CHAPTER II

POLITICAL AND CULTURAL RENAISSANCE IN ASSAM: FORMATION OF MASS ORGANISATIONS

INTRODUCTION

New awakening dawned over Assam in the 19th century; a movement was experienced in

the social, cultural and political life of the people. In the history of Assam, for the first

time, there was such concern about the political future of Assam. This experience was

stimulated by various forces that were set in motion under the British rule. Similar

experiences were also witnessed in other parts of India, as well, but the flow in Assam

was directed towards bringing a complex trend of negotiations on cultural identity. The

period, between the end of 19th century and the early 201h century can be characterised as

the age of cultural and political renaissance in the history of Assam. Here, the word

'cultural' includes language, literature and social life of the people. Both, political and

cultural resurgence were both instrumental in motivating each other towards a new

direction. It was a stage when thoughts were rejuvenated and strengthened by modem

outlook and activities that came along were forceful and demanding in nature. Before

moving on to explain the activities, it is important to understand the justification of the

use of the term 'Renaissance' and what meaning it suggests in this particular stage of

history of Assam.

The term 'Renaissance' literally means revival or rebirth of learning. In European

connotation, the term is generally used to denote new intellectual currents that had not

only transformed the cultural atmosphere of Europe but also changed its socio-political

scenario, a process that went on over two centuries covering almost all major West

European nations. According to Robert Ergang, "the Renaissance opened the paths to

modem civilization by giving a new direction to intellectual endeavour." 1 Though, the

word is typecast in describing the European modernity, yet it happens to be the only word

closest to describing the intellectual current that swept almost the whole of India,

including Assam, during the second half of the 19th century. The use of the term is not a

new one, Indian historians have acknowledged the validity of the term while discussing

the second half of the l91h century that brought forth revolutionary changes in the outlook

1 Tillotamma Misra, Literature and Society in Assam: A Study of the Assamese Renaissance 1826-1926 (Guwahati, New Delhi: Omsons Publications, 1987), p. 6

73

of the Indians. Spread of education and infiltration of western ideas through it was the

most vibrant force behind the progressive ventures. Assam after becoming part of the

British India, also went through similar process though its situation differed a little

because of certain historical developments that were unique to this region.

Tillotama Mishra has stated 'A Rennaissance or re-awakening presupposes a preceding

period of darkness compared to which the awakening appears all the more glorious and

significant'. 2 She has discussed at length the Renaissance of Assamese literature in the

l91h century Assam, making a strong demarcation of the period from its previous one.

However, she also claims that this period holds significance as a bridge between the

Middle Ages and the modem times. She marks the advent of British as an opening vent

for the development of healthy intellectual climate and an awareness growing amongst

the Assamese intellectuals. She has strongly opposed the use of the term 'Renaissance'

by Lakshminath Bezbaroa, who was the first to use the term for the Vaishnavite literature

movement of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Assam. She calls the age of

Vaishnavite movement as the age of reformation and not renaissance, as the age is

predominantly religious and not at all secular in character. She says that even the Bhakti

movement represents such limited revolt.

The resurgence was not only experienced in the field of literature, it made a dent in many

aspects. The secular nature of literary works of this period brought out a rationalistic

attitude that enabled the intellectuals to review social institutions and implant

nationalistic aspiration. Thoughts were given to education of women, remarriage of

widows and denouncement of opium and at the same time nationalistic aspiration of

reviving Assamese language were shown by many writers. Historians accounts that,

'(t]here was huge impact of Bengal on the life and culture of the Assamese' and

Renaissance in Assamese literature was brought about by 'the activities of Christian

Missionaries and the influence of renascent Bengal'; yet '[t]here was a tough fight

against the supremacy of Bengali language and the forcefulness of the Assamese

language as a native language of the people of Assam and not a shadow of its Bengali

counterpart.' 3 Three names became synonymous with laying the cornerstone of Assamese

identity; they were Hemchandra Barua, Gunabiram Barua and Anandaram Dhekial

2 op.cit., no.l, p.22 3 H.K. Barpujari, et.al.(ed.), Political His!OI)'Of"Assam- 1826-1926: Volume 1(Gauhati: Government of Assam, Jan 1977), p.l25-l37

74

Phukan. These personalities revolutionised not only Assamese language and literature but

also paved the way for recharging the cultural and political atmosphere by pioneering the

formation of mass organisations.

The influence of Christian missionaries and Bengal Renaissance was not limited to

Assamese language and literature but had also recharged the Bodo people to search for

identity of Bodo language and literature. The influence of the Missionaries was not

enough to enlighten the Bodos, it had only shown the way. The real change in the

thoughts and activities was brought about by the Brahma movement pioneered by

Kalicharan Brahma. Under his guidance many educated men came together to bring

social transformation of the Bodo society. The Bodo language, which had remained

neglected for centuries, had to be refurbished so the Bodo intellectuals worked on

methods of developing and improving Bodo literature. Such intellectual move also

brought new outlook and gave a new direction to the Bodo society and this change can be

characterised as the Renaissance of Bodo language, literature and society. The revolution

in the Bodo society came in the 20th century, which began for the Assamese in the 19th

century.

The closing years of the 19th century and the early 20th century witnessed a new trend of

forging associations through which ideas were expressed and exchanged in a frank and

fearless manner. This glorious development changed the political life of Assam as well.

Grievances against the administration were now ventilated through constitutional

agitation. The changes will be discussed at length, but before that it is imperative to learn

the facts about Assam history that consequently led to these changes. How the advent of

British brought a climate of change in Assam and rescued the region from the darkness

that had befallen on its fate or whether the rescue was temporary, the British had rather

complicated the easy life of the people and opened a journey towards endless

complexities? The chapter tries to probe into the changes in the economy, polity and

socio-cultural life of the people following the establishment of the British rule. The

chapter will discuss both Assamese and Bodo Renaissance in different sections because

the two are parallel movements that led to search for two distinct identities - the

Assamese identity and the Bodo identity. At the outset, we shall discuss the causes,

which were responsible for bringing the British into Assam.

75

THE DARK AGE IN THE HISTORY OF ASSAM

The fall of the Ahom dynasty started soon after King Lakshmi Singha ascended to the

throne of the Ahom Empire in 1769. A period of rebellion, civil war and disintegration

followed the succeeding years. The unpopularity of the Ahom kings and the growing

prosperity of the Vaishnavite Satras gave rise to hostility between the Ahoms kings and

the Vaishnavite Satras. What attracted the people towards Satras was their democractic

set-up. At the same time, people were discontent with the lack of able leadership, in­

fighting among the members of Ahom dynasty and punitive measures imposed upon

them by the Ahom rulers. The power tussle was going on not just between the king's

sovereignty and the domination of religious heads of the Satras, but also for supremacy

between the Saivaite cult of Hinduism patronised by Ahom kings and Vaishnavism

practised by Satras. The Ahom kings had always given an upper-hand to the Brahminical

customs, whereas Satras that propagated Vaishnavism were a strong opponent of the

Brahminical order. In upper Assam, the two most important non-Brahmin Satras growing

in popularity were the Dihing Satras and the Moamoria; both had large following in the

ttibal population like the Kacharis, Kaivartas, Chuttiyas, Morans and even in some

section of Ahoms.

The whole of upper Assam was churned into with civil war and the Moamorias

succeeded to dethrone King Lakshmi Singha temporarily in 1769; their revolt continued

intennittently till 1805. To uproot the supremacy of Ahom king, it carried out raids and

these assaults weakened the strong hold of the Ahom rule. Such turbulence in the Empire

invited those eyeing the kingdom like the Singphos and the Khamtis. These intruders

were successful in seizing sizeable portion of the region. It also provided an opportunity

to the Darrang King, Krishnanarayan, to revolt against Ahom supremacy and his army,

largely made up of burkandazes4 wrecked havoc on the villages north of Kamrup. Seeing

the helplessness of the situation, the Ahom king, Gaurinath Singha made an appeal to the

East India Company to come and suppress the Moamorias and other rebellious groups.

According to S.K. Bhuyan's account, on an appeal from the Ahom king, Gaurinath

~ The Burkandazes came from the discarded soldiers of the Moslem armies or troops disbanded by the zaminders. Many zaminders used to keep barkandazes for their protection. These mercenary freebooters often carried out plundering raids into Assam. In 1780 Warren Hastings had assured the Ahom king to help against these burkandazes in the Goal para region. The Darrang King Krishnanarayan 's army was made up largely of the burka11dazes. Excerpts from Udayon Mishra, The Periphery Strikes Back: Challenges to the Nation-State in Assam and Nagaland (Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2000), p. I 05

76

Singha, Lord Cornwallis sent Captain Welsh to Assam in 1792 with six companies of

troops. The Company's forces contained the Moamorias and rid Assam of the

burkandazes.5 Once the Company had successfully completed its task, it withdrew its

troops in 1794. Following the withdrawal of Company's troops, the Moamarias rose once

again and the Singphos and Khamtis further consolidated their hold over the Ahom

territories.

The Burmese too invaded the province in 1817, they were rather invited by the royalists

to curb the influence of the powerful Prime Minister. The Burmese returned home after

restoring the power of the king, Chandrakanta, collecting huge compensation and an

Assamese princess for the Burmese monarch's harem. The Burmese came a second time

in 1819 to restore Chandrakanta back to his throne, who, in the meantime was thrown out

of power. But, the Burmese this time decided to stay back and seize Assam under its rule.

Chandrakanta, who became a stooge to the Burmese, had to flee to the neighbouring

British territory and prepared an attack against the Burmese invaders.

The Ahoms could never regain their lost valour; once they started inviting outsiders to

suppress the unrest, Assam finally went into the hands of the outsiders. The Burmese

seize over Assam led to the ultimate fall of the Ahom dynasty. The Burmese deposed the

Ahom king and established their rule. The dark years of Burmese seizure left the region

de-populated, ruined the agriculture, trade and economy, destroyed the social structure

and educational prospects and paved the way for a bleak future. At this juncture in 1822,

the deposed king, Purandhar Singha petitioned to the Governor General of the Company

to restore peace in Assam. Purandhar Singha promised an annual tribute of three lakhs

rupees and to meet all the expenses of the troops that would be employed to drive out the

Burmese if the Company could restore Assam to its previous position. The Company

refused this invitation primarily because it did not want to get involved again in the

internal warfare of Assam. The Company's policy of non-interference soon changed

when the Burmese started aggression in Company's territories in Bengal (Chittagong and

Cachar). The British declared war against Ava on 5 March 1824. Within three months,

the Company's troops had almost thrown the Burmese out of the province. David Scott,

the agent to the Governor-General for the Eastern frontier was appointed as the

administrator of Assam to tackle the situation.

5 opcit., no.4, p. 63

77

The final defeat of the Burmese was followed by the signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo 6

on 24 Februrary 1826, under which the fate of Assam and its adjoining states of Cachar

and Jayantia and also Manipur were decided. British occupation of Assam was

formalised, although the administration in lower Assam was already in the hands of the

British much before the treaty was signed. Many scholars have pointed out that the

British intervention in Assam and the adjoining hill areas was also motivated by

economic interest. Narrations of British travellers of the rich natural resources of Assam

were not unknown to the British administrators. Initially, when the Company's troops

marched into the province, they did not show the slightest intention of arn1exing the

province. Situation changed after the Burmese defeat and the earlier promises made by

the British of only helping to re-establish Ahom monarchy were left behind and the

British stayed on to rule the province of Assam.

ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES UNDER THE FOREIGN RULE

The defeat of the Burmese was a welcome change after a long period of uncertainty and

insecurity. However, the darkness had left behind its shadow for many more years even

after the Burmese were expelled from Assam. Assam once again was under foreign rule;

the British soon established its administration first in the western and lower Assam and

then in the rest of the province. The earlier pronouncement by the deposed Ahom King,

Purandhar Singha, wherein, he had requested the Btitish interference only to dtive out the

Burmese and to restore Assam's previous position in lieu of annual tributes did not

satisfy the British interest fully. Scott was in favour of restoring Ahom monarchy only in

upper Assam as this part of the province was in dilapidated condition. Moreover, this

move would have also satisfied the local people as the discontent was growing that the

British had not kept their promise. Lower Assam was annexed immediately since it was

already yielding a huge sum of annual revenue.

The British concentrated their efforts solely on revenue collection as the main purpose

was to generate economic benefits from the province. David Scott allowed the traditional

6 Article 2 of the Treaty of Yandaboo read as' His majesty the king of Ava renounces all claims upon, and will abstain from future interference with, the principality of Assam and its dependencies, and also with the contiguous petty states of Cachar and Jayantiya. With regard to Munnipoor it is stipulated. That should Chumbeer Singh desire to return to that country, he shall be recognised by the King of Ava as Rajah thereof'. Excerpts from Anuradha Dutta, Assam in the Freedom Movement ( Calcutta: Darbari Prokashan, June, 1991), p.2

78

revenue system to continue with some modifications. The revenue system under the

Ahom administration was based on the paik system; according to which every adult male

was to work for three to four months in a year for the state in lieu of tax for the land

given to them for cultivation. An adult who was registered for state service was called a

paik; four paiks constituted a got. The paiks were organised under khels according to the

nature of their duties such as arrow making, boat-building, house-building and fighting.

Therefore, the whole adult population was divided into kiwis which ranged generally

from three thousand to six thousand men and each khel was placed under an officer,

Phukan, who was helped by other officials such as Hazarikas, Saikias and Boras. The

British modified the system by abolishing personal services in the paik system and

instead a poll tax of three rupees was realised from peasants of upper Assam and peasants

from lower Assam had to pay a tax of two rupees per head and poll taxes at varying rates.

But, Scott's reliance on the traditional system did not produce the desired result because

the social structure based on paiks and khels had already disintegrated during civil wars

and Burmese invasion, and the peasantry was also economically bankrupt.

Under such poor economic conditions, the territories of upper Assam were handed over

to Purander Singha in 1833. He was placed under a treaty which permitted his authority

over upper Assam by paying an annual tribute of fifty thousand rupees and bearing the

cost of maintenance of the British troops in the area. Such obligations were difficult to

fulfil with such bad shape of economy. The outcome was not unexpected, the Ahom

monarch failed to keep the provisions of the treaty and in 1838. Upper Assam was

annexed by the British. Lower Assam was already under British jurisdiction and in this

area after Scott's death in 1831, paik system was abolished and mauza system was

introduced. Dues were now collected by the revenue collector and estimation was based

on the area under cultivation. In upper Assam, changes in the revenue system were

introduced in 1838, soon after it was annexed under the British administration. Here, too,

the paik system was abolished and assessment was fixed on areas under cultivation. The

British transformed the traditional institutions to suit their economic interest and gave

their immediate priority was to extort maximum possible revenue from the province.

The British forces very clearly demonstrated their intention of ruling the province and

soon made extensive plans to expand their jurisdiction. Within a span of fifteen years

from the time of the Treaty of Yandaboo, the kingdoms of Jaintia, Cachar, their

79

dependencies and all the independent tribal states of the Khasi Hills were annexed under

the Company rule. The process of annexation continued up to 1880. Till 1874, the

province of Assam was under the jurisdiction of the Government of Bengal. The province

was constituted into a Chief Commissionership in 1874 which included Darrang,

Kamrup, Lakhimpur, Goalpara, Nowgong, Sibsagar, Garo, Khasi-Jaintia and Naga Hills,

Cachar and Sylhet.

The British re-organised geographical boundaries to suit their administrative

convenience. Sylhet was separated from Bengal and added to Assam in 1874 and the

independent tribal states were amalgamated under the administrative unit of Assam. In

1905, with the partition of Bengal, Assam was merged with East Bengal. After the

annulment of the Bengal partition, Assam again came under Chief Commissioner's

domain in 1912 and remained so until its status was elevated to that of being Govemor' s

province in 1921. The British administrative system carried out many experiments in its

administrative designs, and in all its designs the British gave more importance to its own

interest than the interests of the people. The economic condition of the people

deteriorated. Having no interest in the welfare of the people the British pursued polici~s

that added more and more sum to exchequer.

The paik system of the Ahoms was already abolished and the land revenue collection was

placed under the Mauzadary system. Under the Ahoms there was no money-tax, but the

Mauzadary system brought 'direct money taxation' which were collected by revenue

officers like the Chaudhuris, Mazumdars, Patgiris, Kakatis and Baishyas. Unaccustomed

with the new monetary system, the·peasants found it difficult to adjust and could not

manage this heavy taxation burden, so their economic conditions deteriorated. Many

local people seeing no options available in upper and lower Assam fled to neighbouring

areas of Bhutan and Cachar where taxation was somewhat nominal. Changes were not

just introduced in the revenue system, the land tenure system also underwent drastic

changes.

The B1itish experimented with various land settlements measure and carried out resource

mapping of the region. Lord Bentick, the Govemor-General of British India deputed F.

Jenkins, an army officer to, 'to report on the resources in Assam'. After a due survey,

Jenkins, in his report, dated the 22nd July, 1833, advised' ..... settlement of English men of

80

capital'. 7 He advised that gr~nting lands to Europeans can bring about development in the

province. These suggestions were executed in the 'Charter Act of 1833' which sanctioned

Europeans to acquire lands outside Bengal Presidency. In 1834 the Company came up

with the 'ordinary land settlement' measure which classified lands according to their

productivity in order to fix the revenue rates. More than a half of the province was lying

as wastelands, covered with deep forests, long grasses and bushes. These were to be

managed by the 'Regulation of Wasteland Grant Rules of 1838' and the 'Rules for the

Lease of Sale ofWastelands8 in India, 1892'

The land settlement system practised by the Ahom administration did not burden the

people with heavy taxes. The Ahom rulers settled lands with different proprietorship viz.,

joint proprietorship, private proprietorship or special proprietorship. Under the 'Assam

Land and Revenue Regulation Act of 1886', permanent and the ryatwary settlements

were introduced by the British under which three different kinds of land ownership

emerged: (I) Proprietors, including owners of revenue free estates, wasteland grants and

permanently settled estates; (2) Land-holders, including the settlement holders of land

held directly from the government under leases for a period exceeding ten years; and (3)

Settlement holders, including those holding land directly from the government under

leases for a period less than ten years. Acquirement of the status of privileged ryat was

only possible after continuously occupying the land for not less than twenty years.

Permanent Settlement system was already introduced in Sylhet and Goalpara in 1793

because they were previously part of the Bengal province and for the rest of the Assam it

was introduced in 1886.

The British saw the land of Assam extremely advantageous to introduce tea plantation.

The Charter Act of 1833 made India a favourable ground for exploitation by British

capitalist and British capital flowed in for establishing tea industry. The first working tea

industry was established in 1839. The industry required a huge labour supply and the

non- availability of labourers was a major problem. This was mainly due to two reasons;

7 Subhas Saba, "Roots of Social Tension: A Study of Line System in Assam" in J.B. Bhattacharjee (ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Ninth Session. GIIII'ahati (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1988). p. 411

8 The term 'wastelands' was defined by this measure as 'an unoccupied land, the property of government, which the government has not disposed of by lease, grant or otherwise and which of such a character or in such a position that it is not likely to be taken up for the cultivation of the ordinary staples of the country within a reasonable time.' Excerpts from ibid., p. 412

81

firstly, scantiness of population and secondly, aversion of the people of Assam to wage­

labour. The scantiness of population was the direct consequence of the de-population of

the region during the times of Moamaria wars, Burmese invasion and internal

dissensions. However, natural calamities and dreaded diseases like cholera, kala-azar,

and small pox were also the reason for de-population. There were many reasons pointed

out by the scholars for the unwillingness of the people to work in tea-industry.

R.C.Kalita9 argues that the attitude of unwillingness was due to a hang-over of the past

when Assamese peasants were obliged to offer their labour in paik services under the

Ahom rule. The paik service came to be looked down upon during the last few decades of

the Ahom rule due to destruction caused by wars and invasion which deteriorated the

conditions of peasantry. This aversion to manual labour discouraged the people to work

as tea labourers. Other reasons could have been self-sufficiency in village economy and

unwillingness to leave home to work in tea-gardens and also natural indolence. In spite of

this, there was induction of Assamese labourers, a sizeable section from the Kachari tribe.

These labourers having strong local base capitalised their bargaining power and resorted

to strike in 1848 and again in 1859. To tackle the situation, the British encouraged

immigration of labourers from other parts of British India. The immigration policy

became a subtle method to supplement the local population in other areas as well.

The British also adopted the immigration policy in order to increase land revenue by

letting outsiders to settle as cultivators on lands that remained fallow for years in the

Brahmaputra valley due to scantiness of population. The administrators agreed that there

was much land available in comparison to manpower. Captain Butler, the Collector of

Nowgong, stated that it was not Ryatwari settlement that prevented the increase in land

revenue but the paucity of population. The British favoured the immigration policy to

help in increasing revenue.

Francis Jenkins, agent to the Govemor -General, Northeast Frontier and Commissioner

of Assam, strongly favoured the development and expansion of roads and

communications so as to make them conducive to large-scale immigration into the

9 R.C. Kalita, ·'Immigration to Assam: British policy and Assamese Middle Class ( 1826- 1900)" in David Reid Syiemlieh (ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Fourteenth Session, Jorhat (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1993 ), p.239

82

Brahmaputra valley, both in terms of the labourers and ordinary cultivators. 10 Strong

appeal was also made by the Directors of the Assam Company (Tea) to further develop

the steamer communication service. Transport and communication was in dilapidated

condition when the British took over the administration. Though the Ahom rulers had not

neglected this sector, but during the Moamaria wars and Burmese invasion, road repairs

became difficult due to distracted conditions.

The British extended the immigration policy to its administrative offices as well. The

British found the noble class of the Ahoms unsuitable to manage the administration,

hence they brought Amolas or Company officials from Bengal because the Bengalis were

more adapted to British administration due to their long association. The British not only

brought the Bengali officials but also introduced Bengali language in its offices.

Assamese was used for 15 years of British advent from 1826-1841, but soon Assamese

language was replaced with Bengali language. V. Venkata Rao says that perhaps the

British thought that Assamese and Bengali were one and the same language, though the

two languages were distinct. 11

The British made changes in the education policies by introducing Bengali in 1837 as the

medium of instruction. Bengali was also introduced as the Court language. After

annexation of Assam, the British promoted existing indigenous system. To encourage the

indigeneous system of education, Scott in October 1826 with the approval of the

Company, established eleven Sankrit medium schools. Till 1831 the people of Assam

were not introduced to English education but Bengali translation of English elementary

science books was made a part of the cuniculum. B.B. Hazarika in Political L~fe in

Assam: During the 191" Centwy (1987) has pointed out that due to frequent use of

Bengali translation of English works in schools the British thought it appropriate to

introduce Bengali in schools.

The policies introduced by the British had far-reaching consequences. Discontent spread

among the people, peasant dissatisfaction was on the rise and the Ahom nobility found

the new set of administration totally unfavourable to maintain their privileges and hold on

10 op.cit., no. 9, p. 239

11 V.Venkata Rao, "Assamese Nationalism" in J .R. Bhattacharjee (ed.); Proceedings of North East India History Association: Second Session, Dibrugarh (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1981 ), p. 262

83

Assam's administration. Resistance to the British rule came first from the noble class.

That was just a beginning of the furore that was about to come. The resistance mounting

from all quarters hardened with time.

RESISTANCE TO THE BRITISH RULE FROM NATIVE RULERS AND

NOBLEMEN

The reluctance of the British to restore the native government after expulsion of the

Burmese robbed trust of the native rulers from the British. With the enforcement of

British administrative machinery, the nobility lost its old privileges based on wealth and

services of the paiks and only some members of the Ahom royal family received pensions

from the new government. The unsatisfied nobility rebelled against the alien rulers in a

bid to regain its lost status.

The first strike of rebellion from the Ahom nobility against the British came from

Gomadhar Konwar, an Ahom prince, supported by the dispossessed ex-nobles of the

Ahom offices. Gomadhar took the opportunity to revolt against the British in 1828 when

the British had withdrawn a few troops from upper Assam and Captain Neufville, in

charge of the administration in upper Assam, was also away from his headquarters.

Gomadhar posing himself as Swargadeo organised the attack in upper Assam. Many

members from the ex-noble class like Haranath Gohain, Dharmadhar Rajguru, Denudhar

Konwar, Rupchand Konwar, Piyali Phukan and others were a party to the rebellion. The

British succeeded suppressing the revolt. Gomadhar was sentenced to fourteen years of

imptisonment. The revolt was significant as it was the first of its kind but was limited to

only the noble class. The revolt could not gamer popular support because the common

people were yet to understand the British politics and seeing the unsteadiness of the

Ahom rule in the preceding years, the people saw the British as their saviour.

Within a few years of the Treaty of Y andaboo, series of uprisings were organised against

the British. Haranath, an associate of Gomadhar's revolt remained underground in

Rangpur where he joined hands with Piyali Borgohain. The Assamese rebels made

Rupchand Konwar their king and tried to launch a joint struggle of the plains and the hills

against the British forces. Emissaries were sent to chieftains of various tribes, Khamtis,

Moamatiyas, Khasis and Nagas, and men were collected to launch the attack on 25th

March 1830. But no major damage could be done by this joint confederation due to

84

alertness of the British sepoys and this attack also failed. The rebel leaders were arrested

and Piyali Borgohain was hanged. Around the same time, the alliance of Khasi republic

fought the British and the Singhpos too organised a revolt.

The Khasi chiefs fought the British for four years from 1829 to 1833 under the leadership

ofU. Tirat Singh, the Siem ofNungklow, with the avowed purpose of resisting the rising

British occupation of the Khasi Hills. The Khasis fought valiantly but could not succeed

and ultimately U. Tirat Singh had to surrender in 1833. The Singhpos of the Patkai range,

who were already in contact with the leaders of Khasi insurrection, and the Assamese

rebels rose to revolt in 1830 but could not succeed. The Singphos rose to revolt again in

1848.

These revolts gave signal to the Company administrators that the positions of the native

rulers needed to be restored. David Scott suggested, 'It would be futile to suppose that

members of the ruling classes, whose ancestors had reigned in the valley for more than

five hundred years would at once give up all their hopes of future greatness upon the

appearance among them of a handful of strangers.' 12 The Company accepted Scott's

advice and restored native rule in upper Assam. The re-instating of Purandar Singha in

1833 as.the king of upper Assam did not last long; soon he was deposed following

accusation by the Company of maladministration and inability to pay charges to

Company. The whole arrangement of Singha's acquiring the ruling power was just a

B1itish tactics because there were many clauses attached to the agreement which the

British knew he would not be able to fulfil.

Upper Assam went easily into the hands of the British through trickery and force but the

same did not happen with the hillsmen. They continued to resist the British rule; the

Singhpos rose to revolt again in 1848. Even the Nagas, the Lushai (Mizos) and the

Garaos did not lag behind in organising revolts. The British forces were successful in

suppressing all these uprisings. The aversion to the foreign rule was already visible in the

years immediately following the imposition of British rule in Assam and Maniram's

intention of staging revolt in 1857 was the result of such aversion. But he too was

unsuccessful.

12 op.cit., no.6, p. 8

85

Maniram belonged to the Assamese noble family, who joined the services of the British

as revenue officer of upper Assam. At first, he strongly suppor1ed the British mle as it

was a sea change from the Burmese troubles and also sided with the British when the

nobility rose to revolt. He was made the Chief Minister when Purander Singha was

restored as king in 1833. But when the king was deposed he was made a mere Mauzadar;

he resigned from the post of Mauzadar. After which the British conferred on him

Deewanship but he remained unsatisfied and wanted the British to restore the native

government so he resigned from that post. He pleaded and petitioned to the government

for eradication of all evils of the foreign mle. In his petition he tried to draw attention of

the British not only towards the robbed status of the noble class but also the sufferings of

the common people. Maniram presented two memorials to Mills, one signed by himself

and the other on behalf of Yavaraj Ghanakanta Singha and the people of Assam. When

Mills did not pay heed to his pleadings, he submitted a memorial on 6th May 1857 to the

Governor-General in Calcutta on behalf of Kandarpeshwar Singha. In his memorial, he

pleaded for the last time to restore back the native government in Assam. His pleadings

went unheard and he became restless to find an alternative. Maniram's repugnance for the

British coincided with the Revolt of 1857. He became aware of the revolt engulfing other

parts of India during his stay in Calcutta and thus made efforts to inform Kandarpeshwar

Singha in Assam to prepare for the revolt. His purpose was to install the Ahom mle and

oust the British. But the information fell in wrong hands and the preparation for revolt

was suppressed at the embryonic stage. Maniram and Piyali Bama, who were a close

associate of Kandarpeshwar Singha, were hanged to death. Kandarpeshwar Singha was

deported to Alipur jail.

Maniram's revolt is diflerent from the revolts staged by other noblemen of his time. His

doings combined feudalism, medievalism, patriotism and modernism. There was no

doubt that he was a feudal representative and wanted the native mle to be restored so that

the earlier benefits given to the noble class could be regained, but at the same time he

also thought of the sufferings of common people and petitioned on their behalf to remove

the burden of taxes. He adopted the modem constitutional method of petitioning and did

not resort to impulsive uprising. Lastly, his patriotic nature cannot be forgotten, all he

wanted was to achieve benefits in the interest of Assam .. He was the first man who could

synchronise Assam's interest with the rest of India by initiating the revolt of 1857 in

86

Assam. Maniram and Piyali's martyrdom remained in the minds of the people who were

greatly inspired from them.

The background was already prepared by revolts from the noble class and the post 1857

period saw the climate of Assam surcharged with discontentment. Discontent mixed with

the impact of social change brought out an era of people's movement. The resistance

against the British ceased to be a plea for the restoration of native rule rather it took a

different form.

SOCIAL CHANGE AND MASS RESISTANCE TO BRITISH FORCES

Before the advent of the Btitish, there was no distinct class segregation or economic

competitiveness and the Assamese society was almost a homogenous one. The only

distinction was the existence of the noble section, holding the administration in their

hands. The advent of the British initially hit hard upon the noble class, who were losing

their power and status and, therefore, the first opposition to the foreign rule came from

this section. After the British firmly established their administration tackling all

opposition from the native rulers, a new situation arose in which class distinction became

very prominent. As power shifted from the hands of the East India Company to the

British Crown in 1858, more strident measures were adopted to multiply the sources of

revenue due to the demands of administration and increasing financial burden on the

government. The regulation and policies that were adopted by the British Raj changed the

very placid composition of the society.

The introduction of Land-Settlement Regulation Act of 1886 led to different types of land

relationships. Within the land-owners, distinction was made according to the size of land­

holding. This led to the formation of three different classes i.e., Zamindary class,

intermediary class and the peasant class. The peasant class was swiftly led to acute

poverty because the conditions entitled in regulation were so defective that it seized the

propriety right over land from the bulk of rural mass and became concentrated in the

hands of few. Besides the formation of various classes of ownership, the regulation of

1886 brought in tenancy system.

The British administered economy had been designed in such a way that slowly land

acquired value in market and became the best means of security for acquiring credit. The

87

peasants, who were already forced to live at the threshold of existence due to burden of

economic transformation, were forced to mo11gage land to money lenders, traders and

feudal landlords. Many peasants lost their independent lands and became tenants or

landless labourers. The alien rulers increased the rate of land revenue without caring

about the poor condition of the peasantry and this gave opportunity to the landlords to

exploit the peasants. As the peasants could not pay such heavy taxes, their arrears went

on increasing and thereby paved the way for rapid growth of debt and pauperisation.

Non-realisation of taxes forced the ryat to sell his or her lands at very cheap rate, even

house-hold utensils were not spared. 13 Colonial legislations opened all ways for feudal

exploitation.

The British rulers not only made land a valuable commodity but also a scarce one. The

condition of the peasantry in Assam was not much different from the rest of India but

certain conditions differed in this part of India which added more misery to the peasants.

The immigration policy introduced in Assam to invite outsiders as cultivators exerted

heavy pressure on land. At the beginning, the immigration policy found approval from

some of the leading Assamese gentry but soon as immigration became a regular feature,

the pressure on land increased at an unprecedented rate.

The British rulers tried hands at new sources of revenue like introduction of income-tax,

stamp duties, taxes for cutting timber, grazing tax and monopolised cultivation of opium.

To earn additional revenue, the government banned private cultivation of poppy in 1861

with the result that the opium users depended entirely on government supply of opium.

This measure had ruined the domestic economy of tribal areas where the consumption of

opium was much higher compared to other areas of the province.

Burden of taxes spread generated among the peasants of Assam. The prohibition on

poppy cultivation and then taxes on household and garden lands spread restiveness

among peasants, particularly in Nowgong, that taxes would be levied also on betel-nuts

trees and paan. The result was a public outburst in Phulaguri of Nowgong district,

inhabited mainly by tribal people like the Lalungs and Kacharis. The discontentment in

Phulaguri took the fom1 of uprising due to official arrogance.

13 Subhas Saha, "Emergence of Mass-organisation (Rayat Sabha) and its Role: An Experience of Darrang District of Assam" in J.B. Bhattacharjee (ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Fourth Session, Barapani (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1983), p. 191.

88

The incident occurred in the months of September- October in 1861 when peasants

demanded that the taxes on betel-nut and paan be withdrawn and that no further taxes be

levied. The peasants gathered at Sadar Court in Nowgong and tried to submit petition to

the Deputy Commissioner pleading for rectifying the measures taken by the government.

The Deputy Commissioner remained indifferent to the peasant's pleadings, and took stem

action against the peasants for trespassing by ordering fine and putting them in jail. The

people, however, continued their peaceful protest and upon the advice of village headmen

and peasant leaders, they decided not to pay taxes. Series of raijmels were held which the

government declared as unlawful assembly and even arrested some leaders of the mel on

17th October. Mass enthusiasm reached new heights, the peasants attended the mels

armed with lathis and on 18th October where thousands of peasants were gathered,

Lieutanant Singer, the Assistant Commissioner, proceeded with his police party to take

control of the situation, but was lynched to death by peasants who were already infuriated

with the whole situation. When the news of Singer's death reached the authorities it

created panic among the British officials. The District Magistrate ordered his force to fire

on a group of peasant demonstrators in Nowgong town on 19th October which resulted in

several deaths while several other peasants were imprisoned. 14 An inquiry into the matter

showed that the situation aggravated due to callousness of the British officials who ~

refused to hear the people's grievances.

The incident in Phulaguri came to be popularly known as Phulaguri Dhawa. It was no

doubt a peasant affair but it received sympathy and support from all sections of

population, be it money-lenders, traders, petty landowners or mauzadars because the

recent measure of taxation affected all sections. It was the first popular movement in the

post-1857 period and was spearheaded by Raijnzels or assembly of villagers. Village

assemblies were a regular feature of Assam from the time of Ahoms due to the existence

of khel system. It continued to exist in spite of changes in the agrarian structure. The

Raijmels would attract in its meetings thousands of villagers and some assemblies would

be convened with people joining from even the remotest of villages. If the meetings of

the mels could not be held in the open due to official close nook on mels, it would be held

in namghars and mosques. The meetings forged unity beyond religious consideration and

even class consideration to some extent. Raijmels continued to play a significant role in

1 ~ op.cit., no.6, p. 21-22

89

building up popular resistance and through the instrumentality of Raijmels a series of

upnsmgs were held in the districts of Kamrup, DmTang and Nowgong from 1892

onwards.

In the year 1892, the Chief Commissioner of Assam raised revenue rates by seventy to

eighty per cent and in some cases up to hundred percent. This raised anguish of the

peasants and a no-tax campaign was launched. Seeing the popular resistance growing and

Raijmels becoming active, the Chief Commissioner reduced the revenue by thirty-seven

percent but even this was not acceptable to the peasants. The government made no

consideration and resorted to firings to disperse the peasant demonstrators wherever they

gathered to protest. The incident at Patharughat in Mangoldoi subdivision on 28th

January 1894 was another incident where thousands of peasants had to face the police

firing which resulted in many casualties. On that day, thousands of people gathered to

face the District Magistrate of Darrang who had gone to Patharughat to suppress the

revolt. When the assembly refused to disperse, firing and bayonet charges were ordered.

Scores of l)'ots fell to police bullets and dozens were grievously injured. This was

followed by a wide-scale repression in the villages and the revolt was somewhat

contained. 15

Such incidents compelled the government to yield to the popular will and to reduce the

revenue rates. The most striking feature of such resistance in Assam was that while other

parts of the country witnessed mass-struggles particularly against the grass-root dominant

classes like money-lenders and zamindars, here its character was peasant vs state as

Manorama Sharma termed it. 16 Writers like Mishra and Guha 17 agree that the most

significant aspect of the peasant revolt was that it made a huge impact upon the

contemporary Assamese society. It created a wide base of support not only uniting the

peasantry but also drawing support· from the non-cultivating land-owning classes like

Brahmins, Mahantas and Dolois, who were the traditional rural elites and played a

leading role in the militant fight of peasantry against the government. The traditional

rural elite signified the emerging Assamese middle class and, therefore, these peasant

15 op.cit., no.4, p. 72 16 Subhas Saha, ··People's Raj in Assam: A Study of Socio-Economic Roots'· in J.B. Bhattacharjee (ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Fifth Session. A iz11·a! (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1984), p. 168. 17 op.cit., no.4, p. 73

90

struggles also created base for the Asssamese middle class. This explains why the

Assamese middle class in the later years found strong support from the rural masses. It is

important to understand how conflicts in this part of India gather momentum not as class

conflict but by establishing their foothold as language-cultural identity.

LANGUAGE: A SUPRA CLASS ENTITY

While with the penetration of British capitalism in the guise of colonialism brought class

conflicts in the centre-stage for most of the Indian provinces, in Assam the situation was

different. Here, class-conflicts were put into back-burner and language identity took the

centre-stage. The seed was sown in 1836 when under historical circumstances Bengali

language was introduced as the official language of Assam and it continued to remain so

until 1873. These dates did not mean that Bengali was used only within this period, in

reality it began to be used much before it was introduced officially and did not cease to

be used much after Assamese was re-introduced officially.

The policy of language had far-reaching implications in the polity, economy and society.

This policy did not affect the Assamese community universally; different social classes

were affected differently. But, the sentiment of all the classes as a result of this

experience was the same: that they were not being allowed to use their own language

which caused them immense hardship. This consciousness brought the feelings of various

conflicting classes together making language a supra-class entity. This was the pre­

condition that seemed to have preceded the emergence of a collective linguistic

patriotism. 18 Language, thus, became a symbol of collective unity transcending class

inequalities and ultimately attaining the stature of Assamese national identity.

Language has an implicit relation with class-structure and as class borne economic

inequalities then language that each particular class converse is bound to differ. Like

class-culture there may be class-language too; the tone and vocabulary of language

spoken by subaltern classes differ from bourgeoisie classes. The language spoken by the

former tends to be simple, raw and limited in vocabulary whereas the language of the

latter tends to be stylish, sophisticated, complex and rich. In the social milieu, the

18 Sajal Nag, "Language, Class and Superstructure: A Study in Aspects of Nationality Formation in the 19'h Century Assam" in J.B. Bhattacharjee ( ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Seventh Session, Pasighati (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1986), p. 454.

91

bourgeoisie classes may hold apathy for intermingling with the subaltern classes, but this

may not be the case when language is taken in the nationality context where all classes

represent the same cultural-social fold. Even if class segments speak different versions,

one single language is often attributed to a nationality. Though there may be linguistic

segregation on the basis of class- stmcture but nationality is presumed to be a

homogenous entity, pre-conditioned on the existence of a common language as means of

communication. This also means that linguistic issues cannot be treated in isolation from

nationality question and more fundamentally from class correlations existing on the basis

of their relations of production. 19

While capitalism brought class-distinction, it also brought homogeneity within classes,

may be only in disguise not in reality; a standard language becomes necessary in a

capitalist system because the market, which is the most important meeting place cannot

function without a standard language. The speech of the elite or the upper classes is

automatically recognised as the standard language, as the correct form of expression,

probably because literary pioneers belong to this segment. In contrast, speech of the

lower classes is treated as dialects and is taken as an offshoot or a distorted form of the

standard language. In between the upper and lower classes, there is petty bourgeois which

also talks a speech different from the other two. Language becomes means to participate

in the market relations and gain economic prospects. Thereby any hindrance to the

progress of a language is seen as hindrance to the development of that social group. This

makes language a supra-class entity when language attains the attribute of a nationality

and makes its distinction vis-a-vis other nationalities.

The Assamese case goes on to show this; such collective consciousness was elementary

to the birth of Assamese nationality and this consciousness emerged as a result of the

language policy that the British had introduced as a part of their capitalist mechanism.

The new classes that came into existence due to modem capitalism were new to the

administrative, executive and judicial system of the British and this proved a challenge to

them and to add to their misery, the interaction between the system and the classes had

become very difficult due to introduction of a new language, that was foreign to the

Assamese. We must see how different classes were affected due to the introduction of

Bengali language in courts and schools.

19 Prakash Karat, Language and Nationality Politics in india (Madras, 1973), p. IX

92

Due to transformation of the old economic system and introduction of money-transaction,

the peasant class had to face a lot of hardship. In the new economic system, the peasants

had to pay revenue in cash with which they were not familiar. With successive

administrators the revenue rates also kept on changing and most of the peasants could not

meet these expenses. The peasants got involved in litigations related to non-payment of

dues, suit of aiTears, dispossession of lands, recovery of wages, mortgage, etc. Due to

economic hardships, there was also rapid increase in crime-rate in burglary, cattle lifting,

theft, gang robbery cases and peasants were involved in many such cases. Since justice

was denied at the executive level as the administrators spelt no mercy to understand

peasant hardship and to settle amicably the revenue rates, rather the services had been

filled up with corrupt official who took the most advantage of the increasing revenue

rates, the last resort of justice for the peasants was the judiciary. But, the whole judicial

process was very incongruous to the peasant class because the language of the court was

Bengali. The great bulk of the Assamese peasants who attended the court whether as the

petitioner or witness could only speak and not even write in their mother-tongue. These

ignorant peasants had to present their petition in Bengali which they could neither speak

nor write, hence the peasants often failed to understand what might have been taken

down or recorded by transcribers. The Assamese peasants were often at the mercy of

these Bengali transcribers proving language to be a stumbling block in receiving justice

as far as the poorer peasants were concerned. 20 Even the Assamese functionaries found

the court language disadvantageous because they had to record evidences in Bengali

when the witness was heard in Assamese language. This means that the entire operation

needed a viva-voce translation. In this way, the process was time-taking and remained

unsatisfactory to the peasants and sometimes even disastrous due to wrong translation.

The social class of petty bourgeois, who were at a slightly higher level than the peasants

in the social ladder, were also put to a disadvantage because of the use of Bengali as the

official language. Not being well versed with the language they faced difficulties in

gaining employment. The petty bourgeoisie class that emerged out of lower bureaucracy

of the Ahom regime hoped to get employment in the new system. But the responsible

offices like that of mouzadar and chowdhwy went to the members of noble class of the

Ahom regime, hence the petty bourgeoisie could not find position in higher rank. Neither

'0 . - op.Cit., no.l8, p. 458

93

could they find themselves at the lower rank of clerks, Munsifs, Muhorir, Daroga, etc.,

which had been mostly filled by Bengali immigrants. The introduction of Bengali created

job opportunities for the Bengali language group who came to Assam mostly from East

Bengal. By the time the petty bourgeoisie had acquired education and appeared on the

scene, getting job had become very competitive and the Assamese were placed in a

disadvantaged position vis-a-vis the Bengali language group. The progress of education

was also very slow, hence the Assamese community could not compete well in the job

market. This also explains the late emergence of the Assamese middle class.

The Assamese students also faced hardship and the non-use of mother tongue in schools

was the major reason of students not faring well in examination. As early as 1853 this

was also acknowledged by Mills who strongly advocated immediate replacement of

Bengali by Assamese. 21 They were the Christian missionaries who rendered their service

for the promotion of the Assamese language. They encouraged not only English

education but also the promotion of Assamese language. As early as January 1837,

Rreverend Nathan Brown and Reverend Oliver Cutter of American Baptist Mission set

up a school in the far east corner of the province, i.e., at Sadiya.22 The American

Missionaries made Assamese as the medium of instruction in their schools. They also

extended their full support for the replacement of Bengali by Assamese. With time there

arose public demand for the replacement.

The demand for the replacement of the Bengali language by Assamese was confined to a

few individual members of the Assamese middle class, which was just emerging. Among

them, Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan was the first to put forward in his memorandum to A.

J. Moffat Mills the case for Assamese as the rightful medium of instruction for vernacular

schools. He argued that lack of progress in the education sphere was because of the use of

Bengali language in vernacular schools which was not clearly understood by teachers and

students. Though, Anandaram belonged to that section of the educated Assamese who

were well-versed in both Bengali and English, he sought justice for the Assamese mass

who were ignorant of Bengali language. He tried to convince for a separate identity of the

Assamese language in 'A Few Remarks on the Assamese Language' (1855). The cause of

Anandaram was supported by the American Baptist Mission through journals and scripts.

~ 1 B.B. Hazarika, Political Life in Assam: During !he 1 rJh Century (Delhi: Gyan Publishing House, 1987), p.411 2 ~ ibid., p. 410

94

Their efforts did not bear fruit until 1873 when Assamese was restored as the official

language of Assam. Though Assamese was finally restored as the official language, the

period had left a deep impact which historically came to be recorded as the first sign of

Assamese nationality consciousness.

At this point, the language policy affected various social classes as a 'class', and not as a

nationality. Language was becoming a supra-class entity. The Assamese middle class was

in nascent stage to take the leadership of the Assamese, they were still weak as a class to

infuse the ideology of linguistic patriotism or organise any powerful movement. The task

was carried on by the Missionaries who helped the formation of the Assamese identity.

Later on, the cause for Assamese identity was espoused by the Assamese middle class.

New ideas began to penetrate the Assamese mind. However, the collaboration of the

Assamese based on the criteria of language had initiated a new identity insignia which

was not seen in the earlier period.

PREPARING THE STAGE FOR ASSAMESE RENAISSANCE

The colonial movement of the nineteenth century was the most important in magnitude

and most fraught in consequences. Colonialism has been broadly described as the

interplay of three closely related forces, the economic, the govemmental and the

missionary objectives in terms of which social scientist have analysed social change.23

Assam's advancement in the field of education, trade and commerce due to British

administrative measures, the economic transformation from traditional economy to

market economy and penetration of new ideas espoused by missionaries had brought

about a new wave. The new wave was of nationalism but conditions particular to the

province had directed the trend towards more ardently espousing Assamese nationalism

than pan-Indian nationalism. We have already discussed the economic and administrative

forces, here we will discuss the missionary activities and its role in advancing education

that prepared Assam for the Renaissance movement.

The indigenous system of education continued to exist even after Assam was annexed

under the British rule and English administration was officiated in place of Ahom

23 Lop ita Nath, 'The Orunudoi: A Harbinger of Social Change in the Nineteenth Century Assam" in Manorama Sharma ( ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Twentieth Session, Dibrugarh (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1999), p. 165.

95

administration. The Ahom rulers had paid attention to education and for the development

of Tols, Satras and Pathsalas donated lands, but education under this system was

primarily religious and moral in nature. Towards the closing years of the Ahom rule, due

to civil wars and invasions education like other activities suffered tremendously but was

not abolished. A few years after the establishment of the British rule, the administration

found that the local population remained incapable of participating in the administration

due to lack of English education and to address this shortcoming of the local populace,

the British had to call immigrants from East Bengal for recruitment in its offices. David

Scott could sense the discontent arising among the upper classes which were not being

absorbed in the administration and to meet this problem, he planned to establish an

English school at Gauhati so that local students from the school could be recruited in the

administrative services. However, Scott's death in 1831 led to the postponement of the

plan. It was not just Scott who had thought about the matter, later on Major Jenkins also

discussed this in his report.

Major Jenkins, who was in charge of survey of Assam province, had strongly contended

in his report that in a backward province like Assam education should be a state

responsibility, as under the Charter Act, education was already made a responsibility of

the Company govemment. He also seemed to be perturbed by the fact that the Assamese

community was not being considered for posts in govemment offices. Writing to the

Govemment of India, he expressed the view that the few Assamese 'in their present

uneducated state do not suffice to carry on the duties of the courts' ... this being the

situation, the old families of Assam were losing their influence 'in their own native

province'; this state of things appear to me pregnant and evil and I know no other method

by which it could be remedied than by the Govemment taking some active measures to

provide instruction for the Assamese youths ... ' 24 He wrote to the government to establish

schools to impart English education at each of the Sadar station, i.e Goalpara, Gauhati ,

Darrang, Nowgong and Biswanath. The proposal sent by Jenkins was approved.

However, only one English school was established in 1835 in Gauhati under the name of

Gowahatty High School. A. Singer was appointed as the headmaster. The enrolment in

the school rose from 58 in 1835 to 340 at the end of 1840. The demand for English

24 op.cit.; no.6, p. 32

96

education became so high that within a short period branch schools were opened at public

cost in certain areas around Gowahatty (Guwahati).

It was during the same time that Bengali language was made the official language in

courts and as medium of instruction in schools. Language caused impediment to access

administration hence even in rural areas where the villagers under the new revenue

scheme had to interact frequently with the Amolahs found that they were easily deceived

and even the court proceedings were not legible and they had to face all these difficulties

because they were not educated. Interest was developing among the rural populace for

learning to read and write. 21 village schools were established by 1838. The government

had mostly concentrated its effort in the urban centres so as to prepare educated youths

who could be recruited in administration. In the villages and remote areas it was the

Missionaries who worked to provide education. Slowly, the pace began to build up and

many schools were established by 1860 with the efforts of the government, Missionaries

and the public.

English or Bengali served as medium of instruction in government schools but the

Missionary schools took to imparting education in the native language. The Missionaries

preferred Assamese to Bengali and even English. They even translated many works from

English to Assamese. Except for the Missionaries work, education still remained

concentrated in the affluent section of the society. However, the 'Wood's Despatch',

1857 repudiated the filtration theory that education should spread from higher to the

lower stratum and instead recommended the education of the masses. The progress of

education remained slow and the local authorities blamed the lack of zeal in people which

was refuted by Anadaram Dhekial Phukan in his 'Observations on the Administration of

the Province of Assam, 1853' 25.Higher education was still a far cry for the Assamese

students had to depend on Calcutta to pursue it, so in 1864, Mr. Murray, the Inspector of

School laid stress on Collegiate education in Assam.

The Gowahatty High School can be regarded as forerunner of modem educational

progress in Assam. The name of the school was changed many times as Gowahatty

Government Seminary, Gowahatty Government School and Gowahatty Zilla School. By

1866, the Gowahatty Zilla School was upgraded to Collegiate School and affiliated with

25 op.cit., no.l, p.ll 0

97

Calcutta University. Within a span of ten years, the college department of the school was

abolished due to unsatisfactory perfonnance in examinations, administrative lapses and

financial constraints. The decision was not taken amiably by the enlightened section of

the public. This was a hard decision for the student community who would now be

compelled to study outside Assam. In 1880, a petition was submitted to the

Commissioner, Sir S. Bayley, pleading for re-starting college classes and another petition

was filed to the next Commissioner in 1881. The petition was not accepted, however, a

scheme for providing scholarship to Assamese students passing the entrance examination

for studying in Calcutta College was introduced.

Public pressure began to mount in support of college-level education in the province. The

petitioners like Manik Chandra Barua and Jagannath Barua could create a climate of

public opinion over the years in favour of establishment of college in Assam to support

the need of higher education in Assam. The result of which was the Cotton College,

established in Guwahati in 190 1, which later became an important forum for the English­

educated intellengtsia and the youths in Assam for expressing their views and leading

popular movements.

The Missionaries had promoted the use of mother-tongue. Theu supported that Assamese

language should be made the medium of instruction. They argued that education should

reach every section of the population, which could only be made reality when the

medium of instruction was native language. After a fruitful attempt in Sadiya, the

American Baptist Mission established three schools in Nowgong, five in Kamrup and

fourteen in Sibsagar by 1845. The Welsh Missionaries established about six schools in

Khasi-Jayanti Hills by 1853 and similar efforts also started in Garo Hills. In the hill areas

they put the hill dialects into wtitten form, in the Roman script, and imparted education

through the use of this script. In plain areas, they carried on many concrete activities to

promote the use of native language. There was undoubtedly a propagandist streak in the

missionary activities, yet their painstaking work to establish the rightful claims of the

Assamese crossed the realm of mere propaganda. They prepared textbooks and books on

Assamese grammar, translated the Bible into Assamese, and Miles Bronson prepared an

Anglo-Assamese dictionary with 14,000 words. 26 However, the missionaries did not

discourage English education; in fact they encouraged English education for the sake of

26 op.cit., no.l ,p. 34

98

employment opportunities. The Missionaries also promoted pnmary education and

female education.

The Missionaries also introduced the printing press in Assam. The first newspaper in

Assamese, Orunodai (Dawn of Light), was published by American Baptist Missionaries

in January 1846 under the editorship of Nathan Brown. It continued its circulation until

1880 and during these years, it served as a means to unite the people on providing

Assamese its rightful place. Lopita Nath27 has stated that the Orunodai like the Dig­

Darshan and Samachar-Darpani of the nineteenth century Bengal heralded a new trend.

It brought a sea-change in the Assamese mind and its achievements paved the way for

social resurgence in the nineteenth century Assam. In the early years, it was used by the

Missionaries to express their evangelical ideas and also to fill the gap in the society .

which the education system had created due to non-development of native language. The

subscription of the journal slowly picked up with the Assamese community, whereas

initially most of its subscribers were foreigners and missionaries.

The Orunodai became the forum of debates and expressing opinions on issues like re­

introduction of indigenous language, necessity of facilities for higher education, problem

of women education, widow remarriage, adultery and marriageable age for boys and

girls. It played its role in the field of mass education in Assam. It not only served as the

mouth-piece of missionaries but became an effective means for the neo-educated

Assamese to express their views and reach the larger mass. It became a connecting string

between western and Indian civilisations by developing the 1ichness of the Indian culture

and developing a scientific bent of mind. The Orunodai set the impetus for the birth of

several other newspapers and journals.

Apart from these developments, development in transport and communications brought

people together and facilitated easy exchange of ideas and news. When the British took

over Assam, lack of communication proved to be a major obstacle in the development of

the province. The Burmese invasions in Assam left this sector along with others in

dilapidated condition. The British had made marked improvement after Assam was

brought under its rule. And with the development of the tea-industry, the development of

transportion through road, river and railways was being carried on at fast pace. The

27 op.cit., no.23, pp 165-173

99

regular commercial steamer service was opened in 1864 and by the year 1885, railways

were started in the district of Sibsagar. There was also development in communication

facilities with the introduction of post and telegraph facilities. They were Jagannath

Baruah and Manik Chandra Barua who submitted memorial to Lord Northbook urging

improvement in the transport and communication systems with Bengal which would help

develop Assam's resources.

Besides the propaganda and activities of the missionaries and the British administration,

there were few individuals who had tried to set the society in motion. The few

individuals, belonging to the upper echelons of the society, who had come forward to

question the British administration and time-old customs and traditions of the society

were an inspiration that could never fade away. However, with the advancement of

education and means of communication, the trend was being set to stage a popular force

at the forefront that was enlightened with western ideas, had a resemblance with the

common mass and was motivated towards bringing all-round development of the

Assamese people. Now, the swords of aspiration were not carried by a few educated

people of the Assamese society. A mass movement swept across Assam and that was the

coming of Renaissance.

THE COMING OF RENAISSANCE: THE BIRTH OF MASS-ORGANISATION

The end of the nineteenth century was emerging and evolving into a new phase of

political and cultural consciousness in Assam. It became very clear that with this growing

consciousness a firm force was developing that resorted to challenge the alien rule

through an organised effort. It was during the same time that the rest of India was also

breathing an air of discontent and was waiting to be rescued.

The grievances were now being ventilated in a frank and fearless manner. The Orunodai

. was the forerunner in giving popular expression to public grievances, but significant

contributions were also made by other newspapers to serve as the vehicle of public

opinion. Assam Bilashini (1871-83), an Assamese monthly, primarily dealt with religious

discourses but also ventilated public grievances. The Assam Sandhu ( 1885), an Assamese

monthly, was devoted to literature, history, current affairs. It also raised questions on the

bureaucracy, advocated the system of election to train people in the art of democracy and

called upon people to unite irrespective of caste, creed and community. The Assam News

100

(1880-81), an Anglo-Assamese weekly, made significant contribution in rmsmg the

standard of journalism and served as a vehicle for public opinion. Another very important

Assamese monthly journal that made its appearance was Jonaki. It was published from

Calcutta (Kolkata) and eminent Assamese litterateurs like Chandra Kumar Agarwala,

Hemchandra Goswami and Lakshminath Bezbaroa edited it. It made immense

contribution in the field of Assamese language and literature. It revolutionised the minds

of its readers through its literary crusade and indirectly contributed to raising national

consciousness. Politics was however expressed in this journal only in moderate terms.

But Bijuli (1890) published a series of articles related to political matters and encouraged

political views. There were many other newspapers and journals which had significant

contribution in creating public opinion. Assam's cultural nationalism was greatly

promoted and at the same time, these journals brought to the fore political matters.

The society, thereby, learnt more sophisticated manners of expressing grievances.

Literature replaced lath is and sporadic agitations were replaced by constitutional forms of

agitation. Assam had till then experienced popular outburst against British forces which

was spearheaded by the Ra!fmels. The Raijmels had put up big resistance movements but

could not be said to be well-organised bodies. They were rather huge assemblies of

villagers, provisional in nature and without definite membership and permanent office­

bearers. The Ra!fmels had played a pioneering role in the growth of mass-organisations.

Subhas Saha, explained that 'mass-organisation' does not mean masses in general for

masses cannot be considered as a kind of homogenous and a single group. In a classified

society, masses have been divided into several classes. Each class forn1s its own

organisation to represent its own aspirations. The social base of these organisations

depends upon its socio-economic and political orientation of the g1ievances. Mass­

organisations generally do not keep direct contact with political parties though it involves

in politics. 28 He shows the example of mass organisations like the Puna Sarwajanik

Sabha and the Indian Association, which confined their activities to press for increased

representation of well-to-do Indian elites in the government functionary bodies of the

British administration. On the other hand, the Bombay Workers Association played a

significant role in mobilising workers against colonial authority.

~8 op.cit.; no.l3,p. 184

101

The mass-organisations that emerged in Assam were distinct in nature. But, the most

common thread that made them similar was the leadership composition of these mass­

organisations. They were generally led by members belonging to Assamese middle class.

The Assamese middle class, because of absence of other dominant classes, stood forth as

the most dominant class in Assamese society from the last years of the nineteenth and

early twentieth centuries. So pervading was its influence that the value premises of the

Assamese middle class came to be accepted as the value premise of the entire Assamese

society.29 The distinction among classes could never become apparent because as soon as

the class formation began the Assamese society started experiencing external threat to its

existence which had affected all classes in some way, leaving no distinction wide enough

to enforce class conflicts. Therefore, as we have already discussed language became a

supra class entity, it was quite natural that the Assamese middle class would become the

torch bearers due to the expansion of modem education. It was this enlightened class of

Assamese which could play a meaningful role in intellectual development of language. It

is also important to note that situation faced by the peasant class provided an important

pre-condition for the awakening of Assamese nationality. Hence, peasants and their

issues provided backbone to the decision-making of the middle class.

From the end of the 19th century, the nature of peasant movement or other forms of anti­

British resistance began to change. The newly emerging social force, i.e., the Assamese

middle class was very different from the traditional leaders. The resistance that came

prior to the rise of Assamese middle class was in the form of sporadic and spontaneous

upheavals, be it from the noble class or the peasant class. The peasant uprisings,

Phulaguri Dmva or the battle of Pathurughat, reflected the militant nature of the

peasantry. The Goanburas led such up1isings through the Raijmels and the peasants were

ready to get their grievances redressed by violently attacking the state machinery without

leaving any room for compromise. The history of such spontaneous upheavals dates back

to the time of Moamarias, it was a peasant revolt against the Ahom monarchy, though it

was given the shade of religious upheaval and was against any consideration for

compromise. The place of Raijmels was now taken by the Ryot Sabhas led by the

29 Manorama Sharma, '·Peasant Uprising and Middle Class Hegemony: The case of Assam" in Jayanta B. Bhattacharjee(ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Tenth Session. Sillong (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1989), p. 325.

102

Assamese middle class and under whose leadership nothing like Phulaguri Dawa or

Pathurughator Ron happened.

In the changing phase when leadership was passing from the hands of traditional leaders

to the middle class, a peculiar feature was noticed. The peasant uprising that occurred in

1893-94 featured both traditional and modern touch. The period of violence of the

uprising was preceded by a phase of petitioning the government for the redressal of their

grievances.30 This was mainly because of the presence of both traditional and the new set

of leaders in the uprising. In the period after the uprising, there came an end to the

spontaneous militant uprisings and now resistance to British rule was led by the educated

class. The Assamese peasantry was unable to remain outside the sphere of influence of

the Assamese middle class, hence their existence merged with the aspirations of the

middle class.

A memorial of the Tezpur Ryot association in 1892 showed that it was drawn up by

pleaders like Lambodar Barha, Babu Lakshmi Kanta Barkakati and Manikanta Barha,

who belonged to the educated section. Such people represented the emerging middle

class in Assam. This middle class, in keeping with the general middle class ideology, had

an ideological orientation strongly tied not to the radical transformation of society but to

gradual reform. Therefore, when the middle class got interested in peasant affairs for

genuine as well as selfish reasons of its class promotion, a change also came in the nature

of peasant organisations.31 This will become prominent as we discuss the Tezpur Ryot

Sabha and other such Ryot Sabhas.

The Tezpur Ryot Sabha was formed in 1884 to protest against the enhancement of land

revenue and focussing attention on the sufferings of the peasants. It was founded by

certain members of the new elite, like Haribilas Agarwala, Lakshmikanta Barkakati,

Lambodar Bora, Jaidev Sarmah, Mohendra Dey and Thakur Das Sarmah. They were not

professionally tied up with the peasant class and belonged to the elite class. Like,

Haribilas Agarwala was a merchant planter, Lakshmikanta Barkakati was a manager at

saw mills and Lambodar Bora was a lawyer. It was a well-organised body and could

create a wide rural base. It had built the Tezpur To\\11 Hall with the help of small

subscription from the peasants in order to hold regular meetings of the Sabha and discuss

30 op.cit., no.29, p327 31 ibid., p328

103

on matters of political interest of the peasants. Thereby it could infuse political

consciousness in the minds of the peasants. It had not kept itself aloof from the

mainstream politics and this was evident from the fact that it had sent Kalikrishna

Barkataki as its delegate to National Congress in 1885 and continued to send delegates to

subsequent sessions of the Congress. It had succeeded in politicising the peasant class

and tried to bring different sections and interests together. With the emergence of Assam

Association in 1903, the Tezpur Ryot Sabha merged its activities with those of the

Association.

The Upper Assam Association was another organisation formed in 1880 that constituted

ryots of Sibsagar district. Radhakantha Changkakati, the Secretary of the Association,

stated before the Royal Commission of 1893 that the Association's aims and objectives

revolved around the improvement of the conditions of the peasant class by protesting

against any enhancement of taxes or any imposition of new taxes by the government.

Such being its declared stand, it was very likely that this organisation was suppressed in

the wake of the peasant uprisings of the 1890s.

By 1886, there were other popular organisations m the provmce like the Sillong

Association, the Nowgong Ryot Sabha, the Sylhet Association and the Habibganj

People's Association. Both the Nowgong Ryot Sabha and the Upper Assam Association

had played a prominent role in mobilising the peasants. The Ryot Sabhas had taken away

the role of Raijmels in their hands and were organised bodies and not ad hoc in nature

like the Raijmels. The meetings of Ryot Sabhas were regular unlike the ad hoc meetings

of Raijmels. The Raijmels were dominated by the rural elite and the middle peasantry,

where the peasants were more important than the leaders. The Ryot Sabhas were led by

the emerging middle class and the leaders were more important than the peasants. It has

been observed by some scholars that this change led to the peasant bodies losing their

earlier militancy. However, authors like Udayon Mishra say that it would be misleading

to compare the Raijmels with Ryot Sabhas because the former were people's assemblies

called to discuss urgent issues and to chart out actions whereas the latter were middle­

class led peasant organisations with a regular membership. However, all the Ryot Sabhas

discussed above were very local in character, but they did stir up political awakening

among the local people. As the society was mainly agrarian in nature, so peasant interest

became a benchmark for targeting British repressive measures.

104

The histmy of Assam was thus marked by a rapid growth of socio-political consciousness

and with the birth of organisations like the Jorhat Sarbajanik Sabha (JSS), the Assamese

middle class became more effective in demanding for improvement of the conditions of

the society. The JSS was founded in Jorhat in 1884 at the initiative of Jagannath Barooah.

The Sobha was established ' ... for the purpose of representing the wishes and aspirations

of the people to the Government, explaining to the people the objects and policy of the

Government, and generally ameliorating the conditions of the people.' 32 Though the

Sabha was based in Jorhat, its activities covered practically all important areas of the

province. Taking cue from the British-Indian Association and the Indian Association,

Jagannath Barooah collaborated with Manik Chandra Baruah to form the JSS in Assam to

raise political consciousness of the Assamese. Being composed of the educated gentry,

the Sabha like Ryot Sabhas did not believe in direct confrontation, but rather went ahead I

with only constitutional agitation. An important feature of all the mass-organisations was

that they were in the hands of the group that believed in moderate politics.

The Sabha had been able to appeal to a wide agrarian base by taking up the cause of the

peasants, whose conditions were worsening due to repressive measures of the

government. So, when in 1886, the Assam Land and Revenue Regulations was

introduced, it protested against the passing of the regulation as an ordinance rather than

placing the same for a discussion in the Legislative Council. In 1892, when there was a

sudden enhancement in land revenue, the Sabha boldly took up the cause of the peasants.

Protests and public meetings were held to criticise the government policy, which

compelled the government to reduce the revenue rates. The Sabha stood by the peasant

force when agrarian disturbances erupted in some places of upper Assam. In its memorial

to the Royal Commission of Opium, it pleaded for abolition of poppy cultivation, but

requested the government to conduct it in gradual manner. Apart from IJ!Ol issues, the

Sabha also concentrated on educational, employment and administrative fields and

pointed out the lapses which were detrimental to the conditions of the people and barred

their advancement.

The Sabha urged the government to take effective steps in developing the prospects of

higher education in Assarn. In its memorial of 14th December 1892, to the Chief

_;: Shrutidev Goswami. "The Jorhat Sorbojonik Sobha: Its Role in Socio-Political Awakening of Assam" in Jayanta B. Bhattacharjee(ed.); Proceedings of North East India HistOIJ" Association: Sixth Session, Agartala (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1985), p. 316.

105

Commissioner, it drew the attention of the government on the reduction of the number of

scholarships for local students and the abolition of the College Department of the

Guwahati School. The Sabha not only urged the Government to take positive steps in

matters of higher education, but also to keep the door open for the local youths to enter

such public departments like post and telegraph, forest, police and education. The people

of Assam had to fight a grim battle to re-establish the Assamese language. The Sabha

worked for establishing the 1ightful place for the native Assamese in the sphere of

employment. The Sabha upheld the claims of the sons of the soil. In the memorial of

1892, it expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the number of natives was extremely

meagre in the executive services. The Sabha did not want various posts to be exclusively

held for natives, but wanted three-fourths of the job earmarked for the local candidates. It

also expressed its grave concern over the frequent transfer of experienced officers from

Assam to other provinces. The Sabha felt Assam's backward conditions needed

competent officers to handle situation and to improve administrative efficiency.

When Lord Curzon visited Assam in 1900, it was this Sabha which presented an address

to him and made several demands politely. Improvements in the conditions of the ryats,

Assam's representation in the Imperial legislature, completion of Assam-Bengal railways

were some of the demands. With the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885,

the Sabha was also attracted to the national struggle. Many of its members took pm1 in

the Congress sessions and like the Congress of those times, the Sabha also had an image

of involving itself in all public affairs through moderate politics. Being composed of the

loyal, educated, urban-elite of upper Assam, the Sabha could never take anti-Government

stand and participate in Swadeshi and Boycott movements. However, the Sabha played a

very important role in fostering political consciousness and bringing Assam closer to

national mainstream. It had no doubt mobilised native interest and it expressed its opinion

irrespective of caste, creed or community. The Sabha gave the nascent Assamese middle

class the necessary training and the Sabha's activities encouraged active participation of

Ryot Sabhas's as well. The Jorhat Sarbajonik Sabha did not exist for long and was

dismantled due to internal discord and death of Jagannath Baruah, but it may be regarded

as the predecessor of provincial political organisation like the Assam Association.

The formation of the Assam Asoociation in 1903 led to the dawn of political awakening

to rise in full galore. Like the Sarbajanik Sabha, it did not pursue any policy of

106

confrontation and placed reliance on adopting a constitutional path. Close on the heels of

the formation of the Association, came the partition of Bengal that rocked the entire

country. Though the British rulers were firm in partitioning Bengal, yet the Association

was called upon as a formality to express its views. The Association not complying with

its moderate stand made a bold statement that the cause of Assam and the interest of the

people would greatly suffer. The Assam Association urged for an adequate safeguard to

Assam and the Assamese and stood for unity and integrity of Assam. But, the unity and

integrity of Assam was at threat. Cultural identity provided impetus for the expression of

mass struggle against the British rule. The trend had been setting from the time when

Bengali was adopted as medium of instruction and the language of courts. There had

been a sanguine urge among the Assamese since then to give Assamese language its

rightful place and this passion could be rightly called as Assamese nationalism.

THE ASSAMESE NATIONALISM AND THE FORMATION OF CULTURAL

ORGANISATIONS

'Of all the nationalism in North East India, Assamese nationalism is the oldest with a

chequered career'. It manifested itself in different forms at different times since 1837"­

linguistic, regional, racial and economic. The oldest of them was linguistic nationalism.33

How did language become the insignia of Assamese nationalism? When Ahoms came to

Assam, they did not impose their language as the state language but rather they adopted

Assamese as the state language. When B1itish came to Assam, they continued to use

Assamese in official work for 15 years from 1826-1841, but suddenly Assamese was

supplanted with Bengali. The cause of Assamese as the medium of instruction was taken

by the Baptist missionaries, which brought out the first Assamese newspaper, Orunodai,

which became a medium of conversation in the public front and also published Assamese

grammar books and dictionary. Petitions were submitted by few intellectual Assamese of

that time, and finally the decision of re-introduction of Assamese triumphed. But this

experience had left the Assamese with a bitter taste and suspicion grew of Assamese

being overshadowed by other communities, especially the Bengalis who had been

brought in Assam by the British to occupy government position.

33 V.V Rao, "Assamese Nationalism" in Jayanta B. Bhattacharjee (ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Second Session, Dibrugarh (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1985), p. 262.

107

There was also confusion on the different status of Assamese from the Bengali language;

some British officials had come to believe that Assamese was merely a distorted form of

Bengali language. The Assamese intellectuals had to make the case very clear that they

were a distinct people with a unique language and culture. Immigration became a very

sensitive issue in the coming years, the Assamese peasants faced stiff competition from

the immigrant peasants as the Assamese elites had to face stiff competition from Bengali

elites. The resulting economic disparity was added to religious and ethnic questions. The

Assamese elites utilised this opportunity to deepen the feelings of Assamese nationalism.

The Assamese nationalism took the shades of language conflict and provincialism. The

issue was economic, but later turned into a cultural issue and through the issue of

language the middle class gained foothold and popularised the sons of the soil theory.

Nationalism as in many developing countries developed as a reaction to colonialism.

Here, the Assamese were trying to put up fight against two forces- the English and the

Bengalis. The notion that seemed to grip the Assamese community, according to Sanjib

Baruah was "a 'developed' language is a sign of a developed people, so the

'development' of the language could be the road to the 'development' of the people

speaking that language". 34 This becomes _evident from the names of the organisations

born out of this context, like the Assamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha, meaning,

Association for the development of the Assamese language. As Lakshinath Bezbarua

wrote that the goal of such Sabha was to the enable the mother tongue to 'reach the

heights of other rich and prosperous language of the world and illuminate with its

glorious rays the face of... poor and backward Assam".35 Several organisations emerged

with the aim to promote and protect the Assamese identity and the Assam history

witnessed the birth of literary and cultural associations.

Influence of western education led to the formation of literary discussion groups in the

fourth and fifth decades of the nineteenth century. The earliest reference to the formation

of such an association might be found in the very first issue of the Orunodai where it

mentioned the existence of Gyan Sabha of Sibsagar. The Gyan Sabha was perhaps the

result of missionary efforts, but it was not confined to narrow bounds of religion. Though

H San jib Baruah, India against itself· Assam and th!! Politics of Nationality (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 72

35 ibid.

108

not much is known about its activities, it was attended by both Indian and Englishmen

who discussed various topics of modem science and also discussed cetiain issues like the

evil effects of opium. The impact of the Gyan Sabhas on the Assamese intelligentsia

became evident from the subsequent efforts made in this line by eminent Assamese

intellectuals of the time like Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan and Gunabiram Barua.

Anandaram was not only closely associated with the intellectual efforts of the Christian

Missionaries, but also kept himself abreast with the throbbing intellectual world of

Calcutta during the peak of the Bengal Renaissance. He attended the meetings of the

Bethune Society of Calcutta and also made his presence felt in its meetings. Anandaram

was so impressed by the intellectual world of Calcutta that in Assam, he formed a weekly

discussion group by the name of Gyan Pradayini Sabha in Nowgong in 1857, with the

help of Gunabiram Barua. The Sabha aimed at spreading advanced knowledge among the

Assamese. The Assam Desh Hitoshini Sabha was started on about lOth December 1855

by Priyalal Barua and others, with the objective of developing of modem Assamese

language and literature.

After the initial efforts of the Assamese intellectuals to form literary societies in Assam,

the theatre of such activities shifted to Calcutta till the end of the nineteenth century. The

main reason behind this was that the college level education had not developed in Assam

until the beginning of the 201h century and most of the students went to Calcutta to pursue

their higher studies. The outcome of such zeal led to the formation of the Assamese

Literary Society in 1872 under the leadership of Devicharan Barua and Gangagovinda

Phukan. The basis of such organisation was literary, but it had undercurrents of political

tone. In May 1872, two of its prominent members like Jagannath Barua and Manik

Chandra Barooah, made an appeal to the Viceroy to initiate necessary steps for the

development of the natural resources of Assam and linking Assam by railway with

Bengal. The Assamese Literary Society became inactive by 1885, but the seed implanted

by such associations remained fruitful in the minds of the Assamese students.

With the anival of Assamese students in greater numbers, the need to organtse

themselves in more effective manner was felt and this led to the formation of the

Assamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha (ABUS). The ABUS initially functioned as a tea­

club, but soon matured into a literary organisation under the guidance of students like

109

Hemchandra Goswami, L.N. Bezbarua, Kanaklal Barna and Radhakanta Barkakkati, who

later left a mark in the field of literature. The aim of the Sabha was to develop the

Assamese language from its feeble state to the level of richest and the most advanced

languages of the world. These included collection and publication of the old Assamese

manuscripts which had remained scattered all over the province in private collection of

individuals and Satras. In order to give a strong scientific base to the language, the ABUS

undertook the task of initiating a movement for the adoption of a correct, standardised

grammatical system in all the vernacular schools of Assam. 36

The ABUS had also undertaken the task of publishing Hemchandra Barna's magnum

opus, the Hemkosh and so enthusiastic were the students that the Government ultimately

undertook the responsibility of publishing the work under the able guidance of E.A. Gait.

The ABUS had also made significant contribution towards the development of folk

music, plays and religious rhymes. It invited Assamese scholars of the older generation

who were present in Calcutta to address the members of ABUS. The works of ABUS

were not only confined to Calcutta, branches were opened in Kohima, Tezpur, Dibrugarh,

Sibsagar, Nowgong, Golaghat, Jorhat, Barpeta, Goalpara and Gauhati by several

Assamese students who returned home after the completion of their studies. Besides

weekly discussions and cultural activities, it had also successfully launched the Assamese

monthly journal, Jonaki.

Jonaki was so very influential in revolutionising the literary field that the period after its

appearance was called the Jonaki Age. 37 Jonaki and other such Assamese journals could

infuse political awakening through literary awakening. Contributors of Jonaki drew

attention to the contemporary state of Assam and its economic dependence on foreign

goods. It hied to inspire the people of Assam's glorious he1itage of handloom industry.

Articles in Jonaki marked the foreign rule as the root cause of Assam's misfortune. Some

contributors like Kamalakanta Bhattacharyya insisted on the independence of Assam as a

self-reliant nation. The fear of being inundated and overtaken by stronger nationalities

was addressed by a stress on the separate identity of the Assamese people, which could

be ensured through economic progress and cultural advancement.38

30 op.cit.; no.l, p. 173 37 op.cit.; no.2l, p. 426-427 JR ibid.

ll 0

The writings of Lakshmikanta Bezbaroa also were a conscious attempt to highlight

Assamese culture and emancipation. Though his writings did not foster political

emancipation, but he did stress on the cultural resurgence of the Assamese. His poems

like 'Mor Desh' and 'Asom Sangeet' revealed his faith in Assamese nationalism, though

he considered it as a part of broader Indian nationalism. Two types of nationalism,

Assamese nationalism and pan-Indian nationalism, existed side by side in the writings

published in Jonaki and other journals. Hence, the struggle between the two kinds of

nationalism became a part of the Assam history. ·

The questions of identity began to emerge by the end of the nineteenth century and

became more intensified by the twentieth century. Self-consciousness of Assamese

nationalism also inspired the formation of Asom Sahitya Sabha in 1917 and the Assam

Chatra Sanmilan in 1916. These were primarily literary-cultural organisations that were

formed under the leadership of the Assamese middle class intellectuals. When we talk of

the intelligentsia we cannot ignore the contributions of the student fraternity of Assam.

The student community of Assam became an important group of opinion makers; they

were the nco-literate educated elite group whose role had been impressive. The post­

independence student movement of Assam owes its origin to the nineteenth century

students of Assam who had pledged to work for the cultural advancement of the

Assamese nationality.

The establishment of Cotton College in 1901 slowed down the movement of Assamese

students to Calcutta with the result that Gauhati (Guwahati) became the most imp01tant

centre of literary activity of the students of Assam. At Uzanbazar in Gauhati (Guwahati),

an Ekta Sabha (Union Society) was formed by students in 1905 with the purpose being to

serve the cause of literature. The organisation Ekta Sabha, worked for the same cause but

were local in character as they had no branches. Hence, there was the uniting force

among the student community but no umbrella organisation that could unite them

literally. Lord Curzon's scheme of partition of Bengal (1905) acted as a catalytic agent.

The Assamese sentiment opposed the partition like the national sentiments that went

against the partition. The partition had proposed the scheme of clubbing Assam with East

Bengal, which the Assamese thought \Vould be dangerous because they would have to

face competition in a larger province with persons more advantageously placed in the

Ill

field of education and economic developm~nt. It was also a danger to the Assamese

language and literature, which already had to pass through a traumatic period when it was

virtually abolished from the officialdom in the earlier century. A strange phenomenon

was experienced, though Assam was awake to the threat to Assamese language, yet it did

not move back to join hands with the Indian national sentiment. The students stirred up

the Swadeshi movement mouthing slogans of anti-partition, singing patriotic songs, held

meetings and procession; this movement had brought the Hindus and Muslims together as

well as the students were fermenting with a new spirit of pan-Indian identity. The famous

trio-Lal-Bal-Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal) had

tremendous influence over the youths.

The uniting efforts of the anti-partition movement came to be directed towards organising

a united association mainly on the literary plank. In April, 1915, the Maharaja of

Burdwan convened the Eight Bengali Literary Conference, which was attended by some

of the lecturers of Cotton Collegeaccompanied by a few Assamese students. The

Assamese students like Chandra Nath Sarma, Sarbeshwar Sarma and Haramohan Das

who attended the Conference felt greatly encouraged to arrange a similar literary

conference in Assam. As a result, the Assam Education Conference was held in 1916

which was attended by government servants and literary stalwarts. The students

organising the Conference came up with the idea of forming a united students

organisation, but could not reach an unanimous decision. Hence, they sought opinion of

the leading citizens of Gauhati (Guwahati) from whom they got lukewarm response. The

students got support from the earlier established organisation Ekta Sabha, which fmmed a

committee to discuss the matter. The Committee report favoured the establishment of an

Assamese Students Literary Conference, the Conference had its first session on 251h

December, 1916, the name of Assam Chhatra Sanmilan was proposed to replace

Assamese Students Literary Conference for under such a name it would be able to carry

out broad-based activities seeing the then condition of Assam and not just confine itself

to purely literary activities. The Assam Chhatra Sanmilan started its journey with two

main purposes in mind: to improve the condition of the Assarnese student community in

all possible ways, be it literary advancement or harnessing mental and physical faculties

and that the Sanmillan had nothing to do with political propaganda or political

movement.

112

The aims of the Sanmillan were not only to work out for the enrichment of the mother­

tongue but also to build up a movement for the fruitful exchange of views of school and

college students of Assam. Though initially, the Chatra Sanmilan sought to keep politics

out of its purview and mostly concentrated on literary, social and economic issues, but in

the later years it supported the participation of students in the national politics. It was

during the 1921 Non-Cooperation Movement, that the Sanmillan members started

participating actively in political matters. It helped to rear up a conscious group of

Assamese students led by men like Chandranath Sarmah and Omeo Kumar Das who

played an important role in the Non-Cooperation Movement and were inspired by

Gandhi's call to the Movement. From then on, the Chattra Sanmillan did not move back

whenever the call for playing active role in politics came. Its members constituted the

bulk of volunteer-corps at the first-ever Congress Session held in Assam i.e. at the 41st

Session of the Indian National Congress ( 1926) held at Pandu near Guwahati. The role of

the Sanmillan became more enhanced when Assam had to execute the call for Civil

Disobedience Movement by the Lahore Congress and many senior Congress leaders

vacillated to carry the message of the Lahore Congress to the people. The responsibility

felt heavily on the Sanmillan who did not remain behind in performing its role and helped

the people of Assam make notable contributions to the movement. When the

Cunningham Circular banned students from participating, the students responded by

boycotting government or government-aided institutions. It was during this time that a

number of non-government institutions came up like the Kamrup Academy inGuwahati,

Barpeta Vidyapith in Barpeta, Tezpur Academy in Tezpur.

The Sanmillan became the means of attracting students of Assam to participate m

political movements and issues of national importance.However, it carried on the zeal to

catTy forward literary activities. Its publication among others were 'Milan', an quarterly

magazine, 'Sanmilan Prabandhavali ', record of conference proceedings, presidential

address and articles and 'Hemchandra Barua Memorial Volumes' in which both original

and translated works were published. The Sanmillan contributed richly to the cause of

Assamese literature and culture. It invited eminent literatures, educationists and political

leaders to its annual sessions. The involvement in the activities of the Sanmillan brought

out a set of budding authors from the student community who ultimately emerged as

literatures of eminence in the course of time. At the same time it also proved to be the

early training ground for many leaders of the freedom movement of Assam. It acquired

113

the stature of a national organisation for the people of Assam and a fraternal organisation

for the student community; it forged a bond between the students and the general public.

Hazarika analyses that the different literary organisations not only strengthened the

confidence of the Assamese people in their own cultural identity, but also helped to form

the backbone of a movement for national revival in the province. The concept of

'national revival' was sometimes confined to the narrow bounds of regional and ethnic

movements, yet the formation of such organisations marked the development of a new

political awareness amongst the Assamese middle classes in the nineteenth century.39

This brings us to our preliminary argument that cultural and political resurgence in

Assam were interlocked with each other. As we have discussed above, most of the

literary-cultural associations that sprang up could not remain devoid of politics because it

was not only the need of the time but also the need of the people, who could be made

aware of issues. So these organisations became the mouth-piece of people's aspirations.

And when issues were discussed in the public forum as most of the organisations did

through annual sessions, public proceedings and literary articles then politics cannot be

ignored and, moreover, it does involve the public authorities as well. At the same time

these organisations could not be earmarked as purely literary or political because they

had worked beyond literary venture while at the same time not getting directly involved

in politics. Hence, we prefer to call them cultural organisations. However, most of these

organisations began to fade away even before Indian independence because the Congress

became the umbrella organisation of the people. However, the Asom Sahitya Sabha

continued its existence and later on became the most popular cultural organisation of

Assam.

Closely following the heels of many predecessor organisations, the Asom Sahitya Sabha

started functioning with the chief objective of bringing all-round improvement of

Assamese language and literature. It had worked religiously through many decades to

bring Assamese cultural-linguistic identity to the forefront and became the hallmark of

Assam's cultural and literary advancement. The Sabha from its initial years had made

appeal to the authorities to promote education in Assamese language and facilitate the use

of Assamese language not only in offices but also while printing government forms and

notices. The Sabha had taken up the issue of Assamese language within the state of

39 op.cit., no.21, p. 176

114

Assam and also outside Assam, like introducing Assamese language course in Cooch

Behar College and introducig B.A. in Assamese in Calcutta University. However, its mild

tone acquired a 1igid note in the post-independence era which stirred up ethnic

consciousness among other ethnic groups of Assam, especially Bodos.

The Bodos, too, not staying far behind, had formed the Bodo Sahitya Sabha in 1952 and

within a span of few. decades Assam's cultural and political atmosphere was ·surcharged

with solidifying a separate identity for tribals. Though the Bodos had been culturally

close to the Assamese and contributed immensely to Assam's composite culture, yet they

protested against their assimilation with the Assamese. The demand for Udayachal or

Bodo land is the evidence of their strong identity manifestation. These differences did not

come in a span of few years; there were historical reasons for it. The Bodos based their

distinction on historical evidence; in fact, they claim their identity in the Brahmaputra

valley to be much older than the Assamese identity.

HISTORICAL CHRONICLE OF THE BODOS

There are several names given to this stock of the Tibeto-Burman family. This group

is known by the name Bodos or Boros in the Brahmaputra valley. There are several

other names, for example they are called Mech in Goalpara district of Assam and

Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal and those living in the east of Kamrup district of

Assam are called Kachari. In the North Kachar Hill district they are called Dimasa,

the dwellers of North Lakhimpur and Nowgong districts call themselves Sonowals.

The most popular name of this group is 'Bodo', though there are arguments in favour of

calling this group as 'Boro' rather than 'Bodo'. Moshary40 says that this is clearly

misinterpretation, the term 'Bodo' applies to the whole race consisting of many tribes of

North East India, and the 'Boros' are one of them. Even Brian Hodgson confers the

generic name 'Bodo' on the Boros and other cognate tribes belonging to the same

41' R.N. Moshary, "The Boros: Their Origin, Migration and Settlement in Assam " in J.B. Bhattacharjcc

( cd.); Proceedings of North East India History Association: Fourth Session, Barapani (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1983), p. 42-67

115

language family. 41 Bodo, however, is purely anglicised word for Bora aswriters m

English use 'D' when an Indian word 'R' is transcribed

The Bodos were from the north of Himalayas and north-west China and as this country

was known as Bod( land of snow) so this section was called Bodo. The inhabitants of the

Bod country was known as 'Boddo-Ficha' or 'Boddo-cha' which meant children of the

Bod country who were later called as 'Bodo'. The Tibetans called their country in the

early days as Bodpa, their language as Bodpat and a Tibetan person was called Bodpa, so

Bodo drawing its lineage from the Tibetans is called as 'Bodo'. In Kachari dialect the

tetm 'Bora' means 'men'. S.N. Wolfenden says that the word 'Bora' originated from the

Tibetan word Brag which means steppes, so Bora means the descendents of the

steppes.42 There is also a Bora legend which depicts the origin of the Boros directly from

the Hindu God Shiva. They believe they are descendents of the first man, 'Mon-sin-sin'

who is identified as Shri-Borai ( Shiva).

The Mechs and Kachari names also have their own tales; some say that these names

are derived from their original homeland of Bod country, that those who came from

Mecha and Kucha territory of that country were called as Mechs and Kacharis

respectively. Charu Chandra Sanyal writes that a section of the Boros in course of time

had moved towards west along the foot hills of the Himalayas up to the river Mech

between India and Nepal and so is called Mech.43 There are also other versions which

claim that Mechs are descendents of Meche!, one of the three brothers born to Purango

and Simnia of Nepal. The name Kachari, according to the legend, is derived from the

fact that they are people who once inhabited the Khachar country, the name given by

the Nepalese to the tract between the Brahmaputra and the Koshi rivers. There is a

Bodo folk song which explains the origin of the Kacharis, that they are originally from

the Himalayan region, their language is a blend of Bodo, Tipperas and Dimasas and all

these tribes upon entering Assam had settled down in the Brahmaputra valley and that

they are the first settlers of the Brahmaputra valley. The Kachari (Bodo) tribe has for

long tried to establish the fact that they are the first settlers of the Brahmaputra valley.

41 Bijoy Daimary, "Boro and Bodo" in J.B. Bhattacharjee (ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Eighth Session, Kohima (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1987), p.528 42 op.cit., no.40, p.44 43 op.cit., no.40, p.46

116

Their claim of being the earliest settlers of the Brahmaputra valley is accepted by

many historians like Rev. Endle, J.D. Anderson, Edward Gait and K.L. Barua. Rev.

Endle holds that the Bodos are the autochthones44 of Assam.45 These eminent

historians agree that the Bodos are the earliest known settlers, prior to the advent of

the Aryans in the Brahmaputra valley. Their racial features, linguistic characters and

customs suggest that they are the earliest known inhabitants of the Assam valley. This

assumption is derived from the fact that the Bodos use the term Korosaris in their folk

tales to refer themselves, which means 'first settlers'. There is also reference to the

term Pra-Aris which means a 'sea-race'; the Bodos consider themselves to be dwellers

on the sea coast, which can be because the Bodos are predominantly found on the

bank of Brahmaputra river and its vastness is equivalent to the sea. This belief of

being the first settlers is much debated and is a highly contentious issue.

There are also controversial notes as to the routes of migration taken by the Bodos to

enter Assam. The most common assumption was- as the Bodos were the immigrants

from the north, they must have taken mountain passes and river courses from the north

or north-eastern side. The process of migration in the north-east has been a continuous

process and to suggest that there must be one particular route is slightly impractical.

Immigrants must have followed the courses of big rivers like Teesta, Bralunaputra,

Dharla and Sonkosh and also mountain passes like Punsling, Karikola bazaar,

Zomduar, Gelemphu, Sandrup Jhongka, Bhairabkhund. Rev.S. Endle46 referred to his

book, The Kachari that the Bodos migrated into Assam possibly through two routes -

the first flow was into the western Assam via north Bengal through the valley of Tista,

Dharla and Sonkosh river and founded the powerful kingdom of Karnrup. The second

flow was through the Subansiri, Dibang and Dihang valley into the eastern Assam

where they established the powetful Chutia kingdom. The Bodos like any Indian

ethnic group are an admixture of various races and cannot be called as pure

Monogoloid stock. They are descendents of not only the mongoloid race but an

admixture of Mundas, Mon-Kluner, Khasis and the Aryans.

4~ Any of the earliest known dwellers in a region; an original inhabitant, an aboriginal . [Gk autokhthon indigenous, f. AUTO+ khthon earth, soil.] Source :Oxford Talking Dictionary 45 op.cit., no.40; p.49 46 S. Endle, The Kachari (Delhi: Cosmos Publications, 1975), p. 3

117

Studies based on old chronicles have discussed about the Bodo regarding their origin,

linguistic characteristics, migration and other queries. A Statistical Account of Assam

by W.W.Hunter47, Hist01y of Assam by E.Gait48 and Kachari Buranji by S.K.

Bhuyan49 are basic documents on Bodo tribes. There are also other studies that have

helped to understand the Bodo characteristics, like the study of physical traits by

B.M.Das50, language by B.K.Kakati51 and P.C. Bhattacharya52 and socio-cultural

study by Bhaben Narzi.53

The Bodos occupied the plains of Assam till they were overwhelmed by the latter

arrivals. It appears that the Bodo immigrants before penetrating into the heart of

Assam must have settled along the foothills of the Himalayas. A good number of

scholars refer to the group that resided along the foothills of the Himalayas as 'Kirata'

for they came from the Himalayan region. The term 'Kirata' was mentioned in

Yajurveda and Atharvaveda; they were dependent on fruits, roots and tubers, their skin

colour was yellow, used fierce weapons and actions were cruel. 54 The Bodos are the

descendents of the Kiratas. The Bodo immigrants moved on to different directions;

one section that moved along the west of the foothills of the Himalayas up to river

Mechi were called Meches, some moved further north into Nepal i.e Kachar country

and came to be known as Kacharis, a great number of them crossed the Sankosh river

and came into Assam and they proceeded along the courses of the Brahmaputra river,

they also gradually pushed into Mikir hills and came to Cahar district of Assam and

then also penetrated Tripura and foot of Naga Hills.Their movement later on was

restricted by the Ahom rulers and they began to live as subjects of the Ahom rulers. As

the Bodos were migratory people, they spread to various areas. Hence we find traces

of Bodo tribes in Assam, North Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, of India and

also in Bangladesh and Nepal. Hence, a large number of tribe speaks the Bodo

language.

~7 W.W. Hunter, A Statistical Account of Assam: Vol 1, Reprint (London: Turbner & Co, 1975) 48 E. Gait, A History of Assam, Third Edition (Guwahati: L.B.S. Publications, 1984) 49 S.K. Bhuyan, Kachari Buranji (Gauhati: Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, 1936) 50 B.M. Das, The Peoples of Assam (Delhi: Gian Publishing House, 1987) 51 B.K. Kakati, Assamese -Its Formation and Development (Guwahati: Lawyers Book Stall, 1972) 52 P.C. Bhattacharya, 'The Boro Language and Literature', The Assam Tribune, Gauhati, 1972, p. 3 53 Bhaben Narzi, Boro-Kacharir Samaj Aru Sanskriti (Gauhati: Bina Library, 1985) 54 Siddheswar Sarma, and Premlata Devi, '"A Brief Account of the Boro-Kacharis of Assam" in David Reid Syiemlieh (ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Thirteenth Session, Siil/ong (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1992), p. 97

118

Those who speak the Bodo language are the Kacharis, the Meches, the Garos, the

Rabhas, the Tripuris and the Koches. The Morans, the Chutias, the Lalungs, the

Sonowal Kacharis, the Thengal Kacharis, the Dimasa Kacharis and the Hazongs also

speak the Bodo language having partial influence of Bengali and Assamese languages.

The Bodo language belongs to Tibet-Chinese linguistic stock.

The migratory nature of the Bodos suggests that they practised jhum cultivation. They

found in the exhaustion of the soil a necessity or in the high productiveness of the

new, a temptation to perpetual movement. This also means that they left traces of their

culture in many parts. A Bodo rhyme tells us of the migratory nature of the Bodos,

which when translated in English means-

He had his home in Jalpaiguri district, There being no peace, he migrated to Goa/para. He found no peace there too, His heart became full of anxieties and heavy sigh. He saw peace in Dan·ang-Kamrup in the east .... Alas! no peace awaits him there too. There being no peace in Darrang-Kamrup too. The next thing he said, 'Let's move to Gogamuk'55

The influence of the Bodo culture can be found everywhere; certain names of rivers

and places are traceable from Bodo words. Bodo names of various places and rivers

are preceded by 'di' or 'doi' and as such names of many places and rivers are referred

by these prefixes like Dihong, Dibong, Dihing and Dibrugarh etc. Even the name of

the mighty river Brahmaputra is said to have derived from the Bodo word

Bullungbutar which means 'big river making gargling noise' and the Brahmaputra's

other name Lohit is derived from the Bodo word Lauthau meaning long and deep.

Even the historical name of Assam, Pragjyotishpur is said to be Sanskritised form of

the Bodo name Prajutoipur meaning most powerful kingdom on the sea side. The root

source of the names of both Kamrup and Assam is said to have come from the Bodo

language. Kamrup is said to have originated from the Bodo word Kamlap meaning

burnt ashes and Assam from the word Ha Com meaning black soil. Likewise, many

names of places of Assam are said to have originated from the Bodo language. The

Bodos say that their long standing influence on the culture of the present Assam and

55 opcit; no.40; p. 58

119

wide range coverage of their language can prove beyond doubt that the Bodos had

established political supremacy throughout Assam until the arrival of the Ahoms.

The Ahoms, a distinct branch of the Tai race had laid the foundation of their kingdom

by the thirteenth century A.D. And within the first three hundred years of their rule,

the Bodos had gradually disappeared from the field of political activities. This process

continued till 1535 A.D. when the mightiest Bodo state of Assam - the Dimasa

kingdom was destroyed by the Ahom troops. The emergence of Ahoms as a powerful

force after the foundation of their capital at Charaideo was an event of significance in

the history of the medieval Assam. Apparently, in status their position became

something like that of a challenger to the indigenous dynasties -the Chutiyas of Sadiya

and the Dimasas of the south-east, the formidable exponents of Bodo aspirations in

Assam. 56 The reduction of the Dimasa kingdom into a status of vassalage in 1536 AD

was part of Ahom policy and thereafter the relations between the Bodos and the

Ahoms in Assam became that of subjects and overlord, at least theoretically. The

Bodos, who took pride in being the first settlers of Assam had to fight for the survival

of identity. It began with the Ahom rule and later on they were overwhelmed by the

Assamese; taking advantage of new avenues set by the British and the Bodos were left

far behind.

The Bodos were relegated to the background and had suffered several attacks that

were aimed at finishing their independent identity. A memorandum of the Bodos

submitted to Bhupinder Singh Committee appointed by the Center to study Bodo

issues, states, "whosoever and whatsoever name the Bodos may be known to others

now, after all, the allied tribes belonging to the great Indo-Mongoloid living in the

proposed Bodoland territory are often same Bodo groups. Ethnically speaking, the

majority population of the proposed Bodoland territory has got its own distinct and

quite separate ethnic identity and background which is completely different from that

of Assamese."57

56 Debasis Sen, "Bodo-Ahom Relations ( 1200-1536 AD): A Political Study" in J.B. Bhattacharjee (ed.), Proceedings of North East India History Association: Fauth Session, Barapani (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1983 ), p.91 57 A memorandum to the three member expert committee under Dr. Bhupinder Singh, on Bodo issues­by All Bodo Student Union -1991

120

CULTURAL DISTINCTION OF BODOS

Linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji recognises the impossibility of strictly separating Bodos,

along racial lines, from the Assamese and some of the Bengali-speaking people of today.

He says that there are traces of the influence of Bodo languages and Bodos were clearly

'the most important Indo-Mongoloid people in Eastern India, and they form the main

bases of the present-day population' of the Brahmaputra valley ... and Assam was the

'country of the great Bodo people' But at present, the Kirata Bodo have merged into

Bengali and Assamese speaking people- Hindus and Muslim alike. 58

M.S. Prabhakaran made some insightful comments on the nature of Bodo-Assamese

intermix. While many ethnic Assamese facing the early phases of the Bodo rebellion

might have begun saying that the Bodos were Assamese, he noted, 'the eager apologist

will never reverse the equation and claim that the Assamese are Bodos.' Prabhakaran is

particularly sensitive to the unequal terms on which the Bodos were historically

assimilated into the Assamese formation. It is this inequality that has led Bodo activists

today to repudiate the process and to assert the distinctiveness and equality of the Bodos

vis-a-vis the ethnic Assamese. He wrote that it was doubtful that Bodos were really

considered part of Assamese society 'while they remained Bodos'. Their 'acceptance into

the Assamese society' was dependent on 'their acceptance of Hinduism, which also

meant, in course of a few generations, the loss of the native speech and the adoption of

the Assamese language'. Those who remained outside the Hindu caste order remained

'Kachatis' a term which at least in private conservation among caste-Hindu Assamese,

continues to have its traditional pejorative connotation. 59

On the contrary many scholars have argued that the ethnic Assamese, both Hindus and

Muslims, are separated by only a few generations from their tribal cousins. Many of the

tribes of the 'Bodo' group like Mech, Tipperah, Chutiya, Lalung, Rabha, Kachari and

others have accepted the Hindu caste order. Those who have completely joined the

Assamese formation no longer may identify themselves as tribal after a generation or two

and may not even speak the tribal languages. There has been a steady decline of those

speaking tribal languages as their mother-tongue. For instance, the Rajbonsis of western

Assam deny that there is any affinity between them and other tribals though they trace

58 op.cit., no.34, p. 179-180 59 ibid.

121

their lineage to the royal family of Koch Behar, who in tum trace their lineage to the

Mech tribal leader Haria.

Gait has vividly described that Vaishnavism had played an immense role in bringing the

tribals to the Hindu fold. He has described how the Koch community, which is no longer

a tribe, became a part of the Hindu caste order. The conversion process gave different

names to Koch sub-caste. He said in most places the first stage is the 'Sarania', it refers

to 'Saran' meaning the feet of the Guru. SmTendering at the feet of the Vaishnava Gosain

was the ritual of conversion to Assamese Vaishnavite Hinduism.60

However, the Bodos have drawn strong boundary lines between their cultural traditions

and those of the Assamese; they have rejected the assimilation that the Assamese had

carried out centuries back. Bodos of the Brahmaputra valley do not affiliate with the

Vaishnavite culture. In the opinion of Endle, Stack, Gait and others, the Bodos are

animists whose underlying principle is one of belief in, fear and dread of, the supernatural

powers. But Mosahary does not agree with this contention. He says that this is a hasty

generalisation and does not stand the scrutiny of logic. 'The early British rulers, writers

and the Christian Missionaries had the knack of calling the people of the primitive

cultures and non-Christian tribals as pagan, heathen and animists.' 'The traditional

religion of the Bodos is not animistic but Bathousim, presided over by the Supreme God

Bathou Borai or Bathou Raja. ' 61 The religion is monotheistic in its origin but polytheistic

in its form of worship. Different Bodo legends, folk-tales and rituals have embedded the

belief in Bathou Borai alias Bathou Raja, who is supreme and creator.

Bathou is an amalgam of two words- 'Ba' meaning 'five and 'Thou' meaning 'deep'. It

is a religion of five deep meanings. 'Aham Guru' in the Bodo mythology is the supreme

creator of five elements- universe, air, sky, water and light and, therefore, is worshipped

as Bathou. There is predominance of the number five in this religion, which is associated

with the 'Aham Guru'. 'Aham Guru' uttered five first words -'Om, Shring, Kling, Fut

and Che'. Bathou is also attributed with the source of five qualities - truth, knowledge,

power, beauty and goodness. Bathou is believed to have five mouths to teach and five

60 op.cit., no. 57, p. 182 61 R.N. Mosahary, "Traditional Religion of the Boros of Assam" in J.B. Bhattacharjee (ed.). Proceedings of North East India History Association: Eighth Session. Kohima (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1987)", p.51 0-511

122

eyes to observe. Bathou is symbolised by 'Sijou'(euphorbia) plant characterised by five

depressions and five ridges. The religion also emphasises on the reverence for five

authorities - father, mother, guru (teacher), gosai (gods) and gossaisri (goddesses) and

deities have five abodes; similarly the Bathou altar has five rings of bamboo splits. The

Bodos are monotheistic in so far as they believe in the Supreme Creator but are

polytheists in the sense that they recognise other divines which are elemental. Some

Bodos refer to their deity 'Bathou' as a name for the Hindu God Shiva and, therefore,

they differentiate from the Assamese Vaishnavite culture. They do not avoid the

influence of Hinduism, but are not ready to accept 'Assameisation' of their religion and

culture.

The Bodos have made significant contribution to developing the culture of the North­

east. Lahary62 says the 'Deodhani M-itya' prevalent in Assam is an adaptation of the

Bodo dance 'Doudhini Mochanai'. Bodo's 'Satrali' dance, one of the 18 dances which

'Doudhini' gave birth to has been Aryanised as 'Satriya Nritya '. Names of Bodo

agricultural tools and equipments· of cultivation are retained in Aryan languages. Bodo

accessories connected with the hand-loom or weaving have left an impact on the cottage

industry ofthe North-East. Nomenclatures of names and places also show that the Bodos

have made significant contribution to the composite culture of the North-East. Some

examples are Mechi (river in Nepal), Khamru-ru (Kamrup), Ha gojou (Hajo) Dimapur

and Hafolong (Halflong), etc.

It has also been said that the 'Bihu' festival, one of the main festivals of Assam is a term

adapted from the mixture of two Bodo words - 'Binanoi Hu' meaning 'beg and take'.

Viewed from the content of 'Bihu', the above contention seems to hold good. During the

Bihu festivals, it has been traditional practice of the village folks- the young and the old,

celebrating the festival to go round the village from house to house with Bihu carol

singing and begging. Though there are other versions of the origin of the term, that it is

derived from the Sanskrit word 'Vishuvan' meaning perhaps vernal equinox of the winter

solstice.63 Bodos also have their two premier festivals 'Boisagu', a springtime festival

6~ M.R. Lahary, "Contribution of the Bodos to the Composite Culture of North-Eastern Region" in Praban Bargayary(ed.), The Bodo: Mouthpiece of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha- 2th Issue (Korajhar: Bodo Sahitya Sabha, 2002), p.II3-116 63 R.N. Mosahary, '"Boisagu and Domachi: The Two Premier Bodo Festivals" in David Reid Syiemlieh (ed.), Proceedings of North East India His tO/)' Association: Thirteenth Session, Sillong (Sillong: North East India History Association, 1992), p. I 0 I

123

and 'Domachi', a post-harvest festival that are similar to the festival Bihu. Cattles and

cowherds have an important role in these two festivals because the significance of

pastoral life.

Despite similarities and influence of Bodo culture on the Assamese and vice versa, the

Bodos have drawn up differences with the Assamese. The assertion of being the first

settlers urged the Bodos to restrict their assimilation with the Assamese and draw out

cultural differences. The Missionaries have played a role to some extent in changing the

attitude of the Bodo cultural group and their realisation of inequality with more advanced

and domineering groups in the region, though this is may be just one reasons among

many others. The Missionaries made the beginning and later on the Bodo intellectuals

contributed to reform and spread the enlightenment in the Bodo society.

RENAISSANCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF BODO LITERARY­

CULTURAL ORGANISATIONS

In ancient historical epics of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Kalika urn and Yogini Tantra

there are some scattered information about· the Bodo group. For instance, in Mahabharata

this tribe appears to have been mentioned as the southern section of Dimasa-Kachari are

believed to be the descendents ofBhima and Heramba Rakshashi. With the advent of the

Ahoms in 1228 A.D. the Bodos were relegated to the background. The Ahoms had made

way for the Aryan domination by handing rights of preaching rituals to the Brahmins,

who were brought from the west- Kanauza and Navadweep. The Aryans could also

influence the Bodo-Kacharis and the Brahmins could win over superior position in the

kingdom of King Namarayan (1540-1884) and Kachari kings. Like, in 1790, Kachari

king Krishna Chandra and his brother made a public profession ofBrahminism.64

Sri Hiracharan Narzinary a noted Bodo writer of Kolkatta mentioned in his work that the

Bodos had great kings like Mahairanga Danava, Bhagadatta, Bhaskar Barman and

Vishwa Singha, but even then the Bodo kings did not try to develop their language.

Rather, they were influenced by the advanced Aryan people. He lamented that even the

king of Tripura adopted Bengali as the official language. Though, he claimed, Bodo

language as per records of Kirata Jana!tTiti of Prof. S.K. Chattaphadhya, Bodo language

was spoken before 2000 B.C. i.e even before the Aryans came to India. Even, the Chinese

6~ op.cit., no. 40, p. 98-99

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traveller Huiyen Tsang was welcomed by Bodo songs during his visit to Kamrup in

Bhaskar Barman's time. However, he laments that Bodo Kings had allowed the Aryan

influence on Bodo culture due to which the Bodo language could not be developed.

Therefore, this period is said to be the darkest period of Bodo language.65

The revolution in Bodo language was set forth by the Missionaries. Although the

Missionaries had taken keen interest in local languages basically for religious preaching,

administration and business purpose, it remained as milestones in the growth of modem

literature. Rev. Sidney Endle, Chaplain of Tezpur, during the early part of the nineteenth

century wrote The Kacharis detailing the socio-economic-religio-cultural aspects of the

Kacharis was the first written literature on the Bodos. The Missionaries had initiated a

new force of life to Bodo language but they could not bring any relevant change in the

lives of the Bodos. In the process of imparting education and improving upon the life of

the Bodos, who were simple agriculturists, the Missionaries carried out evangelisation.

The most common method adopted for the purpose was organisation of camps,

conventions and refresher's courses on Biblical matters. The Christian Missionaries,

however, could not produce the desired result as only a meagre percentage of the Bodo

population could be converted to Christianity. There were many factors responsible like

lack of funds, Aryan influence, stiff opposition from within some section of Bodos like

those practicing Sarania and Brahma cults and since Bodos did not have a script of their

own it was very difficult for the Missionaries to spread their work through literature.

The first significant change in the lives of the Bodos was brought about when Gun1dev

Kali Charan Brahma initiated the Brahma faith. The Brahma faith was influenced by the

Brahma cult of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Kalicharan Brahma became the disciple of Srimat

Sibanarayan Paramhansa of Calcutta (Kolkatta).The faith had brought revolutionary

changes in Bengal's socio-religio-cultural life and was largely responsible for the birth of

Bengal Rennaissance. The faith had also regenerated the Bodo society at time when it

was beset with turmoil and calumny. The Brahma cult tried to revive the monotheistic

faith of the Bodos, which was under threat of Aryan influence. The Bodo society had no

purpose and the Bodo people lived a life without a will. At this juncture, Kali Charan

65 JanakLal Basumatary, A Report -4C/h Bodo Sahitya Sabha Divas: Golden Jubilee Celebration, Kolkatta Bodo Association,. 16'h November, 2001

125

Brahma led the light of enlightenment and brought revolution in the practice of religion

with emphasis on reformation and education.

Kalichran Brahma came from the family that carried business in timber. He soon gave up

his father's business and devoted himself to the welfare of Bodo community. The

opening of Easter Bengal State Railway branch line from Calcutta to Dhubri in 1902

facilitated the movement of affluent section of the Bodos to visit Calcutta to pursue

higher studies or for trading and Kalicharan Brahma got the opportunity to come into

contact with the reformation movement that had been going on in Bengal. Brahma

brought his experiences to the Bodo society. Brahma not only opened schools but also

made efforts to make education compulsory and thus exerted the reluctant guardians to

send their children to schools or else pay fine. With the government grant of rupees thirty

thousand, three Middle schools were established in 1913 and one driving school and one

carpentry school were opened to make the pupils self-earning members. The school of

handicraft later received government patronage. Brahma Boarding and Mech Boarding

were two hostels founded for the convenience of students which later on merged as

Brahma Boarding.

Kalicharan Brahma had commenced his missionary activities from 1906 onward till his

death in 1940. His mission was not just confined to the propagation of the Brahma faith

but also carried on founding of schools, social reformation, founding of rest houses in

towns for the Bodos, enactment of reformatory laws for the Bodo society, founding of

students union, revival of Bodo culture and language, resurgence of Bodo handicrafts and

weaving, etc. His missionary activities spread out even to political and economic arena.

He inculcated among the Bodos a vision of political awareness and developed the need of

being economically self-reliant. Kalicharan Brahma's influence started spreading out he

visited south Goalpara areas in the years 1913-14 for the propagation of Braluna faith.

Some of the educated and enterprising youths of south Goalpara took the cue and came

out for restructuring the Bodo society. They were Prasanna Kr. Khakhlary, Narapati

Basumatary, Ganga Charan Patgiri, Kamalakanta Tahsi1dar, Harish Chandra Kachary,

Madho Ram Khachary and others.

Kalicharan Brahma had tremendous impact on the people of south Goalpara. South

Goalpara became a cultural centre, the first literary organisation of the Bodos named

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Dakshinakul Bodo Sahitya Sanmilani was formed in south Goalpara in 1918. The

educated section started taking interest in contributing to the literary pursuits. In fact, the

first Bodo organisation, 'Howraghat Bodo Sanmilani' formed in 1912 was the zeal of

south Goalpara writers and social workers. The pioneering efforts of south Goalpara

youths had slowly spread to other parts as well. There was a new found consciousness

among the Bodo community regarding their language and literature and this

consciousness can be put simply as 'Renaissance' of Bodo language and cultural identity.

The Howraghat Bodo Sanmilani led the way for other such associations which came up

in the following years. The Bodo Chattra Sanmilani that came into existence in the year

1919 brought a new drive in the expression of Bodo language and literature. The

magazine had sections on prose, poetry and critical essays. Though its circulation was

limited yet it could make an impact on the mind-set of the people. The Sanmilani had

also brought out Bihar the first Bodo magazine. The Sanmilani also held forums for

discussions on the measures to improve upon the social life of the Bodo masses. The

association was formed by the students studying in Cotton College so the enthusiasm of

youths reflected in their activities. The activities of the Sanmilani were not only confined

to the literate section, it was also successful in creating awareness among the masses.

Satish Chandra Basumatary, who had been associated with the Bodo Chaatra Sanmilani

is called the father of Bodo Jatragaan (Drama). The Sanmilani used to stage dramas for

the village folks which was the only medium available at that time to educate the Bodo

masses.

The formation of literary- cultural organisations was just the beginning of a new era of

Bodo awareness of its inner strength and existence. The Bodos started taking deep

interest in their language, literature and culture. Plays, critical essays, prose, poetry, folk

tales, etc., were penned down by the Bodo intellectuals who had been associated with

these organisations. The Howraghat Bodo Sanmilani or the Bodo Chattra Sanmilani were

not formally organised hence they were discontinued within a span of few years.

However, the Bodo society went on with its perpetual struggle to give its language

honour and privilege and such relentless efforts had been most religiously carried forward

by the Bodo Sahitya Sabha. The Sabha's beginning in 1952 ushered a new era for Bodo

language and literature and also brought motivation to the Bodo society to stand for its

identity which had remained sidelined for a long time.

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CONCLUSION

The advent of British in Assam was a deliberate move that happened with full consent of

the Ahom kings, but the initial conditions of retreating from Assam once the Ahom

empire was re-established were totally ignored by the British and the British had stayed

back to rule Assam. The establishment of British rule brought enormous changes in the

political, social and economic life of the people. The most affected sections were the

ruling-noble class because the primary motive of the British was to get economic benefits

and, therefore, it annexed kingdoms from the native rulers and also took the

administration from the hands of the nobles. The next section of population that was very

badly affected was the peasant class. The British had introduced cash economy which

replaced the traditional mode of paik system of paying services. The paik system was

based on mutual trust and understanding among the administrators and common man but

with the introduction of capitalist system by the British the peasants were liable to pay

taxes in cash which were collected by revenue officers and this had put heavy burden on

the peasant class. These two classes were the first to strike against the British but were

thoroughly unsuccessful. The main reason of the defeat was lack of able leadership and

the mightiness of the British forces.

The failure of the native rulers to re-establish their kingdom strengthened the British rule

in Assam. Therefore, like other parts of India the British brought new measures of land

settlement, education policy, language policy, revenue generation, annexation measure,

immigration policy, etc., to extract benefits from Assam's human and economic

resources. Such policies had brought a sea-change in the socio-political atmosphere of

Assam. The introduction of capitalist mode of economy led to the formation of economic

classes, yet class antagonism could not step in. Poverty and hardships were faced by the

peasants but they were relatively spared of feudal exploitation by landlord class. The

landlord class, represented by the rich and middle peasants, could not make a mark in the

feudal economy. In fact the landlord class sided with the lower peasants in their

resistance to British policies of taxation, be it the Phulaguri Dawa or Patharugathor Ron

primarily because of two reasons: firstly, the rich peasants were also suffering from

financial exigencies due to repressive British capitalism and secondly, though Assam

became part of the economic structure of British India, Assamese society continued to

nourish its village culture which never allowed feudalism to breed in its crude form

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pitting the land-owning classes against the landless peasants. The Raijmels forged people

of the village together inespective of class or clan consideration. However, the landlord­

peasant resistance against the British could not succeed wholly, yet the collaboration was

not futile. The Raijmels were the pioneer of mass organisations that evolved in the future

course.

Education became an important means of challenging the alien forces. The Assamese had

to face stiff competition from the educated Bengalis who had come to occupy the

administrative positions in Assam and Assamese language had been replaced by Bengali

language as the official language of Assam. From the middle of the nineteenth century,

the Assamese gentry took to English education which helped them to learn constitutional

means of opposition by rationally arguing through submitting petitions and memorandum

and at the same time to restore Assamese language its rightful place. The Missionaries

had played a prominent role in this restoration along with the few Assamese intellectuals.

While neither the bourgeoisie class nor the landlord class could evolve strongly, the

ground was laid for the Assamese middle class to take the lead. The peasant class had

played a prominent role but it lacked strong leadership to lead them and this void was

filled in by the Assamese middle class.

The Assamese middle class was largely made up of the Western educated clan. The

middle class retained its rural characteristic despite urban growth centres because the

village culture bonded the Assamese middle class to their roots and this explains why

Assamese middle class and peasants happened to be quite close to each other. The mass

organisations that sprang up by the end of the nineteenth century were led by the

Assamese middle class. Though their means of functioning were modem they still upheld

the rural touch by putting forward peasants interests along with raising issues on

educational, employment and administrative fields.

The stage for Renaissance was already prepared by missionaries and the influence of

Bengal Renaissance, but the final curtain was raised by the Assamese middle class. We

have already discussed the activities of organisations like Jorhat Sarbajanik Sabha and the

Ryot Sabhas that could infuse in the people socio-political consciousness. These

organisations believed in moderate politics and hence n~gotiated with the government

through appeals and petitions. They functioned independently but at certain points they

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had a common way of functioning and certain common causes of existence. Like both the

Tezpur Ryot Association and the Jorhat Sarbajanik Sabha merged into the Assam

Association which was formed in 1903. The twentieth century organisations carried

forward the remnants of the nineteenth century. For example, the Assamiya Bhasa Unnati

Sadhini Sabha(ABUS). The Asom Sahitya Sabha that was formed in the twentieth

century also worked for the enrichment of the mother-tongue. The Assamese intellectuals

had worked hard to get the Assamese language its rightful place as a separate identity.

They were inspired by the intellectual efforts of the Christian Missionaries for promoting

and developing Assamese language. They led this mission forward and thereby many

literary-cultural organisations were formed. These organisations worked for the

development of Assamese language, literature and culture.

The language issue clamoured in Assamese socio-political life and came to be seen as a

cultural issue of immense importance. Language became the insignia of Assamese

identity and, therefore, the nationalist sentiment of the Assamese had put first and

foremost the Assamese language identity than pan-Indian identity. Organisations like

ISS, Assam Association and Assam Chhatra Sanmilan had brought Assam closer to the

national mainstream, yet nationalism in Assam always remained committed to Assamese

identity.

Till the second and third decades of the twentieth century, Assamese identity remained

almost unchallenged because other communities of the composite population of Assam

had not reached that stage where the middle class could boldly assert their identity. The

Assamese elites were not much empathetic to the fact that with the assertion of Assamese

language identity they were totally ignoring the status of other etlmic groups of Assam.

The Bodos language and cultural identity had never been seen as a parallel and distinct

identity alongside the Assamese. The Bodo Renaissance can be called as the breaking

point in the history of Assam when the Bodos began searching their roots separate from

the Assamese. The Christian Missionaries, the Bengal Renaissance and the Assamese

Renaissance were altogether responsible for influencing the Bodo Renaissance.

The Bodo Renaissance was pioneered by educated section and whose collaboration led to

the fonnation of literary-cultural organisations. The Bodo elites tried to rejuvenate Bodo

language and culture that had been lying unattended for centuries. In the history of

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Assam, there was hardly any mention of the Bodos unless the Christian Missionaries had

written accounts of the Bodo history. The Bodo legends were not written earlier because

the Bodo language did not have a script of its own. Under such circumstances of having

no written account, the claim of the Bodos of being the first settlers of the Brahmaputra

valley is still debated upon. However, many historians have agreed that Bodos are the

autochthones of Assam. It was established on the fact that the influence of Bodo language

and culture can be found everywhere in Assam. The spread of Bodo culture is also based

upon the fact that Bodo tribes were migratory by nature. Yet the presence of Bodos was

never acknowledged by the Assamese elites. Therefore, when miiculate forces developed

within the Bodo community distinction of culture from the Assamese was put in the

forefront to establish a separate Bodo identity.

The Bodo elites in their initial stage were not reactionary to Assamese language identity.

They concentrated their efforts in the reformation activities. The organisations formed under

the tutelage of Bodo elites contributed to the overall development of the Bodo community.

But, the conservative approach of the Assamese elites led to the growth of discord between

the Assamese and the Bodo educated elites. It took some years to articulate their grievances

in an organised form. It was only after the fifth decade of the 201h century, i.e in the post­

independence period, they could put up an organised front and articulate ethnic

consciousness. In the following chapters we shall discuss elaborately the manifestations of

the Assamese and Bodo identities.

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