ORIGIN OF THE AHOMS
Early in the 13th century a band of hardy hill men wandered into the eastern extremity of the Brahmaputra valley, led by chance rather than by any deep-seated design and quite unconscious of the fact that their descendants were destined to bring the whole valley under their rule and to set a limit to the eastward extension of the empire of the Mughal conquerors of India. These were the progenitors of the Ahoms.*
They were an offchoot of the great Tai or Shan race, which spreads eastwards, from the border of Assam over nearly the whole of Further India, and far into the interior of China. The Special section to which they belonged, or the Shans proper, occupied the nothern and eastern hills of Upper Burma and Western Yunnan, where they formed a group of states for which, there is no collective name(according to Ney Elias). The paramount kingdom, the home of the Mau branch of the tribe, was known to themselves as Mungmau, and as Pong to the Manipuris; and the later term has been taken by some to denote the entire country or collection of states.
The Ahoms had the historic sense very fully developed, and many of the priests and nobles maintained Buranjis, or chronicles, which were written up from time, and which contain a careful, reliable and continuous narrative of their rule. The following history of the Ahoms has been compiled in the main from the Buranjis which still survive.
The story of the creation as told in Ahom traditions is crude and fantastic, but a brief outline of it may not be altogether devoid of interest.*
THE AHOM LEGEND OF THE CREATION
In the beginning, it is said, there were neither gods nor men, animals nor any living thing. There was no earth, no air, no sun, no moon, no stars, but water only. There was Supreme Being called Pha, from whom a great light emanated, but he had no corporeal existence and remained suspended in the sky, “like a swarm of bees in a hive.” He first assumed shape himself, and then created from his own body a being named “KHUNTHIWKHAM”, whose appearance was that of a huge crab and who lay floating in the water with his face upwards. A tortoise was next created and a large serpent with eight hoods, also a large white elephant with long tusks. A mountain was made in the north, and a pillar to which a rope was affixed, was placed on the top of it. Then two large gold-tinted spiders were brought into existence, and from their excrement the earth gradually formed above the waters. They made the heavens with their web, passin quickly backwards and forwards like a woman working her loom. In due course Pha created a female counterpart of himslef, who laid four eggs, from which were hatched after many years, four sons. Three of them were appointed to rule the earth, the serpent and the thunder, respectively, while the fourth remained to assist his father in the subsequent acts of creation. The eldest son, the lord of the earth, contravened his father’s orders, and although he did so inadvertently, he had to suffer death, and became a spirit. His son, who succeeded him as ruler of the earth, died in his turn, and became a houshold deity who looks after the welfare of families. Another spirit, whose origin is not explained, took up his abode in a pipal tree. Seeing that the world was not going on properly, God created a poet.
KHUNLUNG and KHUNLAI
Khunlung and Khunlai descended from heaven with their following by an iron(or golden) chain in the year 568 A.D. and alighted in the country of Mungrimungram, where the Tisa or Shans dwelt without a king. On arrival, it was found that, in the hurry of departure, the cocks and other gifts had been left behind. One Lango went back to fetch them, and was given as his reward the kingdom of China and also the magic Hengdang. Khunlung and Khunlai built a town in Mungrimungram. The latter by a strategem ousted his elder brother, who thereupon, taking the Somdeo with him, went further west, and founded a new kingdom in Mungkhumungjao.* He ruled for 40 years and then returned to heaven, leaving 7 sons. The youngest, Khunchu, succeeded him, the others having been installed during his lifetime as tributary kings of other countries. The eldest son, whose kingdom was called Mungkang, inherited the Somdeo. Another son, it is said, was made king of Ava. In this connection, it is noteworthy that the Burmese rulers always called the Ahom princes their “brother kings.” Mung means “country” and Kang means “drum” or “prison,” so that Mungkang may be translated either as the “country of the drum” or the “land of prisone”. Apparently the former is the correct translation, as Ney Elias quotes a tradition that Samlungpha found sapphire drum in the bed of the local river.
The usurper Khunlai ruled in Mungrimungram for 70 years, and his son Tyaoaijeptyatpha for 40 years. The latter is said to have founded the Aijepi era, which is still current amongst the Naras and Burmese. He died childless, whereupon Tyaokhunjam, of the line of Khunlung and Khunchu, sent one of his son to fill the vacant throne. This prince ruled for 25 years. On his death, his kingdom was divided, one son taking Mungrimungram and the other Maulung on the Shueli river. The latter and his descendants ruled for 333 years. When the line became extinct, another of Khunchu’s descendants was elected king. One of his grandsons was SUKAPHA, the founder of the Ahom kingdom in Assam; he had a dispute with one of his brothers, in consequence of which he left the country and, after stealing the Somdeo from the Raja of Mungkang, fled towards Assam.
Loading ...
April 29th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
best article for me.