Sadiya | |
---|---|
town | |
Nickname: Starting point of Assam | |
Coordinates: 27°50′N95°40′E / 27.83°N 95.67°E | |
Country | India |
State | Assam |
District | Tinsukia |
Elevation | 123 m (404 ft) |
Languages | |
• Official | Assamese |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
Vehicle registration | AS 23 |
Sadiya is a town in Tinsukia district, Assam. It was the capital of the Chutia Kingdom and after the downfall of the kingdom it became the seat of the Sadiya-khowa-Gohain of the Ahom kingdom. [1] Extensive remains of buildings and fortifications built during the rule of the Chutias near Sadiya still point to the importance of the region in the past. Historically Sadiya referred to the Chutiya kingdom which included at times the districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Tinsukia. It is claimed to be the center of development of the eastern Assamese dialects, the inscription here are written in a Tai script. [2] Its stands on a grassy plain, almost surrounded by forested Himalayan mountains, on the right bank of Lohit River which is locally (but erroneously) considered the main stream of the Brahmaputra River. [3] The deepest point of the Brahmaputra River is located near this village. It is famous for a flower named satphul (the word means "blessing" or a "desert flower"), which is much like Jasmine.
There are three possible routes from Sadiya to Tibet. [4] The first route is through the valley of Dihang or Tsang Po. The second one through the Dibang valley and the third route through the Lohit valley which leads to Zayul province, the extreme south-eastern province of Tibet. [5] It acted as a trade route which passed through the Shan state of Mongkawng and then finally reaches to Yunnan. [6]
Historically, the region between the Lohit River and the Dibang River was known as Sadhayapura as per copper inscriptions. It is believed that Sadiya is a corrupted form of Sadhayapura. [7]
Based on inscription, it is assumed to be the capital of Chutiya king Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa of the early 15th-century. [8]
According to some records, the Mongkawng (Nara) king Phukloimung attacked Sadiya from what is today Myitkyina District of Myanmar in 1524 but was defeated and pushed back. [9]
After annexing the Chutia kingdom by Suhungmung Dihingia Roja in 1523, this place came under the domain of the Ahoms and Prasengmung was appointed as the governor of the territory or Sadiya Khowa Gohain in 1524. Domains of Sadiya Khowa Gohain included the rivers of Lohit, Kundil, Dibang, Dikhari and the places of Kankham, Bardeoliyagoan, Nangkoa and the hills of Doidam and Chandangiri. The Sadiya Khowa Gohain had to maintained relations with the Adi, Mishmis and other hill tribes of the Sadiya frontier.
The headquarters of the Sadiya Khowa Gohain was at Kaicheng Goan where he constructed tanks and buildings, whose authority was extended to the river of Dihang on the west and river Tingrai in the east.
During the reign of Jayadhwaj Singha, Miri villages who indulged in lawless activities were suppressed in 1665. Also a number of Miri villages were reduced by Gadadhar Singha in 1683. In 1697, a great earthquake devastated Sadiya in which many hills were crumbled down.
In 1799, the Khamtis in league with the Phakials, Miris, Mishmis, Muluks, Khanghak, Pani Naras and Abors in Sadiya created disturbance in Sadiya but were suppressed. In 1810–11, the Khamtis in alliance with the Singphos occupied Sadiya after killing the last Ahom Governor or Sadiya Khowa Gohain, Govinda Gohain. From 1811–1839, the Khamtis remained in the control of Sadiya till its annexation by the British in 1839. [10]
Sadiya was the extreme north-east frontier station of British Raj, in the Lakhimpur district of Eastern Bengal and Assam regions. On the opposite bank is a railway station that used to connect with the Assam-Bengal line of that era. Sadiya had been garrisoned by detachments of native infantry and military police, and was the base of a chain of outposts. There had a bazaar, to which the hill-men beyond the frontier—Mishmis, Abors, and Khamtis—used to bring down rubber, wax, ivory, and musk, to barter for cotton cloth, salt and metal goods. [3] In 1943-44 there was a United States Army Air Force (USAAF) field at Sadiya which hosted the 89th Fighter Squadron of the 80th Group, headquartered at Nagaghuli, now Chabua Air Base of the Indian Air Force. Sadiya today serves as one of the district headquarters for Indian Red Cross.
In 1882 Francis Jack Needham was appointed Assistant Political Agent for the British authorities after having served in the region as an assistant Superintendent of Police since 1876. He finally retired from service in 1905 after spending his life exploring above the Brahmaputra river and writing a treatise on the grammar of Miri, Singpho, and Khamti languages. He was awarded the Gill memorial medal in 1887 and made a fellow of The Royal Geographical Society in 1889. His main purpose in life was exploration partly in order to try and discover the source of the Brahmaputra river. His award of the Gill memorial Medal and F.R.G.S. was for penetrating into the Zayul Valley and into Tibet from Assam.
The entire area of Sadiya was a well developed city in the medieval times. The ruins like Bhismaknagar, Rukmininagar, Tamreswari temple, Shiva temple, Pratima garh, Bura-buri temple built during the Chutia period.
This was the most notable among the temples built by Chutia kings. The temple was dedicated to Kechaikhati, a primordial female tribal deity commonly found among different Bodo-Kachari groups. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] As per the Kalika Purana, the main temple was octagonal in shape surrounded by eight dwarapals in eight directions. When the British visited the temple complex, the main temples has disappeared and only a small square structure remained. The wall and doors of the temple were well designed with beautiful works. There were two giant elephant sculptures with silver tusks at the main door of the complex. The walls were made without any mortar and instead used iron dowels and brackets. The whole temple was surrounded with brick walls and on the western wall there was a place for human sacrifice. [17] Although the temple is now completely submerged under marshy lands due to silt deposition in 1959, previous studies show that the main statues of the temple were built of sandstone and granite. The stone inscription found in the temple reads, [18]
“Shiv-Charan-Prasadat Vridharajatan
Ya-Sri-srimata-Mukta Dharmanarayana
Shri shrimati Digaravasini Ichtaka
Di-Virchit-Prakara-Nivaddha
Krit Agrahainike Saka 1364”— Tamreswari Wall inscription
The inscription describes that the walls of the temple have been built by the son Mukta Dharmanarayan of the old king (name not specified) in the Saka year 1364 (1442 AD).
The roof of the Tamreswari temple was originally sheeted with copper as mentioned in the Changrung Phukan Buranji (1711 AD), from which the name is derived. In 1848, when Dalton visited the site, he found a stone structure, but the copper roof was already removed. As per T. Block who visited the site in 1905, this square structure in the corner cannot have been the main building inside the complex and the brick wall evidently enclosed some sort of a grand temple in the center which has disappeared with time. According to S.F. Hannay, the temple complex was as near as possible square with the doorway to the west. There was a substantial brick wall, about 4.5 feet thick rising to the height of 8 feet, on the foundation of rudely cut blocks of sandstone. The entrance of the complex was on the west face, where there had been a stone enclosure and door. The ruins of the gateway which remains include the lintel carved on the edge in a chain of lotus flowers, some ornamented small pillars and an elephant statue. The three blocks forming the doorway, each of 7.5 feet long and 2 feet by 18 inches in girth, along with the blocks of the projecting wall, were reddish porphyritic granite of an adamantine hardness. There was another stone gateway at the southeast corner leading to the stream, in the bed of which are several carved and plain blocks of granite and sandstone. [19] According to Debala Mitra(1956), the temple was originally Chaturayatana, i.e. having four shrines, built of sandstone and granite and located in the south-east section of the rectangular brick enclosure, prakara roughly measuring 208 ft by 130 ft. The compound wall was 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall and had a stone gateway on the eastern side. In the floods of 1959, due to deposit of silt in the banks of Paya river the structure was completely submerged in the waters. [20]
The Bura-Buri Than is another important temple built by the Chutia kings. It was dedicated to Primordial parents Gira-Girasi or Bura Buri, which were later sanskritised as Shiva and Sakti . [21] Although the structure has fallen due to natural calamities, the base still remains intact upon which a new temple has been built. The foundation is an octagonal shaped base made of stone with each edge spanning 3.4 meters in length. The temple was built using granite stone and fixed using iron dowels and brackets similar to the ones used in Malini Than and Tamreswari temple. The temple was surrounded by a wall built using bricks of 18–25 cm length and 12–17 cm breadth. [22]
The Bhismaknagar Fort located in Roing is an important monument built by Chutia kings with the walls of the fort spread over 10 sq. km. The name was probably derived from Bhishmaka, the divine Hindu lineage created for the Chutias in the 16th century. [23] A brick with the name Lakshminarayan indicates that the fort was repaired during the 15th century. [24] The Bhismaknagar central complex extended over an area of 1860 square meters and displays three halls, six ingresses and two extension rooms. There is also a 2 meters high stone wall inside the complex. The architecture of the fort displays medieval culture. While quarrying in the fort, enormous pieces of work of art like potteries, terracotta figurines, terracotta plaques and decorative tiles were recovered.
Fabricated from the burnt bricks gave this fort an impressive and remarkable top view and thus explores the dexterity of people of ancient era. This fort can still be signified as an astonishing work of art.
The city's area is 10 square km. It is surrounded by a wall 4.5 meters high and 6 meters wide made using granite stone(6-9 courses) [25] and bricks on the east, west and south directions. In the north, the Mishmi hills provided a natural barrier. Although very less excavation has been carried out by the Arunachal government, preliminary excavations have revealed three tanks and two gates in the eastern and western directions. [26]
The Bhismaknagar central complex extended over an area of 1860 square meters and displays three halls, six ingresses and two extension rooms. There is also a 2 meters high stone wall inside the complex. The architecture of the fort displays the medieval culture. While quarrying the fort the enormous pieces of work of art like potteries, terracotta figurines, terracotta plaques and decorative tiles were preserved.
In the hills north of Roing lie scattered some old brick structures, mainly between the Chidu and Chimri villages situated at an altitude of about 305 m. The local people, the Idus, were desirous of giving an Idu word to the name, and hence it came to be called Rukmini Nati (nati—the Idu word for bricks). An exploration-cum-excavation work, undertaken by the Research Department of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh, to study the ruins, has thrown some light on the antiquities. In course of the progress of work, which continued from January 1973 to April 1974, excavation of two mounds at Chimri, II km from Roing, unearthed two rooms, 10x10 m and 10x12 m respectively built on a slope, at a distance of 14 m from each other. The contents dug out from inside the walls of the rooms were of river-borne materials, a fact which suggests that they were destroyed by floods. The potsherds resembling those of Bhismaknagar in shape, fabric and technique that were unearthed bear ample evidence to the extension to this area of the same culture as of Bhismaknagar.
The other archaeological sites in this area are located (I) near Chidu Inspection Bungalow, (2) at Cheko Nati between Chidu and Chimri and (3) in the hills north of Chimri. No relics, however, could be found at the first two sites, although potsherds at Chidu and brick walls, steps, etc. at Cheko Nati were reported to have been seen earlier. The third site north of Chimri is situated at a high altitude of about 610 m. Not a single brick found there was in alignment, and everything seemed destroyed. The situation of all the four sites on a hilly terrain suitable for defence indicate that they are parts of a single complex representing a fort which extended from Chidu to Chimri. It is probable that the main centre of this complex was at Cheko Nati. Another archaeological site called Duku Limbo is on the left bank of the Dibang at'the foot of Elopa hill. The brickbats found at this site suggest that the Brismaknagar culture had extended to this point. [27]
An old Mud Fort in the Tindolong area, six km from Tezu, was explored in 1972. It falls on the main road from Sadiya to Tezu. The area of the fort, enclosed by earthen ramparts—365.76 m X 350.52 m, is square in shape. The rampart is eight ft high, and equally broad at the top with sloping sides. On both the -inner and outer sides of the rampart run two ditches about 6 m wide. There is a prominent mound, circular in shape (diameter 30.48 m approximately) and about 3 m in height, almost at the centre of the enclosure. The mound appears to be a cavalier for lookout purposes. Some potsherds found at this site are too fragmentary to bear any conclusive evidence. It may, however, be assumed that the Mud Fort linked by the route from Bhismaknagar to Parshuram Kund was probably associated with the early culture that flourished in and around Sadiya and Bhismaknagar. [27]
The complex seems to represent a defensive mud-fort or redoubt of a modest dimension unlike the fortified city of Bhismakanagara. It was suitable for a small band of soldiers to maintain vigilance against the enemies from their hide-outs inside jungle especially in guerilla warfare, the normal practice in the region. Scarp and counter-scarp provided by the rampart and ditches immensely strengthened the defence in the topography of the country. Strategic considerations are palpable from the situation of the fort on principal route from Sadiya and Bhismaknagar to Parshuram Kund facing the Lohit river, perhaps to keep watch on the enemy from its left bank around Chowkham and hence the position of the mound meant for this purpose nearer the river. The fort has been assigned roughly to a period about the 14th-15th century. [28]
Sadiya is located at 27°50′N95°40′E / 27.83°N 95.67°E . [29] It has an average elevation of 123 m (404 ft). It is the only area of Assam where the newly described subspecies of hoolock gibbon, which is known as Mishmi Hills hoolock H. h. mishmiensis occurs. [30]
Sadiya is part of Lakhimpur (Lok Sabha constituency). Name of the assembly constituency is 126-Sadiya LAC.
Sadiya is one of the three Sub-Divisions of Tinsukia District. Chapakhowa is the centre of Sadiya. [31] Sadiya is located under Tinsukia district of Assam and a legislative constituency contains 126 members of the legislative assembly. The only town under Sadiya assembly constituency is Chapakhowa town, with 10305 number of total population. According to 2011 census, Schedule Caste (SC) living in Sadiya is 2974 of which 1516 are male and 1458 are female and Schedule Tribe (ST) residing in Sadiya is 25167 of which 12908 are male and 12259 are female.
Arunachal Pradesh is a state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and largest town. It borders the Indian states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Myanmar in the east, and a disputed 1,129 km border with China's Tibet Autonomous Region in the north at the McMahon Line. Arunachal Pradesh is claimed by China as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region; China occupied some regions of Arunachal Pradesh in 1962 but later withdrew its forces.
The Mishmi people are an ethnic group of Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh, India. The area is known as the Mishmi Hills. Only one group, called the Deng, occupy Zayu County in southern Tibet.
Lohit is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India. The district headquarters is located at Tezu. As of 2011 it is the third most populous district of Arunachal Pradesh, after Papum Pare and Changlang.
Tinsukia district is one of the 34 administrative districts in the state of Assam, India. The district headquarters is located at Tinsukia city. The district occupies an area of 3790 km2.
The Lohit River, which name came from the Assamese word Lohit meaning blood, also known as the Zayul Chu by the Tibetans and Tellu by the Mishmis, is a river in China and India, which joins the Brahmaputra River in the state of Assam. It is formed in the Zayul County of the Tibet Autonomous Region, through a merger of two rivers: the Kangri Karpo Chu, which originates in the Kangri Karpo range, and Zayul Chu, which originates to its northeast. The two rivers merge below the town of Rima. The combined river descends through this mountainous region and surges through Arunachal Pradesh in India for 200 kilometres (120 mi) before entering the plains of Assam where it is known as the Lohit River. Tempestuous and turbulent, and known as the river of blood partly attributable to the lateritic soil, it flows through the Mishmi Hills, to meet the Siang (Brahmaputra) at the head of the Brahmaputra valley.
The Dimasa Kingdom was a late medieval/early modern kingdom in Assam, Northeast India ruled by Dimasa kings. The Dimasa kingdom and others that developed in the wake of the Kamarupa kingdom were examples of new states that emerged from indigenous communities in medieval Assam as a result of socio-political transformations in these communities. The British finally annexed the kingdom: the plains in 1832 and the hills in 1834. This kingdom gave its name to undivided Cachar district of colonial Assam. And after independence the undivided Cachar district was split into three districts in Assam: Dima Hasao district, Cachar district, Hailakandi district. The Ahom Buranjis called this kingdom Timisa.
Suhungmung, or Dihingia Roja I was one of the most prominent Ahom Kings who ruled at the cusp of Assam's medieval history. His reign broke from the early Ahom rule and established a multi-ethnic polity in his kingdom. Under him the Ahom Kingdom expanded greatly for the first time since Sukaphaa, at the cost of the Chutia and the Dimasa kingdoms. He also successfully defended his kingdom against Muslim invasions, first by a general called Bar Ujjir and another by Turbak Khan. During his time, the Khen dynasty collapsed and the Koch dynasty ascended in the Kamata kingdom. His general, Ton-kham, pursued the Muslims up to the Karatoya river, the western boundary of the erstwhile Kamarupa Kingdom, the farthest west an Ahom military force had ventured in its entire six hundred years of rule.
The Ahom kingdom was a late medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley that retained its independence for nearly 600 years despite encountering Mughal expansion in Northeast India. Established by Sukaphaa, a Tai prince from Mong Mao, it began as a mong in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra based on wet rice agriculture. It expanded suddenly under Suhungmung in the 16th century and became multi-ethnic in character, casting a profound effect on the political and social life of the entire Brahmaputra valley. The kingdom became weaker with the rise of the Moamoria rebellion, and subsequently fell to repeated Burmese invasions of Assam. With the defeat of the Burmese after the First Anglo-Burmese War and the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826, control of the kingdom passed into East India Company hands.
Roing is the district headquarter of Lower Dibang Valley district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is the last major township at the north-eastern frontier of India.
Borgohain was the second of the two original counselors in the Ahom kingdom. He was selected by the Ahom king from members of the Ahom nobility, who vowed not to fight for the position of Ahom kingship, rather act as a guide to the Ahom king in matters of administering his province in an efficient manner .The other original counsellor is the Burhagohain. Both the positions existed from the time of the first Ahom king, Sukaphaa. After the first major expansion of the Ahom kingdom, the Sadiya province was initially given to the Borgohain to administer. But later in the year 1527, he was replaced by King-lun Buragohain who was made Thao-mung Bo-ngen. After that, he was given the region south of the Dikhou river to Kaliabor on the south bank. In later times, he administered the region east of Burai on the north bank, as Borbarua was given the charge of territories between Sadiya province to Kaliabor.
Sunyeopha also Lakshmi Singha, was the 34th Ahom king, who reigned from 1769 to 1780. After the death of Suremphaa, he married the Queen Kuranganayani and became the king of the Ahom kingdom. Shortly after he was installed he became a captive of the rebels of the Moamoria rebellion for a few months but soon managed to regained his kingdom. With the help of Kuranganayani, after destroying all the Moamoria rebels including Borbaruah Ragho, Lakshmi Singha was once again crowned as king of Ahom kingdom.
The Chutia Kingdom was a late medieval state that developed around Sadiya in present Assam and adjoining areas in Arunachal Pradesh. It extended over almost the entire region of present districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, and some parts of Dibrugarh in Assam, as well as the plains and foothills of Arunachal Pradesh. The kingdom fell around the year 1524 to the Ahom Kingdom after a series of conflicts and the capital area ruled by the Chutia rulers became the administrative domain of the office of Sadia Khowa Gohain of the Ahom kingdom.
Ita Fort in Itanagar town is an important historical sites in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India. The name literally means "Fort of Bricks". It also lends its name to the city Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. The Ita Fort at Arunachal Pradesh is generally assumed to be built by the Sutiya kings in the 14th or the 15th century. The fort has an irregular shape, built mainly with bricks dating back to the 14th - 15th century. The total brickwork is of 16,200 cubic metre lengths which was probably built by kings of the Sutiya kingdom which ruled the region during that time. The fort has three different entrances at three different sides, which are the western, the eastern and the southern side.
Dibang River, also known as Sikang by the Adi and Talo in Idu, is an upstream tributary river of the Brahmaputra in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It originates and flows through the Mishmi Hills in the (Upper) Dibang Valley and Lower Dibang Valley districts.
The Chutia people are an ethnic group that are native to Assam and historically associated with the Chutia kingdom. However, after the kingdom was absorbed into the Ahom kingdom in 1523–24, the Chutia population was widely displaced and dispersed in other parts of Upper Assam as well as Central Assam. They constitute one of the core groups that form the Assamese people.
Tamreswari temple is a temple for the tribal goddess called Kecaikhati is situated about 18 km away from Sadiya in Tinsukia district, Assam, India. The temple was in the custody of non-Brahmin tribal priests called Deoris. Some remains suggest that a Chutiya king built a wall or the temple itself in the year 1442. There were four different kinds of Deori priest who looked after the temple. The Bar Bharali and the Saru Bharali collected dues of the temple and provides animals for sacrifice. The Bar Deori and the Saru Deori performs the sacrifice and sung hymns. The temple was dedicated to Kechaikhati/Pishasi, a powerful tribal deity or a form of the Buddhist deity Tara, commonly found among different Bodo-Kachari groups. The worship of the goddess even after coming under Hindu influence was performed according to her old tribal customs.
Malinithan is an archaeological site containing the ruins of an early medieval period temple on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is assumed to be built by the Chutia kings in the 13th-14th century. Kechai-Khaiti, a tribal goddess found among the Bodo-kachari groups or the Buddhist goddess Tara is considered to be the chief deity worshipped in the ruined temple. The worship of the goddess Kechaikheiti even after coming under Hindu influence was performed according to her old tribal customs.
Bhismaknagar is an archeological site in Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is located near Roing in Lower Dibang Valley district. The remains are generally ascribed to the rule of the Sutiyas, a Bodo-Kachari (Tibeto-Burmese) ethnic group who ruled over the region of Sadiya from 11th to 16th Century CE.
Sadiya Serpent pillar, is an ancient octagonal stone pillar that was erected in the region of historical Sadiya in Assam, India. The builders and the period it was built are unknown.
Kecaikhati is a prominent goddesses from Northeast India. Her shrine is considered to be the Tamreswari Temple, near Paya in Arunachal Pradesh; and she is referred to as Dikkaravasini in the 9th century Kalika Purana whose temple formed the eastern limit of Kamarupa. But unlike Kamakhya and Kamakhya Temple, which acquired Brahmin priests and became associated with the legendary Narakasura and the historical Kamarupa kings, Kecaikhati continued to remain outside the ambit of Brahminical influence and remained under the control of Deori priests during the time of the Chutia kingdom and after up to the present time.