Book on history of Jorhat released

Verbal history prevalent in the Xattras  has played an important role: Dr Bora

From our correspondent

Jorhat, April 3: A much awaited book on the history of Jorhat titled Jorhator Itihakh was formally released by the president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha, Dr. Dhrubajyoti Bora at a program held at the Jorhat Press Club today in the presence of noted historians, intellectuals, researchers and other important persolities of the town.

In his brief address, the Sahitya Sabha president said, “The Assamese society has a glorious history of its own. The writing of history first began during the reign of the Ahom kings who first allowed the scripting of political history and later history related to society. Even today, verbal history as prevalent in the Sattras has played an important role because of its relay from one generation to another. It is really very sad to describe that despite having such a glorious past, today historians have not made it an attractive subject. Therefore, we are lagging behind in this field. But one must remember that who has forgotten his very own root has slowly and steadily diminished from this earth.  Those who have remained connected are the lucky ones who have made their presence felt as an enlightened society/individual in every nook and hook corner of the world”.

Dr. Bora further added, “Today I feel very proud to release Jorhator Itihakh and  I can see that the need to revive history is being felt by the historians and people of Jorhat and today’s book release is forwarding one step to enlighten our history. A small example in this regard is of a place called holia which was a cluster of many villages of Borbhetta which derived its me from an industry related to the making of boats. And boats that were not small but big ships that carried cannons and were known to have fought in the battle of Saraighat against the Mughals. But the big question here is why was the boat making industry at holia far away from the mighty Brahmaputra.

The answer lies in the small streams and rivulets that were so deep and full with water that after construction these ships through the rivulets connected with the Tarajan rivulet which filly fell into the river Brahmaputra. But today as a result of aggression by people on these rivulets and other places of historical importance, the young generation is devoid of these places having such unique histories. The need of the hour is to take initiatives to pen down our history”.

Earlier the chief editor and editor of Jorhator Itihakh Dr. Ajit Kr Dutta and Soumitra Puzari respectively thanked all the contributors.

They also rrated about the difficulties that the Jorhat Historical Investigative Society had to face as a challenge in the last 10 years to pull out most details for the compilation of the book. A special reference was made about Dr. Hemendra th Dutta of the state Archaeology department by Dr. Ajit Kr Dutta who said, “The book has one of the best descriptions about the history of Jorhat. There is a need to create a sense of awareness among the people and educate them about the need to conserve history and archaeological places. Many important sites like the Hatigorh in Jorhat, the origil hanging place of Maniram Dewan and Piyali Baruah etc have already defaced  due to encroachments”.