The Ahom dynasty, which had ruled Assam with great power since the early thirteenth century, had to go through some difficult times from the late seventeenth century. The struggle among the Ahom princes for the throne and the power-hungry behavior of the royal officials created anarchy in the kingdom. The Ahom monarchy was revived by the persecution and murder of Vaishnavas, Mahants and Satradhikars under his direct orders, although the accession of Swargadeo Gadadhar Singh (1681-96 AD) temporarily alleviated this situation. He was succeeded by his son Swargadeo Rudra Singh (1696-1714 AD) whose policy of tolerance and efficient rule created a stable environment in the kingdom
was able to. However, during the reign of the next Swargadeo Shiva Singh (1714-44 AD), the unwarranted Shakta religiosity of Barraja Phuleshwari and the persecution of Vaishnava Mahant Satradhikars and Moammars loosened the foundations of Ahom rule The 19th century was a time of great change for the country, and the 19th century was a time of great change for the country, and the 19th century was a time of great change for the country. The Moammar Rebellion, which began in the first year of the reign of Parvati Swargadeo Laxmi Singh (1769-80 AD), lasted until the early nineteenth century. The Moammar rebellion, which lasted for nearly four decades, paved the way for the certain collapse of the Ahem monarchy.
During the reign of Swargadeo Gaurinath Singh (1780-95 AD), King Krishna Narayan of Darang and some people of Kamrup, especially two brothers named Hardao and Birdao, led a rebellion with the help of Veronian soldiers imported from Bengal. The king was forced to leave his capital Rangpur and take refuge first in Nagaon and then in Guwahati. Gradually, the situation deteriorated and Gaurinath Singh took refuge with the British Government of Bengal. Finally, after much deliberation, the British government sent an army led by Captain Thomas Wells to assist Gaurinath Singh. Captain Wells, who arrived in Assam in late 1792, suppressed the rebellion by May 1794, ending the anarchy and political instability in Assam. Captain Wells then returned from Assam after restoring Gaurinath Singh to the throne. His campaign not only exposed the nakedness of the politics of Assam at that time, but also paved the way for the establishment of foreign rule in Assam
There are many different types of characters in the film, but the most important one is the character of Purnananda Buragohain. He served as the Rajmantri and Prime Minister of the state for 35 years from April 1782 to March 1817 during the reign of three kings, Gaurinath, Kamaleshwar and Chandrakant Singh respectively. The king, who is still powerful, Poonananda, conducted the entire administration at his own discretion. Purnananda severely punished and killed those who disobeyed his will. It was carried out in a plot to assassinate Purnananda with the secret support of King Chandrakanta Singh and on the initiative of Badan Chandra Barphukan. However, this plan failed and Badan Chandra fled to British-ruled Bengal on learning that Ahom troops had been sent from the capital to arrest him. There he sought the help of the British in support of himself and his late Chandrakant Singh and against Prime Minister Purnananda Buragohain from Magistrate David Scott of Rangpur. However, the Company’s government refused and Badan Chandra went to Burma to meet the Man king Badaupaya and appealed for military assistance against Prime Minister Purnananda.
The Man king agreed to Badan Chandra’s request and decided to send an army to Assam. Accordingly, he ordered the rulers of the three tributary kingdoms of Mugaung, Bhamo and Moying to go to Assam with 5,000 troops each under the command of Bom Senapati and Kamini Fukan The two generals were warned to punish the rulers of Badan Chandra without any injustice.
According to the Tai texts Vaishali Hukong and Vaishali Mu Dun Chun Kham, the king of Burma sent an army to Assam led by two generals of three subordinate kingdoms namely Bhamo, Mugaung and Moing.
The two Buranjis mention that at the beginning of the journey, the two generals were strictly ordered to return from Assam to Burma before the onset of the rainy season.
In March 1817, Badan Chandra Barphukan entered Assam through the Patkai Hills with his Man army. He was able to gather about 8,000 troops on his own.3 Shortly thereafter, the powerful Ahom army sent by Purnananda Budhagoha was defeated in the first encounter with the Mans. Unable to bear the shame of this defeat, Buragohain slipped into hell.4 This means that he committed suicide by licking the diamond on the night of the defeat. Although selfish and power-hungry, he was skilled in governing the kingdom. Colonel Hannay (col .hannay )in his book called Notes on the ,moamarias writes thus purnananda (i.e.the burha ) gohain may be said to have been the protector and regenerator of his country for a period of twenty years .
However, the Ahom army sent by his son Ruchinath Buragohain, who succeeded Purnananda as Prime Minister, was also defeated by the Man army at Kanthalbari and fled with the Ruchinath family to Guwahati. Consequently, without resistance, Badan entered the capital, met King Chandrakant Singh and bowed down to him. The king was very pleased with this and immediately gave Badan Chandra the title of Minister Barphukan and made him the Prime Minister. With the death of Purnananda, the objective for which Badan Chandra and Chandrakant Singh sought the help of the Mans , was fully successful. became . Before returning to their country, the Manchuria soldiers were defeated in Jorhat
He installed Purandara on the throne. They were arrested in Jorhat, mutilated and tortured and exiled to Taratali.
All these events made the internal political situation in Assam very complicated and tense in the first half of the nineteenth century. There, news of the conspiracy to assassinate Badan Chandra and the humiliation of Chandrakant Singh at the hands of Ruchinath reached the ears of the Manraja Badaupaya, who became very angry and declared war on Assam in January 1819 AD. The British were afraid of this and were looking for an excuse to fight against the Mans. As soon as the Mans invaded the British island of Shahpuri in the Bay of Bengal, the British found the long-awaited excuse and launched a war against the Mans. The British completely defeated the Mans in this long battle, which lasted until February 1824. As a result, the King of Burma ended the war with the British on 24 February 1826 by signing the Treaty of Yandabu. According to the terms of the treaty, the Man kings8-
First, he agreed to cede the provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim to the British.
Secondly, he completely withdrew his claims and rights in relation to Assam and Kachar.
Thirdly , he was forced to recognize Manipur as an independent state.
Fourth, promising the British Rs. 1 crore as war compensation.
Fifthly , it agreed to keep a British representative in Abha, the capital of Burma.
Sixth , the British agreed to a trade treaty with them as they wished.
Therefore, it can be seen that the Treaty of Yandaboo signed as a result of the First Anglo-Burmese War paved the way for the establishment of British rule in Assam. This marked an unprecedented change in the political , social, economic and cultural history of modern Assam. The Assamese people, who had no idea of the British’s plan to establish a permanent rule in their commercial interests, initially called the British the messengers of God for liberating them from the oppression of the Mans. However, the subsequent events shocked and confused the people of Assam and pushed them into an uncertain and dark future. In fact, there is no doubt that it was Captain Wells’ report on the Company Government on the inadequate resources and commercial potential of Assam that lured the British to Assam.
It is worth mentioning that no clause of the Treaty of Yandaboo stated that Assam and the North Eastern states would come under British control. Even David Scott, the agent of the Governor General of the North-East Frontier, said in a circular to the people of Assam on the eve of the British campaign against the Mans, “We are not led into your country by the thirst of conquest; but are forced in our own defence, to deprive our enemy of the means of annoying us… we will never consent to deport until we exclude our foe from Assam, and re-establish in that country a government adapted to your wants, and calculated to promote the happiness of all classes. “9 In other words, the British Government made it clear that the Assam campaign was being conducted to expel the enemy Mans as opposed to the desire to expand the kingdom. After the Mans left Assam, they would return from Assam after establishing a government of the kind wanted by the people. In practice, however, the British government violated its declaration and the Treaty of Yandabu and moved towards the establishment of liberal rule.
After the end of the Anglo-Burmese War, the stalemate caused by the Burmese invasions in other northeastern states was resolved and the deposed kings were restored to their respective states, but this was not done in the case of Assam. In support of this, the British argued that since the fugitive Ahom kings Chandrakant Singh, Purandar Singh and Yogeshwar Singh had not helped the British in any way during the Anglo-Burmese War in their old age, the British government would not appoint any of them. The British authorities did not even take proper measures for their proper resettlement. Only Chandra Kant Singh was settled in Kaliabar with a pension of Rs. 200, 100 pikes and some tax-free land. The rest of Yogeshwar Singh died a few days later and Purandar Singh was not given any assistance. In fact, the imperialist British had long planned to expand their kingdom to the Brahmaputra Valley. In this context, the comments of the historian PE Roberts are noteworthy. He said,the eastern boundary line of Bengal, roughly speaking, might have been found by drawing a line from Chittagong northward to the hills; but is was very ill-defined and variable . immediately to the east of this line lay the kingdom of Assam with various little independent or semi-independent states. But since there was no natural barrier of mountain or river to the province of Bengal upon the east, the same law of development which had government British expansion in the past again became operative.’’10
Therefore, after the end of the Anglo-Nepal War (1814-16 AD), the British Government under the leadership of David Scott adopted a progressive border policy towards Assam and planned to implement it. Therefore, directly after the Nepal War, David Scott was the main event in establishing relations with Bhutan ,Sikkim , Tibet, Kochbihar , Garo Hills , Assam on the one hand and the British on the other He was the one who convinced the higher authorities of the Company Government. David Scott became the controller of Assam politics from his appointment as Magistrate of Rangpur district in present-day Bangladesh in 1816, later as Commissioner of Assam and then until his death in
Naturally, during the arrival of the British, there was great disaster and unrest in the political and socio-economic life of Assam. The long rebellion of the Moammars and the three brutal invasions of the Mans destroyed the agriculture, cottage industry and trade of the country and had a profound impact on the population of the state. Millions of people lost their lives and many took refuge in the jungle and fled to neighboring states. Francis Jenkins commented on the terrible situation at this time, “When the British assumed charge of Assam after the treaty of Yandaboo…nothing could possibly be more unpromising than the state of the country. The small ramnant of the people had been so haressed and oppressed by the long civil and internal wars which had followed the accession of Rajah Gaurinath Singh in 1780 down to 1826, that they had almost given up cultivation, and lived in jungle roots and plants, ; and famine and pestilence carried off a thousand that had escaped the sword and captivity”12
David Scott was appointed Governor General’s Agent for the North-East Frontier on 15 November 1823 and oversaw all diplomatic activities in Assam and its neighboring states. He established good relations with the former ruling classes and chiefs of these regions and tried to remove the obstacles to the establishment of Company rule. The British imperialist policy of the North East
A few days after the outbreak of the Anglo-Burmese War, the southern Brahmaputra Valley, ie Kamrup and Darang, came under the Company in 1824 AD. After the war ended, under the terms of the Treaty of Yandabu (24 February 1826), the King of Burma withdrew all his rights and authority over Assam and its dependent states as well as Kachar and Jaintia and recognized Gambhir Singh as an independent king of Manipur. On 5 May 1826, about 36 Singphou Gams signed a treaty with the British and expressed their loyalty to the Company Government.16 Analysis of these events shows that by mid-1826 David Scott wrapped the Brahmaputra Valley and neighboring states in Assam paved the way for the establishment of rule.
However, the British did not interfere in the internal politics of Assam during 1824-26, as they did when they sent Captain Wells during 1792-94 in support of the Ahom monarchy or in response to its appeal. During this period, they closely observed the reactions of the local people and the nobility of the state to the British rule and made plans for the future. It was during this time that a British merchant named Robert Bruce learned of the existence of naturally growing tea trees in the soil of Assam from the Tsingfao and his brother Alexander Bruce sent some samples of tea seedlings to Calcutta for quality testing through David Scott. The discovery of the tea tree thus encouraged the British to conquer Assam and annex it to the Company’s territory.