Ahom people

Who is Ahom people?

The Ahom people of Assam are the descendants of the ethnic Tai people that accompanied the Tai prince Sukaphaa into the Brahmaputra valley in 1228 and ruled the area for six centuries. Sukaphaa and his followers established the Ahom kingdom and the Ahom dynasty ruled and expanded the kingdom until the British gained control of the region through the Treaty of Yandabo upon winning the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1826. The kingdom established by the Ahom people gave Assam its name.

The modern Ahom people and their culture are a syncretic blend of the original Tai culture, the indigenous Tibeto-Burmans and Hinduism. Many of the Tai followers of Sukaphaa were unaccompanied males who subsequently married into the local communities. Some ethnic groups, including the Tibeto-Burman speaking Borahi people, were completely subsumed into the Ahom community. Members of other communities, based on their allegiance to the Ahom kingdom or the usefulness of their talents, were accepted as Ahoms. Gradually, the Indo-Aryan Assamese language replaced the Ahom language as the Ahoms converted to Hinduism and other aspects of Indian culture though one-third of the Ahom population still follow Tai original religion, Furalung. The Ahom language, till a few years ago was known by approximately 400-500 members of the Ahom priestly class. Deeply concern about the Ahom language, Tai Ahom organisations are now trying to revive Tai Ahom language again among masses of Tai Ahom people by establishing various Tai schools in Upper Assam. Many institutes like P.K.Buragohain Institute for Tai and South East Asian Studies,Guwahati,Central Tai Academy,Patsaku,etc have come up in recent days. In coming days more Tai schools are planned to be established across Assam