JOURNAL 



OF 



THE ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



No. SO.— August, 1838. 



I.— -A short account of the Moa Mcrah sect, and of the country at 

 present occupied by the Bor Senaputtee. By S. O. Hannay, QapU 

 40th Regt. N. I. Asst. to the Commissioner in Assam. 



Origin and Religious tenets. — Moa Mureeah or Morah, is the desig- 

 nation of a particular sect of the Assamese population, who are noted 

 in the latter days of Assam history. They are scattered over the whole 

 valley, being found as far west as Goalparah, but the greatest numbers 

 seem to be located in that tract of country, known in the present day, 

 as the Muttuck territory. 



About the period that the numerous tribes in the valley of Assam 

 were converted to Hinduism, a division took place amongst them, num- 

 bers of the population following the religious tenets of a certain " Goo- 

 roo," or spiritual adviser, who did not admit the supremacy of the Brah- 

 mins, and professing to worship only the incarnation of the deity, known 

 to heathens, as " Vishnu." 



The residence of the first priest of this sect, is said to have been on 

 the Majoillee*, on the banks of a small lake, which is now carried away 

 by the Burhumpooter . The name of this lake, from the circumstance 

 of its abounding in a description of small fish, called Moa, was named 

 in the usual style of Assamese phraseology " M6a Morah ," from whence 

 arose the name of the sect, but which has been turned, by those of the 

 Brahminical faith through a spirit of contempt, to Moa Mureeah, 



After the rise of the sect of Moa Mureeah the seat of the head 



priest, called the Moa Mureeah Gossain, was removed to a place called 



Kuteeah Putha, a short distance to the west of Jorehdt, and the spot on 



which he resided was elevated from the plain, several hundred feet, by 



* Large island of the Burhumpooter. 



4 p 



