*Publication in the PRESS*
**
*WHY **ASSAM** TO BE ASOM?***
**
M. Burhanuddin Qasmi
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In the early nineties BJP politically aired a new slogan—'Indianization
of big cities' since old names, to them were, symbolic to either Mughals or
British slavery. The idea later became cheaper for all political parties
with much vote bank credits.
And in the process Indian politicians spread a new virus in the
world—every one has to redo or delete old data. The commercial capital of
India Bombay became Mumbai, Madras changed into Chennai, the first British
capital of India Calcutta became Kolkata and the hi-tech capital of India
Bangalore followed to be Bengaluru.
*What's to be **Delhi**'s new name?***
In December 2005 the Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dixit announced that
the capital of the country would change its name back to what it was in the
pre-colonial, pre-mughals, pre-sultanat, pre-everything- else except
Mahabharata days. However there is no consensus on the exact name that
should be chosen for Delhi till today.
After the renaming of all major Indian cities in the last decade, Delhi is
feeling left out, Dixit said. She then added while quoting the renamed
cities that the process of renaming made everyone focus their sights on
Delhi , since it was the oldest city in India . The Congress proposed that
Delhi be renamed Hastinapur, since it was the capital of the dynasty of the
Kurus from Mahabharata.
" Delhi is a name that indicates our mental slavery at the hands of our
former colonialists and conquerers. The oldest name of the city is
Hastinapur and we shall initiate the legislative procedure to effect the
name change immediately" , Dixit, the Congress led CM of Delhi, said.
However controversy erupted after the BJP strongly opposed the choice of
the name. Senior BJP leader from Delhi , Madanlala Khurana said,
"We support the idea of a name change. In fact the idea for a name change
was originally BJP's. However we think that the city should be renamed
Indraprastha, since there is historical, archeological and mythological
evidence to prove that Delhi was actually the site of the Pandavas' new
capital."
The Left in the meantime opposed both the names.
"The BJP's communal intentions are clear from their support for the name
Indraprastha, which refers to a Hindu god. To preserve the secular nature of
this country, we will never allow it to be named Indraprastha" , thundered
Sitaram Yechury of the CPI (M). He was not very enthusiastic about the name
Hastinapur either.
Mr. Yechury, on the other hand, added a third and to him a 'secular'
name. "If anything, we propose the name be changed to Leningrad . The great
Vladimir Ilyich is now no longer respected in his own country Russia . At
the same time his idelogical contributions to the cause of the Indian people
is immense."
It will be interesting to see which name is finally chosen for Delhi . But
the run of renaming for the capital of India Delhi seems not as easy as was
for other cities. Earning cheap credits out of non-issue is a hallmark of
Indian political parties and no party will allow go bonus credit out of hand
without tough fights.
*Assam** becoming Asom*
The northeastern state of Assam is becoming the second state, after
Karnataka ( Mysore ) to change its name following a state cabinet decision
on 27 February 2006 , one month before the general election in the state on
April. It was resolved by the Congress led Assam cabinet to in cash votes
through tribalized emotions. Chief Minister Trun Gogoi ultimately earned
some cheap benefit in the general election and came in to power for a
consecutive second term.
The Times of India quotes the then cabinet spokesman Mr. Himanta Biswa
Sharma and minister of state for finance who triumphantly said, "It is now
Asom".
President of Assam Sahitya Sabha, Kanaksen Deka said, " Madras has
changed to Chennai, Bombay has become Mumbai, Calcutta became Kolkata and
Gauhati has already changed to Guwahati. This is a good move by the state
government to change Assam to Asom."
The newspaper also quotes Mr. Priyam Goswami, head of Guwahati University
's History department who argued, "The word Assam was coined during the
colonial period. Historically, it was Asom, but during British rule Assam
Tea became so famous as a brand that colonial rulers did not attempt to
correct the state's name."
Who knows which history Mr. Goswami and Mr. Deka were speaking about?
However, the state cabinet could not implement a change of name after the
cabinet decision in February 2006 because the move had to be approved at
various levels at the Centre as well as in the legislative assembly. The
state government was supposed to first pass a name change bill in the
Legislature, issue a gazette notification and then approach the Centre for a
name change.
Following the cabinet decision on 15 December 2006 the state assembly has
passed a name change bill—Asom from Assam without allowing a debate by the
apposition parties—AGP and AUDF in the assembly. AGP leader Brindaban
Goswami said it was, "an undemocratic and unconstitutional exercise by the
government".
AUDF MLA and a scholar of Bangla literature Maulana Ataur Rahman
Majarbhuiya expressed his disagreement on the process and said that the
honourable Speaker of the house cried out "No debate at all" in response to
Mr. Brindaban Goswami's demand.
"I myself requested the Speaker to follow a scholarly approach and at
least facilitate fair discussions amongst academicians out of assembly,
since the important bill must pass on scholarly argument based on available
literatures but in vain" said AUDF General Secretary Maulana Atur Rahman.
*Origin of **Assam***
**
Simply go through the pages of history and various encyclopedias and you
will find that the fact about origin of Assam is other than what Mr. Priyam
Goswami and Mr. Kanaksen Deka were trying to teach to the people of Assam .
One may ignore politicians and of course, it is not their burden to study
thick history books before legislating any new bill but one should not
ignore statements given by a head of a history department of the stat's
biggest university, a president of the most prestigious Assam Sahitya Sabha
and scholar of Assamese literature and culture.
According to online encyclopedia 'wikipedia' "the land of Assam was known
by various names in the past—Pragjyotishpura , in ancient Hindu scriptures
such as the Mahabharata; and Kamarupa in the early Middle Ages. After the
decline of the Kamarupa kingdom in the 12th century, the land that included
a part of the old Kamarupa kingdom and regions to the east of it was ruled
by the Shan people, who called themselves Tai, but who were called Ahoms by
the others". This kingdom lasted for nearly 600 years.
Satyendra Nath Sarma the famous scholar of history and Assamese
literature writes in 'Banikanta Kakati: *Assamese: Its Formation and
Development'*:
"While the Shan invaders called themselves Tai, they came to be referred
to as Âsâm, Âsam and sometimes as Acam by the indigenous people of the
country. The modern Assamese word Âhom by which the Tai people are known is
derived from Âsâm or Âsam. The epithet applied to the Shan conquerors was
subsequently transferred to the country over which they ruled and thus the
name Kâmarûpa was replaced by Âsâm, which ultimately took the Sanskritized
form Asama, meaning "unequalled, peerless or uneven"
Historical evidence shows that the Britishers did not introduce the word
' Assam ' nor they changed it from 'Asom' and even the word ' Assam ' is
older than word 'Ahom'. ' Assam ' was in use long before the British signed
the Treaty of Yandaboo on February 24, 1826 . The Britishers also used the
word ' Assam ' in that treaty.
*Early documented mentions of **Assam***
An encyclopedia reference book shows that one of the first unambiguous
references come from Thomas Bowrey in 1663 about Mir Jumla's death: "They
lost the best of Nabobs, the Kingdome of 'Acham'"—used for Assam.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605 – 1689), a French traveller and pioneer of
trade with India, in his "Travels in India", published in 1676, nearly two
century before arrival of British in Assam, uses the spelling "Assen" for
Assam in the French original. Moreover, the official chronicler of Mir Jumla
too calls the place "Asam" in the early 16th century.
Most of the scholars of history and literature accept that the first
known mention of the word Assam today is in a stanza from the Bhagavat of
Sankardeva <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavat_of_Sankardeva> composed
and translated in this region about the middle of the 16th
century<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century>which described the ethnic
groups of the region transcribed in
iTrans <http://www.aczoom.com/itrans/#itransencoding>
*kiraTa kachhaari khaachi gaaro miri*
*yavana ka~Nka govaala |*
*asama** maluka dhobaa ye turuka*
*kubaacha mlechchha chaNDaala ||*
Even from the Ahom Buranjis (histories), it is found that the Mughals
also used the name 'Ashyam' or 'Asham' for the State. The same is also
evident from various historical documents of the Mughal period and the Dutch
chronicles of the pre-British era.
In the Persian publications of the Mughal period, like the Akbarnama
(1542-1605), Pashah-Namah (1627-1647), Alamgir-Namah (1657-1667) and Tarikh
–I Mulk-I Asham, the name Asham is mentioned. On the other hand, the name
Asom is not found anywhere in the pre-British period
In the map of the Kingdom Bengale ( Kingdom of Bengal ), drawn by a Dutch
man named John van Leenen, who was in Bengale in 1661, also recorded the
name ' Assam .' The map was published around 1662 and currently preserved in
the Maritime Museum , Rotterdam .
There is also a diary of a Dutchman published in 1675, which mentions the
name of Assam and described its people as 'Assamer'. The Dutchman fought
alongside the army of Mirjumala in 1662. These are some of the written
historical records of the existence of the spelling 'Assam' for the name of
the State long before the advent of the British to it in 1826.
*Later adoption*
**
It has been found that the phonetic name ' Assam ' has been in record with
little changes for the past 700 years and has a strong connection with the
coming of the Tai-Ahoms to the State.
After the fall of the Tai Ahoms and the conquest by the British in
1826<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1826>,
" Assam " was used to denote first the principality of the erstwhile Ahoms,
and later the British province. Soon, the province was expanded to include
regions that were not part of historical Tai Ahom kingdom. The boundaries of
Assam have been redrawn many times after that, but the name Assam remained.
Today, the boundary of Assam contains roughly the historical Ahom, Koch
Hajo, Kachari kingdoms and part of old Sylhet kingdom (now a district of
Bangladesh).
*Reactions*
According to a report published recently in Assam Tribunes, the largest
English daily from the state, 150 professionals living in different parts of
the state, country and abroad have made an appeal to the Chief Minister of
the state to rescind the state Assembly resolution on the change of the name
of the state to Asom. The professionals have shown their disagreement to the
process of name changing and advised the Chief Minister to set up an
advisory commission with eminent citizens, academicians, historians,
linguists, literary figures and the like and the members of the Assamese
Diaspora, to have a transparent debate on the issue with public
participation.
They have also written a petition to the Chief Minister, who identified
themselves as 'friends and well wishers of Assam living in and outside the
State' and forwarded the copies of the petition to the President and Prime
Minister of the country.
Assam Tribune reports that the group of 'friends of Assam ' expressed
their shock at the decision of the Assembly on 15 December 2006 and
registered their strong opposition to 'this entirely unwarranted and
undemocratic move on the part of the State Legislature'.
On behalf of the professionals Rajen Barua of Texas , USA signed the
petition. The list of the professionals has also been enclosed with the
petition, mentions the newspaper.
When Mr. Adit Phokan editor in chief of a prominent Assamese daily—'Adin'
was contacted by this author to comment on the bill passed by Assam
Legislature for a name change, he observed 'it was unnecessary and a
decision based on unauthentic evidences'.
"For, the State's name is not something for changing in as casual a
fashion as it has been done, without a thorough and informed public
discussion and debate. It has never a mandate of the people," argue most
experts. "Why should we change the name of our state when it is famed
globally as 'Assam' without any legitimate reason, what benefit the commoner
or our state will have by this name change??" are some of the audible
questions during gossips in tea-stalls, in front of Pan shops and in the
streets of major cities of Assam.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
--------- --------- ------- (A *Darul Uloom Deoband* graduate and Editor
'Eastern Crescent', English monthly, M. Burhanuddin Qasmi a poet and is also
Director of Mumbai based institute <http://www.markazulmaarif.org/>'Markazul
Ma'arif Education and Research Centre'.) (C) Rights MB. Qasmi
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