Upper Assam
The Chutias, a Tibeto-Burman people, ruled the country at the head of the Brahmaputra valley from Sadiya. Their kingdom was substantial — it controlled the routes into the hills, the trade in gold-washing and iron, and the passes toward Tibet and Burma — and it was the Ahoms' principal rival for two centuries.
The Tamreswari temple at Sadiya, associated with a goddess cult of markedly non-Brahmanical character, belongs to this kingdom, as does a group of copper-plate grants that are among the earliest documents of upper Assam.
Conquest
The Ahoms defeated and annexed the kingdom in 1523 after a long series of wars, killing the last king and deporting much of the artisan population — the Chutia craftsmen in metal and stone were absorbed into Ahom service, which is why the Ahom state's technical capacity improved markedly afterwards.
The Sadiya frontier was thereafter administered by an Ahom officer titled the Sadiyakhowa Gohain, and the Chutia community remains substantial in upper Assam.
Further reading
- Nugteren, Albertina. Belief, Bounty, and Beauty: Rituals Around Sacred Trees in India. Brill, 2005
- Basham, A. L. The Wonder That Was India. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- Asher, Catherine B. India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2006
- Bakker, Hans T. The World of the Skandapurana. Brill, 2014
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.