106 E. A. Gait — Historical Researcli in Assam. [June, 



Tlie knowledge of tlie Aliom language is disappearing very rapidly, 

 and the number of deudhais, who still preserve a respectable knovv^ledge 

 of their ancestral language, is extremely small, certainly less than a 

 dozen all told. Even these say that it is so long since they made any 

 study of the subject that they are forgetting what they were taught 

 in their j^ounger days, and the rising generation decline to concern 

 themselves with a language which can yield them no practical advan- 

 tages. They prefer instead to learn to read and write Assamese, and 

 thereby to qualify themselves for mandalships and other similar ap- 

 pointments. 



Consequently, it is even now difficult to obtain a correct reading 

 of the coins in the Ahora character, and to secure a satisfactory trans- 

 lation of the more difficult passages in the ptithis. It seems to me, 

 therefore, that an intelligent person should be entertained at once to 

 learn the Ahom language and character, and to supervise the reading 

 of coins and the copying and translation of the Ahom historical puthis. 

 If he worked hard, three or four months should suffice to enable him 

 to learn enough of the language to see that the puthis are correctly 

 copied, and that the translations given are fairly reasonable. 



If, however, this proposal is approved of, it seems to me that it 

 would be in every way desirable to take the opportunity to obtain 

 copies and translations of all the more important puthis, and not merely 

 of those which are exclusively historical in their purport, 



18. I recently made some enquiries at Sibsagar regarding Ahom 



ptithis, and annex a list of twenty-eight. 

 Other Inquiries. which have been catalogued by Babu 



Phanidhar Chaliha, Sub-Deputy Col- 

 lector. The list is admittedly incomplete, even for the extant records of 

 the deodhais of Sibsagar sadr, and there must be many more puthis in 

 existence not only there, but also in Jorhat. The people are afraid that 

 Government has some ulterior object in trying to find out about these 

 books, and more than one man who is known to possess old puthis has 

 denied being the owner of any. Then, again, the Bailongs also possess 

 puthis, but these, I take it, deal chiefly with divination and kindred 

 subjects. 



Turning to the puthis already registered by Babu Phanidhar 

 Chaliha, it will be seen that the list includes only three huraiijis^ viz., — 



(1) From Khunlung and Khunlai to Kamale^var, i.e., from 568 — 



1795 A.D. 



(2) Chukapha, i.e., invasion of Assam. 



(3) From Gadadhar to Gaurinath, i.e., 168J to 1780 A.D. 



I feel sure, however that more will be discovered after furtlier 



