13
Cited in Amrendre Kumar Thakur, THE VERNACULAR TEXT AND ‘OBJECTIVE’ HISTORY WRITING IN NORTHEAST
INDIA in Lanukumla Ao (ed), Historical Development in Northeast India : Trends and perspectiv, Research India
Press, New Delhi,2021,pp.25-26
14
ARUPJYOTI SAIKIA, Gait' s Way Writing History in Early-Twentieth-Century Assam, in Raziuddin Aquil & Partha
Chatterjee(eds), History in the Vernacular, Permanent Black, Ranikhet,2012,pp165-167
