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Costumes
Gonds tribes of India have a typical Indian ‘The Karma dance symbolises the bringing
dress culture. Male members in the Gonds of green branches of the forest in the spring’.

tribe wear Dhoti. Females wear soft cotton The dance is filled with the breath of trees.
saris along with the choli or blouse.

2. ahom
The Ahoms of Brahmaputra valley are said to belong to Shan family of the Indo-Chinese
family. They had migrated from Burma (Myanmar) in the thirteenth century. They had

embraced Hinduism and were dominant in Assam region. They belonged to several tribal
groups. While moving in the jungles of North-East, they had built many roads and irrigation
systems. Some groups had also entered into upper Assam. By 15th century, they succeeded
in building a small kingdom in the upper Assam area of their own by suppressing some

Tribes of Eastern India
landlords (Bhuiyans). Several small kingdoms ruled in the area. During the sixteenth century,
they annexed the kingdoms of Chhutiyas (1523) and Koch-Hajo (1581) and subjugated
many other dominant tribal groups in the area. After annexing Koch-Hajo, the Koch joined
hands with the Ahoms to fight the Mughals. In 1662, Mughals under Mir Jumla attacked
the kingdom. The Ahoms were defeated in this battle and area came under the control of
Mughals. The Mughals did not rule this area directly and the Ahoms managed to rule the
area on their own until 1826. Although during these 300 years, they had several encounters
with the Mughals. Once in 1618, Prince Khurram had also attacked these petty kingdoms
in the North-East and captured Kangra Fort. But actually the rebellions and a succession
of Burmese invasions made them weak. Under one of their rulers Rudra Singh, they had
reached the maximum extent covering almost three-fourths of the present day Assam.

CultuRe

The Ahoms kept complete records of their rule, their genealogy, the path they followed to
enter Assam, their culture and administration. These chronicles called Buranjis are written in
Ahom and Assamese language and exist in several translated and edited versions. According
to the Buranjis, the near by Naga Hills afforded them security and they followed the animal
tracks in the Hills to enter Assam. The Naga Hills remained of strategic importance of them.

Our knowledge about the Ahoms is drawn mainly from the royal chornicles called Buranjis.
The Paik System : The Ahom rulers maintained a workforce which played an important role
during both war and peace. Its members, called paiks, served as soldiers and also built

72 Social Studies-7