The Spring of 1228AD hasn’t arrived yet. But the soft touches of raindrops on the leaves and grasses, that were hitherto withered and denied of its greenery by the onslaught of winter, gave them a new life. Chaolung Sukapha, the Tai Prince from ‘Mongmao’, today is known as Yunnan (part of China), was already tense with the news of his troops dying of fever and fatigue. The horses he brought couldn’t survive the flood-prone areas of Eastern Assam and thus only one-third of them made it to Namrup, a fine fertile region in Brahmaputra valley. It has been more than a month since they, Sukapha and his companions, successfully completed the mammoth task of crossing the Patkai Hills, which was inevitable and was one of the few predefined routes to reach the East of Assam from Shan Province of Myanmar, where the family of Sukapha ruled. He was in search of a new fresh region, with a dream to begin his own kingdom, the way his grandmother had once wished. The blue summits of Patkai were still visible from their camps, as he glanced. And he found his place in Namrup, a fine way to construct the podium of his kingdom. At that time, neither He nor any of his 6000 companions had the least confidence and zealousness to sense that their foundation will remain intact for next 600 years onwards, with the dynasty known as Ahoms!
Romanticization of facts with imagination
Yes, they did rule for 600 years, and with 39 kings ruling consecutively with the divine-rights justification of their authority – that God has sent them down through a golden ladder to rule the people of earth – and thus calling themselves Chaopha, ‘Chao’ meaning Ruler and ‘Pha’ meaning Heaven. We do not have any written record of any other dynasty ruling in any part of India for a period longer than that of Ahoms. But the greatest tragedy lies in the fact that very few people of India, mainly from the Northeast are aware of this mighty dynasty. The tragedy is despite being a unique dynasty with unique features, the NCERT has found it appropriate to give only one page (page no. 99) of the History section of Social Science book of CBSE class 7 for the majestic Ahom Dynasty of Assam. Even there, it has only been referred to as a tribe, especially nomadic, only because they migrated from frontier provinces of Myanmar and China. The students outside of Northeast come later, even a majority of the students of Assam, who were educated in the schools run on CBSE curriculum, hardly know about the Ahom dynasty, under whom their ancestors were once ruled and thus, they are unaware of their own past- the very history of the land where they stand. These students know more about the French Revolution of 1789 than the simultaneous rebellions under Ahom State. They know the name of every Mughal Badshah (under whom their forefathers never lived) but will lack the confidence to spell out the name of the founder king of the Ahom kingdom. It is because this 600-year-long huge empire hardly managed to occupy a page in the entire bulk of NCERT books ranging from 1 to 12.
While studying at the University of Delhi, I was fortunate enough to arrange a rendezvous with a member of the book review committee of NCERT after attending a seminar. I expressed my understanding of the inherent problem of CBSE – it’s centralized syllabus often overlooks the regional history of India. To learn the history of India as a whole is to merely confine oneself with Delhi Sultanate, Mughals and then British, and therefore the differentiated history of particular regions of India are disregarded. Studying the same syllabus by students of diverse regions and historical backgrounds is incompatible.
Therefore, in the informal talk with the committee member, I proposed the idea of decentralization of CBSE curriculum and the possibility of opening branches of CBSE in each state to prepare syllabus as per the need of the students of that particular state, emphasizing the particular history of the state as well. He instead told me the problems involved in attempting the mammoth task of decentralizing the CBSE system. They discussed it, as he said, but they concluded by submitting to the hugeness of the work.
In India, as we often boast of our dearest slogan “Unity In Diversity”, the long pledged ‘Unity’ will be realized only when we give due importance to our ‘Diversity’. And understanding the importance of our regional diversity is only possible when we are aware how diversities emerged, how they were strengthened with the arrival of new ethnic groups and how those diversities managed to survive in the onslaught of time and came together to form the great Indian Nation.
I will further write about my personal idea of “reforming CBSE curriculum” with detailed analysis. It was just an abstract.