Archaeology of the Northern Bank of Upper Brahmaputra Valley (A Study of Monuments, Sites and Ancient Remains)

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This work is the result of the author's Ph.D. thesis, which deals with the archaeology of the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley covering the period from 5th century C.E. to the 18th century C.E. in this volume, analysis has been made to understand the physical remains of the past in pursuit of a broad and comprehensive understanding of human culture of the study locality. A detailed study on the monuments, ruins, icons, inscriptions, earth works like ramparts, roads and tanks etc. has been conducted. The study reflects not only the architectural and sculptural activities, but also helps to understand the socio-religious and political histories of the region, as the remainsare mostly religious in nature and associated with different cults and dynasties.

Dr. Swapna Kakati, M.A, B.Ed., M.Phil., Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, Chaiduar College, Gohpur, Biswanath, Assam. She has completed her Ph.D. from Dibrugarh University, Assam in 2021. She has also completed three (3) Minor Research Projects sponsored by Indian Council of Historical (ICHR), New Delhi and University Grants Commission (UGC), North East Regional Office, Guwahati. Dr. Kakati has published twenty two (22) text books, five (5) reference books, thirteen (13) numbers of research papers in international and national journals, thirty one (31) numbers of research papers in conference proceedings and thirty (30) numbers of articles in different books, Souvenirs and magazines. Her academic interests lie in Ancient Indian History and Art and Archaeology.

This work is an attempt to study the archaeology of the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley belonging to the period from 5ª century C.E. to the 18º century CE. Here, attempts have been made to analyze the physical remains of the past in pursuit of a broad and comprehensive understanding of human culture of the study locality. A detailed study on the monuments, ruins, icons, inscriptions, earth works like ramparts, roads and tanks etc. are made. The study not only reflects the architectural and sculptural activities, but also helps to understand the socio-religious and political histories of the region as the remains are mostly religious in nature and associated with different cults and dynasties.

The work is divided into five chapters. Chapter-1 begins with defining of archaeology, its scope and objectives, including methodology adopted for the study. It also includes the survey of the existing literature. Attempts have been made to give brief history of the historical background and political development. Chapter-II deals with different aspects of icons found in the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley. Chapter-III provides different aspects of architectural remains. Chapter-IV studies the other archaeological remains in the form of inscriptions, roads, ramparts and tanks. Chapter-V reveals the correlation among all the chapters and attempts to present the overall picture of the archaeology of the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley.

This book forms my doctoral thesis. I am taking this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to my research guide Prof. Nirode Boruah, Professor, Deptt. of History of Dibrugarh University for his constant supervision during my study period and preparation of this thesis.

I am grateful to Prof. Biswajit Baruah, Prof. Jahnabi Gogoi Nath, Dr. Chandan Sarmah, Dr. Bipul Chaudhury, Dr. S. Pait, Mrs. Kakoli Gogoi, Dr. Rashmirekha Bhuyan and all the faculty members of the deptt. of History of Dibrugarh University for their valuable suggestions and encouragement during the tenure of this work.

I offer my heartiest thanks to Prof. (Dr.) Dambarudhar Nath, VC, Majuli University of Culture for his valuable suggestions and encouragement in doing my research work. I am indebted to Dr. Nityananda Gogoi, Retired H-O-D, deptt. of History of Biswanath college and Mrs. Loly Hazarika, District Museum Officer, District Museum, Tezpur for helping me to identify different icons.

Thanks are due to the staff of Archaeological Museum, Malinithan, Lakshminath Bezbaruah Library, Dibrugarh University, Library of ICHR, North East Centre, Guwahati, Library of the Directorate of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, Govt. of Assam, Guwahati, Assam State Museum, Guwahati, Directorate of Archaeology, Govt. of Assam, Guwahati, Kamarupa Anusandhan Samity, Guwahati and Chaiduar College Library, Gohpur for their help.

I am grateful to the members of different temple committees and local people who joined me in different survey works, without their co-operation field work would have been an impossible task.

I thank my husband Dr. Mohini Mohan Borah whose suggestions and guidance were instrumental in planning this work and also thank him for his help throughout the tenure of the study.

I am thankful to Dibrugarh University for giving me permission to publish the thesis in book form.

Archaeology and history are always interdisciplinary to each other. Archaeology has a number of goals, from reconstructing the historical past to communicate with the present behavioural commodities and communities. History on the other hand, both reconstruct and construct what was already happened. As we all know that archaeology supplements and enriches historical understanding by providing tangible evidence from different time periods where written records are scarce or absent. Together, both the disciplines by intersecting each other in various ways contribute to more comprehensive understanding of human history and cultural heritage. This book is also an attempt to intersect the archaeology and history of northern bank of upper Brahmaputra Valley for a comprehensive understanding of history of archaeological remains and significance of socio-political and religious life of the region.

In the present work that forms a modified version of her Ph.D. thesis entitled Archaeology of the Northern Bank of Upper Brahmaputra Valley: A Study of Monuments, Sites and Ancient Remains, Dr. Swapna Kakati makes serious attempt to study the archaeology of the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley belonging to the period from 5th century C.E. to the 18th century C.E. with the objectives to search the history of archaeological remains, study its nature, types of iconography, significance and socio-political and religious life as reflected by the remains. It is a micro-study covering a broad period which is important for understanding the socio-cultural past of the region. In this work, attempts have been made to give brief history of the geographical condition, historical background and socio-religious and political development of the region chosen for study. The tentative reconstruction of the genealogy of kings who ruled in the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra Valley since ancient period has been possible from epigraphical records of the region. Towards the end of 12ª century, the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra Valley was parceled out into a number of independent principalities. Among them, a line of Chutia kings ruled over the east of the Subansiri river of present Lakhimpur district. Similarly, the Bhuyans had ruled the area between Bharali in the west and river Sobansiri in the east during the early part of medieval period. Sukapha, the founder of Ahom kingdom, established his authority from the Doikham pass on the border of upper Myanmar in the cast and Habung on the north bank of Brahmaputra to the west. The territory of Sukhangpha (1293-1332 C.E.), extended up to the present Lakhimpur district. Suhungmung (1497-1539 C.E.) occupied the territories of Bhuyans in 1505 C.E. and the Chutias in 1523 C.E. Thus, the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra Valley came under the rule of the Ahoms and it continued till 18º century CE. It further deals with different aspects of icons found in the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley. Ruins of Da-Parbatiya, Tezpur bear the evidence of iconographic development in this region in the 5-6 century C.E. The sculpture of Assam from 8 to 12h century was influenced by the East Indian School of Medieval Art. Characteristic development of this period was the growth of stela, kirtimukha decoration, heaviness of ornamentation, more sensuous body posture, in fleshly body and in gracious face-cut. Various icons found at different places of the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley bear characteristics of this art style. Central Indian influence is also noticed at different art style developed in the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley during the period from 8th to 12th century. The art activity of late medieval period deviated from earlier art style and regional art form emerged. During this period, the artists based their art style on folk elements with features like flat face, broad nose, thick lips etc. Dr. Kakati has attempted to make a detailed study on different aspects of architecture which includes architectural plan, architectural elevation, material of construction, exterior and interior designs, comparison of ancient and medieval architecture of the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra Valley with the ancient and medieval architectural development in other parts of Assam and India have been made. A number of temples of late medieval period are reported by different scholars that were built under the Ahom rulers (13-18 century C.E.). The Ahoms tried to follow the Hindu traditional style of architecture. They began to construct brick structure instead of stone or temporary material like wood, cane and bamboo etc. Bordole, Basudev dol, Biswanath temple, Nandikeswar devalaya and ruins of Dhandi dol are the best example of architecture for these period. The other archaeological remains in the form of inscriptions, roads, ramparts and tanks such as one rock-cut, one stone pillar and two copper-plate inscriptions belonged to the ancient period, six engraved on rock, four on stone-pillar, sixteen on copper and three on silver of medieval period are also incorporated in this study. The script used in the early epigraphs of the northern bank of upper Brahmaputra valley contained the characters of the script of Eastern variety of Siddhantamatrka or Kutila script. Gradually, Kamrupi or old Assamese, Assamese and Tai-Ahom scripts were also used in the inscriptions. Likewise, Sanskrit language was used in early period and later on Sanskrit, Assamese and Tai-Ahom were equally used in epigraphs. Like other parts of Assam and India, both prose and verse were used in epigraphs of this locality. The structural features of the ramparts, roads and tanks available in the northern bank of the upper Brahmaputra valley provide valuable information for the early and medieval period of history. The rampart and roads help to trace the strategic importance of the locality during the medieval period. Tanks provide valuable information about the socio-economic condition of the people.