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Buranjis (Ahom language: ancient writings)[1] are a class of historical chronicles and manuscripts associated with the Ahom kingdom written initially in Ahom Language[2] and later in Assamese language as well.[3] The Buranjis are an example of historical literature which is rare in India;[4] though they bear resemblance to Southeast Asian traditions of historical literature.[5]The Buranjis are generally found in manuscript form (locally called puthi), though many of these manuscripts have been compiled and published. They are some of the primary sources of historical information of Assam's medieval past, especially from the 13th century to the colonial times in 1828.[6]
There were two types of Buranjis: the official Buranjis, which were compiled from the time of the first Ahom king Sukaphaa; and family Buranjis, which were compiled from the 16th century. The official Buranjis contained such information as description of important events as reported by reliable witnesses, correspondence from allied rulers, tax records, announcements, annual reports of various kinds, etc. Nevertheless, the Buranjis were continuously upgraded and often refreshed with the help of chronicles of allied peoples the Ahoms were in contact with, such as the Tai-Mau and Khamti. The official Buranjis were kept in archives and most of them have been destroyed either by natural decay or by wars and conflicts.[7]
The details in the Buranjis regarding the Ahom-Mughal conflicts agree with those in the Mughal chronicles such as Baharistan, Padshahnama, Alamgirnamah and Fathiyyah; and they also provide additional details not found in these Mughal chronicles.[8]
Description
Buranji writing tradition
There were two kinds of Buranjis: one maintained by the state (official) and the other maintained by families.[7] Many such manuscripts were written by scribes under the office of the Likhakar Barua, which were based on state papers, such as diplomatic correspondences, spy reports, etc.[9] The Buranjis and the state papers were usually secured in a store or library called Gandhia Bhoral under the supervision of an officer called Gandhia Barua.[10] Others were written by nobles or by people under their supervision, often anonymously, though the authorship often becomes known.[11] These documents reveal chronology of events, language, culture, society and the inner workings of the state machinery of the kingdom. They were written in "simple, lucid and unambiguous but expressive language with utmost brevity and least exaggeration." The tradition of writing Buranjis survived more than six hundred years well into the British period, till a few decades after the demise of the Ahom kingdom.[12]
The Buranjis not only describe the Ahom kingdom, but also the neighbours (Jaintia, Kachari and Tripura Buranjis) and those with whom the Ahom kingdom had diplomatic and military contacts (Padshah Buranji). They were written on the barks of the Sanchi tree or aloe wood. Though many such Buranjis have been collected, compiled and published, an unknown number of Buranjis are still in private hands.[13] During the reign of Rajeswar Singha, Kirti Chandra Borbarua had many Buranjis destroyed because he suspected they contained information on his lowly birth.[14]
Language
Buranjis were written in the Ahom language, but since the 16th century they came to be increasingly written in the Assamese language—and Ahom Buranji manuscripts have become rare.[15] The Ahom script used in the Buranjis is an older Shan writing system that was not fully developed to include diacritics to denote the different tones or distinguish between proto-Tai voiceless and voiced distinctions.[16] The language of the Assamese Buranjis, on the other hand, formed the template for the standard literary language in the late-19th century.[3] Assamese Buranjis used the Garhgaya style of writing[17]—one of three different styles of the Bengali-Assamese script prevalent between the 17th and 19th centuries in Assam.
Edited and Published Buranjis
| Name | Author | 1st Edition | Editor/Translator | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kachari Buranji | 1936 | S K Bhuyan | DHAS | |
| Jayantia Buranji | 1937 | S K Bhuyan | DHAS | |
| Assam Buranji | Harakanta Sadar Amin | 1930 | DHAS | |
| Kamrupar Buranji | 1930 | S K Bhuyan | DHAS | |
| Deodhai Assam Buranji | 1932 | DHAS | ||
| Tungkhuniya Buranji | Srinath Duara Barbarua | 1932 | DHAS | |
| Asamar Padya Buranji | Dutiram Hazarika and Visvesvar Vaidyadhipa | 1932 | DHAS | |
| Tripura Buranji | Ratna Kandali and Arjun Das (1724) | 1938 | S K Bhuyan | DHAS |
| Assam Buranji | 1938 | S K Dutta | DHAS | |
| Assam Buranji | (Sukumar Mahanta)[18] | 1945 | DHAS | |
| Assam Buranji Sara | Kashinath Tamuli Phukan | 1944 | P C Choudhury | DHAS |
| Ahom Buranji | 1930 | Golap Chandra Barua (trans. English) | ||
| Ahom Buranji[19] | 1996 | Renu Wichasin (trans. Thai) | ||
| Purani Asam Buranji | 1922 | Hem Chandra Goswami | KAS | |
| Satsari Assam Buranji[20] | 1960 | S K Bhuyan | GU | |
| Padshah Buranji | 1935 | S K Bhuyan | KAS |
Notes
- ^ Hartmann 2011, p. 227: "The Tai-Ahom term buran is cognate with the Standard Thai word boran (ancient). Buranji, then, are ancient writings."
- ^ (Barua 1953:132)
- ^ a b Goswami & Tamuli 2007, p. 436.
- ^ "The oft-repeated complaint of the absence of any historical literature in India has to be qualified not only by Kalhana's Rajatarangini in Kashmir but also by Assamese historical literature." (Sarkar 1992:1)
- ^ "The established fact is that the buranji tradition bore a marked similarity with the Southeast Asian tradition of historical chronicles." (Saikia 2008:477)
- ^ "(T)he primary sources of information of medieval Assam from the thirteenth century onward may broadly be classified under the heads: Ahom and Assamese Buranjis, contemporary chronicles, memoirs and farmans in Persian, letters in Assamese in Persian, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic sources, accounts of foreign travellers and East-India Company's reports and records." (Sarkar 1992:1)
- ^ a b Hartmann 2011, p. 228.
- ^ (Sarkar 1992:4)
- ^ "Information and facts mentioned in a buranji emerged after consulting state papers.... Official communications, letters of ambassadors or spy reports were significant parts of these state papers." (Saikia 2008:477)
- ^ "(B)uranjis were closely guarded, at least the official ones, the reason why they were kept in the Gandhia Bhoral (store house/library) under the supervision of an Ahom official called Gandhia Barua." (Narzary 2021:13)
- ^ "Quite often, the actual participants in events were fortunate enough to write these buranjis. Rarely was any mention made of the author, who was indicated only at a later period. (This absence did not deter modern historians from accepting theclegitimacy of these texts as fundamental historical evidence)." (Saikia 2008:477)
- ^ (Saikia 2008:479)
- ^ Baruah 2012, p41: "Quantitatively, Buranjis comprise a very large volume of texts or chronicles. Today, they are preserved in different museums and archives across Assam. However, a large number of Buranjis are still in private possession of families.".
- ^ Sarkar, J. N. (1992) The Buranjis: Ahom and Assamese in The Comprehensive History of Assam Vol II (ed H K Barpujari), Publication Board, Assam
- ^ (Sarkar 1992:2)
- ^ Hartmann 2011, p. 229.
- ^ Saikia 2004, p. 6.
- ^ This manuscript was recovered from the family of Sukumar Mahanta)
- ^ Also called Tai-Ahom Buranji from Khunlung and Khunlai, the English translation of which by Golap Chandra Barua is unpublished
- ^ Collection of seven old Buranjis.
References
- Barua, B K (1953). "Early Assamese Prose". In Kakati, Banikanta (ed.). Aspects of Early Assamese Literature. Guwahati: Gauhati University, Assam. pp. 124–147. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- Baruah, Manjeet (2012). Frontier Cultures: A Social History of Assamese Literature. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-50080-7.
- Goswami, G. C.; Tamuli, Jyotiprakash (2007), "Asamiya", in Cordona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, pp. 429–484, ISBN 9780203945315
- Saikia, Yasmin (2004). Fragmented Memories: Struggling to be Tai-Ahom in India. Duke University Press. ISBN 082238616X.
- Hartmann, John F. (7 April 2011). "Phongsawadan Tai-Ahom: Ahom Buranji , 2 Vols. Transcribed and translated by Renu Wichasin. Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing Ltd. Pp. xxiv, 993 . Map, Photos, Tables, Glossary. ". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 28 (1): 227–229. doi:10.1017/S002246340001554X. S2CID 162440951.
- Narzary, Dharitri (2021). "Buranjis and the Asian History Writing Tradition". History and Sociology of South Asia. 15 (1–2): 7–27. doi:10.1177/22308075221077716.
- Saikia, Arupjyoti (2008). "History, buranjis and nation: Suryya Kumar Bhuyan's histories in twentieth-century Assam". The Indian Economic and Social History Review. 45 (4): 473–507. doi:10.1177/001946460804500401. S2CID 144145900.
- Sarkar, J. N. (1992). "The Buranjis: Ahom and Assamese". In H K Barpujari (ed.). The Comprehensive History of Assam. Vol. II. Assam: Publication Board.
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