1898.] Annual Address. .73 



in the tenth and eleventh centuries A.T3. The first two of these dynasties 

 appear to have belonged to foreign invaders, and to have included, between 

 them, twentj-two kings. One of the grants (of No vv gong) was issued 

 by IBalavarmaii, one of the members of the second foreign dynasty. The 

 third dynasty was an indigenous one and bore the surname oF Pala. 

 Two of its members, Ratnapala and Indrapala, the second and fouith 

 of the series, are represented by the iiargaon and Gauhati giants. 



The modern history of the Assam valley dates from the advent of 

 the -Alioms, a Shan tribe who crossed the Patkoi and invaded Eastern 

 Assam about the beginning of the thirteenth century, and who ijradually 

 extended their sway westwards over the whole of tlie Assam vnlley, 

 which they continued to rule up to the time of the Britisli occupation. 

 It was the practice of the leading famiii^ and of the deodhdis or 

 priests to maintain huranjis or histories, which were handed down from 

 father to son and were periodically brought up to date. Many of these 

 I'ecords were destroyed by order of one of the Rajas wlio discovered 

 that they contained adverse criticisms of his rule, and others wei-e lost 

 in the troubles wliich followed the incursion of the Burmese at the 

 beginning of the present century. A considerable number, however, 

 escaped. Some of these were examined by an Assamese gentleman, 

 named Ka9lnath Tainuli Phukan, who compiled from them a vernacular 

 history of Ahom rule which was published at Sibsagar in 18J4. 

 The present enquiries have resulted in the discovery of a number of 

 manuscripts in the possession of the representatives of old families and 

 of some of the tribal deodhais or priests, which add very considerably 

 to the information recorded by KayTnath. These huranjis are inscribed 

 on oblong strips of bark of the tree Aquilaria Agallocha.^^ Those that 

 belonged to old families were in the Assamese language, and weie 

 translated without difficulty. But those belonging to the deodhdis were 

 in the old Ahom language and character, the knowledge of which has 

 almost died out and is now confined to a small number of eldeily 

 deodhdis. In order to obtain a translation of the latter a young 

 Assamese was appointed to le.arn the language from the few deodhdis 

 who can still speak it, and tlien with their aid to translate tlieir huranjis. 

 This work has now nearly been completed, and when it has been 

 brought to a close, the materials will be utilised for the compilation of 

 a complete history of Ahom rule. 



A search has also been made for inscriptions of the Ahom kings on 

 temples, cannon and copper-plates, and for coins issued from their mints. 



8* For a description of the method of preparing fhp bark, see Mr. Gaif's pnpor 

 entitled " An abstract of the contents of one of the Ahdmputhis" published in 

 our Journal, Vol. LXIll, Pt. 1, p. iL'S, 



