Tai Ahom International

The form of Government amongst the Ahoms was somewhat peculiar. The king was at the head of the administration, but he was assisted by other three great councillors of State, called Gohains. The latter had the provinces assigned to them, in which they exercised  most of the independent rights of sovereignty, but, so far as the general administration of the State and its relations with other powers were concerned their functions were merely advisory. They had in this respect, no independent authority, but in theory the king was bound to consult them on all important matters, and was not permitted to issue any general orders, embark on war, or engage in negotiations with other states untill he had done so. Neither was he considered to have been legally enthroned unless they had concurred in procliaming him as king. The extent to which these rules of the constitution were observed varied with the personal influence and character of the kings; on the one side, and of the great nobles, on the other. Some kings, such as Pratap Singh, Gadadhar Singh and Rudra Singh appear to have followed their own wishes without much regard for the opinins of their nobles, while other like Sudaipha, Lara Raja, kamalesvar Singh, were mere puppets in the hands of one or other of the great ministers of the state. It has been said that the Gohains had the right to depose a monarch of proved incapacity, but this is doubtful; and although there are several cases, such as those of SUrampha and Sutyinpha, where the Gohains took common action to eject unpopular rulers, there are more where their dethronement or assasination was the work of a single Gohain or other noble, acting independently, and lemaking no pretence to legality. The probability is all such acts were equally unconstitutional.

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