6?

THE fPTOHT OP THE BRITISH^ DI3IMEGM1PI0N

OF THE OLD ORDER

The year 1826 stands out as a landmark In the h i s to ­

r i ca l development of Assam. This year marks the beginning

of British occupation of Assam, * and the advent of the Bri­

t ish b r o u ^ t a sea change into the entire Sooio«*economic

foz^aations of Assamese society. The introduction of British

administrative and economic policies not only made Assam a

part of the Colonial econotay, but more important, i t to ta l ly

uprooted the existing social formations and gave bir th to

ne« soeio-econo^c forces vhich were to have a las t ing impact

1. For the purpose of our study in this uortc Assam i j i l l be taken to mean Assam proper, i . e . the d i s t r i c t s of the Brahmaputra Valley %;hich are, Kamrup, Darrang, Wowgong, Sibisagar and Lakhimpur* Goalpara wi l l not be included because that d i s t r i c t voa a Z^indar i area and hence the socio-economic developments there ^jere someuhat different. Besides, "the Ahom Kingdom of Assam roughly correspcmds to the rive present d i s t r i c t s of the Brahmaputra Valley division - Kamrup- Darrange, Norsgong, SBLbsagar, Lakhimpxir and portions of the Sadiya frontier t ract"* (S,K, Bhuyan, ^l<i7M^m^^^ P^^aton§ 1771-l826t Gauhatii197^, p . l ) .

2, For the deta i ls of Brit ish occupa^on of Assam, see amongst otijers, H.K. Barpujari ( ed . ) , £a3i4icd.3ii i2£S: of Assapy 1826-1919j Vol^l. (Oaubatij 1977); 3.K. Bhuyan ^P?.ffir43a^^gfi H§?-fl14gtll9 1771-1gg^» OEisSl^^i A. C, Banerjee, .Tfae Bgs.f yn ;^9nt;i,Qy oT^fel^tA^h pi^^ Calcutta, ^9&*}iw

66

on the procesaea of development of Assamese society. The

Imposition of British rijle In other parts of India stopped

short the normal process of development of the Bidlan bom*-

geolsle ^hlch bad beg\an to emerge from the merchant capital

of the earlier decades, and that changed the character of

the nascent Hidlan bourgeoisie.^ Bit the tragedy of Assam

vas that the 3iq)er-imiK>sltion of British Rule brought a

semi-tribal, semi^feudal econoa?y within the folds of the

World capitalist order* This process had some happy and

progressive consequences but by and large, the pulling of a

backward economy through almost tyio stages of economic deve­

lopment had the most unfortunate consequences fof the

Assamese econosjy affecting various classes of people in the

Society,^ The realignment of forces t*at took place resulted

in the total dialntegratlon of the old order of the pre-

oolonlal Assamese socie^*

In the six centuries before the coming of the British

.Ml o o Tlstnt po^errlin Assam was that of the Ahom kings who

3* For details discussion on the character of the !todlan

hm The character of t*e Assamese economy vlll be dealt with at length in the course of the next few pages,

5. These consequasces and fallouts will be exhaustively studied in the next three chapters of tJils wottc.

67

had entered Asaara and eatabllafeed their rule In the early

thirteenth century. The Ahom, ".••an offshoot of the ^ 1 ^

or the great Shan stock of South Bast Asia,..**" "were only

abo\at a few thoiisand In niiaher when ttiey first altered

Assam from the east through the Patkai mountains, and so

they had perforce to adopt aany of the customs and practices

of the people with whome they came into contact and also to

Intermarry with the local people of the region In order to

Increase their own numhejss,' Otherwise, the Ahomj Interfered

very little with the tribes like Morons and Borahls in the

beginning, because these tribes carried on a dry cultiva­

tion whereas the Ahoms were wet rice cultivators. Since the

tribal lands were only suited for diy cultivation, the Ahoms

left their lands alone and carried on their own ,3a).i or wet a

rice cultivation. Through collective effort, the Ahoms

reclaimed marshes and made th^i suitable for wet rice etilti-

vatlon. All such lands which were Jointly reclaimed became

community lands and were to be distributed amongst the varlotis

families*^ This communal ownership of land was thus the basis

6. H.K. Barpujarl (ed^), fQUPlVi^.P^^PPXr Qt ^^m ^ol* I» QP,»(Bit. « P«2.

7. see a.K, Bhuyan (ed, & translated)

Assam'', ^!mm,.^muM^.mAMQ%PXM^ii9in. ^mmt VOLUX. Ho.3, September 1966.

9. See also

68

of the entire Ahom State, and althoiigh In the slzteenth

and seventeenth centuries «ltii the further development of

the Ahom monarchy in Assam there were some changes and

oodiflcations, the basic structure, vhich ^as prloarily

tribal in nature, remained unchanged. From the thirteeith

to the fifteenth centuries the Ahom State vas "quasi*

feudalistic"'** with many agricultural villages at the base,

and nobles and officers appointed by the king, administer­

ing the units of administration comprising a number of

village settlements. There were no market of anjsr sort worth

the name and tAiere vaa a total absence of minted money,

"The earliest Ahom coins bear a date equivalent to A,D. 15^3 and vere struck by Suklenmung Oargaya Ha^a In the fourth year of his reign. More than a century elapsed before any of his successors followed his esai3ple,.,»"11

It Is worthy to note tijat even when coins began to be minted

more regularly, coins of lower deonominatioo which could be

used by the common people were almost absent from cireula-

tXort* There was no copper coinage in the Ahom period and

^^tchange of products was mainly effected through the sys-

tem of bartering.** The &hora econouQr was a very simple one

10. This term has been used by A.Guha in "Tribalism to Peullallsm in Assam": 1600»1750", The Indian Historical Review, Vol* I, Ho.V. March 197*f. The term can also be used to mean semiwtribal.

11. E. Gait, 4 matory of Assam (Calcutta, 1963), p. 276. 12. IbJ^., P. 2777

69

vlth land coozmanally o^ned and barter as the chief means

of exchange. Shlabuddln Tallsh, a vriter vho had accompa­

nied Mir JXimla to Assam, had reported that buying and

selling of food In the market place vas not the practice in

Assam, The people stored a year's supply of food in their

houses and so there was no need of bujrlng or selling any

eatables • ^ Even at the height of Ahom rule In Assam in

the seventeent*! and the first half of the ei^teenth centu­

ry the basic conditions remained, the sase. Although at the

political level a certain number of feudal characteristics

had developed, but these characteristics could not sustain

themselves because development of economic feudalism was

veiy difficult under the conditions vhich prevailed in

Assam during Ahom Hule.

The first major difficulty in the growth of feudal­

ism in Assam lay in the Ahom administrative syst^n, known

^ ^ 6 Pftjk (an adult male citizen) system under which prl*

vatisation of land was not possible and hence a great hin­

drance to the acquisition of private property. The essence

of the paik systoa was that there would be no hereditary

posession of et rice lands, except in a vQry few exceptional

cases. The g^esis of the palk system lay in the fact that

• ii'i'i • ! ! i w — — » III mMmmmi^» ''iii n • i lui mmmmtmmmmmmmmmimmmmmm

13* Paraphrased from Sfeiabuddln Talish as quoted l^ E, Gait, Sjia», p* 153.

70

in a sparsely populated and land abimdant area like

Aaaaa,^ vhere the density of popiilaticaj during the Ahoa

Rule (till the late elghteentti century «hen civil ar

broke out) vas only about 83 persons per square ndl©,^

and ^here the Joint effort of the communily was needed

for reclamation of vet rice lands, the best use had to

be made of the population and the land so tJiat neither cul-16

tivation nor royal service suffered*'" ThQ entire adult

male population, called pajUcSy in the 1?».6o age group vere

organised into gots or units of four and then into larger

functional units or l fils.. Each paik was given three puras

of vet rice land free of tax, but in lieu of tax each naik

had to serve the State for three monttis in a year* So that

in rotation, one g^t completed within itself one year of ^h^ The population of Assam vas about 2^ lacs at the time

of Ra^eswar sangha (Refer R.B» Pemborton, RopoFjb on "'" Judia (Gauhatij 1966)

Las

^rote vould not exceed 300,00*»«" S»K, Bhuyan, Ang^ ^3§P^?g.i Mu^^Pnf ,177ilTlg^^» a£USAi»» P^l* vrote that "The population of the K igdom before the commencement of the I^maria Revolt in 1769-1770 i-?as estimated by Gunabhiram Barooah to be about ^ milli<m,**

15* Tbls has been calculated from the extent of the Ahom Kingdom as ^ven by W. Robinson, ADeacrintive Account of Assam. 18^1, as 500 x cO miles a 3OGOO sq. miles and •ttie population as cited by S.K^^uyan, Anglo Aaaamea^

164 For deta i l s of SS^ system see, S.K. Bhuyan, Tungkhungia ^a??an.1i op.cit, . , pp. XOTIII-XXX; 3,K. Bhuyan. ^jglo

'AsaQBIg^iQ.ito^^ffin^ fil2*£jLt,, pp.10-12} E. Gait, A.,Hi^i^O' a f . ^ 2 p a E f t S l $ . t pp. 2^7-^0; B, Borborua, ^ tomc 2 ia (Gauhati, 1981), pp. 123-12^^; H,K. Barua Sadr Amin, Asom SasmSl (S.K. Bhuyan, ed . ) , Gauhati I962), pp.120-12Bl

71

manual service to the State* From this organisation the

&hom aristocracy and a section of the Ahota officials vere

excliided; this small talnorlty OTJoyed the manual service

of the pqtllca as payment for their service to the State,

There were «iree categories of pfil|t3 • the r l naite^ gave

their manual service to the State for the wet rice land

they enjoyed; the phjaiayta p^iP^ belonged to the artisan or

professional kheXa and they paid their state dues In kind

(like manufactured goods etc*) Instead of manual service;

the a^pa^kayi chpiauaa were those who had paid conanutatlon

money and «ere thus freed from all service (manual or pro­

fessional) to the State, Into this last group belonged the

top aristocracy of the land,*' The wet rice lands ^hieh

were given to the palks were not hereditary and "were redls« 18

trlhuted at the death of a naik.' This was roughly the

system which prevailed in the Ahom Kingdom till e British

occupation of Assam, The system was given a !J«)re organised

form during the reign of King Pratap aingha during the first

decades of the Seventeenth Century, ^ that time it can be

fairly well assessed, that Ahom Bule had become stable, as

well as well«established and was expanding*. The need was

17, Refer also amongst other works mentioned for deta i ls of paik system A, Guha, "Land Rights and Social Classes in Medle^^ Assam**, ftp^cj^,

18, See E, Gait, A„,H^3^yy. 9t ^^M^ Si£U£M^» P* 251^.

72

therefore felt to sake the hold of the caonarchy stronger

over the admmiatratlon and the populace. A high official

of the king, the Barbarua,'° who was usually in charge of

the judiciary, advised the King Pratap Singha (1603-16V1)

that the najjcs and officei^ should be better organised so

that the State got better service and the people also did

not suffer. Accordingly, a census of the p^ks vas under*

taken and a gradation of officers ^QB created. Over twenty

pfi ka (or $ gots) a pp fi vas appointed vho vas himself a

paiky Over a hundred paiks a relatively vell«to»do p&±'^ 20

vas appointed .MMfl, and a ?^a ie^a ^aa appointed to

supervise a thousand piaiks. I t i s interest ing to note here

that the Bnyanjia have recorded that the officers l ike

nQVm* Mitelaa and Hgtg iK l g were not a l l £22iSasi« ^ e r e

were ^sml Hazar^kas and ggQxi i^ ; l .^a and these officers

had to serve the royal household or tdie higdbest <fihom a r i s to ­

crats • the Borgoh^tin, Bura Qohain and the Barpatra Qohain •

as the other pa ljca did.^^ I f the King so desired he could

19. The Barbarua as raenticmed in B, Barborua, iflfapmog £Ja» fi£«£|J., p. 83; S.K. Bhuyan, ff?^QrA.§^mQ3g ,.P,gX ;|a.aoa} QE*Sii.» p . 11; Harakanta Barua £fedr Axni^nrMmiMmiXf Qpf.pit.. p,VO; ^as Moiaai Tamuli Barbarua who was the f i r s t Barbarua.

20, According to H, Borbarua, /^mor ft^jp, ^fej^., a man who had sixteen paiks working for him t^as appointed a Saikia.

21* Refer H. Borborua, Ahomor Din. fi)idfS 3.K, Bhuyan, iml9T^^mff^± l ^ 4 ^ ^ W > SSiSiJU; 3.^^. Bhuyan, fflgKI ViBg'

. % Wj:, Baruah 3g' Ly Qp.^tTf HiK. Baruah 3adr Amln, Asbm

73

raise 3 K^^ Hasarlka to tbe rank of a Cppnm^L Hasarlka,

but this ^aa not done easily because creating too many

ejianmaa «ould reduce the nvmber of palks and that would

have affected s t a t e service, including the strength of the

mil i t ia .^^ fhe higher rank of officers above the Hazarlkas

and Slalklas consisted of the Boruas, Phukana and Bajkhovas,

and occupying the highest position were the ttiree OohaSns

maitloned ea r l i e r . All these officers were not paid in

cash but vere given revenue free lands and fanas and jkhatSy

with a Varying percentage of the pallida under them al lot ted

to them for personal services. Ftom this arrangement feudal­

ism in IfiBid could have develop^ If these of f icers ' posts

and the perlcs they enjoyed vere hereditary. The important

fact to note about the pre<-colonial se t up in Assam i s

that there was neither any h e r ^ i t a r y oimership of ^ot r ice

lands nor were the offices of the Ahom administration here­

di tary . The only posts i^hich were hereditary were those of

the three highest ministers Bora Gohain, Borgohain and

B^ppatra Qohaln, and these ttsree ministers were to be appoint

ted only from a few specified families*^^ The ot*er off ic ia l

posts including those of the two most important, the

22. See H.K. Barua Sadr Amin, Aaom Barap^l^^ aa*fiii»» P»128, 23. Befer 3.K, Bhuyen, A fflp^^ afiWgafi ^QlatolflS t.^o fiJkt*

pp. 8»10; E. Gait, ft J^?t^yT, P t Ass^ t fl^i^»f pp. 2hhm2k€),

1h

ferbarua and Barphulfem vere not hereditaryt Further, I t vaa

a rule tha t the Barphukan and the Barbarua eoiild not be

selected from *' , . , the families from which the three great

Gohains ii^ere respectively recrui ted.••• The object of this

exclusion seeiBS to have been to prevent the accumulation of

too much pover in the hands of a single family.*' The three

Gohains each had 10,000 paiks a l lo t ted to them and Uieso

paiks were almost l ike the personal retinue of the Gohains

because they vjore ex^pted from a l l othey service to the

State except for serving the Qohain and going out to tjar

only t hen ^ e Gohains ^ere called upon \f^ the King to do so. ^

These g^ks worked on th© private agricultural lands of the

Gohains and they also supplied a l l other goods required by

these chiefs. In fact , the Gohains were almost independent

within the jur isdict ion of the t e r r i t o r i e s a l lo t ted to them,

and the 10,000 paiks were organised lander Boras, Saikias,

Bazarikas, Baruas and Phukans as in the res t of the State,

the only difference being that the pjaiJk and the officers

were amenable to the Gohains instead of the sonarch. Had

aooifiDUlation of wealth taken place in the hands of the

aristocracy and had a major share of the to ta l landed property

2U. E« Gait, A,H^^yy,9f.j^gggs^, 2M^.» P» £^* 25. See B, Borborua, Ahogor Din, op.c^t.j p.529? E. Gait,

A History of A3sam> Ibid>^ T).21»?^ H.K. Barua Sadr Amin, i^m ^9^m^^ p» i 8»

75

under them been ocaitrolled by them, a change in the entire

revenue syatem could have taken place and there aa a

possibility of feudallam in land developing under these

bluest nobles. But even this possibility could not ornte-

rialiae because the production relations in the territo­

ries otmed t?y this section could not be different from the

production relations of the paik system that existed in

the rest of the state and t^e vox^dngs of the pal|c system

as V© have disottssed earlier did not allow privatization

of land*

A H ottier offices in the Ahoo State beginning from

the Barphukan and Barbarua down to a Bora vere however not

hereditary, and although each officer got a certain percent

of the paiks under his jurisdiction for his personal service,

these pai]^ yere attached to the office and not the officer*

The following table uill give an indication of the possibi­

lities of the growth in power and influence of the officers

if ^eir offices had been hereditary.

(For table see next page)

76

} Ibtal \ Percentage of J Actual immb r numbeF of ! paiks allotted \ of palks palks under j for personal | allotted for bis 4uri3- { service j personal

Office

Barbarua Barpbukan Hyaya Sodba Phulcang Pbukans Bajlcbovas

1»f,000 lU OOO

6,000 6,000 - UjOOO

3,000

%

7$

^

0 , ^ . 0,75^ 0.3^

980 980

120 30 10

ab^c^i Calculated from figures given in H, rborua,

op,cit,, pp. 5^-5^1, 2)5

From the above laiblo it ia evident that the officers

of the Aboa State had ccsisiderable aenount of pejrsonal influ-

mcB arfd control over the p^i?(^. Coaled vith this, each

officer vaa given cultivable rent ft^& lands and KhrLJbs for

their personal i^intenance, Yet there vas very little growth

of personal property in land because the Barbarua, Barphukans

and the other officers vere not hereditary officers and all

nalks and rent free lands vere part of the official perks,

The only lands which could be said to be privately owned

vere the hosjestead or Basti lands, the dry lands " reclaimed

26, Although H, Borbarua has not referred to any Bftyap^i in giving bis dates his figures are roughly eoroborated by B,K, Barua 3adr Aminj A^Q!^n%rMlAa>» 8£U£lJ^*i PP.1l8»123, who has given tiSdicationa and information about the kind of perks and the status enjoyed by the officers.

77

a t pi^vate in i t i a t ive . • • (and) held as private property, , ."?^

i3aQ estates ^jtiieh ^ere granted to tbe Qohalns and some

scions of the royal f^si ly, and l a t e r on ^ e land grants

«hich ^Qre made to t©spies, Brahmins and the Vaishnava

oonastrles or ,gs tgaa«

Any significant growth in the f i r s t t»o types of

private property, i , e , homesteads and dry lands depended

on the s ize of the family, because as mentioned ea r l i e r

Assam's land-man ra t io was low and the functioning of th©

JSS4^ s y s t ^ doaanded tha t one section of a family had to

he a^ay on s ta te service al^rays and so a surplus labour

force was almost non-existent, Also, these types of pro­

perty could not produce the ^ealt* which the r ice lands

could, and since '*the people supplied the Qove«iment and

the Chief families with everything required free of cost

. • • , , ^ markets also had not developed where goods other

than food crops could be bought and sold. As ^liabMdin

Wallah recorded, in 1662, tbe Ahom capital had only a single

narrow bazar road and " ^ e only traders who /*satJ7 in the

27, A, Cuba, ^Tribalism to Feudalists in Assamj iSOO-l??©**, pp. < it « P«69»

28, 3e© F. Buchanan Hamilton, A^,.^pcpuipt of Asaa^ (Gauhatii 1963) ^bo wrote, "Erreryman who has a faim must in g^ieral woric i t himself for labourers, as I have said, cannot be procured e i ther for a share of tbe crop or for money,,,,«. p,. 153,

29, S, Gait, A M; ^ 9yy. pf, ^9^^$ o p . c l t . , p,25V.

78

Xiazar /"were^ betel Ifeaf sellers\^° ®ven though aoae

ehanges had taken place by the eighteenth caitury ana

there "was a glightly voider clroulationof coins and some

gjtj th of blaring and selling, but even ^en there vers no

such developaents in markets and trading which could have

changed the entire character of the ^onoEy of Assaaa,

"In the absence of a proper laoney economy land could not

become a coiaeiodlty..• <ln Assam) till 1826,,.»^' so much

so that, as /^alendu Guhe has %»rltten, even the hereditary

private lands «» the homesteads and dry lands -. vere

unsaleable because transfer of lands outside the clan coiild

not be considered In the existing conditions of Assam,^^

The third category of pxlvate property, that of

the Oohains, could have become landed wealth of some conse­

quence and the Sohalns with their families could have

become feiadal lords like the asnorlal lords of feudal Euro;pe,

but for two very basic factors. The first factor we have

already mentioned • that land did not become a private

transferable commodity till 1826, The second factor which

hindered the growth of feudalism In Assam was, as we have

30, Shiabuddin Talisb as quoted by E, Gait, I M S A , P»1?3« 31, A, Guha, "Itand Rights and Social Classes in Medieval

Assam", s^^^* ,^ 32, A. Guha,^Sg7»iSfi*Sii.

79

4l3CU33$d ea r l i e r , the existence of the pajp^ systea. I t

must also be taken into account here that tiie maSnatay of

«ie %?ealtf3 of the aria tocracjr was the paj.k^> HI the

luKurlea of l i f e and the aut^Jlus ^;ealth of the aristocracy

was created for theai by Ui© oai^a or free peasant®,

Althou^ the aristocracy did have their own slaves or

•unfree* paiks these constituted only 10^ of the popula-

tlcss vhile the Kanri paik$ or free peasants constituted

6 ^ Of the population,^^ Ifeerefore, \^ithout t^ie service of

the i^pik^ t^e top aristocracy and even a l l the other of f l -

(Jers of the Ahom Govemaent tJould have been nowhere so far

as personal wealth was concerned, The Bpr?^,^^^ contain

^aough evidence to show that the nobil i ty ^oa quite r ich,^

^ t in this sea l - t r iba l se t up of the pre •colonial Assamese

eoonoJ^j where sonetisatdLon was a t a very low stage of deve­

lopment and eonsequently ^her© a jronetised econotay had not

developed, a l l the wealth of the nobili ty was in the fona

of eonsxuaer goods and not cosE^dities and therefore as soon

S3 the service of the paik^ was l o s t to the nobili ty their

wealth also vanish^*

33. %e percQJtage of paik^ and slaves to the population are taken from a calculation eiade by A. Guha, Hand Sights and Social Classes in Medieval Assam*', m±^.

3U, For instance a Barphufean*s daughter on her faarriage took with her 2 elephants, 1o horses, 500 buffaloes, 1000 cows, 100 slaves. 300 boxes of clothes, 18 pieces of gold u tens i l s , 18 pleees of s i lver u tens i l s . 1 gold saddle and several seta of gold and s i lver jewellery,, (See A, Guha, M ^ . )•

80

Icpnofflloally therefore there wore ©any di f f icul t ies

ir» the development of feiidaiissi. fb& only groups ^hich had

the po ten t ia l i t i es of grmtng ln*o a feudal power^ere the

Ahota landed ariatocpaey» But these groupa *l*e« th© ruling

Ahoffl faiallies ¥ho held Khata and monopolised ^ e offices g

a3 v e i l aa ^ e privileged Br^mlns^ perhaps constituted

some 1^ of the t o t e l population. I t la th is top stratum who

held the hulli of the slaves and ^jaM* Iherefore, sine©

the to t a l number of slavta ^oa 10^ of the population the

ra t io of mas tea? and these slaves trotald he a ©ere 1>10«

However^ even th is sisiail 1^ of the popuiati;^ ccmld have

had enough impact on the Agsamese economy i f other factors

^©re conducive to the gi?ovth of feudalism, But» the aeol»

t r i ba l character of ^ e ecmow^ where land was not o^ned

heredi tar i ly and taher© the majerily of the population ( 6 ^ )

were free peasants (and not serf^) who were a l lot ted land

by the 8tat©> the product of which they consume theEiselvea,

and whoa© services were in prlncipie to the s t a t e and not

to an overlord* the growth of econosdlc fetidaliSB- was doomed

to be a v^ry slow and d i f f i cu l t process* % the e i ^ t e e n t h

centuryt thereforej feudalism in laM hod not developedj

except to a certain extent in the Brahmanical and ^aishnava

ins t i tu t ions . But the mm nobUlty and the officers had wm>itf»r»mmm'r>f'>ir~'Mtmmmmitif!mmtmmmmim0mfmm'immf^^

3?,* if^p***-f'

81

begun to aoq^uire aoae characteiristics of the feudal lords

of Kogfeul India, In thel? s tyle of li-^rlng and spending.

1!hl3 feudal l i f e - s ty l e vas eaalntalned through a "ruthless

exploitation (of the free peasantry) by the off ic ia l a r i s ­

tocracy *?hich was alloved to ^ a o t unpaid likchop service

fros thera.**^ I t ^as therefore, but natural , that the pfiik^

shoiild begin to resent this service to the off icials and

the aristocracy* 'They also began to feel that they would

have b^en bet ter off eccasomically if they could bring WOTQ

t?aste land under cul t ivat ion. But since 4 of their labour

tiaie T!?a3 given to s ta te service, and sometimes even more

than i i f the off icials tjere ruthless enough, they could

not afford to bring imjre land mder cul t iva t ion ,^ '

From about the fifteenth century onwards ttie

Vaishnava oov^acBt had begun to take roots and by the seven­

teenth century the Ahoai oonarehs began to show due respect

to the Vaishneva jSossgilugg and made land grants to the Val-

shnava scffiastries or ^^i^s^* *'*® nai^i^ who belonged to the

Qatra^ tsere eseaspt from giving tnantial service to the state*^

36, A, Cuba, "Tribalism to Feudalism in Assam", pp^cit^, p .7 |s ^ e also B. Gait, Ji^M^PJ^MaPtJt^f^f S S ^ S P M ^ p»l88, where he t j r i tes , «Sie KaUta Phukan vas dismissed in 177*'' e i ther in consequence of the complaints of his enactions mBd& by the people of Kgkipayanpia:*. • , •"

37, Befer also A, Guna, "Land Mghts and 3bcial Class in Medieval Assaa", OP. eit>

38, See ^ J . Sarma, ^,§Ji^-Vafs]^^^yite Mgyeme t {^4 t^^ ^:tei^,^3^?¥rf^^l?.CT g^J^^?^ (Gauhati, 1966), p, 193; S, G a i t , ^ 2 . £ 3 ^ , , p . m .

82

Sb, gta&vmXly froo the elimas of Ahom rule onvards, vhen

tijo Abtsa off icials ^ere fcegluning to ndstiae the i r off ic ia l

s tatus more rampantly^ sore and «ore pa lk^ sought refuge

In t*!0 , ^ t o a » i " ora^r to evade manual service to the

s t a t e . Thi3 disaffection of the B^^^lth thei r temporal

overlords, eoupled with the growing wealte and splendour

of the Gossains «ho "enjoyed a l l the prerogatives of a

sovereign excepting Kekoy^-dolas or royal sedans and

elephants",^^ ^as paving the ^ay for a confrontation between

the s t a te and the peasants ^ho were supported by some

^^SSB.» ^J^i^ confrontation finally tools place -when the

Moamarla rebellion broke out in %jhicb the disciples of the

Mayamara .Slatt^^ led I n i t i a l l y by the Ifeyamara Mahanta hinw.

self» challenged the power of the King. Hhe Civi l War

that broke out In 178a and continued intermittently t i l l

180^ not only heralded the ©id of Ahom Bale in Assam but i t

also created such chaos in the country that the process that

39. 3«K. Bhuyan, ( ed . ) , ^fg.^^Rg,^ ,%y^jj;<, OBaidL^*; P*16. ifO* putting taie causes of the Civil Wars (the Moamarla

Bebellion) that shook the Ahom monarchy in the l a s t decades of the e i ^ t e e n t b century so succintly i s simplifying the issue too tauch. As the Moamarla rebel* lion can be th$ subject of a separate study i t cannot be, ©shauatively discussed here. Therefore, w© are men­tioning merely the root cause of the rebellion. For further deta i ls see, B.Gait, A History of Assam, o p . c i t . j 3.K. Bhuyan, (1) Tm pj jJIWI l ^yfffl.Uy im>aAllf (11) ^R:i^rA^flffln^^P ,%?-aUOIl^» £m*SiJ^} A« Guha, **The Moamarla Revolution} Was i t a Class War?", M M S ir^bune^ I8th October, 1950| A*Guha, "lleo Valshnavlsm to Insui^encyj A Study of the Hoamarla Peasant l?prising3 in I8tb Centuiy Assam"• Occasional Paper ^^ 67 of the Centre for Studies in ^ i a l doience, Calcutta.

83

toad s tar ted In gradually transfoiralng the eoonooy from

tidballsiB to feiidaliSBi «as e«t short* Tho massacres which

tjere perpetrated by both the ro3rali3t3 and the rebels

brought about t^ldespread depopulation of the countiy. For

Instance, " i t ^as estimated that out of 80,000 ^j^k^

uau^ ly under the charge of the Buragohain tJiere remained

only ^3«000 after *•• the Civil Wars of the Moamarias",

Because of the chaotic conditions Irt the coimtiy the pfi^a

began to flee the i r fields and take refug© in the h i l l s

and neighbouring t e r r i t o r i e s . This fleeing of the paiks

meant not only the breakdown of the jkhel; and the palka UP system, but I t also meant that cul t ivat ion, the mainstay

of the ^hora economy, suffered and with the pja Jfeg leaving,

the wealth of tiie ^om nobil i ty and officers also began to

decline, Thus, the process of fei;^al development was shayply

affected and the aristocracy found that wealtti and power

was beginning to s l i p from i t s h^ds»

Barely had the Moamaria rebellion subsided and some

Sort of order was being restored by the Aboro Minister Purna-

nanda %ragohaln and the reigning taonarch Kamaleswar Singha,

when the Burmese Invaded Assam in 1819. ,%e Bunnese invasion ^»1.. A^j. ^ ^ £ S ! y^^^« ^^pgyt f?fl!' A^?m i ^V« Appendix

K-B p . xxyii i ,

pp. 351-252.

8U

of ksaam and tb© foXlowing Bartaeso Rule from 1819, 1<* a

short break till 182U, eame in the afce of the Civil Wars

and the bitter rivalry that ensued aaongst the ruling class

itself arising fros conflict over the distribution of eco"

nomic surplus (produce from land, pfiJka etc,)* - l&ie

final seal on the total ruin of the Ahom econoi57 ^sos placed

by the Bunaes© rulers with the unimaginable atrocities

which they cocEnltted ith rtitbless energy, on the people of

As3aia# During this period the pf4!ks left their fields in

large nuabera and the Burmese were said to have diminished

the po35>tilatlon by half during the yeai^ 1817 to 1825.

Prom the above discussions it is clear that the

Ahosis brought about significant changes in the techniques

of production in the region but before these changes could

bring about a total transfoxsation in the relations of pro­

duction conducive to the development of a feudal aode of

production, the k>ao!aa:iLa a^ebellion and the Burmese invasions

••3. ^e also 4. Guha, "tribalism to Feudalism in Assam'^ SSiS^^i P«76#

Mf* 5:he records of Burmese rule can be found not only in the later Ahoa Buranjis and published commentaries of Assam history but also in the accounts of British tra­vellers like W. Robinson, -A Pgsff |i|t,te ,teM<^ 9t^ A|2M (Calcutta, 19^)5 8,.K, Bhuyan, Bay^^^^^^^QJI. (Gauhatl, 192V),.

85

changed tbe eovaeae of the history of ^sam in a manner

that stimted the possihilities of a natural growth of th©

econooy of Assaa, Thus, when the British received Assao

from the Btiraese after th© third Anglo-Buimese War, hy

the Treaty of TaMabo in 1826,^^ the old order in Aasaa

ISQB hastened and aided by the British with the estahlish-

raent of the new order in Aaaom,

The advent of the British not only heralded the

growth of new forces in Assamese society, but it also

arrested the process of a normal transition from a semi-

tribal eeonoi^ to a feudal economy, which as we have shown

earlier was very difficult in the Ahom econondc order, but

which nevertheless might have developed especially with the

growth of the TTaishnava aatyaa. We have already discussed

before that the pre-colonial Assamese econ^ay was baslcal*

ly tribal with markets remaining almost undeveloped and

the circulation of money very limited. Therefore, Assam

was not ready for a revenue system based on cash payments,

and still less was Assam ready to face the World capitalist

order into whose folds she was drawn with the British occu­

pation. At the time when the British first sent troops to

AssEUB to oust the Bujaaese, the Fort William authorities

ii^-liSliGauhatl, 1963), p. 16.

86

proclaimed to the population of Assam t^jat "ve are not led

Into your country by the tb l ra t of conquest| but are forced

in oup defence • to deprive our en sales of the means of

annoying tis,,,,** ' Again In 182U t*e Bri t ish Coivemraent

re i tera ted tha t , "although by our expulsion of the Bxinnes©

from the te r r i to ry of Assam» the country vjould of r ight

become ours by conquest, the Oovemor»General-'ln-Councll

does not ccwtemplate the peimanent annexation of any part

of i t to the British dosilnion, " ^ But these pious Inten-

tlons were not able to overcome the temptation of colonial

exploitation of the rich resources of Assam which were

lucidly described 1^ Bri t ish travellers l ike R»B, Peaberton,

P. Hamilton and the l ike .^^ The Brit ish Govewiment there­

fore decided to annex Assam alttJough i n i t i a l l y only I.ower

Assam ( i»e . the d i s t r i c t of Kasrup and a part of present

Darpang upto Blshwanath) i;hich "yielded a revenue of upwards

of ttiree lal^s**«,«^ ^as annexed and Upper Assam (the

February 20, J'o, 15^ Quoted In Ibl<a.y n-i*^. U8. gs?fw,,lfj^ag^mnsftt^,,,§^KU^ » vo i , 662, p, 173*5

Quoted in , II>1^. ^9» J'or de ta i l s of accounts of Asacm's rich resources and

the prospects of «hat could be extracted from Assam see araongst otjjers. R.B. P^ber ton. J^he Eastern Frontiey Qf Sy l t l ahJ^d ia (Gauhati, 1966) pp. 82-85| F,B. Hamll-|Qn< ,(in AgfiQm^ f t ^^mfi aa^sii .» PP\ ^s^th. For a furmer discussion on this point see also H. Oohain-Lscussion on this ^ I n t see also H. Oohain,

H* K, Barpt 50

j3£«Sl|«, p» 19.

87

eeatre of the Moamarla reliellton and ^ e ^om State) whose

revenue ^•• , Scarcely reaebed, « n t i l 1828, a lalJh of

rupees•••"^^ «as restored to a scion of the Ahom family

for ^ t h financial and s t ra tegica l reasons, fbe Brit ish

f e l t (although I t vas nearer declared ID SO eaany ^ords) that

If the restored Ahom King would pay a large enou^ sumf= of

ffion^ to the Brit ish then the (bvemsent ^rould get the

e<|uivalent of revenue collection from Upper Assam and vouLd

also be sa^ed the costs of atfejteiatration of the region,

Tt^ farce of restoration ^ould also help, the Bri t ish

bought , In lessening the antagonism of the Ahoia nobil i ty

towards British Bule* But by 183^ the Tea Committee, se t up

by tord William Bentinck» the Gbvemor General found that

the tea plant vas indigenous to Assam,^ 35iis report coupled

^ t h the other information gathered on the natural poten­

t i a l s of Assam, changed the whole a t t i tude of the Bri t ish

towards Assan and in I838 Upper Assaai too tjaa annexed to

the Brit ish doMnions*

The prlae in te res t of the Bri t ish in annexing the

d i s t r i c t s of Kananip, Darrang, Howgon , Sibsagar, and

•iii>iNii»«""«»"

?1. P>id* 5r2, For details of tea industry see H.A, Antrobu?.

(Tea and axbber Hail* London;i sfee gilso H,K» Barpu4ari, Mmmn^.,^^^ ,P^y§.„m„.te,„^m!mR^y» s&kOl^^i pp.2i6.228.

I*akhl©p«p» was ^ e ext^Riction of the raaxlmum revenue poasi*

ble ttom tfce^e aafeaa, I) airl4 36ott, tfee agent to the Sovemor-

General iii loyth l a s t Frontier, a t f i r s t t r ied to re ta in the

organisation of thQ ^ipl avst^a and «©rK the Brit ish revenue

IJoHcies throtjgh the PRIIE syatea that bad operated success- •

fulXy during tbe Ahoia Bule* Ba Upper ^ a a a the Ithela vere

therefor^ retained in t a c t | but the revenue «as demanded in

oash instead of in kind or personal services as under the

#S0a Itaie,^^ l^t the demands of a ursinetlsed e^onoti?^ and orga­

nisation of a s e ^ » t r i b a l ox^er cotild not go h ^ d in hand.

BesidesJ

**for ^ e suecessful working of the idiel syst€8n, a l l the segibers gf a par t icular ^ Ichel (say of sono^^s) £ or gold ^ a s h e r s ^ should reside as Closely as possible*,, fhB unparaU.elM deaths and desertions in the ^ake of Burmese invasions led to such a lalxing up of py|f_es: of different taiits that the | ^ | ^ became mlsfiomey^ and their organisation was one of eonfu* aion ^orse confounded* Sv#n to a man of experience I t became Impossible to do lus^iee to the Inhabitants of the ^ e l s scattering from tlie r iver ©IMjoij to the ©haiislrl and f*t«a the loh l t % the

. .. . w ».-»9.9

Pto'ther, not only t^ere the paiks scattered but they bad l e f t

their fields and fled during th© c i v i l «ax^ end Biamese inva^

sloh, ^ d the deffl^d of cash revenue by the Brit ish Goveironent lliW!HIHiH.«llll)

53. ^ e * f,K* Barpu^an ( ed . ) , ?^MtiQgi Ha,s.^rr.-#f . a an ,,

^* p i d . . t p#-i©« •

89

\)Q3 no Incentive to them to return to cultivation. Thus

vihom cultivation had gone down and money was scarcet

Scott'3 hopes of collecting a good revenue from Oppep

Isaam were not fulfilled. After the period of esperliaeot-

Ing ith restoring Upper Assata to the Ahom Klng« la I838

British adtainistration in the form present in ^ e rest of

India was introduced in Upper Assam also*^^

In the rest of /isaaia, i,e. in Kamrupj Novgong and

Darrange, farmers of revenue were appointed and were given

the responsibility of collecting the taxes assessed by the

Bxltigh, In Samrup, l^e Choodhuries were entrusted with

the duty of revenue collection, while in Uowgong and Darrang

initially arrangements were made with two individuals,

Aradhan Ray and Lata Panl Hiukan, but later as British rule

was consolidated the whole of Assam came under an uniform

British administrative system*^

l^ls administrative system, despite tbe early attempts

made by David Scott to retain a semblance of the pre-colonial

55• For an eshaustive discussions and for details of revenue administration in Upper and Lower Assam see H.K. Barpuja-

^, gx Aaaa if. OP. C3>S.. unapta* A. JLAJ., i.v ana Auiiroauc 56. H.K. Barpu^arl, Political HJ^storv of Aaaaj fi sm%&U.^

pp.11*

90

se t up» was •«« "in structure and ftmctlon as well as

name... Anglo Mughul,• • ** ' rather than Anglo-Ahom» The

systeia »as tixas to ta l ly foreign to Assault and the old Ahotn

administrative machinery MQ3 111 equipped to deal with

this system. For the proper ftmctioning of the system a

con5>letely new machinery was needed, "The doslgnatlon of

many of the posts - ^lanar nagls or reg is t ra r ; ^hm^St>X

or treasurer; tehsildar or d i s t r i c t revenue collector were

unfamiliar to the Assamese,"^ ©ie ent i re system and i t s

officers were so unfamiliar to the Ahom tradit ion that the

old Ahom officials sffid nobi l i ty became redundant in the

new socio-economic order. I t was therefore, inevitable that

they pxt>ved themselves to be incotrqpetent in the new jobs

entrusted to them and consequently "their very presence

caused a great labour and trouble to the European functiona­

r ies ,"^^ I t was therefore not d i f f i cu l t to overthrow the

Ahom officers who had been direct ly linked with the Ahom

administration, l ike the kheldarg and heads of various

khels. With the overthrow of these officers the na Lk system

57. N. Barooah, jpftYAd <aill? ^ 3n ^^9^1; Fa,<yt. JnHU l^ftP-lfill: ^ 4 : ^ p7133.131,;

59« B^ga l Pol i t ica l Consultati<»i. I83I5 10 June, No^ ^0, ci ted in H. K, Barpujari ( ed . ) , £234ii£aUliSJfe2SZ-2i:

91

fSually came to an end. The res t of the Ahom aristocracy had

begun to decline and disintegrate from the mid eighteenth

century when the c iv i l wars began, and as we have already

discussed, their wealth and consequently power could not

survive the onslaught of the Moamaria rebell ion, Burmese

invailon and f inal ly British occupation. Having neither exper­

t i s e to run the ne« Bri t ish administration, nor vcaltij of

the nature tisat ^ould make them of some economic and social

consequence, the Ahom aristocracy vas a spent force In tJie

colonial se t \xp of Assam,

With the annexation of Upper Aasaa I t was clear that

the Bri t ish Government had come to stay and the people of

Assam began to react to that r ea l i ty at various levels . On

the one hand there vas a certain amount of dissatisfaction

and _rebelli93is,ness^ on the other hand there was definite

trend to^^ards accepting the inevitable and adjusting to

British Rule,

I t vas this second trend ^hlch ^QB to create new

forces in Assamese society. In the I n i t i a l period of British

Hule in Assam, vhen local people a}tild not be employed in

60, The years 1828-1830 there ^ere a series of ant l -Bri t ish revol ts . For de ta i l s refer H,K, Barpujari ( ed . ) . f9XXPi<^-S^M^%ory .9t Agaffl, fiSaSl^,; H.K. Barpujari, Assam I n t h e Dava of t^^ Company, £m&siJ|,| A Guha,

to Swarfi.l3 Fre^Qm„3truggIeand Sleetoral , ^ i^^mlm-mi (New"gem, 1977);

K*H. Dutt, ^M (Gauhatl, 1969)7

92

the administrative macblnepy, It was Inevitable that 1*e

British should find the less expensive ^ay out and the

administrative posts hegan to be filled vlth people from

the neighbouring state of Bengal where British admlnlatra-

tlon had alreacfy created a group of traSned administra­

tors and clerks« "The one exception ysoa in the revenue

administration, for there the help of the Assamese

Qnaniangpg was essential and so the thVQe top posts were

given to the three Majinder Baruas - Joglram, Kashl and

Bhudhal*"^ Sb, during the first few decades of British

Bule in As3^1, the clerical and bureaucratic posts in the

administration isere by and large monopolised by people from

Bengal the highest posts being of course al ays in the hands

of the British Officers, But tJ^roughout this period the

Assamese people »ere avare that for their own economic

^dstence and survive they must adapt themselves to the

new conditions. The primary qualifications for entering the

new administrative machinery vas e acquisition of at least mil m i l III Ill <i 1 . n n iiiiM iiM II • wi II II iliiini i i i w i I i m i — » — — » — » — — « • — ii «i iiii

61, Majinder Baruas were l ike the King's Private Secretary, They announced royal orders, despatched envoys to foreign courts, drafted diplomatic epis t les and gene­ra l ly served as an inteimediary between the King and his principal officers and nobles. See S,K, Bhuyan (ed.) y>ffl 1l< mng;?. ,P rgi JA» aiUSP** P « 2 3 6 ; H^K,Barua Sadr

62, Bengal Secret and Pol i t ica l Consultations, 7 April, 1826, Ho, 9 , Scott to Stfinton lOtb March. 1$26, Refer, H. Barooah, P,a7;>,Pi.„Se?9tf. ,r;i',!Q, ^9n\i ^§^%„ JtihP>* filUSl^*, p . 135.

93

the ppellmlnarles of western education as lEqparted toy the

British. So gradually Asaameae youngmen began to emerge

vith the basic qualifications for entering the new adml«*

nistration. The process «as however very slow because the

spread of Sngiish education in Assam ^oa not keeping pace

«lth the constant groTath of the administrative machinery.

For Instance in 1870, only S3 students appeared for the

Entrance Examination in Assen and only 13 passed, t hile

in the same year only 6 students appeared for the First

Arts examination out of vhom <aily U- ts ere successful, - Hov-

ever, slow though the process vas, a new force was begin­

ning to take shape in Assam.

The social position and influence which the nobles

and officers of the Ahom Rule bad earlier held was now

being taken by the revenue collectors like Maugfida|*a and

Chaudhuries and the bureaucratic clerks. These categories

were not only all Important for the British administration

but they were also ttie people who could begin to acquire

wealth and position in the society, % e Qiaudhuries, for

example, had no claim to property in the soil or to produce

and they cou3xi be removed at the pleasure of the government,

63, Figures taken from H„K, Barpujari (ed,), poj^tjic^]. H^f jfftyy, qf ,f? ,gga, SS^S^^^ Appendix B,

9

but since members of the same family were usually appoin­

ted again ttie posts became almost hereditajsy. «T[n

theory, the Choudhxiry was to be elected by the people,

but In practice not only did he bribe by false promisea

and even by money, but he resorted to the same method

among the aml^^g and the aad^ station, and this amount

together vith the revenue and a profit to himself were

afterwards exacted from the ryots. ?%>reoiver,• • he exacted

on all sides sometimes five or six times the real aQU>unt

of rent collected.,••"^ These Choudhuriea and the

^^ZQd^y^ and other such officers began to hold a very

important place in Assamese society and the groiifth of these

forces heralded the development of a nev order in Assam,

The old order had already crumbled, t*Jlth the

demise of the Ahom aristocracy, officials and thus th©

entire Ahom system. With the crumbling of that old order

the norms and values of that order had also begtm to

become weaker, although the feudal nonaa and ideas %?hlcb

had entered the Ahom systoa still continued to permeate

the higher echelons of the new order. The Ahom monarchy

had disintegrated as the Ahom economy began to disintegrate, III m> ••.imiMrj » i i » I . I I I liiin • I . I I I • • • ! • < • . < i • . I l l , 1 1 1 1

6V. R.K. Barpu;)ari, ^s^mJU. .P\. V(f,%M^:m.9L«^}3S«9QmimXt

^ Xsarpujari (ed*), foU^Xml.^^tf91^,Qt. M^m*

95

and the new econozaic system vblch the Brit ish Introduced

into Assam brought in I t s vake a «hole range of changea

in the sooio-eoonomic l i f e of Assam, tflith the development

of British administration a se t of new forces also began

to develop and these forces, as %7e shal l discuss in a

l a t e r chapter, began to play a vexy v i t a l role in the

shaping of the socio-economic developments in the history

of Assam. This role voa sometimes progressive and sometimes

far from being so, but whatever be the character i t vas a

role vhich was to have a last ing impact on &ssam.

The developnent of ^ i s new order and the new

forces, wittJ their new norms and values, vas a positive

aspect of Bri t ish occupation of Assam, But the impact of

the introduction of a to ta l ly alien economic s ^ t e a into

the s®ni»trlbal bases of Assamese economy was not a very

healthy one for the grovjth ^idclevelopment of the A 3aame3e

economy. %e consequ^ices of this were not happy e i ther

for the economic development of Assan or for the develop­

ment of the new social groups that weire being formed. Ibe

growth and development of both were crippled in such a ^ay

as to leave indelible marks on the i r character and evolu­

tion. For a fu l l comprehension of th is colonial heritage

96

It Is necessaify that the Impact of British Rule on the

economy of Assam, the nature of British Rule and the con­

sequences of It are understood clearly. In the next chap*

ter therefore ve shall examine the first results of the

imposition of an alien economy into Assam, as a prelude

to understanding the position and role of the new forces

that emerged In Assam in the Colonial period,