A Comprehensive History of Assam

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This work is the first analytical and comprehensive account of the civilization of Assam from earliest to the present times. Its object is to acquaint the readers with the forces and factors moulding the society and culture of Assam through the ages. It analyses the salient features of Assamese civilization giving proper weightage to the contributions made by different tribes or ethnic groups of both the hills and the plains as well as by the followers of different faiths towards its growth and development.

The work is divided into four parts. Part I gives a brief idea of the present state of Assam. It also discusses the source materials as well as the pre-history and the proto-history of the land. Part II deals with the ancient period beginning with the legendary kings till the dismemberment of the ancient kingdom of Pragjyotisha or Kamarupa in the close of the twelfth century AD. Part III treats the history of the medieval period from the rise of different tribal states on the ruins of the ancient kingdom till the fall of the Ahom monarchy in 1826. Part IV deals with the modern period covering the history of the British rule upto the attainment of the country's Independence in 1947. It also contains a chapter dealing briefly with the events after Independence. The : authoress has made full use of all available sources, published and unpublished, preserved in different libraries within and outside the state. Attempt has been made to make the information up-to-date with proper notes and references and the treatment clear and precise. The work also contains a bibliography, glossary and index.

Swarna Lata Baruah is Professor in the Department of History, Dibrugarh University. She obtained her Ph. D. degree from Dibrugarh University for her dissertation ‘Rajamantri Purnananda Burhagohain and His Times' in1972.

Professor Baruah was a member of the Executive Committe of the Indian History Congress, Vice-President of the North-East India History Association and of the North-East India Counci for Social Science Research. At present, she is actively associated with women's studies and writing profusely about women's problems. She has specialisation in the history and culture of North-East India and published numerous articles on the subject in scholarly journals. Her other book Last Days of Ahom Monarchy. A History of Assam from 1769 to 1826 (1994) is also published by us.

This book covers the history of Assam from earliest times to date. Its object is to acquaint the readers with the forces and factors moulding the society and culture of the Brahmaputra valley in parti. cular and the north-east India in general through the ages. There are certain themes which I could only touch upon but hope that they will not fail to draw the attention of future historians reconstructing the history of the land from a new angle. I have also tried to give an account of the contributions made by different ethnic groups of both hills and plains as well as by the followers of different faiths to the growth and development of civilization of this region. It had been my sincere endeavour to look at the things as objectively as possible and draw conclusions on the basis of historical facts. However, I claim neither completeness nor perfection. Use of diacritical marks have been avoided and popular forms of spellings of the non-English words have been used. However, I regret that uniformity of certain spellings could not be maintained throughout the book.

I acknowledge my indebtedness to all the authors, whose works I consulted. I am particularly grateful to Sri Atul Goswami, Lecturer in English, Dibrugarh University, for going through the manuscript and for helping me in dealing with certain intricate problems. I am also grateful to Dr. P.N. Chopra, Ex-Editor, Indian Gazetteers, New Delhi, for suggesting me to write this book, to Dr. K.M. Shrimali of Delhi University for his help in getting it published and to Sri L. Hazarika, Advocate, Dibrugarh, whose keen interest in the work was a source of encouragement to me. I am also thankful to various scholars and colleagues and to the staff members of the libraries and institutions, where I studied, for their help and co-operation. I am grateful, in particular, to my husband, Prof. K.P. Baruah, D.H.S.K. College, Dibrugarh, who has helped me in countless ways and remained a constant source of inspiration. Last but not least I offer my sincere thanks to Sri Devendra Jain, Director of Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, for taking up the publication of the work and also to his staff members for printing it with care and patience.

**Contents and Sample Pages**