It is a story of court intrigues that took place in the final decade of the 600-year-old Ahom Kingdom, one of India’s greatest polities
Arupjyoti Saikia
On December 5, 2023, senior Congress leader and lawyer Kapil Sibal stated in court that Assam was once a part of Myanmar. He was speaking in a hearing on multiple petitions challenging the validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act of 1955.
“No migration can ever be mapped. And if you look at the history of Assam, you will realise that it is impossible to figure out who came when. Assam originally was a part of Myanmar. And it was way back in 1824 after the British conquered part of the territory that a treaty was entered into by which Assam was handed over to the British. You can imagine the kind of movements of people that must have taken place in the context of the then British Empire. And if you jump to 1905, you have the partition of Bengal,” Sibal had said.
The statement created a furore in political circles and on social media. Political leaders from Assam were quick to condemn the statement. Sibal came in for heavy criticism, as did the Congress.
While the political slugfest regarding the statement is still on, it certainly has created curosity about the actual events that took place in the Brahmaputra Valley 200 years ago. Down To Earth spoke to eminent historian of the state, Arupjyoti Saikia, to know what really happened.
“The (Ahom) kingdom of Assam was already embroiled in civil and religious war and political crisis in the latter decades of the 18th century. The British East India Company (EIC) helped restore the Assam king to his position but the EIC did not take control of the kingdom. However, the political rivalries among the political powers in Assam intensified soon thereafter,” Saikia told DTE.
He added that Assam’s powerful neighbour, the Burmese kingdom’s westward imperialism had already taken a clear shape since the 1760s. These political ambitions gained rapid traction under the Burmese king Bodawpaya in the 1780s. The Burmese rulers occupied the Arakan kingdom in 1785 and invaded the kingdom of Manipur in 1764.
In the early years of the 19th century, the Burmese had intensified their military preparedness in the Chindwin (river) adjacent to the Kabaw valley with an intention to push further west. The Burmese king had already decided to be more ambitious in his westward expansion. They took control of Manipur in 1819.
“Meanwhile, by the mid-1810s, Assam was in the grip of intense political volatility largely spearheaded by rivalries among the court factions. One of the court factions sought help from the Burmese king to intervene against the incumbent king of Assam. This was a great opportunity to the Burmese king whose ambition to gain control of this fertile landscape across the Himalayan foothills was already well-known,” Saikia noted.
The Burmese military, well-organised and assisted by recruits along their routes, marched into Assam in 1817. It decisively defeated the forces of the Assam king. The invading Burmese army allowed the incumbent Assam king Chandrakanta Singh to remain as a nominal head of the state but installed one of the rivals who was also a pro-Burmese as the Assam premier, he explained.
“This could not stop further worsening in the political and economic crisis in Assam. The kingdom’s rulers had no intention to firmly repose their allegiances to the Burmese ruler but political rivalries equally intensified. The Burmese rulers decided to be more assertive in the affairs of Assam. They decided to consolidate Burma’s political and military hegemony over Assam,” according to the historian.
A renewed military campaign followed in 1821. Assam’s military and political leadership could not resist this powerful Burmese military invasion. By 1823 the latter overshadowed Ahom political power.
“The Burmese continued to push forward in other directions including Cachar and Jaintia in the next few years, eventually bringing them into direct hostility with the British EIC. The first Anglo-Burmese War broke out in 1824 which ended in 1826 with the conclusion of the Yandabo Treaty. The latter, for decades earlier, had tried to establish trade relations with the Burmese kingdom,” Saikia observed.
The brief Burmese invasion left a lasting scar on the region’s political and economic landscape. Fearing the harsh new regime and its oppressive taxation policies, a wave of people fled the valley in search of refuge. Wealthy families sought temporary solace in the bordering towns of Bengal, while desperate peasants crossed into neighbouring territories. The markets stood eerily silent, and fields remained untended. The invasion also shattered the lives of countless individuals, leaving behind a legacy of hardship, and a long road to recovery, concluded Saikia.
The Burmese invasions and rule of Assam (1817-1826) are remembered to this day in the state as Manor Din, ‘the days of the Burmese’.
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