Ranjan Kumar Padmapati
(The writer can be reached at rkpadmapati@yahoo.co.in)
The Assamese Muslims are an inseparable entity from the greater Assamese community. Their customs, food habits, mild temperaments, and liberal outlook all make a difference from those of other Muslims. Here they bear only a Muslim name. According to Lakshminath Bezbaruah, the Assamese Muslims constitute half of our body of the Assamese. Dr. Surya Kumar Bhuyan, the noted historian, left a scholastic account on the Assamese Muslims, their origins, migration, stock, profession, and social status in the reign of the Ahom kings. The intention here is to view the Assamese Muslims through the prism of Dr. S. K. Bhuyan. The earliest recorded account of contact with the Muslim world can be traced to the beginning of the thirteenth century in 1198 AD, with the expedition of Bakhtiyar Khiliji, who made a futile attempt en route to Tibet and China through Kamrup. During this expedition, one tribal chieftain of the Mech community embraced Islam; now those followers, known as Ali-Mech or Deshi, belong to Coch-Raj Bonshi origins, found in lower Assam.
During the rule of the Ahom Kings, some specialised tradesmen, experts in specific fields, were not available locally; as such, the king brought to Assam such expert tradesmen by sending emissaries to the Nawab of Goura (Bengal) or the monarch of Delhi and trained others locally. According to Dr. S K Bhuyan, artisans were divided into different expert’ groups known as khels (guilds), carrying on a particular trade. These are classified as -1. Akhar-katia-Engravers, engaged in engraving inscriptions on stones as stone edits, on copper or brass plates issuing land grants, and on other objects like cannons, brass-copper utensils, etc.
2. Khar-ghoriya – this group produced ammunition required for the armoury, known as Hiloidari khel.
3 Sen-chowa — they were kite trainers, engaged in the art of training kites for the pleasure purposes of kings and their subjects. 4. Karcipor bon kora—tailors who stitch designs on royal garments with thick cloth.
5. Jolom-bota engaged in making choy-Jori required for worshipping Saraideu.
6. Guna katiiya-Guna is an Assamese word for zari in Persian, meaning gold, produced golden or silvery fine threads from gold or silver required for embroidery work.
The above three combined weaver clans are known as “Jhsolah” now.
7. Bokotar Khel- A guild of blacksmiths, experts in making different types of swords, small or big.
8. Parsi-porhiya-The Ahom kings, nor his officials, knew the Parsi language used by the monarchs and nawabs; this group of people worked as transcribers, read letters, and corresponded in Parsi.
9. Mudra sanchat mora — These people worked at the mint and produced royal coins of different values.
10. Mistry and Raj-mistry-Carpenters, experts in wooden crafts, produce wooden furniture and other designs on wood. Rajmisrty were masons.
11. Rohon kora-Painters, or artists engaged in preparing different colours and drawing illustrations in books.
12. Hiloi Groha Ostad—Blacksmiths, experts in making different sizes of cannons.
13. Negariya — These Muslims were given the job of playing negera, a clay drum musical instrument in temples.
14. Dewaliya Paik: These Muslims were engaged in different jobs at temples.
15. Maria — These are brass smiths, engaged in brass-metal utensil making, who were captives of Turbak’s expedition to Assam.
Those were not sidelined because of a Muslim tag but occupied royal posts along with other Hindus equally, such as Bora, Saikia, Hazarika, Baruah, and others. Brahmins and Kayathas were also brought by the Ahom Kings for jobs like record keeping of land and revenues, etc. The Ahom kings were neutral religiously, liberal in their outlook, and engaged one peer, Shah Nawaaz, in the reign of Rudra Singha for offering prayers in an Islamic way for the general good of the king and his subjects. Rudra Singha sent gift items to Powa-Mocca at Hajo through this peer. There were schools teaching Arabic and Persian languages, required to read Islamic religious scriptures, and known to have 12 such schools at Guwahati and 20 at the capital town of Rongpur. The Assamese Muslims never sided with the Mughals’ expeditions. This has been revealed by Shihabuddin Talish, the chronicler who accompanied Mughal General Mirjumla, who remarked, “The Muslims of Assam were not true Mussalmans because they, in their heart and soul, loved the Assamese people and not the Mughals.” In sharp contrast, Baduli Phukan and Jagat Ram Deka sided with Mirjumla. Even Monthir Bharali, the most trusted person of Joydhwaja Singha, sent an emissary to Nawab secretly.
As these Muslims were at a far distant place from the heartland of Islamic influences, they had almost forgotten the Islamic customs; accordingly, to teach them Islamic customs afresh, many peers (saints) arrived in Assam and preached Islam. Some of them married local girls and settled in Assam permanently; now their descendants are known as Sayeds. Among them, Ajan Peer was the most revered saint, who came to Assam in the reign of Shiba Singha (1714-44) and composed Jikir-Jari. He had four sons: Sayed Khowaja, Sayed Majnun, Sayed Qutubuddin, and Sayed Saluja, and his present generation is known as Ajan-Ghoriya. Ajanpeer’s other companions were Nobee, Nuruddin Md. Saleh, Sayed Osmani Goni, and Khondokar. They settled in lower Assam. The eight households emerged from Ajan Peer, and four households from above four peers in total were 12. Such prime households were reckoned as Dewan, held in high esteem and commanded respect. The descendants of Khondokar are known to be Komol Doia or Khondokar-Ghoriya. Ajan Peer preached Islam among Naga tribes, and responsibility was entrusted to a co-peer, Sayed Nuruddin Saleh, so Saleh’s present generation is known as Porbotiya Dewan. There exist the Dargahs of Sayed Osman Goni and Khondokar at Sibsagar and that of Sayed Nuruddin Md Saleh at Simoluguri. The Ahom kings had given revenue-free land grants to peers known as peer-pal grants. Those Peers preached Islam among some socially outcast Assamese due to different social stigma attached in those days; they were local people, now known as Gariyas, derived from the word goria-pora. Controversial Sayed Sadulla belongs to Roopohial Phoid, emerging from Sayed Qutubuddin. Renowned litterer Sayed Abdul Malik is the 12th generation of Ajan Peer, who wrote in his poem, the translation of which goes as follows:In life and in death, forever Axomiya, I am. In body-soul-mind, Axomiya and I live as Axom’s Axomiya, and when I die…gladly shall embrace ambrosial death in Axom.”
Assam fought 17 battles and decisively defended Assam between 1615 and 1682 AD against the Mughals, lastly vacating Assam in 1682 during the reign of Gadadhar Singha, and retreated to Rangamati on the bank of Manah, which remained as a demarcation line till the arrival of the British. The long fights with the Muslim aggressors that had once commenced in 1198 AD thus ended. The POWs were not only Muslims; there were Rajputs and Veels too, who now constitute the bulk of the assimilated greater Assamese community.