AHOM

also spelt Aham , a tribe of the Shan decent that ruled much of Assam from the -thirteenth century until the establishment of British rule. The Ahoms were members of the Tai race of Burma and eastern China. They originated in Yunnan province and began migrating into Indo-China and northern Myanmar (Burma) in the first century AD. Ahom is derived from the word "A-sam", the latter part of which comes from "Shan" (properly Sham) and "Siam". King Su-ka-pha invaded Assam in AD 1228. For a century and a half thereafter, Su-ka-pha's successors ruled over the small territory of Lakkimpur and Sibsagar districts. During the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the Ahom kings ruled the entire Brahmaputra valley from Sadiya to near Goalpara, and from the southern hills to the Bhutia front on the north. Their power in Assam peaked during the reign of King Rudra Singh (1696-1714). Ahom power diminished in the following century due to infighting and invasions. The Burmese were called in for assistance but, upon gaining a foothold in the country, they took over the whole valley and ruled with merciless barbarism. The British expelled them in 1824-25. The Ahom language, which belonged to the oldest branch of the Siamese-Chinese linguistic family, is now extinct. The Ahoms now speak Assamese. Originally pagans, they gradually turned towards Hinduism.