Today let us go to Sivasagar, the Capital City of the Ahom Kingdom during the six hundred years of Ahom rule ,located in the present day North Eastern Region of India.
This township in Assam is different from the other townships by virtue of its historical legacies. Aptly called a ' living museum ' the entire area bears expression of the Tai style of town planning which the founder rulers had brought along with them when they came from South East Asia.
The landscape is etched with vast stretches of water bodies called tanks , dug in alignment with the water sources and therefore they are fresh and live and never dry up.The two massive water bodies are the Joysagar Pukhuri and the Sivasagar Pukhuri , supplemented by numerous other smaller water tanks. One feels bewildered by the fact that how could these be dug manually at a point of time when there were no technically sophisticated instruments ? It is an expression of the work culture of the people and the system of governance when all worked for the mutual benefit of the land and the people.
The Ahom Kingdom needs special mention as it was able to defeat the mighty Mughals seventeen times ,which was an exceptional event in the India of those times when they were conquering kingdom after kingdom. It was only at one event that they were able to enter Assam but were routed within a short period of time.
This brings to mind a few lines of exclamation from one of the chief generals of the enemy side ,Ram Singha, ' Glory to the King ! Glory to the Ministers! Glory to the people ! One man commands the entire forces ! I ,Ram Singha being personally on the spot could not find one single weakness,one single opportunity !'
This brings to mind the huge forts constructed , surrounding the entire Kingdom which remained like massive walls,invulnerable,impregnable. One of the Mughal writers Shehabuddin Talesh writes in his book ,Tareekh e Aasham that these ramparts were very firm and solid and even a warrior like Alexander could not have overrun it....the watch towers were as high as the sky.
After reading these descriptions , when we visit Sivasagar even now , that old magnificence and grandeur haunts us When we see the high roads and the residential areas below ,we know we are treading on those ramparts built by our predecessors which stupefied the enemy.
Let us now alight from our cars to behold the remnants of the palaces and the amphitheatre . What remains now does not impress us much as the destruction and loot has brought about significant losses . But when we come to know that these palaces are seven storied structures with three underground and four above ground and a nineteen kilometre long tunnel connecting the two palaces,we are mesmerized.
The earlier structures were made of wood and bamboo with intricate workmanship and from eighteenth century onward they were made of bricks.The amphitheatre with its unique structure and beautiful carvings is proclaimed to be the oldest in Asia.
Hereafter let us now take a look at the temple structures which are called ' dols' in Assamese. These are massive structures with their unique designs. Interestingly these structures seem to bear similarities with the 'zedis' in Chiang Mai,Thailand. These may be food for thought for the archaeologists as we are lay man observing from outer appearances.
Moreover the town planning that is noticed in Chiang Mai with the tall ramparts surrounded by moats or canals is exactly what is observed at Garhgaon in Sivasagar .
For the curious traveller ,there is so much food for thought and so much to research upon .
Now we make a move to pay homage and take a look at the royal burial mounds called the ' Moidams' which look like imposing hillocks ,topped with greenery where the Kings ,queens and the members of the royal family had been laid to rest There are special designs of building the Moidams which is a very interesting study alongwith the description of the death rituals.
We kneel down and pay homage to these Ancestors who had devoted their lives for the total welfare of the people and the Kingdom ,as befitting their culture and civilization.
This township in Assam is different from the other townships by virtue of its historical legacies. Aptly called a ' living museum ' the entire area bears expression of the Tai style of town planning which the founder rulers had brought along with them when they came from South East Asia.
The landscape is etched with vast stretches of water bodies called tanks , dug in alignment with the water sources and therefore they are fresh and live and never dry up.The two massive water bodies are the Joysagar Pukhuri and the Sivasagar Pukhuri , supplemented by numerous other smaller water tanks. One feels bewildered by the fact that how could these be dug manually at a point of time when there were no technically sophisticated instruments ? It is an expression of the work culture of the people and the system of governance when all worked for the mutual benefit of the land and the people.
The Ahom Kingdom needs special mention as it was able to defeat the mighty Mughals seventeen times ,which was an exceptional event in the India of those times when they were conquering kingdom after kingdom. It was only at one event that they were able to enter Assam but were routed within a short period of time.
This brings to mind a few lines of exclamation from one of the chief generals of the enemy side ,Ram Singha, ' Glory to the King ! Glory to the Ministers! Glory to the people ! One man commands the entire forces ! I ,Ram Singha being personally on the spot could not find one single weakness,one single opportunity !'
This brings to mind the huge forts constructed , surrounding the entire Kingdom which remained like massive walls,invulnerable,impregnable. One of the Mughal writers Shehabuddin Talesh writes in his book ,Tareekh e Aasham that these ramparts were very firm and solid and even a warrior like Alexander could not have overrun it....the watch towers were as high as the sky.
After reading these descriptions , when we visit Sivasagar even now , that old magnificence and grandeur haunts us When we see the high roads and the residential areas below ,we know we are treading on those ramparts built by our predecessors which stupefied the enemy.
Let us now alight from our cars to behold the remnants of the palaces and the amphitheatre . What remains now does not impress us much as the destruction and loot has brought about significant losses . But when we come to know that these palaces are seven storied structures with three underground and four above ground and a nineteen kilometre long tunnel connecting the two palaces,we are mesmerized.
The earlier structures were made of wood and bamboo with intricate workmanship and from eighteenth century onward they were made of bricks.The amphitheatre with its unique structure and beautiful carvings is proclaimed to be the oldest in Asia.
Hereafter let us now take a look at the temple structures which are called ' dols' in Assamese. These are massive structures with their unique designs. Interestingly these structures seem to bear similarities with the 'zedis' in Chiang Mai,Thailand. These may be food for thought for the archaeologists as we are lay man observing from outer appearances.
Moreover the town planning that is noticed in Chiang Mai with the tall ramparts surrounded by moats or canals is exactly what is observed at Garhgaon in Sivasagar .
For the curious traveller ,there is so much food for thought and so much to research upon .
Now we make a move to pay homage and take a look at the royal burial mounds called the ' Moidams' which look like imposing hillocks ,topped with greenery where the Kings ,queens and the members of the royal family had been laid to rest There are special designs of building the Moidams which is a very interesting study alongwith the description of the death rituals.
We kneel down and pay homage to these Ancestors who had devoted their lives for the total welfare of the people and the Kingdom ,as befitting their culture and civilization.
Hello everyone , This
ReplyDeleteis my first blogging attempt wherein I would like to first bring before my readers the Cultural Tourism potentials of my homeland ,the North Eastern Region of India.
Hope you send me feedbacks and comments.