IDETNTITY CRISIS AMONG THE ASSAMESE PEOPLE

Hira Charan Narjinari

A strange and most interesting debate with respect to the definition of Assamese people that is now going on in Assam is certainly a rarest of the rare episodes in the history of any humankind during the last hundred years. Why are the Assamese-speaking people so keen to define the term Assamese? When the language called Assamese is constitutionally recognised as one of the national languages of India since the time of the coming of the Constitution of India into force on 26^th January 1950 then why are there such deep apprehensions among the Assamese about their own security as a race? In fact, the older Assamese political leaders were so defiant of the contemporary events that they ignored the prophecy of C.S. Mullan when he prophesied saying, “It is sad but by no means improbable that in another thirty years Sibsagar district will be the only part of Assam in which an Assamese will find himself at home”. Many Assamese scholars made mockery of his prophecy. However they failed to perceive the actual meaning of the prophecy and considered themselves as the strongest nation in the area assimilating other communities into Assamese-speaking community which has now proved disastrous for their own identity.

The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), established in January 1967, smelt something fishy in the voter’s list in 1979 which drove them to agitation against illegal immigrants.  After a 6 year (1979-1985)  long agitation, a Memorandum of Settlement known popularly as Assam Accord was signed in the presence of the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi on 15 August 1985 between All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Government of India and Government of Assam on the issue of foreigner’s problem. The Assam Accord contains 15 Clauses out of which Clause 6 is the most important one. It states about safeguarding the Assamese people constitutionally, legislatively and administratively and preserving and promoting the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people. 

About thirty years have elapsed after signing the Assam Accord but till date Clause 6 of the Accord could not be implemented in the absence of common definition of the term Assamese People as spelt out in Clause 6 of the Accord. There is no doubt about it that finding a common definition of the term Assamese People is very intricate and the road may not be so smooth so as to arrive at an ultimate conclusion. The multi-ethnic, the multi-lingual and the multi-cultural characteristics of the State of Assam is though unique but the Assamese people could not gratify different ethnic groups the way they should have been gratified.  In the 1891 Census it was stated that as many as 167 different languages were returned and in the 1901 Census it was reported that in the Province of Assam, Assamese was spoken by only 22 per cent while Bengali was spoken by 48 per cent. However, after independence, Assamese became the language of the new State of Assam.  In spite of being a dominant linguistic group, the Assamese people feared that unless constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards are extended to them they would be overwhelmed by non-Assamese people.

Recently the issue for determining the definition of the Assamese People rocked the Assam Assembly on 3^rd March 2015 when the Speaker Pranab Gogoi recommended, after consultations with 53 different organisations, that the year 1951 be taken as the cut off period and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), 1951, be taken as the basis for the definition of the Assamese People for the purpose of reservation of seats and constitutional safeguards as required by the Assam Accord.[The Hindu, 1 April 2015]. The members of Asom Gana Parishad, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bodoland People’s Front backed the Speaker’s definition of Assamese People and insisted that the Speaker’s recommendation be treated as a recommendation of the House. 

NRC was prepared in 1951 after the Census of 1951. The Register contains particulars of all the persons enumerated during the 1951 Census. In other words, the Register contains details of persons irrespective of caste, tribe, creed, language and religion. If so, then in what way NRC 1951 is going to help determine the definition of Assamese People? Will Bengalis – both Hindus and Muslims – love to be defined as Assamese? 

Meanwhile, the Assam Sahitya Sabha stated that those Indian nationals who irrespective of community, language, religion and place of origin, accept Assamese language as their mother tongue or their second or third language are the Assamese people. This does not appear to be the appropriate definition of Assamese people.

According to AASU and 25 other organisations, the word “Assamese” in Clause 6 of the Assam Accord of 1985 means all indigenous communities and all indigenous Assamese-speaking groups of the State of Assam.  Bodo Sahitya Sabha has suggested replacement of the word Assamese by the phrase indigenous people of Assam”. According to Dhirendra Nath Chakravartty, a veteran journalist and former President of Kamrup Mahanagar Zilla Sahitya Sabha, “People from all the castes and the ethnic groups that had figured in the census books from 1901 to 1951 and the communities like the Gariyas and Mariyas as well as the tea-garden tribes should be treated as Assamese people.”

Phrases like indigenous people of Assam, indigenous communities and indigenous Assamese-speaking groups do not appear to be appropriate to define Assamese People. The very term Indigenous Peoples is confusing because most people of the world are “indigenous” to their countries in the sense of having been born into them or having descended from people who were born into them. Indigenous peoples are clearly native to their countries in this sense too, but they also make another claim, namely that they were the first and are still there and so have rights of prior occupancy to their lands.

The government of India does not accept marginal peoples of India to be called by the term “indigenous”. The government opines that most of the peoples of Indian subcontinent have been there for thousands of years and hence none can reasonably be singled out as indigenous. The Constitution of India rather calls the marginal peoples of India as scheduled tribe and not as indigenous peoples.

In fact, there is no universal definition of indigenous peoples. However, for practical purposes the commonly accepted understanding of the term is that provided by Jose R. Martinez Cobo, Special Rapporteur, United Nations Economic and Social Council, in his Study on the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples, June 1982. The working definition reads as follows:

“Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system.”

In the light of the above definition, the Bodos and their cognates can only be considered Indigenous Peoples. Before the arrival of the so-called Aryans, Brahmaputra Valley was already under the occupation of the Bodos. In other words, when the Aryans arrived in ancient Assam they referred to the Bodos and their cognates of ancient Assam as Kiratas, Mlecchas, Asuras and Danavas. It was clear that these peoples were natives to ancient Assam.

The conquering peoples like the Aryans and the Ahoms were racially, ethnically and culturally different from the Tibeto-Burman Bodo and other cognate tribes who in the course of time were subordinated by the invaders. The Bodos speak a language which is entirely different from the Assamese language spoken by a majority of the population in the area. Bodo culture invariably differs from the ‘mainstream’ Assamese. Bodo language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family while Assamese is of Indo-Aryan origin. More than a decade ago Bodo was called a dialect or an unclassified language. Bodo is now one of the national languages of India because it was adopted in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India in 2003. Interestingly, in April 2014, Paramananda Rajbongshi the then vice president of Axom Xahitya Xabha sternly warned all the dignitaries and administrators of BTAD saying that insult of Assamese language is intolerable. He further said that Assamese is immortal and hence Assamese language has to be practiced as a State language along with developing Bodo language. This sadly demonstrates the Assamese intolerance towards other languages. The learned Mr. Rajbongshi may not be aware of the fact that Bodo language precedes Assamese language and that when the Bodo language was spoken in northern Bengal and north-east India, the Assamese caste and their language were not even born at that time.

It is accepted by scholars that the term Assam originated only with the coming of the Shan invaders to ancient Assam. “The word ‘Assamese’, says B. Kakati, is an English one based on the anglicised form ‘Assam’ from the native word “Asam”, which in its turn is connected with the Shans who invaded the Brahmaputra Valley in the 13^th century. Though the Shan invaders called themselves “Tai” they came to be referred to as Āsam, Asām and Acam by the indigenous people of the province. [ B. Kakati, ‘The Assamese Language’, in Aspects of Early Assamese Literature, Ed. 1953, p.1]. The Mughal historian who accompanied Mir Jumla in his expedition to Assam during the second half of the 17^th century A.D. refers to the Ahoms as “Asamiyans”. If the name Assam originated from the name Ahom, then it is reasonable to say that the name Assam and her language called Assamese began taking shape only after the arrival of the Ahoms. Shall we then take it for granted that the Ahoms are the actual Assamese People? Furthermore, the Ahoms invaded Assam and hence according to the construction of the working definition of indigenous peoples they cannot be called indigenous in the true sense of the term.  

An interesting conversation between Hilary Pais and his mother-in-law of Tezpur on who Assamese is may be cited here which will throw some idea about Assamese people. His mother-in-law was not an expert and emotionally involved with the definition of Assamese. But her replies are interesting to note. Pais asked his mother-in-law – who is Assamese? She replied, - “Ami Axomiya” – “we are Assamese”, “Ami Axomiya kom” – “We speak Assamese”.  What about Purna Narayan Sinha? She replies, - “Koch manuh, Axomiya koi”- he is a Koch who speaks Assamese. What about Attaur Rahman and his family? She replies, Mia manuh, Bongali koi – they are Musalman people who speak Assamese. What about Bahadur Basumatary? She replies, - Kochari manuh, Bodo koi – he is a Kachari who speaks Bodo. About Bishnu Rabha, she said, - Bishnu Rabha is a Kochari who speaks Rabha”.  From this it is clear that Axomiya are entirely different from the Koch, the Muslim, the Rabha, the Kachari, etc.

The Bodos have already declared that they are not Assamese. A song to this effect has already been composed which starts with Jwng nwnga Asomiya, Dabung jwngkhou Asomiya (We are not Assamese, call us not Assamese) which has become most popular among the Bodos. Recently, the Koch Rajbansis have also declared that they are not Assamese. Tomorrow all the Muslim population will say that they are Bengalis and not Assamese. Bengali Hindus, Hindi-speaking peoples, Nepalese, Santals, Adivasis of tea gardens, and all the Mongoloid peoples living in Assam, I am afraid, will not certainly be eager to bury their own ethnic identities dissolving themselves into Assamese ethnic group. In the long run, there will be a handful of Assamese-speaking community who would be found as prophesied by Mullan only in Sibsagar. And at the same time, Assamese language will be reduced to a minority language.

Instead of wasting time on the definition of Assamese People, we may seek a solution by changing the name Assam into KAMRUP which finds echo in Dr. Rajendra Prasad’s words, the First President of India, while speaking about the extension of the newly framed Constitution. He said, .....”a constitution for a democratic Republic which extends from Kashmir to Cape Comorin, from Kathiawar to Coconada and from Cuttack to Kamrup.”[O.P Aggarawala & S.K. Aiyar, The Constitution of India, 1^st Edition, 1950]. This will be in keeping with the region’s historical past as well as move past separatist debates on ethnic identities in the region. 

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN OF THE KALITAS OF ASSAM

                                                                     Hira Charan Narjinari

A few Assamese scholars like Kaliram Medhi, Kanaklal Barua, P.C. Choudhury, etc., tried to identify races like Colubae, Kudutai, Kalatiai as mentioned by the Greek writers in their works that relate India with the Kalitas of Assam. Some scholars even tried to establish the fact that the kings of the Naraka line of ancient Assam were Kalitas by race. One scholar claimed that as Assam is the home of the Kalitas the civilisation of Assam is predominantly Kalita civilisation. This study is, therefore, undertaken to find out whether these scholars’ claims are reasonable or not.

As to the racial origin of caste in the Brahmaputra Valley, E.A. Gait has clearly stated in the Census Report for 1891 in the following words:

“Now, what is the present position of caste in the Brahmaputra Valley? We have the Brahman and the Kalita, and we have also the different race castes, that is to say, we have the castes of Manu, except that the Kalita takes the place of the Kshettriya, Vaisya and Sudra. The modern profession castes, which have taken the place of the Kshettriya, Vaisya and Sudra in other parts of India, are none of them found here. There are, of course, gardeners, barbers, potters, blacksmiths, etc., but the persons following these occupations do not constitute separate castes. The oilman is generally Kewat, the potter a Kalita, a Kewat, or a Chandal, the barber is usually a Kalita, and so for all the rest. The profession castes are non-existent.”

This was the position of caste system in the Brahmaputra Valley during the Census in 1891. In other words, caste rigidity was not found in Assam even towards the end of the 19^th century. We have noticed above that the Kalitas performed the duty of a Kshatriya, of a Vaisya and of a Sudra and they were generally potters and usually barbers.

Now, writing about the Koch people B.H. Hodgson in 1849 conisdered the Kalitas as one of the divisions of the Koches. He says, “In Assam they are divided into Kamthali and Madai or Shara, and  Kolita or Kholta, and in Rangpur, &c., into Rajbansi and Koch. Their first priests were Deoshi, their next Kolita or Kholta, and their last, the Brahmanas or Mullahs.”[On the Origin, Location, Numbers, Creed, Customs, Characters and Condition of the Koch, Bodo and Dhimal People, JASB Vol. xviii, 1849, p. 706]. Referring to this statement of Hodgson, E. T. Dalton states that no one who has studied the physical characteristics of the Kalitas can for a moment suppose them to be relations of the Bodo, or doubt their distinct Aryan origin. [Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 1872, p.79].

As to the origin of the Kalitas, E.T. Dalton in 1872 said that no one knows how they got to Assam or where they came from. However, he infers that the Kalitas of Assam are the remanants of the earliest colonists of the Assam valley. Regarding the physical features of the Kalitas Dalton states that they are not only themselves a good-looking race, but they are the people to whom the Assamese population generally owe the softening of feature which has so improved those of the Mongolian descent. The Kalitas exhibit a geater variety of complexion, and, on the whole, are not so fair as the Ahoms and Chutias or as the people of the hills, but they have oval faces, well-shaped heads, high noses, large eyes, well-developed eye-lids and eye-lashes, and the light, supple frame of the pure Hindu.[Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 1872, p.79].

Lt.-Colonel L.A. Waddel of Indian Medical Service personally made precise measurment of the tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley to record their physical type so as to trace their racial elements and their affinities. Among these tribes he has also included the Kalitas. The result of his measurement of the Kalitas shows that they have a slight Mongoloid type of feature. He, however, presumes that they are the mixed descendants of the Kayasth who came up the Brahmaputra to officiate as priests to the Koch, Kacharis and others when these tribes were adopting Hinduism.[The Tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley, JASB, Vol. LXIX, Pt. Iii, 1900, pp.49-50].

In 1901, B.C. Allen has supplied us with more detailed account about the origin of the Kalitas. He writes thus: “The popular explanation is that Kalitas are Kshatriyas, who fleeing from the wrath of Parasu Ram, concealed their caste and their persons in the jungles of Assam, and were thus called Kul-lupta. Other theories are that they are Kayasthas degraded for having taken to cultivation, an explanation which in itself seems somewhat improbable, and is not supported, as far as I am aware, by any evidence, or that they are the old priestly caste of the Bodo tribe. The latter theory can hardly be said to account for their origin, as their feature are of an Aryan type, and though it is possible that Kalitas may have acted as priests to some of the early Kachari converts, this fact throws little or no light on the problem of what the Kalitas are. The most plausible suggestion is that they are the remains of an Aryan colony, who settled in Assam at a time when the functional castes were still unknown in Bengal, and that the word ‘Kalita’ was originally applied to all Aryans who were not Brahmans.” [Census of India, 1901 Vol. IV, Assam, Part I, Report, pp.132-133].

In the Hemkosa the Kalitas are described as degraded Kayasthas which according to Kali Ram Medhi is erroneous. He thinks that the Kalitas are pure Aryan and purer than the Kayasthas. He says that the Assam Kshatriyas concealed their caste from the axe of Parasuram who waged war against the Kshatriyas by calling themselves as Kula-lupta or Kalita. He also says that the Kalitas were the earliest Aryan immigrants.[Assamese Grammar and Origin of the Assamese Language, 1^st published 1936, 2^nd Edition 1978, pp.27-28]. He further states that reference to the Kalitas is not found in the Sanskrit literature and that they cannot be the same people as the Kiratas of the Sanskrit literature. Yet he thinks that it is possible etymologically to derive the word Kalita from Kirata.[Ibid, p.39].

According to M.M. Chatterji the Kalitas of Assam may have been the original Aryan settlers in Kamarupa who had adopted Buddhism and who were stigmatized by later Brahman immigrants, during the rule of the Pushyavarman dynasty, as Kula-lupta i.e. people who lost or dropped their caste or varna. [J.P.A.S.B. Vol. XXVI 1930, quoted in K.L. Barua’s Early History of Kamarupa, 1933, p.22 fn.]. K.L. Baruah supposes that “as the earliest Aryan colonists in Assam were the Kalitas the kings of the Naraka line were probably Aryan Kalitas.”[Early History of Kamarupa, 1933, p.25].

R.C. Muirhead Thomson says that the Kalitas are usually supposed to be the descendents of the first Aryan immigrants into Assam by women of the country. While many of them are indistinguishable in appearance from the typical Mongolid Assamese, others have a distinctly Aryan cast of countenance, resembling that of the classical Hindu type.[Assam Valley Beliefs and Customs of the Assamese Hindus, 1948, p15].

The authour of the Fathiya-i-Ibriyah Shihabuddin Talish who accompanied Mir Jumla in his expedition to Assam says that the “ancient inhabitants of this country belong to two nations, the Assamese and the Kulita.” The author states that the Kulitas were superior in all respects except in war to the Assamese while Assamese were far better in war than the Kulitas. [H. Blochmann, Koch Bihar Koch Hajo Assam, JASB, 1872, Vol.xli,(i), p.81]. Gait opines that this statement was apparently intended to apply only to the country round Garhgaon as the writer refers elsewhere to the Miris, Nagas and other tribes.[E.A. Gait, A History of Assam, 1906, p. 138]. If we are to believe Shahabudin Talish who had written the Fathiya-i-Ibriyah or the History of the Conquest of Assam between 9^th August 1662 and 13^th May 1663, then we are inclined to say that the Assamese and the Kalitas are two different races. If the present Kalitas are the descendants of those Kalitas referred to by Shahabuddin Talish then  the Kalitas cannot be called Assamese in the true sense of the term.

As I have referred to in the beginning that a few Assamese scholars tried to identify Colubae, Kalatiai etc., with the Kalitas of Assam I would deal with that subject now.

Dr. P.C. Choudhury opines that the classical writers from about the 5^th century B.C. have referred to the people and place names of ancient Assam. This statement appears to be entirely conjectural and not based on firm ground. Dr. Choudhury writes, “Hecataeus of Miletus (500 B.C.) mentions such people as the Indoi, Kakatiai, Opiai, etc., of India”  [The History and Civilisation of Assam etc. 1959, p.18]  and tries to identify Kakatiai with the Kalitas of Assam. However, Hekataeus has not at all spoken of Kakatiai but he mentioned the name of Kallatiai. In  the Geography of Hekataeus of Miletus are mentioned some Indian names like Indoi, Indus, Kallatiai, Argante, Gandarii, Kaspapyros, and Opiai who are a people on the Indus.[ J.W. McCrindle, Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature, 1901, p. xiv]. Herodotus mentions Kalantiai or Kalatiai and the Pandaioi along with Gandarioi. [J.W. McCrindle, Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian, 1877, p.6 fn]. Since Kallatiai of Hekataeus and Kalantiai or Kalatiai of Herodotus are said to have lived near about the Indus or western Punjab then it is presumptuous to say that by referring to Kallatiai, Kalantiai or Kalatiai, Hekataeus and Herotodus intended to refer to the Kalitas of Assam.

Dr. Choudhury then referring to Pliny’s work, writes, “Pliny next mentions beyond the Ganges a number of people including Colubae or Koluta, Orxulae, Abali and others,” and then states “the Colubae or Koluta were the Kalitas.”[The History of Civilisation of the People of Assam to the Twelfth Century A.D., 1959, p.19]. It is not understood why Dr. Choudhury mentions Colubae or Koluta when the text does not mention Colunae or Koluta at all. Let us hear what Pliny(23-79 A.D.) says: “There is an Island in the Ganges of great size, containing one Nation, named Modogalica. Beyond it are seated the Modubae, Molindae, where standeth the fruitful and stately City Molinda; the Golmodresi, Preti, Calissae, Sasuri, Fassalae, Colubae, Orxulae, Abali, and Taluctae.” [Caius Plinius Secundus, Natural History, edited by Wernerian Club, 1847-48, p. 123]. In the text Pliny mentions only Colubae and not Colubae or Koluta. According to the 4^th book of the Ramayana, the Kâulûta or Kolûta are one of the races of the west. In the Varah Sanhita in the list of the people they were placed in the north-west. In the Mudra Rakshasa they were located somewhere near the Upper Jamna. Yule places the Kolubae on the Gandaki in the north-east of Gorakhpur and north-west of Saran. [J.W. McCrindle, Ancient India as Described by Megasthenese and Arrian, 1877, p.137]. If so, then Dr. Choudhury’s identification of Pliny’s Colubae with the Kalitas of Assam is entirely unfounded.

Referring to Pliny’s description of various races, Dr. Choudhury again states that Pliny has also spoken of “races from the chain of the Exodus, of which a spur is called the Imaus.”[Ibid. P. 19]. Interestingly, in the text of Pliny there is a mention of Emodi and not of Exodus. Pliny writes, “The Nations which is not irksome to name, from the Mountains Emodi, of which the Promontory is called Imaus, which signifieth in the Language of the Inhabitants, Snowy: there are the Isari, Cosyri, Izgi, and upon the very Mountains, the Ghisiotosagi: also the Brachmanae, a Name common to many Nations, among whom are the Maccocalingae.”[Caius Plinius Secundus, The Sixth Book of the History of Nature, edited by Wernerian Club, 1847-48, p. 121].  Neither has Megasthenese (c. 350-290 B.C) mentioned the name of Exodus. What he writes is: “The races which we may enumerate without being tedious, from the chain of Emodus, of which a spur is called Imaus (meaning in the native language snowy), are the Isari, Cosyri, Izgi, and on the hills the Chisiotosagi.” [Ancient India as described by Megathenese and Arrian, p.132]. McCrindle states that other forms of Emodus are Emoda, Emodon and Hemodes and that Emodus was generally designated that part of the Himalayan range which extended along Nepal and Bhutan and onward toward the ocean.[Ancient India as Described by Megasthenese and Arrian, 1877, p.132].

By Emodus was generally designated that part of the Himalayan range which extended along Nepal and Bhutan and onward toward the ocean. Other forms of the name are Emoda, Emodon, Hemodes. Lassen derives the word from the Sanskrit haimavata, in Prakrit haimota, ‘snowy.’ If this be so, Hemodus is the more correct form. Another derivation refers the word to Hemadri(hema, ‘gold,’ and ari, ‘mountain’), the ‘golden mountains, ‘- so called either because they were thought to contain gold mines, or because of the aspect they presented when their snowy peaks reflected the golden effulgence of sunset. Imaus represents the Sanskrit himavata, ‘snowy.’ The name was applied at first by the Greeks to the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas, but was in course of time transferred to Bolor range. [McCrindle, Ibid., p.132]. So, it is clear from the accounts of Megasthenese and Pliny that neither of them mentions Exodus.

Another scholar, B. K. Barua mentions that “Hiuen Tsiang refers to the name Kolika or Kolita”[ A Cultrual History of Assam, 1951, p.113] and there he stops without giving any explanation. It may be noted that Hiuen Tsiang visited a country of K’iu-lu-to (Kuluta) which country had situated to the north-east of Jalandhar. It would therefore be unjustified to say that by K’iu-lu-to or Kuluta Hiuen Tsiang intended to signify the Kalitas of Assam. Hiuen Tsiang writes, “Going north-east from this (Che-lan-tólo or Jalandhar), skirting along some high mountain passes and traversing some deep valleys, following a dangerous road, and crossing many ravines, going 700 li or so, we come to the country of K’iu-lu-to (Kuluta).”[Samuel Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Tr. Vol. I, 1884, pp.176-177] The kingdom of Kiu-lu-to is placed by Hiuen Tsiang at 700 li or 117 miles, to the north-east of Jalandhar, whcih corresponds exactly with the position of the district of Kullu in the upper valley of the Byas river. The Vishnu Purana mentions a people called Uluta or Kuluta, who are most probably the same as the Kaulutas of the Ramayana and the Brihat Sanhita. As this form of the word agrees precisely with the Chinese Kiuluto, Alexander Cunningham, who is considered as the Father of Indian Archaeology, concluded that the modern Kullu, must be only an abbreviation of ancient name of Kíu-lu-to.[ Alexander Cunningham, The Ancient Geography of India, 1871, p.142]. In the Sabhaparva(II,24,4) the form Kuluta occurs the variants of which are Uluta, Uluka and Kauluta. Dr. Chandra opines that the Ulukas mentioned in the Mahabharata(M.B. I, 177,20; 56,23) without doubt represented the Kulutas or the people of modern Kulu Valley.[Dr. Moti Chandra, Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva, 1945, p.55].

There is a mention of gold coin called Caltis or Kaltis in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Dr. Choudhury suggests that the coin bears the name of the Kalitas of Assam, who for a long time might have ruled Assam. [Choudhury, p.31]. In another place he states that if Benfey is right in deriving the gold coin ‘Kaltis’ mentioned in the Periplus, from the Kalitas, it may be held that these coins recall the ruling family of the Kalitas, probably of Bhagadatta. P.108.]. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea records that the last land near the coast of the Ganges was Chryse. There was a market-town on the bank of the Ganges which had the same name as the river, Ganges. Through this place are brought malabathrum and Gangetic spikenard and pearls, and muslins of the finest sorts, which are called Gangetic. It is said that there are gold-mines near these places, and there is a gold coin which is called Caltis.[Schoff, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, 47-48.]. Benfey thinks the word is connected with the Sanskrit Kalita, i.e., numeratum. [McCrindle, The Commerce and Navigation of the Erythraean Sea, 1879, pp.30-31]. So, according to Benfey Kaltis means number. If so, then in what way Kaltis (number) relates to Kalita caste of Assam is confusing.

Dr. Choudhury again picks up the name Kudutai from Ptolemy and tried to explain that the name Kodutai has been derived from Koluta which stands for Kalitas.[Ibid. p.108]. Gerini without hesitation takes Ptolemy’s Kudutai to be the same people as the Ká-to or Ká-t’o, whom Garnier found exactly in the territory of the Yuan-chiang. According to Lacouperie the Ká-t’o speak a language of the Lo-lo family, closely connected with that of the Ho-ni. If so, they would belong to the Tibeto-Burman group. Gerini opines that Ká-t’o appears to be the corruption of an older term, Khadu, Kadu, or Kudu; perhaps Kudut or Kuduta, in which case it might prove traceable to some toponymic or tribal name, Kuluta, Kulūta, etc., introduced by the early Indu immigrants. From Kulūta the derivation Kudutai could be easily accounted for, and with it could be eventually connected Kuo-lo or Kwo-lo, one of the names borne by the Lo-lo or Lu-lu. Ptolemy himself locates Kudutai people south of the Khalkitis, the Karajang, or Black Lolos of Eastern Yunnan, and makes them, together with the Barrhai, extend to the Great Gulf of Tonkin. In De Donis’ map they are marked, under the name of Codupe, to the north of Doana(Luang Phrah Bang) and between the Doanas(Me-Khong) and the Dorias (Nam Tau or Red Rover). Their habitat becomes thus fixed at about half-way betwixt the Me-Khong at Luang Phrah Bang and the head-waters of the Red River at Yuan-chiang, straight away north. [Col. G.E. Gerini, Researches on Ptolemy’s Geography of Eastern Asia, 1909, p.356-358]. Evidently, it may be presumed that by Kudutai Ptolemy did not mean the Kalitas of Assam.

As to the civilisation of Assam, Kali Ram Medhi claims that as Assam was the home of the Kalitas, the civilisation of Assam is predominantly a Kalita civilisation.[Assamese Grammar and Origin of the Assamese Language, 1^st published 1936, 2^nd published 1978, p.27]. How far this claim is justified I cannot say. But during the time of the composition of Yogini Tantra (16^th century A.D.) or before, the religion or dharma of Assam was not definitely of Kalita origin. Because the Yogini Tantra giving an account of the Sakta holy places and Sakta rituals in Assam frankly confesses that the religion of the Yogini Pitha is of Kirata origin: “Sidhesi Yogini pitha dharmah Kairatajah matah.” [“O Queen of all Siddhas(=Uma), in the holy shrine of the Yogini (i.e., Kamarupa) the dharma (ritual or religion) is considered to be of Kirata origin.”]. [Quoted by B.K. Kakati in his The Mother Goddess Kamakhya, 1948, p. 10]. In other words, in the matter of ritual or religion of Assam, the Kiratas or the Mongolian people of Assam had greater influence in the life of the people of Assam.

Can we ignore the civilisation of the Kacharis or Bodos of Assam altogether? At least one great Assamese scholar named Dr. Surya Kumar Bhuyan has frankly acknowledged the contribution of the Kacharis or Bodos when he made a glowing tribute to the Kacharis saying, “The Kacharis have left indelible traces of their civilisation in different parts of Assam. The ruins of Dimapur and the rock-cut temple at Maibong bear testimony to their attainments in sculpture, architecture and engineering. One king of Cachar was the patron of Madhav Kandali, who flourished before the age of Sankar Deva and who translated the Ramayana into Assamese. Queen Chandraprabha, consort of the Kachari Raja Tamradhwaj Narayan and mother of Suradarpa Narayan, commissioned the court-poet Bhubaneswar Bachaspati to translate into Assamese the voluminous Naradiya-Kathamrita. The names of Assam rivers with the prefix Di point to the fact that the Kacharis had lived almost in every place in the Brahmaputra valley.”[Dr. S.K. Bhuyan, Kachari Buranji, ed. 2^nd Edn. 1951, Introd. Xviii-xix].

What emerges from the above discussion is that a few Assamese scholars whose great intellect is certainly beyond dispute had rather opted for erroneous explanation of the words or names occurred in the Greek accounts relative to India. Their wild speculations also prove that they have paid least attention to the annotations made by the translators of the Greek works under reference. Whatever it may be, it is apparent from the above discourse that the identification of Colubae, Kalatiai, Kudutai, etc., with the Kalitas of Assam is in no way rationale or logical.