108 
E. A. Gait —Contents of one of the Ahom Puthis. [No. 2, 
Abstract of the Contents of one of the Alwm Puthis , By E. A. Gait, C. S. 
Although, it is well known that the Ahoms, the Shan invaders of 
Assam, who obtained a foothold in the eastern extremity of the Brah¬ 
maputra valley about the beginning of the 13th century, brought with 
them from the valley of the Irawadi a written character 1 and a 
literature of their own, very little has hitherto been done in the direc¬ 
tion of examining their records, or of obtaining an insight into their 
traditions. This is the more to be regretted in that the language, as a 
spoken one, has practically disappeared, and the knowledge of it is 
now confined to a few families of Deodhais (priests) and Bfiilongs 
(astrologers), who still retain a lingering belief in the form of worship 
whicji was professed by their race before they fell under the in¬ 
fluence of (Mkta priests, and abandoned their national language and 
religion for that of the Hindus whom they had subjugated. 2 An 
examination of their historical writings is said to have been made 
by the late Ka^lnath Tamuli Phukan, in connection with the Assam 
history, or Buranji , which was published in 1844 at the Baptist 
Mission Press, Sibsagar, under the auspices of Purandar Singh, the 
last of the Ahom Rajas, but none of the purely social or religious 
writings have, so far as I am aware, ever been noticed. 
These writings, or puthis , are all inscribed on oblong strips of 
1 The character is derived from the Pali, and is said by Forbes to resemble the 
Mon rather than the Cambodian type. 
2 For the past twenty years even these sections of the Ah5ms have been 
taking Gdsains, the alleged reason being that all their countrymen have become 
orthodox Hindus, and refuse to associate with them unless they also conform out¬ 
wardly to the same religion. But they assert that their faith in Indra remains as 
strong as ever, and that they still make him offerings of ducks, goats, fowls, &c. 
Any educated person was capable of becoming a bdilong, but the office of 
Deddhdi was hereditary. In the days of Ahom rule, the heads of the deodhais 
were sacred, and they were exempted from the liability to pay revenue. Some of 
them still possess small nisjkhiraj estates. They are still called in to tell omens, 
but for no other purpose. 
