Chutia Kingdom

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Chutia Kingdom[1] was a late medieval state that developed around Sadiya in present Assam and adjoining areas in Arunachal Pradesh. They have descended from Asuras and acquired status of Kshatriyas.[2]

Variants

Etymology

  • Chutia Naga (चुटिया नाग) - Chutia Naga probably gave name to this kingdom
  • The origin of the name Chutia is not known: the Chutia kingdom was called Tiora in the Ahom language Buranjis, whereas the Assamese language ones used Chutia.[4]

Jat clans

History

Chutia Kingdom extended over almost the entire region of present districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, and some parts of Dibrugarh in Assam. Their kingdom called Sadiya extended in the north over the entire region from the Sisi in the west to the Brahmaputra in the east. The hills and the river Buri Dihing formed its northern and southern boundaries respectively. Thus the Chutiya territory extended over almost the entire region of present districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, and some parts of Dibrugarh, [6] as well as the plains and foothills of Arunachal Pradesh. [7] The ruins of two forts in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh is said to be the remains of Bhīṣmaka’s city, viz. Bhismaknagar (sk. Bhīṣmakanagara): one ruin about 16 miles northwest of Sadiya at the foot of the hills between the rivers Dikrang and Dibang is known as the fort of Bhīṣmaka, and the other about 24 miles north of Sadiya between the gorges of those two rivers is believed to be the fort of Śiśupāla. Based on an inscribed brick with the name of Śrīśrī-Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa, discovered from the ruins of the forts in Bhismaknagar, it is assumed that Chutiya king Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa of the early fifteenth century had his capital in the area. The paleographical analysis of the inscription supports this dating. In the main, however, their territory was confined to the river valleys of the Suvansiri, Brahmaputra, Lohit, and the Dihing and hardly extended to the hills at its zenith. [8] The kingdom fell in 1523-1524 to the Ahom Kingdom after a series of conflicts and the capital area ruled by the Chutia rulers became the administrative domain of the office of Sadia Khowa Gohain of the Ahom kingdom.[9]

The Chutia kingdom came into prominence in the second half of the 14th century,[10]and it was one among several rudimentary states (Ahom, Dimasa, Koch, Jaintia etc.) that emerged from tribal political formations in the region, between the 13th and the 16th century.[11] Among these, the Chutia state was the most advanced,[12] with its rural industries, trade, surplus economy and advanced Sanskritisation.[13][14] It is not exactly known as to the system of agriculture adopted by the Chutias,[15] but it is believed that they were settled cultivators.[16]

After the Ahoms annexed the kingdom in 1523, the Chutia state was absorbed into the Ahom state — the nobility and the professional classes were given important positions in the Ahom officialdom[17][18] and the land was resettled for wet rice cultivation.[19]

Foundation and Polity

Though there is no doubt on the Chutia polity, the origins of this kingdom are obscure.[20] It is generally held that the Chutias established a state around Sadiya and contiguous areas[21]—though it is believed that the kingdom was established in the 13th century before the advent of the Ahoms in 1228,[22] and Buranjis, the Ahom chronicles, indicate the presence of a Chutia state[23] the evidence is scarce that it was of any significance before the second half of the 14th-century.[24]

The earliest Chutia king in the epigraphic records is Nandin or Nandishvara, from the latter half of the 14th century,[25] mentioned in a grant by his son Satyanarayana who nevertheless draws his royal lineage from Asuras.[26] The mention of Satyanarayana as having the shape of his maternal uncle (which is also an indirect reference to the same Asura/Daitya lineage)[27] may also constitute evidence of matrilineality of the Chutia ruling family, or that their system was not exclusively patrilineal.[28] On the other hand, a later king Durlabhnarayana mentions that his grandfather Ratnanarayana (identified with Satyanarayana) was the king of Kamatapura[29] which might indicate that the eastern region of Sadhaya was politically connected to the western region of Kamata.[30]

In these early inscriptions, the kings are said to be seated in Sadhyapuri, identified with the present-day Sadiya;[31] which is why the kingdom is also called Sadiya. The Buranjis written in the Ahom language called the kingdom Tiora whereas those written in the Assamese language called it Chutia.[32]

Brahmanical influence in the form of Vaishnavism reached the Chutia polity in the eastern extremity of present-day Assam during the late fourteenth century.[33][34]Vaishnava brahmins created lineages for the rulers with references to Krishna legends but placed them lower in the Brahminical social hierarchy because of their autochthonous origins.[35] Though asura lineage of the Chutia rulers have similarities with the Narakasura lineage created for the three Kamarupa dynasties, the precise historical connection is not clear.[36] Although a majority of the brahmin donees of the royal grants were Vaishnavas,[37] the rulers patronized the non-brahmanised Dikkaravasini[38](also Tamresvari or Kechai-khati), which was either a powerful tribal deity, or a form of the Buddhist deity Tara adopted for tribal worship.[39] This deity, noticed in the 10th century Kalika Purana well before the establishment of the Chutia kingdom, continued to be presided by a Deori priesthood well into the Ahom rule and outside brahminical influence.[40]

The royal family traced its descent from the line of Viyutsva.[41]

Spurious accounts

Unfortunately, there are many manuscript accounts of the origin and lineage that do not agree with each other or with the epigraphic records and therefore have no historical moorings.[42][43] One such source is Chutiyar Rajar Vamsavali, first published in Orunodoi in 1850 and reprinted in Deodhai Asam Buranji.[44] Historians consider this document to have been composed in the early 19th century—to legitimize the Matak rajya around 1805—or after the end of Ahom rule in 1826.[45] This document relates the legend of Birpal. Yet another Assamese document, retrieved by Ney Elias from Burmese sources, relates an alternative legend of Asambhinna.[46] These different legends suggest that the genealogical claims of the Chutias have changed over time and that these are efforts to construct (and reconstruct) the past.[47]

Jat History

The name Nagpur is probably taken from Nagavanshis, who ruled in this part of the country in ancient times. Chota is a corruption of the word Chutia, a village in the outskirts of Ranchi, which has the remains of an old fort belonging to the Nagavanshis.[48] Chutia Naga or Chhota Naga was the name of Nagavanshi King who defended the territory from Mughals and gave name to this region. [49]

Jat Historians consider Chutias to be descended from Nagavanshi Jat Chutia Naga.

Dilip Singh Ahlawat [50] mentions that The Naga Jats ruled over Kantipur, Mathura, Padmavati, Kausambi, Nagpur, Champavati, (Bahgalpur) and in the central India, in western Malwa, Nagaur (Jodhpur- Rajasthan). In addition they ruled the ancient land of Shergarh, (Kotah Rajasthan), Madhya Pradesh (Central India), Chutiya Nagpur, Khairagarh, Chakra Kotiya and Kawardha. The great scholar, Jat Emperor, Bhoja Parmar, mother Shashiprabha was a maiden of a Naga Clan.

छोटा नागपुर

छोटा नागपुर (AS, p.349)- इस प्रदेश का नाम, किवदंती के अनुसार, छोटानाग नामक नागवंशी राजकुमार-सेनापति के नाम पर पड़ा है. छोटानाग ने, जो तत्कालीन नागराजा का छोटा भाई था, मुगलों की सेना को हराकर अपने राज्य की रक्षा की थी. सरहूल की लोककथा छोटानाग से संबंधित है. इस नाम की आदिवासी लड़की ने अपने प्राण देकर छोटानाग की जान बचाई थी. सर जॉन फाउल्टन का मत है कि छोटा या छुटिया रांची के निकट एक गांव का नाम है जहां आज भी नागवंशी सरदारों के दुर्ग के खंडहर हैं. इनके इलाके का नाम नागपुर था और छुटिया या छोटा इसका मुख्य स्थान था. इसीलिए इस क्षेत्र को छोटा नागपुर कहा जाने लगा. (देखें: सर जॉन फाउल्टन - बिहार दि हार्ट ऑफ इंडिया, पृ. 127) छोटा नागपुर के पठार में हजारीबाग, रांची, पालामऊ, मानभूम और सिंहभूम के जिले सम्मिलित हैं. [51]

नागवंश

दलीप सिंह अहलावत[52] के अनुसार कुषाणशक्ति के अस्त और गुप्तों के उदय से पूर्व नागशक्ति शैव धर्मानुयायी रूप से पुनः उदित हुई। इस समय ये लोग शिवजी का अलंकार नाग (सांप) अपने गले में लिपटाकर रखने लगे थे। इन नवोदित नागवंशियों ने शिवलिंग को स्कन्ध पर धारण कर शिवपूजा की एक नई परम्परा स्थापित की थी। अतः इनका नाम भारशिव प्रसिद्ध हो गया। इस नाम को स्पष्ट करनेवाला एक लेख बालाघाट में मिला है। इसका उल्लेख ‘एपिग्राफिका

जाट वीरों का इतिहास: दलीप सिंह अहलावत, पृष्ठान्त-241

इण्डिया’ भाग 1 पृष्ठ 269 तथा ‘फ्लीट गुप्त इन्स्क्रिप्शन्स’ 245 में इस प्रकार किया है -

“शिवलिंग का भार ढोने से जिन्होंने शिव को भलीभांति सन्तुष्ट कर लिया था, जिन्होंने अपने पराक्रम से प्राप्त की हुई भागीरथी गंगा के पवित्र जल से राज्याभिषेक कराया और जिन्होंने दश अश्वमेध यज्ञ करके अवभृथ स्नान किया था, इस प्रकार उन ‘भारशिव’ महाराजाओं का राजवंश प्रारम्भ हुआ।”

भारत कलाभवन काशी में एक पुरानी मनुष्य की मूर्ति भी रक्खी है जिसके कन्धे पर शिवलिंग है। इन्होंने देशभर में स्थान-स्थान पर अपने केन्द्र स्थापित करके दश अश्वमेध यज्ञ किए, जिनकी स्मृति में काशी में दशाश्वमेध घाट का निर्माण कराया। ‘अश्वमेधयाजी’ ‘परमविजयी’ पद प्राप्त करके भी वैदिक प्रथा के अनुसार दूसरे राज्यों को नष्ट नहीं किया परन्तु उनसे टैक्स (कर) लिया।

इण्डियन एंटीक्वेरी जिल्द 14, पृ० 45 पर लिखा है कि शेरगढ़ (कोटा राज्य) के द्वार पर नागवंशज राजाओं का शिलालेख, 15 जनवरी 791 ई० का खुदवाया हुआ मिला है जिसने उस स्थान पर विन्दुनाग, पद्मनाम, सर्वनाग, देवदत्त नामक चार नाग नरेशों का शासन होना सिद्ध होता है।

इन नागवंशी जाटों का राज्य कान्तिपुर, मथुरा, पद्मावती, कौशाम्बी, अहिक्षतपुर, नागपुर, चम्पावती (भागलपुर), बुन्देलखण्ड तथा मध्यप्रान्त पश्चिमी मालवा, नागौर (जोधपुर) पर रहा। इनके अतिरिक्त शेरगढ़ कोटा राज्य की प्राचीन भूमि पर, मध्यप्रदेश () में चुटिया, नागपुर, खैरागढ़, चक्रकोटय एवं कवर्धा में भी इस वंश का राज्य था। महाविद्वान् महाराजा भोज परमार (जाट) की माता शशिप्रभा नागवंश की कन्या थी।

External links

References

  1. ↑ "In the past, there was a kingdom in Upper Assam that the Ahom chronicles called Tiora and the Assamese chronicles called Chutiya." (Jaquesson 2017:100):Jaquesson, François (2017). Translated by van Breugel, Seino. "The linguistic reconstruction of the past: The case of the Boro-Garo languages". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 40 (1): 90–122. doi:10.1075/ltba.40.1.04van.
  2. ↑ Shin, Jae-Eun (2020). "Descending from demons, ascending to kshatriyas: Genealogical claims and political process in pre-modern Northeast India, The Chutiyas and the Dimasas". The Indian Economic and Social History Review. 57 (1): 49–75.
  3. ↑ Gogoi, Jahnavi (2002). Agrarian System of Medieval Assam. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.p.20
  4. ↑ "In the chronicles of Assam, either in the Tai-Ahom or Assamese languages, two kingdoms were important in 15th and 16th century Upper Assam. These two “peoples” were called Kachari and Chutiya in the Assamese language, and respectively Tumisa (or Timisa) and Tiora in the Tai-Ahom language."(Jacquesson 2008:29)
  5. ↑ Dr Mahendra Singh Arya etc,: Ādhunik Jat Itihas, Agra 1998 p.242
  6. ↑ (Gogoi 2002:20–21)
  7. ↑ (Shin 2020:57)
  8. ↑ Nath, D (2013), "State Formation in the Peripheral Areas: A Study of the Chutiya Kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley", in Bhattarcharjee, J B; Syiemlieh, David R (eds.), Early States in North East India, Delhi: Regency Publications, pp. 24–49, ISBN 978-81-89233-86-0
  9. ↑ "The Chutiya power lasted until 1523 when the Ahom king Suhungmung, alias Dihingia Rāja (1497–1539), conquered their kingdom and annexed it to his sphere of influence. A new officer of Ahom state, known as Sadiya Khowa Gohain, was appointed to administer the area ruled by the Chutiyas." (Shin 2020:52):
  10. ↑ "It is more likely that if there was a Chutiya state at this time, it was of little significance until the second half of the fourteenth century." (Shin 2020:52)
  11. ↑ "The period from the 13th to the 16th century saw the emergence and development of a large number of tribal political formations in northeast India. The Chutiya, the Tai-Ahom, the Koch, the Dimasa (Kachari), the Tripuri, the Meithei (Manipuri), the Khasi (Khyriem), and the Pamar (Jaintia)—all these tribes crystallised into rudimentary state formations by the 15th century." (Guha 1983:5):Guha, Amalendu (December 1983), "The Ahom Political System: An Enquiry into the State Formation Process in Medieval Assam (1228-1714)", Social Scientist, 11 (12): 3–34, doi:10.2307/3516963, JSTOR 3516963
  12. ↑ "The most developed of the tribes in the 15th century were the Chutiya." (Guha 1983:5)
  13. ↑ "(T)he Chutiyas were one of the earliest tribes to be Hinduised and to form a state, may point to their surplus economy." (Gogoi 2002:21–22)
  14. ↑ (At the time of annexation by the Ahoms) caste system had become prevalent in (the Chutiya) society." (Gogoi 2002:21)
  15. ↑ "It is not definitely known as to the system of agriculture adopted by them." (Gogoi 2002:22)
  16. ↑ "It must be noted, however, that the word ‘khā’ of Tai-Ahom language, which is usually prefixed to names of non-Ahom people practicing shifting cultivation, does not appear for the Chutiyas, probably because they were neither stateless nor were they solely shifting cultivators in the early phase of Ahom rule. There seems no serious interaction between the Ahoms and old settled people of the neighborhood including the Chutiyas until the fourteenth century." (Shin 2020:51)
  17. ↑ (Baruah 1986:186)
  18. ↑ "The Ahoms accepted many Chutiyas to their fold and offered them responsible offices in the administration"(Dutta 1985:30)
  19. ↑ "[T]he Chutiya kingdom consisted of a vast plan level and fertile territory which provided for the Ahoms possibility of easy extension of wet rice culture in the region." (Gogoi 2002:22)
  20. ↑ Buragohain, Ramesh (2013). State formation in Early Medieval Assam:A case study of the Chutiya state (PDF).p.120
  21. ↑ "(T)he Chutiyas seem to have assumed political power in Sadiya and contiguous areas falling within modern Arunachal Pradesh." (Shin 2020:51
  22. ↑ "(T)he Chutiyas formed a state earlier than the Ahoms in the thirteenth century." (Nath 2013:25)
  23. ↑ (Guha 1983:fn.16) "The prefix Kha does not appear in the Tai words for the Dimasa and the Chutiya, probably because they were neither stateless, nor-were they solely shifting cultivators."
  24. ↑ (Shin 2020:52)
  25. ↑ "On the basis of these records, Neog reconstructed a line of kings ruling this region as follows: Nandin (or Nandīśvara), Satyanārāyaṇa (or Ratnanārāyaṇa), Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa, Durlabhanārāyaṇa, Dharmanārāyaṇa, Pratyakṣanārāyaṇa and Yaśanārāyaṇa (or Yamanārāyaṇa). Furthermore, it is fairly certain from the dates available in the inscriptions that Nandin and Satyanārāyaṇa ruled Sadhayāpurī in the latter half of the fourteenth century." (Shin 2020:52)
  26. ↑ "According to the Dhenukhana copper plate inscription of Satyanārāyaṇa and Pratyakṣanārāyaṇa, dated 1314 Śaka (1392 AD), king Nandin (or Nandi), a great hero of many virtues, was the lord of Sadhayāpurī (sadhayāpurīśa), and Daivakī, Nandin’s wife, was continuously accomplishing good deeds. Auspicious Satyanārāyaṇa had his origin in Daivakī’s womb, ‘forming part of the lineage of the enemy of the gods’ (suraripu-vaṃśāṃśa-bhūto), making the uplift of the burden of the earth. Neog interprets ‘the lineage of the enemy of the gods’ as the asura dynasty"(Shin 2020:53)
  27. ↑ "The reason for his asura lineage is not explicitly explained in the inscription, but the two statements that his mother is ‘Daivakī’ and he has ‘the shape of a maternal uncle (who was) given the name of Daitya’(daityanāmāttamāmāmatiḥ) can be seen as an indirect reference to his lineage." (Shin 2020:53)
  28. ↑ "The epigraphic record of Satyanārāyaṇa, whose lineage is named in reference to his maternal uncle, is therefore significant. It may constitute evidence of matrilineality of the Sadiya-based Chutiya ruling family, or that their system was not exclusively patrilineal."(Shin 2020:54)
  29. ↑ "Ratnanãrãyana is called the king of Kamatãpura and his grandson Durlabhanãrãyana is described as giving lands under the administration of the Governor of Häbunga province." (Neog 1977:818):Neog, Maheswar (1977). "Light on a Ruling Dynasty of Arunachal Pradesh in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 58/59: 813–820. ISSN 0378-1143. JSTOR 41691751.
  30. ↑ "The eastern region, whether it is called Sadhaya or Svadhaya as in the plates or Sadhiya or Sadiya as in Assamese chronicles and the western region of Kamatapura seems to be politically connected and the same Satyanarayana/Ratnanarayana might have held sway over both regions"(Neog 1977:818)
  31. ↑ "Furthermore, it is fairly certain from the dates available in the inscriptions that Nandin and Satyanārāyaṇa ruled Sadhayāpurī in the latter half of the fourteenth century, while Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa belonged to the beginning, and Dharmanārāyaṇa to the middle of the fifteenth century. It is also nearly clear that Sadhayāpurī (or Svadhayāpurī) mentioned in the inscriptions is the same as Sadhiyā or Sadiya of later times." (Shin 2020:52)
  32. ↑ "In the past, there was a kingdom in Upper Assam that the Ahom chronicles called Tiora and the Assamese chronicles called Chutiya." (Jaquesson 2017:100):Jaquesson, François (2017). Translated by van Breugel, Seino. "The linguistic reconstruction of the past: The case of the Boro-Garo languages". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 40 (1): 90–122. doi:10.1075/ltba.40.1.04van.
  33. ↑ "These records suggest the penetration of Vaiṣṇava tradition in the eastern extremity of present Assam between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries"(Shin 2020:55)
  34. ↑ "They had definitely come under Brahminical influence during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, as is borne out by the evidence of their landgrants in favour of Brahmana beneficiaries"(Momin 2006:47):Momin, Mignonette (2006). Society and Economy in North-East India, Volume 2 : Socio-Economic Linkages in the decline of Pragjyotisa-Kamrupa. Department of History, NEHU Press. ISBN 9788189233341.
  35. ↑ "Vaiṣṇava brahmins seemed to play an important role in the making of both the royal lineages defined as ‘demonic’; and ... this demonic maternal ancestry was the way to accommodate the local ruling families in the Brahmanical social hierarchy, but only in a lower position." (Shin 2020:55)
  36. ↑ Though it is not clear whether the asura lineage of Chutiya ruling family had a historical connection with this earlier tradition of Kāmarūpa, there are some common points between the two genealogical claims..." (Shin 2020:54–55)
  37. ↑ "Most names of brahmin donees have Vaiṣṇava affiliation." (Shin 2020:55)
  38. ↑ The Pãyã-Tãmresvari (Dikkaravãsiní) temple inscription announces that King Dharmanãrãyana raised in 1364 Šaka a wall (prãkãra) around the temple of Dikkaravãsiní, popularly known as Tãmresvari." (Neog 1977:817)
  39. ↑ (Gogoi 2011:235–236)
  40. ↑ According to E.A. Gait, "The religion of the Chutiyas was a curious one. They worshipped various forms of Kali with the aid not of the Brahmanas but of their own tribal priests or Deoris. The favorite form in which they worshipped this deity was that of Kesai-khati 'the eater of raw flesh' to whom human sacrifices were offered. After their subjugation by the Ahoms, the Deoris were permitted to continue their ghastly rites; but they were usually given for this purpose, criminals who have been sentenced to capital punishment..."' (Gogoi 2011:236)
  41. ↑ (Baruah 2007:42) The 1392 Bormurtia grant of Satyanarayan mentions Viyutsva-kula while the 1522 Dhakuakhana grant of Dhirnarayan mentions Viyutsva-banshada
  42. ↑ "There are various accounts and succession lists of the rulers of the Chutiyãs (I do not call them Chutiyã kings precisely because in these accounts they are not described as Chutiyãs except the last one of them) with dates also assigned to their reign, but these accounts are too much at variance with one another to deserve serious consideration as being of proper historical value." (Neog 1977:814)
  43. ↑ "The legends relating to the origin of the Chutiyas is full of absurdities without any historical moorings." (Buragohain 2013:120)
  44. ↑ (Nath 2013:27)
  45. ↑ "[T]his so-called ancient chronicle might have been a later work of some members of the Chutiya aristocracy, as is possibly an attempt to legitimize the claims of the Chutiyas over a part of Assam during the establishment of the Matak kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century (1805) or after the Ahom power was abolished." (Nath 2013:27)
  46. ↑ (Nath 2013:29–30)
  47. ↑ "What can be said for sure is that the genealogical claims of the Chutiyas changed in the course of time, and the related legend reflects a difference in the way the Chutiyas construct (or reconstruct) their past." (Shin 2020:58–59)
  48. ↑ Sir John Houlton, 'Bihar, the Heart of India', pp. 127-128, Orient Longmans, 1949.
  49. ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.349
  50. ↑ Jat History Dalip Singh Ahlawat/Chapter III, p.242
  51. ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.349
  52. ↑ Jat History Dalip Singh Ahlawat/Chapter III,pp. 241-242
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