History Of Assam

Introduction

Assam is situated in the extreme north-eastern frontier of India, in between 280 and 240 North latitudes and 890 86’ and 960 East longitudes and borders on the hills states of Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya in the vicinity of China and Tibet on the north, of Myanmar on the east and the south and of Bangladesh on the west. In medieval times , it covered the region from Sadiya in the east to the river Manah in present Kamrup district in the west on both banks of the Brahmaputra, excluding the surrounding hill tracts.

Assam is broadly divided into two valleys – Brahmaputra valley and the Surma or Barak Valley. The Brahmaputra valley is an alluvial plain. This seminar paper deals with

The first and the most classical work on the history of Assam, “A History of Assam”, published in 1905. It deals with the pre-Ahom history, Assam under the Ahoms , and on other kingdoms in the hill areas on the border of Assam, and the history of Assam from the Burmese conquest to British rule. He pointed out that the Ahom unified the Brahmaputra valley under one single administration, a situation never before achieved. The Ahom also were successful in defending their country against the

One volume completely deals with the Ahom history. By the use of Vaishnava literature,carit puthis he reflects the rich socio-cultural as well as the economic history of the period .

Amalendu Guha’s Medieval and Early Colonial Assam, Society, Polity Economy, 1991. Guha in his work pointed out the feudal character of Ahoms and the impact of Tai-Ahom migration upon the economy of Assam

This seminar paper is divided into three chapters along with the conclusion. In the first chapter, “Ahoms and their Agricutural production”, deals with the changes in the land system of Assam under the Ahoms, agriculture, revenue administration and agricultural products and their trade.The second chapter, “Creation of Peasantry”,here how the peasants were organized into paik system. The paik constituting the masses of the population formed the backbone of all productive activities of the society. The very character of the peasant and role in the economy and administration will be discussed. While in the third chapter, “Bhakti Movement and the Economy”, here how Vaishnavism movement started by Sankardeva engulfed the Assamese population into a community and how his disciples carried out the movement throughout Assam. Apart from this, land grants made by the Ahom kings to the satras and economic activities in it will also