The study of Assamese literature has so far been in terms of the history of the Assamese language. This book is a history of the narratives written in Assamese language and its relation to the process of region formation. The literature dealt with ranges from pre-colonial chronicles, ballads and drama to modern genres of fiction and critical writing in Assamese language. Taking the Brahmaputra valley and Assamese literature as case studies, the author attempts to link literature, its nature and use, to processes of region formation, arguing that such a study needs to take the context of historical geography into consideration. The book views region formation in north-east India as a dialectical process, that is, the dialectic between the shared and the distinct in inter-group and community relations. It borrows an anthropological approach to study written narratives and cultures so as to locate such narratives in specific processes of region formation.

This Book Shows How The Culture Of India Emerged As A Result Religio-Spiritual Thinking Of The Indian Seers And Saints. Discussing The Ethnic Composition And Foreign Elements In Indian History, It Provides A Deep Insight In To The Four Asramas Brahmacharya, Grihasthya, Vanaprastha And Sanyasa. Also It Takes A Close Look At Marriage, Sex Relations, Status Of Women, Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy, Language, Literature, Art And Living Conditions Of The People.

A history of the colonial tea plantation regime in Assam, which brought more than one million migrants to the region in northeast India, irrevocably changing the social landscape.

Illustrations: Few Maps Description: This work is the first analytical and comprehensive account of the civilization of Assam from earliest to the present times. Its object is ti acquaint the readers with the forces and factors moulding the society and culture of Assam through the ages. It analyses the salient features of Assamese civilization giving proper weightage to the contributions made by different tribes or ethnic groups of both the hills and the plains as well as by the followers of different faiths towards its growth and development. The work is divided into four parts. Part I gives a brief idea of the present state of Assam. It also discusses the source materials as well as the pre-history and the proto-history of the land. Part II deals with the ancient period beginning with the legendary kings till the dismemberment of the ancient kingdom of Pragjyotisha or Kamarupa in the close of the twelfth century AD. Part III treats the history of the medieval period from the rise of different tribal states on the ruins of the ancient kingdom till the fall of the Ahom monarchy in 1826. Part IV deals with the modern period covering the history of the British rule upto the attainment of the country's independence in 1947. It also contains a chapter dealing briefly with the events after independence. The authoress has made full use of all available sources, published and unpublished, preserved in different libraries within and outside the state. Attempt has been made to make the information up-to-date with proper notes and references and the treatment clear and precise. The work also contains a bibliography, glossary and index.

Addressing an important gap in the historiography of modern Assam, this book traces the relatively unexplored but profound transformations in the agrarian landscape of late- and post-colonial Assam that were instrumental in the making of modern Assamese peasantry and rural politics. It discusses the changing relations between various sections of peasantry, state, landed gentry, and politics of different ideological hues — nationalist, communist and socialist — and shows how a primarily agrarian question concerning peasantry came to occupy the centre stage in the nationalist politics of the state. It will especially interest scholars of history, agrarian and peasant studies, sociology, and contemporary politics, as also those concerned with Northeast India.

Fragmented Memories is a beautifully rendered exploration of how, during the 1990s, socially and economically marginalized people in the northeastern Indian state of Assam sought to produce a past on which to base a distinctive contemporary identity recognized within late-twentieth-century India. Yasmin Saikia describes how groups of Assamese identified themselves as Tai-Ahom—a people with a glorious past stretching back to the invasion of what is now Assam by Ahom warriors in the thirteenth century. In her account of the 1990s Tai-Ahom identity movement, Saikia considers the problem of competing identities in India, the significance of place and culture, and the outcome of the memory-building project of the Tai-Ahom. Assamese herself, Saikia lived in several different Tai-Ahom villages between 1994 and 1996. She spoke with political activists, intellectuals, militant leaders, shamans, and students and observed and participated in Tai-Ahom religious, social, and political events. She read Tai-Ahom sacred texts and did archival research—looking at colonial documents and government reports—in Calcutta, New Delhi, and London. In Fragmented Memories, Saikia reveals the different narratives relating to the Tai-Ahom as told by the postcolonial Indian government, British colonists, and various texts reaching back to the thirteenth century. She shows how Tai-Ahom identity is practiced in Assam and also in Thailand. Revealing how the “dead” history of Tai-Ahom has been transformed into living memory to demand rights of citizenship, Fragmented Memories is a landmark history told from the periphery of the Indian nation.

This Study Unravels The Often Overlooked Aspects Of Social And Economic History Of Assam And Analyses The Decline Of The Old Ruling Gentry And The Death Of Traditional And Cottage Industries Due To Foreign Rule And Internal Limitations.