Empowered Women of Assam and North East India

By Chatterjee Souvik

Assam and North East India as a whole have a trace of paleolithic cultures which existed 781,000 to 126,000 years ago. There are shreds of evidence of Assam's civilization in prehistoric era (1, 26,000 years ago). There are also pieces of evidence found in Mahabharata and Kalika Purana. There are glorious histories of various kingdoms/dynasties in the Ancient period (350 AD-1206 AD) and medieval period (1206 AD–1826 AD). Assam is known for Assam tea and Assam silk. The state was the first site for oil drilling in Asia. Assam is home to the one-horned Indian rhinoceros, along with the wild water buffalo, pygmy hog, tiger and various species of Asiatic birds, and provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant. The region is very much rich in bio-diversity and this region has produced a good number of notable personalities who contributed in various domain. They earned name and fame nationally and internationally. This book is dedicated to the great women of Assam who contributed in all spheres of life along with the great men of Assam. There may be some unintentional omission of personalities and I seek apology if some great personalities could not be included in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chatterjee Souvik
• Release date: Nov 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393709374

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PREFACE

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Assam and North East India as a whole have a trace of Paleolithic cultures which existed 781,000 to 126,000 years ago. There are shreds of evidence of Assam's civilization in prehistoric era (1, 26,000 years ago). There are also pieces of evidence found in Mahabharata and Kalika Purana. There are glorious histories of various kingdoms/dynasties in the Ancient period (350 AD-1206 AD) and medieval period (1206 AD–1826 AD). Assam is known for Assam tea and Assam silk. The state was the first site for oil drilling in Asia. Assam is home to the one-horned Indian rhinoceros, along with the wild water buffalo, pygmy hog, tiger and various species of Asiatic birds, and provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant. The region is very much rich in bio-diversity and this region has produced a good number of notable personalities who contributed in various domain.They earned name and fame nationally and internationally. This book is dedicated to the great women of

Assam who contributed in all spheres of life along with the great men of Assam. There may be some unintentional omission of personalities and I seek apology if some great personalities could not be included in this book.

CHAPTER 1

HISTORICAL

SATI SADHANI

(1493 A.D - 1524 A.D)

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Sati Sadhani was the last queen of the Chutia dynasty. She was the daughter of the Chutia King Dharmadhwajpal also known as Dhirnarayan. Born in Sadiya, she was married to Nityapal or Nitai.

Sadhani was born in around 1493 A.D. to king Dhirnarayan. She was married at the age of 19 years in the year 1512 A.D with Nityapal and crowned queen in 1522 A.D.

In 1524, due to Nityapal's weak leadership, the Ahoms took advantage and attacked the kingdom at its weakest state, they conquered Sadiya and killed Nityapal. So Sadhani who played a prominent role in the fight against the Ahoms was asked to marry Sadiyakhowa Gohain, the Ahom governor of Sadiya. Sadhani preferred death to dishonour and sacrificed her own life by jumping from the top of Chandragiri hills near Sadiya in 1524.

JOYMOTI KONWARI

(17th Century)

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Joymoti Konwari was the wife of Tai-Ahom Prince Gadapani (later Supatphaa). She was accorded the honorific Mohiyokhi on account of her heroic endurance of torture until the end, dying at the hands of royalists under Sulikphaa Loraa Roja without disclosing her exiled husband Prince Gadapani's whereabouts, thereby enabling her husband to rise in revolt and assume kingship.

Joymoti was born in the middle of the 17th-century in Maduri to Laithepena Borgohain and Chandradaru. She was married to Langi Gadapani Konwar, later an Ahom king, Supatphaa, who established the Tungkhunia line of kings. During the Purge of the Princes from 1679 to 1681 under King Sulikphaa (Loraa Roja), instigated by Laluksola Borphukan, Gadapani took flight. Over the next few years, he sought shelter in the Naga hills.

Failing to trace Prince Gadapani, Sulikphaa's soldiers brought his wife Joymoti to Jerenga Pathar where, despite torture, the princess refused to reveal the whereabouts of her husband. After continuous physical torture over 14 days, Joymoti died on 27 March 1680.

CHAPTER 2

POLITICS, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, JUDICIARY AND SOCIAL REFORM

AMALPRAVA DAS

(1911-1994)

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Amalprava Das was an