ASSAM. ever, little of good-feeling seems to exist among the people. The Assamese have always been a people of warlike habits; this fact being vouched not only by their original conquest, but by the extension also of the conquered territory. In 1638, during the reign of the Emperor Shah Jehan, the Assamese descended the Brahmaputra and pillaged the country round the city of Dacca; they were expelled by the governor of Bengal, who retaliated upon the plunderers by ravaging Assam. During the civil wars between the sons of Shah Jehan, the king of Assam renewed his predatory incursions into Bengal: upon the termination of the contest, Aurungzeb determined to avenge these repeated insults, and despatched a considerable force for the regular invasion of the Assamese territory. His general, Meer Jumla, defeated the Rajah, who fled to the mountains, and most of the chiefs made their submission to the conqueror. But the rains set in with unusual violence, and Meer Jumla's army was almost annihilated by famine and sickness. Thus terminated the last expedition against Assam by the Mahometans, whose fortunes in this country were never prosperous. A writer of the Mahometan faith says, "Whenever an invading army has entered their territories, the Assamese have sheltered themselves in strong posts, and have distressed the enemy by stratagems, surprises, and alarms, and by cutting off their provisions. If these means failed they have declined a battle in the field, but have carried the peasants into the mountains, burned the grain, and left the country desert. But when the rainy season has set in upon the advancing enemy, they have watched their opportunity to make excursions and vent their rage; the famished invaders have either become their prisoners or been put to death. In this manner powerful and numerous armies have been sunk in that whirlpool of destruction, and not a soul has escaped." The same writer states that the country was spacious, populous, and hard to be penetrated; that it abounded in dangers; that the paths and roads were beset with difficulties; and that the obstacles to conquest were more than could be expressed. The inhabitants, he says, were enterprising, well armed, and always prepared for battle. Moreover they had lofty forts numerously garrisoned and plentifully provided with warlike stores; and the approach to them was opposed by thick and dangerous jungles, and broad and boisterous rivers. The difficulties in the way of successful invasion are of course not extenuated, as it was the object of the writer to exalt the prowess and perseverance of the faithful. He accounts for their temporary success by recording that, "the Mussulman hordes experienced the comfort of fighting for their religion, and the blessings of it reverted to the sovereignty of his just and pious majesty." The short-lived triumph of the Mussulmans might, however, have warranted a less ambitious tone. About the middle of the seventeenth century the chief became a convert to Hinduism. By what mode the conversion was effected does not clearly appear, but whatever were the means employed it seems that the decline of the country commenced about the same period. Internal dissensions, invasion, and disturbances of every kind convulsed the province, and neither prince nor people enjoyed security. Late in the eighteenth century some interference took place on the part of the British government, then conducted by Lord Cornwallis; but the successor of that nobleman, Sir John Shore, adopting the non-intervention policy, withdrew the British force, and abandoned the country to its fate. Its condition encouraged the Burmese, an aggressive people, to depose the Rajah and to make Assam a dependency of Ava. The extension of their encroachments on a portion of the territory of the East India Company compelled the British Government to take decisive steps for its own protection. Hence arose the series of hostilities with Ava, known in Indian history as the first Burmese war, on the termination of which by treaty in
February 1826, Assam remained a British possession. In 1833 that portion of the province denominated Upper Assam, was formed into an independent native state, and conferred upon Poorunder Sing, the ex-Rajah of the country; but the administration of this chief proved unsatisfactory, and in 1838 his principality was reunited with the British dominions. (E.T.)