Ahoms and Muslims : A critical study of ‘friendliness’

Author : Muhammad Talha Amin Baruah

Muslims have contributed to Assam’s history in a big way, most of which is not known to us. The Ahom’s war with Muslim empires is also misunderstood. Although it is surely evident from literature that Ahoms didn’t hate Muslims, nor did they hate those who fought them i.e Mughals and Delhi Sultanate. Let us learn how Ahom rulers treated their muslim subjects and how the Muslim subjects supported their ruler.

Ahom kings and the muslims

The Ahom kings used to encourage Muslim scholars to spread their religion within the kingdom. Many Muslim preachers were sent to Mecca for hajj (pilgrimage) and the entire expense was borne by the Ahom rulers. The Ahom ruler’s were secular in their rule and even used to ask the muslim preachers to pray for them and their kingdom during the season of Hajj. [Reference : The Muslim Question in Assam and Northeast India by Monoj Kumar Nath, page 21] Ahom kings would also facilitate the muslim preachers to pray for their welfare at Poa Mecca as well. [Reference : Political life in Assam during the nineteenth century by Bijay Bhushan Hazarika, page 21] Many muslim prisoners of war in Ahom Kingdom had later started to prepare guns, cannons and gun powder for the Ahoms. They also worked as brassmakers. [Reference : Islam and the Modern age volume 38, page 70]

The 29th Ahom king Supatphaa Or Gadadhar Singha had a muslim (from the Goriya tribe) named Rupai Goriya Or Rupai Phukan as his arms carrier. Gadadhar had given a Monastery with free land grant to Syed Moinuddin Baghdadi (popularly known as Azan Faqir). [Reference : The Mughals and the North-East: Encounter and Assimilation in Medieval India by Sajal Nag]

The 30^th Ahom King Sukhrungphaa Or Rudra Singha, had brought several muslim artisans in his kingdom from different parts of India. The 31st Ahom King Sutanpha or Siva Singha had two muslim painters namely Dilbar and Dosai to illustrate several manuscripts. In 1729, Queen Phulekeshwari or Pramateswari Devi (wife of Siva Singha) had launched a coin in the Persian language (Persian was the official language of the Mughal empire). Ahom Kings kept muslims as translators to Persian documents/letters. [Reference : The Muslim Question in Assam and Northeast India by Manoj Kumar Nath, page 20-21]

In the book ‘Empire’s Garden: Assam and the Making of India’ by Jayeeta Sharma, page 54, we find that Siva Singha had built a mosque. It is further mentioned in ‘Annals of the Delhi Badshahate' that Ahoms granted land to Muslim religious heads (maulwis). The 34^th Ahom King Sunyeophaa or Lakshmi Singha had a conversation with a Muslim scholar named Anwar Haji and was very pleased with him. Therefore Sunyeophaa granted him free land. Sunyeophaa had also granted multiple land to Muslims for the establishment of Dargahs. [Reference : Agrarian System of Medieval Assam by Jahnabi Gogoi, page 39]

In the book named ‘Smritir Jilingonit Axomor kisumaan musolmaan’ volume 1 page 51, we find a mention of a Muslim commander who saved the life of the 35th Ahom King Suhitpangphaa or Gaurinath Singha when the rebels had captivated Gaurinath during the Moamaria revolt. Gaurinath was very pleased with him and entitled him with the 'Saikia' rank. Muslims were also appointed in various important departments during the Ahom rule. Some of them were even appointed in the Royal court. In the book ‘Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia’ by N. Hanif page 401, we find about a royal court member named Pir Muhammad Sufi. It’s clear that he worked for the 36^th Ahom King Suklingphaa or Kamaleswar Singha. In page 346 of the same book, we also find a mention about Pir Saleh, who came to Assam along with Syed Moinuddin Baghdadi, was supposedly buried in the royal graveyard in Garhgaon.

Ahom-Muhammadan conflicts

The first conflict of Ahoms with Muslims can be traced back to the era of Suhungmung’s rule. In 1533, a battle was fought between the Delhi Sultanate’s forces of Turbak Khan and the Ahom forces of Suhungmung. The forces of Delhi sultanate was defeated in this battle and general Turbak Khan was killed. The survivors of Delhi Sultanate’s forces after the attack were arrested, but later granted amnesty and were allowed to stay inside the Ahom kingdom. These people were known as Moria Muslims. To learn more about the moria Muslims, one may read the book ‘The Moria Muslims of Assam: A Study on the Cultural Variability and Drift’ by Pradyot Kumar Guha. These Moria Muslims lived in Kaliabor and during Suklengmung’s rule, a mosque was built there. Some locals thus claim that the Ahom King Suhungmung had built it. In modern times, Turbak Khan is slandered by people who are unaware of real history, but these people do not know how Ahom’s treated the dead body of Turbak Khan. According to ‘Assam district Gazetteers : sibsagar district’ (1967) published by the Government of Assam in Shillong, page 39 mentions that Turbak Khan was given a decent burial in the royal cemetery of the Ahoms at Charaideo.

Ahom history is incomplete without mentioning the valour exhibited by the Ahoms against the Mughals. Even though today it is presented as a Hindu-Muslim conflict, the reality is far different. Udayaditya Bharali (a scholar, historian and former principal of Cotton College) has put light on the event through an article published in Times of India. He writes : “Though the invaders were Mughals, the war was not fought on the basis of religion. Some attempt is there to prove that the war was between an invading Muslim force and a local Hindu force. The fact is Lachit himself was not a Hindu and belonged to the original religion of the Tai Ahoms, the community he belonged to. His army had many Muslim soldiers and the most famous was Ismail Siddique, locally known as Bagh Hazarika. On the other hand, the Mughal army was led by Hindu king Raja Ram Singh of Jaipur, and in his army there were many Hindu soldiers.”

Jahnabi Gogoi, a historian of Dibrugarh university has commented on Ahom-Mughal wars : “Lachit fought against the Mughals because they were outsiders or the invading force. There is no religious angle to it as the Mughal general whom Lachit fought was Raja Ram Singh Kachwaha of Amber. In Aurangzeb’s troops, there were many Hindu soldiers.”

Anyway, even if the Ahoms and Mughals had an intense fighting between each other, the Ahoms still didn’t have any grudge against the Mughals. Instead they praised the Mughal art and architecture. Ahom paintings from Siva Singha’s rule were made in Mughal-Rajput style, with a visible Mughal inspired stamp. Hindu temples were made in influence of Islamic architecture. [Reference : Proceedings of North East India History Association, Volume 24 page 9-10] It can be further noted that the traditional Ojapali dance was influenced by Sufi culture. Also, in the Sutradhari dance, the dress code is apparently Mughal inspired. [Assam Muslims : politics and cohesion by B.J Dev and D.K Lahiri, page 4]

Muslim support for Ahoms

By far we have discussed Ahoms neutral attitude towards the Muslims, let us now see how Muslims supported the Ahom Kingdom. Previously I mentioned Bagh Hazarika in this article. Yes, Bagh Hazarika was the Ahom muslim commander who defeated the Mughal army by disabling the Mughal cannons. There were other muslim commanders in the Ahom army. We find a mention of Gandhela Garia, a muslim artillery maker who had helped the Ahoms to defeat and successfully repulse a Mughal invasion in 1695. [Reference : Assam Muslims : politics and cohesion by B.J Dev and D.K Lahiri, page 2]

Tarikh-e-Assam, also known as Fathiya-i-Ibriyya, written by the Mughal historian Shihabuddin Talish, criticizes assamese Muslims saying that Assamese muslim are Muslims only in name because they support Ahoms instead of Mughals. Shihabuddin writes “In fact they like the Assamese better than us.”

Even during Ahom-Konbuang wars, many Muslims were part of the Ahom army who got martyrdom in the hands of the burmese. In an article that was written by Apurva Ballav Goswami in Dainik Janmabhoomi’s Sunday paper ‘Basundhara’ from 30 Movement 2003, he discusses the life of an Ahom warrior named Ramzan Khan who was killed by the burmese army. We come across a lot of biographies of Ahom muslim warriors who died during the Burmese invasion, which shall be discussed in a future article.

The Assamese Muslims even supported Maniram Dewan to reprise Ahom kingdom in 1857. Many assamese Muslims even bore allegiance to the proclaimed Ahom king named Kandarpeshwar Singha. Some of the assamese Muslims who supported the reprise of Ahoms are Bahadur Gaonburah, Formud Ali, Zulfikar Baruah, Nur Muhammad etc.