ASSAM DAY | IAS GYAN

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About

Asom Divas or Assam Day is celebrated on 2nd December every year to mark the arrival of the first king of the Ahom kingdom Sukhapaa in Assam.
- The day is also celebrated as Sukaphaa Divas in honour of the founder of the Ahom kingdom.

About Sukapha

He was a 13th-century ruler who founded the Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries. Contemporary scholars trace his roots to Burma.
He is widely referred to as the architect of “BorAsom” or “greater Assam”.
It was in Charaideo that Sukapha established his first small principality, sowing the seeds of further expansion of the Ahom kingdom.
The founders of the Ahom kingdom had their own language and followed their own religion. Over the centuries, the Ahoms accepted the Hindu religion and the Assamese language.
To commemorate Sukapha and his rule, Assam celebrates “Asom Divas” on December 2 every year.

Ahom Kingdom

The Ahoms belonged to the great Tai group of tribes which dominated south China and many south-east Asian countries
The Ahom Kingdom (1228–1826) was a kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India, It expanded in the 16th century and became multi-ethnic, effect on the political and social life in the entire Brahmaputra valley.
A new language, Assamese, based on the intermingling of the various people and tribes, emerged.
- The Assamese language entered the Ahom court and coexisted with the Tai language for some time in the 17th century before finally replacing it.
Hinduization of the Ahoms, by incorporating their gods into the Hindu, marriage with Hindu noble families etc.
- The Ahom rulers were aware that accepting Hinduism gave the ruler a divine status which strengthened his position among the nobles.

Assam

Assam state is in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys.
The state is bordered by;
- Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh in the North.
- Nagaland and Manipur in the East.
- Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Bangladesh in the South.
- West Bengal in the west via the Siliguri Corridor, a 22 kilometres wide strip of land that connects the state to the rest of India.
Assamese and Boro are the official languages of Assam, while Bengali is an additional official language in the Barak Valley.
Assam is known for tea and silk.
The state was the first site for oil drilling in Asia.
Assam has petroleum, natural gas, coal, limestone and other minor minerals such as magnetic quartzite, kaolin, sillimanites, clay and feldspar.
Assam is home to the one-horned Indian rhinoceros, along with the wild water buffalo, pygmy hog, tiger and various species of birds, and provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant.
The Assamese economy is aided by wildlife tourism to Kaziranga National Park and Manas National Park, which are World Heritage Sites.
Dibru-Saikhowa National Park is famed for its feral horses.
The region is prone to natural disasters like annual floods and frequent mild earthquakes.