[Assam] Assamese Culture and Ahom Kings

[Chan Mahanta]

>Am I missing something here?

*** What immediately jumps out is:

">because of the people living in Assam" (--but 
not Ahoms  -- since their king did not patronize 
'xotriya' culture?)

Who were these people then?


*** The second one is that the 'xottros' WERE a 
creation of the Ahom kings with patronage and 
generous land endowments to the 'goxains' who 
ruled over the 'xotros'. In fact those land 
grants were what made the 'xotros' powerful, 
where the 'odhikaars' were not only the 
'zomidaars' but also the gatekeepers to the gods.










At 8:50 AM -0800 12/29/05, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
>Assamese culture may have reached its zenith 
>during Ahom rule, chronologically; But did the 
>rulers help? What culture are we talking about? 
>Culture spread by the Xatras like Bhaona, 
>Xatriya Nritya etc.? If so we cannot give a lot 
>of credit to the Ahom kings' administration for 
>the growth of Assamese culture. Xankardev was 
>practically driven out of Assam to KochBihar and 
>his followers were persecuted by the Ahom kings. 
>Please visit
><http://www.assamtourism.org/history_assam.htm>http://www.assamtourism.org/history_assam.htm
>
>I believe, despite the Ahom kings, Assamese 
>culture as we know it, grew because of the 
>people living in Assam, not nurtured or 
>patronized by the Ahom kings.
>
>Am I missing something here? Dr. Goswami has 
>done a lot of research and I have not. Could 
>someone who has done research in this area point 
>out where the disconnect is?
>
>Dilip Deka
>
>
>
>
>Guwahati, Thursday, December 29, 2005
>
>‘Assamese culture reached its zenith during Ahom rule’
>From Our Correspondent
>  JORHAT, Dec 28 – Highlighting the magnanimity 
>of warrior King Chaulung Sukapha in regard to 
>his unique quality of refraining from imposing 
>his diktat on the vanquished, Jnanpith award 
>winner Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami opined that 
>Assamese culture reached its zenith during the 
>Ahom suzerainty. “Making major inroads into 
>someone else’s culture, or being able to make a 
>significant dent were obviously more difficult 
>tasks than winning wars on the battlefront,” she 
>felt.
>
>Reiterating ! that, “the Ahom age witnessed a 
>cultural renaissance,” she also remarked that, 
>“co-acting was popularised way back in 1927 at 
>Hajo, whereas it was still an unthinkable 
>proportion in other parts of India at that time.”
>
>The academician-cum-litterateur observed as 
>above yesterday evening after formally releasing 
>a children’s educational VCD titled, Seujia 
>Gaddi produced by Parthasarathi Productions at 
>the conference hall of Hotel More International 
>beside the AT Road here.
>
>Recounting interesting tales from Assam’s 
>chequered history, the intellectual felt, 
>“Joymati’s character was in fact controversial.” 
>Nevertheless, “there was enough scope for 
>producing appealing cinematic work or plays on 
>such subjects.” Mentioning about characters like 
>Phuleswari Kunwari, Rudra Singha, Gaurinath 
>Singha and Lachit Barphukan, she rued, “I am yet 
>to see a lifelike depiction of the great Battle 
>of Saraighat. Is there not a single artist with 
>enough calibre,” she questioned.
>
>Earli! er, Dr Paramananda Rajbongshi termed the 
>multifaceted 15th century saint reformer 
>Srimanta Sankardeva as the world’s first ‘art 
>guru’.
>
>
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