ASSIMILATING ASSAM WITH REST OF INDIA

Most Indian schoolchildren are rarely taught the fascinating history of the Northeast. We should use recent scholarship to bring the region closer to the rest of the country

WHEN I was in school and college, studying India's history essentially meant learning about the Indo-Gangetic plains.

There were some references to the southern kingdoms-the Cholas, Pandyas, Satavahanas, Cheras, the Vijayanagar kingdom and the Bahmani sultanate. Little was known about the eastern parts of this country, except perhaps the Pala dynasty in Bengal that lasted four centuries.

The history of regions east of Bengal was hardly known. Administrators, army officers, explorers and historians had written bits of it. But the first comprehensive and reliable account was perhaps by Edward Gait, an Indian Civil Service officer. Ranjeet Shekhar Mooshahary, an IPS officer of the Kerala cadre with a passionate attachment to history, is one of the few modern-era scholars who have endeavoured to bring together the history of Assam and the Northeast. His 400-page book, Rediscovering the History of Assam: the Continent of Circe, is a serious attempt to see the history of Assam in the context of its gradual integration over the centuries into the Indian mainland.

Mooshahary, who distinguished himself as director general of the National Security Guard and later of the Border Security Force, also served as the governor of Meghalaya. The 'Mooshahary Committee' made important recommendations on police reforms and he continues his association with the area as chairman of the Indian Police Foundation.

The earliest known settlers in Assam were the Bodos or Boros, also called the Meches or Kacharis of Sino-Tibetan ancestry. They spread throughout the Brahmaputra, Tista and Kosi valleys over millennia in waves of migration. There was no collective name for the places they occupied, but in their long habitation they named the most important rivers with di or ti syllables, which meant river or water in their language.