106 E. A. Gait —Historical Research in Assam. [June, 
Tlie knowledge of the Ahom language is disappearing very rapidly, 
and the number of deodhais , who still preserve a respectable knowledge 
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 younger 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 Ahom character, and to secure a satisfactory trans¬ 
lation of the more difficult passages in the puthis. 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 
puthis , 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 buravjis, viz .,— 
(1) From Khunlung and Khunlai to Kamal^var, i.e., from 568— 
1795 A.D. 
(2) Chukapha, i.e., invasion of Assam. 
(3) Prom Gadadliar to Gaurinath, i.e., 1681 to 1780 A.D. 
I feel sure, however that more will be discovered after further 
