Assam

Assam is the easternmost province of India and Burma, between about 22 and 28 degrees north. It comprises the Brahmaputra valley and the hill ranges that enclose small plateaux, which sheltered many hill tribes and a refuge for Mongol hordes. In Sanskrit records the valley is called Lawhitya, Pragjyotisha or Kamarupa. The name Assam is connected with the Shans or Tais, Tibeto-Burman peoples who settled in Siam, Upper Burma and finally in this province around the eighth century. ¹

The Muslim advance into Kamrup, the western valley, falls into three stages. The first began in 1206 with Bakhtiyar Khalji and was a period of raids, occasional occupation and tribute; it culminated in 1357, when Sikandar Shah founded a mint at Gawhati. A neighbouring cave is where Ibn Battuta is said possibly to have met the saint Shah Jalal of Tabriz. The second period began when Barbak Shah defeated Kamesvara, king of Kamta, and when Ala' al-Din Husayn Shah, after overthrowing the Khen king Nilambar, occupied Kamrup finally in 1498. The Burañjis record a first Muslim invasion in 1532 by Turbak, which was routed; the Kochas emerged when the Husayn Shahi dynasty fell in 1538, and the tomb of Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Awliya at Hajo is an important memorial of this period. The third period began in 1612, when Islam Khan, the Mughal governor of Bengal, subjugated the Kochas and occupied Kamrup. ²

Wars with the Ahoms became frequent, and Assam loomed large in Persian chronicles. In 1662 Mir Jumla reduced the Ahom king and imposed an annual tribute. With Mughal weakness the Ahoms occupied the whole Brahmaputra valley by 1682 and ruled until 1824, when the British intervened against the Burmese threat and integrated Assam into their territory. The Ahoms kept Muslim craftsmen in their service; the Marias (braziers) and the Garias (tailors) are still common in some districts. ²

In 1951 the province had 9,043,707 people, of whom 1,996,456 were Muslims, most concentrated in the western districts of Goalpara and Kamrup next to North Bengal, and in Cachar. Since 1920 their share has risen in neighbouring districts because of immigration from Bengal, while the eastern valley was unaffected. In the mid-nineteenth century many Muslims were affected by the Fara'idi movement. The humbler peasants developed a local culture that combines Islam with local rites, customs and festivals. ²