Ahom Kingdom (Kingdom of Assam)

The northeast Indian state of Kamarupa begins to ruled, from 1228, by the Ahoms (from whom the state derives its modern name, Assam).

The Thai have traditionally regarded the founding of the kingdom of Sukhothai as marking their emergence as a distinct nation.

Tradition sets 1238 as the date when Tai chieftains overthrew the Khmer at Sukhothai, capital of Angkor's outlying northwestern province, and established a Tai kingdom.

A flood of migration resulting from Kublai Khan's conquest of Nanzhao furthers the consolidation of independent Tai states.

Tai warriors, fleeing the Mongol invaders, reinforce Sukhothai against the Khmer, ensuring its supremacy in the central plain.

In the north, other Tai war parties conquer the old Mon state of Haripunjaya and in 1296 found the kingdom of Lan Na with its capital at Chiang Ma.

Nanzhao's significance for the Tai people is twofold.

First, it blocks Chinese influence from the north for many centuries.

Had Nanzhao not existed, the Tai, like most of the originally non-Chinese peoples south of the Chang Jiang, might have been completely assimilated into the Chinese cultural sphere.

Second, Nanzhao had stimulated Tai migration and expansion.

Over several centuries, bands of Tai from Yunnan have moved steadily into Southeast Asia, and by the thirteenth century they have reached as far west as Assam (in present-day India).

Once settled, they become identified in Burma as the Shan and in the upper Mekong region as the Lao.

In Tonkin and Annam, the northern and central portions of present-day Vietnam, the Tai form distinct tribal groupings: Tai Dam (Black Tai), Tai Deng (Red Tai), Tai Khao (White Tai), and Nung.

However, most of the Tai settle on the northern and western fringes of the Khmer Empire.

The Ahom kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Assam, had been established in 1228 when Sukaphaa entered the Brahmaputra valley from Mong Mao, an ethnically Tai state that controlled several smaller Tai states or chieftainships along the frontier of what is now Myanmar and China in the Dehong region of Yunnan.

Sukaphaa did not battle any established kingdom and seems to have occupied a depopulated region on the south bank with the Burhidihing river in the north, the Dikhau river in the south and the Patkai mountains in the east.

He befriended the local groups, the Barahi and the Marans, finally settled his capital at Charaideo in 1253, and established the offices of the royal council of ministers, or Dangarias—the Burhagohain and the Borgohain.

The capital of the Ahom kingdom is to change many times after this, but Charaideo will remain the symbolic center of Ahom rule.

Sukaphaa’s descendants will reign until the first quarter of the nineteenth century, for nearly six hundred years.

The claim by King Min Bin of Mrauk-U that all of Bengal belonged to ancient Arakanese kingdoms, though without foundation, is nonetheless used by Min Bin as the pretext to exploit the growing weakness of Bengal, a sultanate in long decline due to its wars with the Delhi Sultanate and the Ahom Kingdom.

Leading  a combined invasion force of twelve thousand (three armies of eleven thousand men in a three-pronged attack, and a flotilla of war boats carrying one thousand troops), he invades Bengal on October 7, 1532.

According to Arakanese chronicles, the combined invasion force defeated an Bengal army of ten thousand men and took Chittagong.

The Arakanese armies now press on toward Dhaka on December 1, 1532.

The Bengal army makes a last stand outside Dhaka but is defeated.

The sultan's defenses collapse afterwards, and Arakanese forces enter Dhaka on December 11, 1532, without a fight.

Min Bin at Dhaka on February 8, 1533, receives tribute from local lords of Bengal, and raises a sixteen-year-old princess of Bengal royalty to queen.

He then pays a pilgrimage on March 26, 1533, to Bodh Gaya.

He leaves Dhaka for Mrauk-U on April 13, and on May 14 appoints governors of the newly acquired territories .

According to historians, his control of Bengal beyond Chittagong, where coins bearing his name and styling him sultan are struck, is nominal.

Like Bengal's sultans before him, he has to contend with raids by "Tripuri tribes" from the north throughout his reign, not just on Dhaka but also on Chittagong and Ramu.

An astute ruler who genuinely appreciates the challenges of administering so vast an empire, Akbar introduces a policy of reconciliation and assimilation of Hindus (including al-Zamani, the Hindu Rajput mother of his son and heir, Jahangir), who represents the majority of the population.

He recruits and rewards Hindu chiefs with the highest ranks in government; encourages intermarriages between Mughal and Rajput aristocracy; allows new temples to be built; personally  participates in celebrating Hindu festivals such as Dipavali, or Diwali, the festival of lights; and abolishes the jizya (poll tax) imposed on non-Muslims.

Akbar comes up with his own theory of "rulership as a divine illumination," enshrined in his new religion Din-i-Ilahi (Divine Faith), incorporating the principle of acceptance of all religions and sects.

He encourages widow marriage, discourages child marriage, outlaws the practice of sati, and persuades Delhi merchants to set up special market days for women, who otherwise are secluded at home.

By the end of Akbar's reign, the Mughal Empire extends throughout most of India north of the Godavari River.

The exceptions are Gondwana in central India, which pays tribute to the Mughals, and Assam, in the northeast.

Rajput troops fighting for the Mughals introduce to Assam the habit of taking opium, which the soldiers receive as a daily ration.

Mughal ruler Akbar the Great, ruler of northern India from 1556 to 1605, had initiated such innovative policies as religious liberalism (abolition of the jizya tax), inclusion of Hindus in the affairs of the empire, and political alliance/marriage with the Hindu Rajput caste; in his administration of the empire, he had also adopted some policies of Sher Shah Suri, such as the division of the empire into sarkars.

This has undoubtedly served to maintain the power and stability of the empire, as the fiercely proud Hindu populace had shown stiff resistance and no signs of meekly converting to the whims of Islamic conquest in its years in the Indian subcontinent.

Aurangzeb, who follows a more strict interpretation of Islam, discarded these policies.

Aurangzeb is to spend nearly his entire career seeking to expand his realm into the Deccan and south India, and Assam in the east, sapping the empire’s resources while provoking strong resistance from the Marathas, the Sikhs of Punjab, the Ahoms of Assam and some elements within the Hindu Rajputs.