Foreign Influence on the Style and Techniques of Ahom Coins: Some Observations

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Foreign Influence on the Style and Techniques of Ahom Coins: Some Observations Zeichen Journal ISSN No: 0932-4747 FOREIGN INFLUENCE ON THE STYLE AND TECHNIQUES OF AHOM COINS: SOME OBSERVATIONS Dr. Diganta Deka Assistant Professor P.G. Department of History Tihu College, Tihu P.O. Tihu-781371, Assam, India Abstract The scientific and systematic study of coins is an integral exercise for the reconstruction of history of any specific time or region. This study known as Numismatics has definite role to shed new lights and to corroborate existing domain of knowledge. As like other parts of India, the early history of Assam has also insufficient information to study. The coming of the mighty Ahoms to this land early in the medieval period in fact started a healthy system of historiography. In additions to the special chronicles of the Ahom period, their unique coins have also supplied us a mass of facts to understand the Assamese society, economy, polity and cultural milieus. Till date only a handful of systematic studies are made to recognize the coins and currencies of Ahom age and as a result we have come across some of those items from the possessions of antiquarian sources. Conspicuously, it is seen that a few of those coins portray interesting and liberal signs of foreign influence upon them. This study is therefore a modest attempt to highlight those influences on the style and techniques of the medieval Ahom coins. Keywords: Coins, Ahom, Assam, Script, Design, Metal etc. Introduction: Assam is a historical state located in the north eastern part of India. From the age of the epics, it has been occupied by numerous races and tribes with their peculiar lifestyles. Its early political and commercial contacts with the mainland Indian states are confirmed by the writings of Kautilya and Hiuen Tsang. The medieval history of the land is more charismatic as the mongoloid origin ruling clan, the Ahoms not only ushered in a new era of dynamic rule within the state but also successfully defended its soil from the dominant forces of the west. Historically, the Ahoms formed part of a migration of Tai or Shan peoples into the upper Brahmaputra basin of Northeast India since the early part of the thirteenth century A.D. By the sixteenth century they could administer much of the contemporary Assam. Their language and the script in which it has been recorded were in fact an archaic form of the greater Tai language which is spoken with many variations throughout entire Southeast Asia. Though the period is reckoned for the unique literary gems, the Ahom ‘Buranji Puthis’ or the chronicles, the contemporary coins of the regime are also a valuable source for understanding the inner developments. It is seen that lesser studies are done in the field of Ahom numismatics and many specimens found in literatures are practically not found. Once found, these coins can easily minimise the academic and regional gaps noticed in the study of the history of North East in general and Assam in particular. Volume 7, Issue 6, 2021 Page No:89 Zeichen Journal ISSN No: 0932-4747 Objectives and Methodology: The primary idea of the study has been to mark out the entry phases and amounts of foreign elements influencing the numismatics practise of the Ahoms, identify the technical improvements and to track probable cross cultural interactions that led to definite changes in the overall process of Assamese coinage. In order to meet the need of the study, we have largely followed historical, descriptive and analytical methodologies of research. Here the purview of the study is kept limited to the contemporary boundaries of medieval Assam and primary sources like discovered and preserved coins, Ahom chronicles, land grants, Tantric texts etc. along with a few vital secondary data derived from archival sources are consulted and considered. Chronological debate on earliest Ahom Coins: The Ahom rulers of the earliest period are said to be not interested in minting coins. The original Tai chronicles are also silent about this. But some celebrated Assamese chronicles like Assam Buranji and Sarsari Assam Buranji like to point that even the first Ahom ruler Su-ka-pha had also offered gold and silver coins to the family deity on the occasion of laying the foundation of their first capital at Charaideo. Subsequently Shu-dang-pha and Shu-hum-mong also said to be minted coins on the occasion of their accession to the throne. In fact as per an old legend, Shu-hum-mong even offered some gold coins to the famous Jagannath temple of Orissa through his deligations. Padmeswar Gogoi, however hinted that this mission may be of a later date when Vikramsena, one of the members of Assamese ambassadors excavated a tank near the temple and performed the consecration ceremony by offering gold mohars of Su-hung-mung to the Jagannath Thakur.1 Amazingly enough we are still neither able to find any such coins of the early Ahom rulers nor the sources hint us about their details. Scholars has opined that the paucity of early coins is due to the fact that Ahoms at the initial years of their reign maintained policy of isolation with the western counterparts and were actually not interested in commercial activities which debarred them from minting considerable number of coins. Domestic transactions were generally concluded by barter mode and the extensive mechanism of dealing with the subjects through Paik system helped the Ahom rulers indirectly from large scale coinage. The earliest discovered specimen of Ahom coins was initially accorded in the name of Suk- len-mung, with the possibility of minting around 1543 A.D. by the then Ahom language translator of Government of Assam Rai Saheb Golap Chandra Baruah. While E.A. Gait has accepted his readings scholars like J.N. Phukan and N.G. Rhodes etc. has rejected the process of script decipherment and inappropriate calculations based on Ahom hexagonary calendar cycle and thus emphasised that it should be in the name of Shu-pong-mung alias Chakradhwaja Simha. It is pointed out by them that the second syllable of the coin which has been long believed to be the coin of Suk-len-mung should be read as ‘pung’ not ‘K(l)en’ and thus it reads as ‘Supungmung’and the calculation of the year of striking of the coin falls in 1663 A.D. only which is relatively very later.2 At this juncture, the available and earliest datable coins of Ahom period are of the time of Jayadhwaj Singha (1648-1663 A.D). As discussed above, though some of the Buranjis bear the information of minting Ahom coins prior to this phase, no such coin has been found elsewhere. So, majority of the scholars now unanimously have opined that the first coin of the Ahoms was comprehensively minted during the reign of Jayadhwaj Singha only. One of the silver coins of Jayadhwaj Singha measuring 11.34 gms read in its obverse ‘Sri Sri Hari Hara Charana Parayanasya’ and reverse ‘Sri Sri Swarga Narayanasyadeva’ bearing Saka 1570 i.e. 1648 A.D. thoroughly in Hindu Volume 7, Issue 6, 2021 Page No:90 Zeichen Journal ISSN No: 0932-4747 script.3 The absence of the name of any particular king on the coin has created some debates. For example, V.A. Smith hinted that the coin may be of king Pratapsimha.4 The Satsari Asom Buranji also mentioned that Pratapsimha was the monarch to mint octagonal silver coins. However A.W. Botham and S.K. Bhuyan confirmed this to be of Jayadhwaj Singha. One of these chronicles records that Jayadhwaj Singha was the first Ahom monarch to introduce octagonal silver coins in ‘Hindu script’ with the image of the Singha-Pahu (i.e. lion-deer or the dragon, the Ahom royal insignia). It was from this time that silver coin came into circulation. J.P. Wade also writes that King Jayadhwaj Singha was the first king of Assam to coin money.5 In some of the octagonal silver coins issued in the same year however bear Chinese letters. Such coin might be issued to extend the trade relation of the Ahoms towards Tibet. It may safely be said that after the Ahom-Mughal treaty of Asurar Ali in 1639, commercial intercourse between Assam and Bengal resumed.6 Since then the Ahoms started to exchange important items like ivory, pepper, musk, gold, silk-cloth, aromatic plants etc. along with various kinds of winter cloths, sugar, salt etc. with western powers especially Bengal which remained at that time under the Mughals. N.G.Rhodes and S.K.Bose opined that subsequent trade relations with Tibet and Ahom administrative desire to raise revenue of the kingdom gradually motivated them to issue coins.7 We may notice regular issuing of coins of different denominations, quality and size from that time onward. Style and Techniques of Ahom Coins: Throughout the long phase of medieval history of India, the Ahoms hold name and fame for their unique way of polity, administration and artistic styles. In the case of numismatics also, Ahom coins are actually peculiar as we hardly find any match for the Ahom octagonal patterned coins elsewhere in India. This design was said to be initiated since the reign of Susenghpha or Pratapsimha. Regarding the origin of the shape, Kasinath's chronicle informed us that Pratapsimha having received the report of minting coins bearing legends in 'Hindu scripts' by the neighbouring Koch kings asked the scholars of his court also to find out a fitting design for his coins. The dignitaries after consulting the celebrated text Yogini Tantra advised the king to coin money in octagonal shape so as to conform to the shape of his kingdom which, it was believed at that time, had eight corners.
Recommended publications
  • Copyright by Abikal Borah 2015
    Copyright By Abikal Borah 2015 The Report committee for Abikal Borah certifies that this is the approved version of the following report: A Region in a Mobile World: Integration of Southeastern sub-Himalayan Region into the Global Capitalist Economy (1820-1900) Supervisor: ________________________________________ Mark Metzler ________________________________________ James M. Vaughn A Region in a Mobile World: Integration of Southeastern sub-Himalayan Region into the Global Capitalist Economy (1820-1900) By Abikal Borah, M. Phil Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin December, 2015 A Region in a Mobile World: Integration of Southeastern sub-Himalayan Region into the Global Capitalist Economy (1820-1900) By Abikal Borah, M.A. University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisor: Mark Metzler Abstract: This essay considers the history of two commodities, tea in Georgian England and opium in imperial China, with the objective of explaining the connected histories in the Eurasian landmass. It suggests that an exploration of connected histories in the Eurasian landmass can adequately explain the process of integration of southeastern sub-Himalayan region into the global capitalist economy. In doing so, it also brings the historiography of so called “South Asia” and “East Asia” into a dialogue and opens a way to interrogate the narrow historiographical visions produced from area studies lenses. Furthermore, the essay revisits a debate in South Asian historiography that was primarily intended to reject Immanuel Wallerstein’s world system theory. While explaining the historical differences of southeastern sub-Himalayan region with peninsular India, Bengal, and northern India, this essay problematizes the South Asianists’ critiques of Wallerstein’s conceptual model.
    [Show full text]
  • The Forgotten Saga of Rangpur's Ahoms
    High Technology Letters ISSN NO : 1006-6748 The Forgotten Saga of Rangpur’s Ahoms - An Ethnographic Approach Barnali Chetia, PhD, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Vadodara, India. Department of Linguistics Abstract- Mong Dun Shun Kham, which in Assamese means xunor-xophura (casket of gold), was the name given to the Ahom kingdom by its people, the Ahoms. The advent of the Ahoms in Assam was an event of great significance for Indian history. They were an offshoot of the great Tai (Thai) or Shan race, which spreads from the eastward borders of Assam to the extreme interiors of China. Slowly they brought the whole valley under their rule. Even the Mughals were defeated and their ambitions of eastward extensions were nipped in the bud. Rangpur, currently known as Sivasagar, was that capital of the Ahom Kingdom which witnessed the most glorious period of its regime. Rangpur or present day sivasagar has many remnants from Ahom Kingdom, which ruled the state closely for six centuries. An ethnographic approach has been attempted to trace the history of indigenous culture and traditions of Rangpur's Ahoms through its remnants in the form of language, rites and rituals, religion, archaeology, and sacred sagas. Key Words- Rangpur, Ahoms, Culture, Traditions, Ethnography, Language, Indigenous I. Introduction “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.” -P.B Shelley Rangpur or present day Sivasagar was one of the most prominent capitals of the Ahom Kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • The First Mohammedan Invasion (1206 &1226 AD) of Kamrupa Took
    The first Mohammedan invasion (1206 &1226 AD) of Kamrupa took place during the reign of a king called Prithu who was killed in a battle with Illtutmish's son Nassiruddin in 1228. During the second invasion by Ikhtiyaruddin Yuzbak or Tughril Khan, about 1257 AD, the king of Kamrupa Saindhya (1250-1270AD) transferred the capital 'Kamrup Nagar' to Kamatapur in the west. From then onwards, Kamata's ruler was called Kamateshwar. During the last part of 14th century, Arimatta was the ruler of Gaur (the northern region of former Kamatapur) who had his capital at Vaidyagar. And after the invasion of the Mughals in the 15th century many Muslims settled in this State and can be said to be the first Muslim settlers of this region. Chutia Kingdom During the early part of the 13th century, when the Ahoms established their rule over Assam with the capital at Sibsagar, the Sovansiri area and the area by the banks of the Disang river were under the control of the Chutias. According to popular Chutia legend, Chutia king Birpal established his rule at Sadia in 1189 AD. He was succeeded by ten kings of whom the eighth king Dhirnarayan or Dharmadhwajpal, in his old age, handed over his kingdom to his son-in-law Nitai or Nityapal. Later on Nityapal's incompetent rule gave a wonderful chance to the Ahom king Suhungmung or Dihingia Raja, who annexed it to the Ahom kingdom.Chutia Kingdom During the early part of the 13th century, when the Ahoms established their rule over Assam with the capital at Sibsagar, the Sovansiri area and the area by the banks of the Disang river were under the control of the Chutias.
    [Show full text]
  • Unit 2: Administration Under the Ahom Monarchy
    Unit 2 Administration under the Ahom Monarchy UNIT 2: ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE AHOM MONARCHY UNIT STRUCTURE 2.1 Learning Objectives 2.2 Introduction 2.3 Administrative System of the Ahoms 2.3.1 Central Administration 2.3.2 Local Administration 2.3.3 Judicial Administration 2.3.4 Revenue Administration 2.3.5 Military Administration 2.4 Let Us Sum Up 2.5 10 Further Reading 2.6 Answers to Check Your Progress 2.7 Model Questions 2.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After going through this unit, you will be able to: l Discuss the form of government in the Ahom administration, l Explain the central and local administration of the Ahoms, l Describe the judicial administration of the Ahoms, l Discuss the revenue administration of the Ahoms, l Explain the military administration of the Ahoms. 2.2 INTRODUCTION In the last unit, you have read about the Ahom Monarchy at its high peak. In this unit, we shall discuss the Ahom system of administration that stood at the base of the mighty Ahom Empire. We shall discuss the form of government, central and local administration, judicial administration revenue administration and military administration of the Ahoms. 22 History of Assam from the 17th Century till 1947 C.E. Administration under the Ahom Monarchy Unit 2 2.3 ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM OF THE AHOMS The Ahoms are a section of the great Tai race. They established a kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley in the early part of the 13th century and ruled Assam till the first quarter of the 19th century until the establishment of the authority of the British East India Company.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded From
    Arakan and Bengal : the rise and decline of the Mrauk U kingdom (Burma) from the fifteenth to the seventeeth century AD Galen, S.E.A. van Citation Galen, S. E. A. van. (2008, March 13). Arakan and Bengal : the rise and decline of the Mrauk U kingdom (Burma) from the fifteenth to the seventeeth century AD. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/12637 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the License: Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/12637 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). CHAPTER TWO THE ORIGINS OF THE MRAUK U KINGDOM (1430 – 1593) The sixteenth century saw the rise to power in south-eastern Bengal of the Arakanese kingdom. At the same time the Mughals entered Bengal from the northwest and came into contact with the Arakanese. The arrival of the Mughals and the Arakanese in Bengal would spark a conflict between both parties for control over the economic heart of Bengal situated around Dhaka and Sripur. The war over Bengal would last for approximately ninety years. Starting in the early fifteenth century this Chapter describes the origins of the Mrauk U kingdom and the beginnings of the Ninety Years’ War. 2.1 The early years of the Mrauk U kingdom From the third decade of the fifteenth century the Arakanese kings of Mrauk U extended their hold over the Arakanese littoral. The coastal areas and the major islands Ramree and Cheduba were slowly brought under their control.1 During the sixteenth century successive Arakanese kings were able to gain control over the most important entrepôt of Bengal, Chittagong.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Phenomena in Barak-Surma Valley During Medieval Period Dr
    প্রতিধ্বতি the Echo ISSN 2278-5264 প্রতিধ্বতি the Echo An Online Journal of Humanities & Social Science Published by: Dept. of Bengali Karimganj College, Karimganj, Assam, India. Website: www.thecho.in Political Phenomena in Barak-Surma Valley during Medieval Period Dr. Sahabuddin Ahmed Associate Professor, Dept. of History, Karimganj College, Karimganj, Assam Email: [email protected] Abstract After the fall of Srihattarajya in 12 th century CE, marked the beginning of the medieval history of Barak-Surma Valley. The political phenomena changed the entire infrastructure of the region. But the socio-cultural changes which occurred are not the result of the political phenomena, some extra forces might be alive that brought the region to undergo changes. By the advent of the Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Jalal, a qualitative change was brought in the region. This historical event caused the extension of the grip of Bengal Sultanate over the region. Owing to political phenomena, the upper valley and lower valley may differ during the period but the socio- economic and cultural history bear testimony to the fact that both the regions were inhabited by the same people with a common heritage. And thus when the British annexed the valley in two phases, the region found no difficulty in adjusting with the new situation. Keywords: Homogeneity, aryanisation, autonomy. The geographical area that forms the Barak- what Nihar Ranjan Roy prefers in his Surma valley, extends over a region now Bangalir Itihas (3rd edition, Vol.-I, 1980, divided between India and Bangladesh. The Calcutta). Indian portion of the region is now In addition to geographical location popularly known as Barak Valley, covering this appellation bears a historical the geographical area of the modern districts significance.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded License
    Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 64 (2021) 217-250 brill.com/jesh Regimes of Diplomacy and Law: Bengal-China Encounters in the Early Fifteenth Century Mahmood Kooria Researcher, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands and Visiting faculty, Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana, India [email protected] Abstract This article examines the Bengal–China connections between the Ilyās Shāhī and Ming dynasties in the early fifteenth century across the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea. It traces how law played a central role in the cultural geography and diplomatic vocabulary between individuals and communities in foreign lands, with their shared understanding of two nodal points of law. Diplomatic missions explicate how custom- ary, regional and transregional laws were entangled in inter-imperial etiquette. Then there were the religious orders of Islam that constituted an inner circle of imperial exchanges. Between the Ilyās Shāhī rule in Bengal and the Ming Empire in China, certain dimensions of Islamic law provided a common language for the circulation of people and ideas. Stretching between cities and across oceans the interpolity legal exchanges expose interesting aspects of the histories of China and Bengal. Keywords Bengal-China connections – Ming dynasty – Ilyās Shāhī dynasty – interpolity laws – diplomacy – Islam – Indian Ocean Introduction More than a decade ago JESHO published a special issue (49/4), edited by Kenneth R. Hall, on the transregional cultural and economic exchanges and diasporic mobility between South, Southeast and East Asia, an area usually © Mahmood Kooria, 2021 | doi:10.1163/15685209-12341536 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0Downloaded license.
    [Show full text]
  • 1Edieval Assam
    .-.':'-, CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION : Historical Background of ~1edieval Assam. (1) Political Conditions of Assam in the fir~t half of the thirt- eenth Century : During the early part of the thirteenth Century Kamrup was a big and flourishing kingdom'w.ith Kamrupnagar in the· North Guwahat.i as the Capital. 1 This kingdom fell due to repeated f'.1uslim invasions and Consequent! y forces of political destabili t.y set in. In the first decade of the thirteenth century Munammedan 2 intrusions began. 11 The expedition of --1205-06 A.D. under Muhammad Bin-Bukhtiyar proved a disastrous failure. Kamrtipa rose to the occasion and dealt a heavy blow to the I"'!Uslim expeditionary force. In 1227 A.D. Ghiyasuddin Iwaz entered the Brahmaputra valley to meet with similar reverse and had to hurry back to Gaur. Nasiruddin is said to have over-thrown the I<~rupa King, placed a successor to the throne on promise of an annual tribute. and retired from Kamrupa". 3 During the middle of the thirteenth century the prosperous Kamrup kingdom broke up into Kamata Kingdom, Kachari 1. (a) Choudhury,P.C.,The History of Civilisation of the people of-Assam to the twelfth Cen­ tury A.D.,Third Ed.,Guwahati,1987,ppe244-45. (b) Barua, K. L. ,·Early History of :Kama r;upa, Second Ed.,Guwahati, 1966, p.127 2. Ibid. p. 135. 3. l3asu, U.K.,Assam in the l\hom J:... ge, Calcutta, 1 1970, p.12. ··,· ·..... ·. '.' ' ,- l '' '.· 2 Kingdom., Ahom Kingdom., J:ayantiya kingdom and the chutiya kingdom. TheAhom, Kachari and Jayantiya kingdoms continued to exist till ' ' the British annexation: but the kingdoms of Kamata and Chutiya came to decay by- the turn of the sixteenth century~ · .
    [Show full text]
  • Event, Memory and Lore: Anecdotal History of Partition in Assam
    ISSN. 0972 - 8406 61 The NEHU Journal, Vol XII, No. 2, July - December 2014, pp. 61-76 Event, Memory and Lore: Anecdotal History of Partition in Assam BINAYAK DUTTA * Abstract Political history of Partition of India in 1947 is well-documented by historians. However, the grass root politics and and the ‘victim- hood’ of a number of communities affected by the Partition are still not fully explored. The scholarly moves to write alternative History based on individual memory and family experience, aided by the technological revolution have opened up multiple narratives of the partition of Assam and its aftermath. Here in northeast India the Partition is not just a History, but a lived story, which registers its presence in contemporary politics through songs, poems, rhymes and anecdotes related to transfer of power in Assam. These have remained hidden from mainstream partition scholarship. This paper seeks to attempt an anecdotal history of the partition in Assam and the Sylhet Referendum, which was a part of this Partition process . Keywords : sylhet, partition, referendum, muslim league, congress. Introduction HVSLWHWKHSDVVDJHRIPRUHWKDQVL[W\¿YH\HDUVVLQFHWKHSDUWLWLRQ of India, the politics that Partition generated continues to be Dalive in Assam even today. Although the partition continues to be relevant to Assam to this day, it remains a marginally researched area within India’s Partition historiography. In recent years there have been some attempts to engage with it 1, but the study of the Sylhet Referendum, the event around which partition in Assam was constructed, has primarily been treated from the perspective of political history and refugee studies. 2 ,W LV WLPH +LVWRU\ ZULWLQJ PRYHG EH\RQG WKH FRQ¿QHV RI political history.
    [Show full text]
  • Lesser Known Capitals of Bengal Before Calcutta: Geo-Historical Aspects of ‘Tanda’
    International Bilingual Journal of Culture, Anthropology and Linguistics (IBJCAL), eISSN: 2582-4716 https://www.indianadibasi.com/journal/index.php/ibjcal/issue/view/3 VOLUME-2, ISSUE-1, ibjcal2020M01, pp. 1-10 1 Lesser Known Capitals of Bengal Before Calcutta: Geo-Historical Aspects of ‘Tanda’ Samir Ganguli Email: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Tanda was the capital of Sultan Sulaiman Khan Karrani, ruler of Received : 26.07.2020 Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, who shifted his capital from Gaur to Received (revised form): Tanda in 1565. It was the capital of Bengal Sultanate till 1576, till 01.09.2020 Sulaiman’s son Sultan Daud Khan, declared independence from the Accepted : 10.09.2020 Mughals which cost him his kingdom and life in 1576. Tanda Paper_Id : ibjcal2020M01 continued as the capital of Bengal Subah of the Mughals till Raja Man Singh shifted the capital to Rajmahal in 1595, except for a short period when the capital was shifted by Munim Khan to Gaur. Keywords: Tanda was located at the juncture of Padma and Bhagirathi, about Tanda 15 miles from Gaur. As happened with many cities of Bengal Bengal Sultanate located on the banks of rivers, Tanda also suffered the same fate. Sulaiman Karrani Tanda does not exist today. It is said that in about 1826, the city Daoud Karrani was destroyed by floods and disappeared into the river. Capitals of Bengal Lesser known capitals 1.0 Introduction Bengal has a rich history over hundreds of years and there have been many capitals in this part of the country over this period.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Setting.Pmd
    1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456The Mirror, Vol-6 , 2019 (Journal of History, Impact factor 4.002) ISSN 2348-9596 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456The Mirror, Vol-6 , 2019 (Journal of History, Impact factor 4.002) ISSN 2348-9596 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Towns, Trade and Taxation System in Medieval Assam Pjaee, 17 (7) (2020)
    A STUDY OF TOWNS, TRADE AND TAXATION SYSTEM IN MEDIEVAL ASSAM PJAEE, 17 (7) (2020) A STUDY OF TOWNS, TRADE AND TAXATION SYSTEM IN MEDIEVAL ASSAM 1Ebrahim Ali Mondal, Assistant Professor of History , B.N. College, Dhubri Assam, India E-mail:[email protected] Ebrahim Ali Mondal, Assistant Professor of History , A Study of Towns, Trade and Taxation system in Medieval Assam--Palarch’s Journal Of Archaeology Of Egypt/Egyptology 17(7). ISSN 1567-214x Keywords- Towns; Trade; Artisans; Crafts; Taxation; production; Sources Abstract: The present paper an attempt has been made to analyse the growth of towns and trading activities as well as the system of taxation system in Assam during the period under study. The towns were filled by the various kinds of artisans and they produced numerous types of crafts such as textiles Sericulture, Dyeing, Gold and Silver works, Copper and Brass works, Iron works, Gunpowder, Bow and Arrow making, Boat-building, Woodcraft, Pottery and Clay modeling, Brick making, Stone works, Ivory, and carving works. The crafts of Assam were much demand in local markets as well as other regions of India. The towns gradually acquired the status of urban centres of production and distribution. Regular, weekly and fortnightly markets as well as fairs from time to time were held throughout Assam where the traders purchased with their goods for sale. In the business community which was included the whole-sellers, retailers and brokers; they all had a flourishing business. Therefore, the towns were the one of the major source of income as a result the kings of Assam had built several custom houses, many gateways and toll gates in order to raise taxes of imports and exports and to check the activities of the merchants' class.
    [Show full text]