The Ahoms ruled Assam for six centuries, until 1826, when the East India Company responded to an appeal from Purnadhar Singha, the then Ahom monarch. The Burmese had invaded and devastated Assam, and Purnadhar sought British help to drive them out. The British were successful but Purnadhar Singha paid a high price for this alliance—his kingdom. Under the terms of the 1826 Treaty of Yandaboo, Burma dropped all its claims on Assam and the state became a protectorate of the British. It became a formal part of the British Empire in 1842.

As a result of this takeover, the Ahoms lost their lands and influence. Other groups which suffered deprivation or were marginalized included the Motoks and Dimasas, the Bodos and Cacharis. Tiwas and Rabhas, Hajongs and Deoris. These groups, of Tibeto-Burman stock, were located in various parts of the Brahmaputra Valley. Of them, the most significant to our story are the Bodos, Motoks and Tiwas. These were ruled by princely clans or chiefs who were at times assisted by a council of advisers or ministers, known as durbars.

In 1842, following Assam’s becoming the latest jewel in the Crown, the British extended their influence to the hills around Assam—the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, to the Naga and Lushai Hills, to the Mishmis, Adis, Noctes and Daflas (now better known as Nishis) and to the Manipur valley and hills. Some of these intrusions and controls were not backed by an extensive administration. The British preferred to rule through local representatives although they also placed a handful of British officers in district headquarters or at an office in Assam.

The British were among the latest in a succession of waves of immigrants that changed the demographic profile of the North East—these included the Tibeto-Burman groups of Arunachal Pradesh to the Kuki-Chins of Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland and the Austrics of South-East Asia who travelled to present-day Meghalaya.

As this process was underway, the older communities like the Bodos were pushed to pockets in the hills and the plains. Scholars often raise the question about the identity of the ‘original inhabitants’ of a place—who they are, where did they come from and when. Such views are important but not really relevant any longer in today’s changed political and social environment. They matter in terms of emotional links to the past and in the formation of a political identity. But what truly matters, in addition to historic roots, is the ground reality of who, or which group dominates a region.

Bodos, Motoks and Tiwas

The Bodos are of Tibeto-Burman stock and introduced settled agriculture, the cultivation of rice, the use of domesticated cattle and silk weaving into the Assam valley. They are regarded as among the aboriginal groups of Assam but which are now scattered and settled under different names in various parts of the region.