Northeast
India: the Ethnic Corridor of Asia
Historically,
physically and culturally, Assam
is a land of exceptional interest. The region has a very eventful
pre-history which goes back at least to the start of the Neolithic age and
beyond. Assam is rightly called a miniature India; like India, Assam saw the
migration of all the principal human races since remote past in different waves
and periods of history. Layers of races and cultures established themselves on
its soil, lived for hundreds and thousands of years only to be absorbed, by
another layer of more developed race and culture. Culturally, the region was
influenced by the Indian as well as the Chinese and the Souteastern culture.
Overall, it may rightly said that Assam is the final meeting ground of the East
and the West. Today there are about 200 different ethnic groups living in the
region which compares to India’s total about 600 ethnic groups. Linguistically
also Assam is a proverbial polygot state in India. The people of the state speak about 140 different mother
tongues. The significance of the numbers are brought home in proper perspective
only when we realize that the region comprises of only 4% of India’s population
and occupies only about 8% of India’s total area. T
There is
a reason for this high ethnicity concentration in this small region. Physically,
the region is isolated from the rest of Asia by high mountain ranges except for
its East and West confines, through which migration of all the principal human
races took place in different
waves in different periods of history. Anthropologically the region is
unique in the world where all the major races of the world assembled- a feature
which did not happen anywhere else in the world. The Negritos, the Austro-Asiatics,
the Dravidians, the Mongoloids, the Alpines, the Aryans – all
emigrated to this land in different times. From time immemorial Assam has been
acting as the melting pot of different races and cultures. In summary it can be
said that, the region acted as a great ethnic corridor between the mainland of
India on one hand and the mainlands of China as well as of Souteast Asia, and
it became a labyrinth with a
mosaic of varied and interesting cultures and a melting pot of different races.
The above makes the Assam corridor the ideal for a trade route, and it is no
wonder that several old trade routes cris-cross through Assam since ancient
time.
The
Soutwetsren Silk Road (SSR): Normally when we talk about Silk Road, we
generally mean the traditional Northwestern Silk Road from mainland China to
the west, and this Southwestern Silk Road is relatively unknown. This silk road
is the oldest silk road and goes through the heart of Assam, the Brahmaputra
valley. This trade route is known as the Southwest Silk Road (SSR) that
connects Assam with China through Upper Burma and Yunnan on its East, and with
India through the road to Pataliputra on its West. “There was another Silk
Road that had its origin in Southwestern China. Its location has only been
documented by historians. This was an overland route starting in Chengdu in
Sichuan Province and going through Yunnan, Burma, India (Assam), Afganistan and
Russia where it joined the first Silk Road at Mary in Turkemanstan (Russia).
Its significance lies not only in the fact that this route has been a cultural
and trade link between China and India since ancient times, but it was also the
first route by which silk, gold and precious stones were traded between China,
Burma, India, the Middle East, Africa & Europe. In fact, European and Arabs
merchants travelled through Burma, Yunnan, Sichuan and Shaanx and Hennan
provice long before they reached the southern coast by way of sea. “ (Westerns
in China – Foster Stockwell pp 15)
The antiquity of this Southwest Silk
Road is recognized by other authors also. “Long
before the northwestern routes were opened about the second century BC, and
long before the development of the Indianised states, there were two other
routes from India to China. One of these began at Pataliputra (modern Patna),
passed through Assam and Upper Burma near Bhamo, and proceeded over the
mountains and across the river valleys to Yunnanfu (Kunming), the main city of
the southern province of China.” (DP Singhal – 1969 pp 294). The other route however is the route
through Tibet which was opened in the seventh century.
In fact
there were and still are three different roads that connects Bhamo in Burma
with Guwahati in Assam. “The Assam-Burma
route to China started from Pataliputra (Patna) which was ancient capital of
India, passed by Champa (Bhagalpur), Kajangala (Rajmahal) and Pundravardhana
(North Bengal) and proceeded up to Kamarupa (Guahati) in Assam. From Assam, the
routes to Burma were three in early times as now: one by the valley Brahmaputra
up to the Patkoi range and then through the passes up to Upper Burma; the
second through Manipur up to the Chindwin valley; and the third through Arakan
up to the Irrawaddy valley. All these routes met on the frontier of Burma near
Bhamo and then proceeded over the mountains and across the river valley of the
Yunnanfu i.e. Kunming, which was the chief city of the southern province of
China.” (Bagchi pp 17).
The antiquity of this road can be traced from archeological
records recently uncovered in China. “In the 1950s tens of thousands of cowries in Yunnan have been
found in tombs dating back to between the Warring State period (475 BCE–221
BCE) and the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE). These cowries were from the
Pacific and Indian oceans, especially from the Maldives. They may have been shipped
to Burma first and then arrived in Yunnan in the same way, but it is more
likely that they went first to Bengal by sea, and then were brought to Yunnan
through overland routes….. If so, the route could be traced back to the
mid-first millennium BCE. (BW&C pp 14) However the date can easily be pushed further back, because, “Several hundred
cowries have been found in the Sanxingdui relics near Chengdu, in tombs that
are dated about 1100 BCE. The shells, like what was unearthed in Yunnan. … It
is more likely that they arrived via the SSR, considering again the
overwhelming challenge of navigating from South China Sea or the Indian Ocean
to South or Southeast China. If they did indeed follow the SSR, the spread of
bronze drums suggests that the road is dated to the late second millennium BCE.(BW&C –14).
The Mahabharata,
the great Indian epic, which is substantially a record of event before the
Buddha, records China as Cina. “This
is a Sanskrit adaptation of the name ‘Ts’in’ that was given to China under the Ts’in
dynasty.” (Bagchi-pp 7). We also
find records that king Bhogodotto of Kamrup (Assam) joined the Kurukhetra war
with a force of Cina soldiers. This also indicates Assam’s connection
with China through the Eastern route from ancient times.
This Southweast
Silk Road (SSR) is rightly called a cultural and trade route. Besides trade,
there has been many cultural exchange between China and India through Assam. “Many a word for commercial products
brought to India from outside bears the hidden history of Chinese traders who
had once led their caravans through the dangerous hilly tracks of Burma and
Assam and across the deserts of Central Asia to Upper India.” (Bagchi pp 59).
Vermillion bears a Chinese name in Sanskrit. Sindura (Assamese Xendur) seems to
have been derived from ‘ts’in-t’ung’ or China red. This word most probably came to India through Assam by the
earliest immigrants, the Austro-Asiatics who were known to love pigmants. Another product of cultural exchange is
the Chinese Silk which is mentioned in Sanaskrit as Cinapatta in the
Arthasashtra, a third century BC classic of India. Chinese silk was one of the
most prized commodities for export through Assam.
This is also well corroborated by
various other sources. “The Bell Pagoda
at Bhamo on the Irawadi in northern Burma was connected with the ancient silk
trade, and it occupies the site of a building that was erected by Asoka, the
first Buddhist King of India, in the 3rd century B.C., as the place
of worship for the silk merchants at the end of the road into southern China.
The silk trade is said to have been conducted through Bhamo from the seventh
century B.C…… From Bhamo the Chinese silk was taken to India, and through
Palibothra (Patna) – which it reached in time of Ptolemy – it was carried farther
west into Persia and Asia Minor…….The envoys of Marcus Aurelius, who were sent
to China and obtained silk in exchange for ivory, rhinoceros horn, and the
tortoiseshell, must have gone through Bhamo. Their mission was followed by a
regular trade, silk being exchanged for coral and amber. ” (The Story of
the Road-1939 pp 40).
We have
various other records to show that Silk came to India through Assam. “The Kiratas,(an early Mongoloid race in
Assam, were traders in silk, a word
that was derived from the Mongolian
original word ‘sirkek’. The Indian
word ‘sari’ is probably derived from
the same word. “It is therefore clear
that in ancient times traders from different parts of Tibet, Central Asia and
China flocked to Assam through various routes, and as they traded mostly in
silk, they were generally called Seres – Cirrahadoi – Syrities – Cirata-Kirata.
The word Kirata therefore, is a general term referring to the people of the
Mongolian origin and it refers specially to the Bodos.” (Nath-1948). It is the Kiratas who introduced the cultivation of silk with its different varities in Assam and it is from Assam that Silk was later introduced to mainland India. “Whatever may be the date of the introduction of the worm, its
geographical distribution at present day, and the fact species first introduced
was a multivoltine, seem to me to lead to the conclusion that the insect was
first introduced into India from the north-east (i.e. Assam)”
(J.Geoghegan-1872).
Assam is the home of several types of silk, and the silk commonly
found in Assam is non-mulberry silk.
The most prominent and prestigious being ‘muga’, the golden silk found
exclusively in this state. ‘Muga’ apart, there is ‘pat and ‘eri’ or ‘endi’, the
latter being used in the manufacture of warm clothes for winter. ‘Pat’, which is a mulberry silk, is found in
small quantities. ‘Endi’ is yellowish in colour and is found in rough and
smooth varieties. It derives its name from the castor leaves on which the worm
feeds. This is woven, into shawls and clothing for the winter.
The craft
of weaving goes along with the production of silk. Weaving is an
important characteristic of North East India Neolithic culture. It
had been practiced among all the ethnic groups of Assam. The craft of weaving grew to such sophistication in Assam that it
was known all over India and abroad. Kautilya’s
Arthashashtra, a political literature
of 3rd century BC, makes references to the highly sophisticated silk
clothing from Assam.
As stated
above, the knowledge of this Silk Road was relatively unknown to the outsiders
for a long time. In ancient times, the knowledge about the different trade
routes were generally guarded as secrets for obvious reasons. There is an
interesting record how China came to know about this Southwest Silk Road in 2nd
century BC. In the beginning of
the third century BC, when India was united under as an empire under the
Maurians , China was still a divided country. Towards the close of the third
century, a new dynasty named Han, came into power in China. The western marches of the Chinese
Empire were at this period in the hands of the Huns who we hereditaru enemies
of the Chinese. The Han emperor therefore tried to make alliance with the
people further west in order to control the Huns. As such the Emperor entrusted
certain Chang Tien in 138 BC to explore the western region. It however took him
long ten years to cross the enemy territory and reach Bacteria. There he was
surprised to notice some bamboo
and cotton stuff, aparently made in south China that were being marketed in
Bacteraia. On enquiry he found that these products came from Yunnan province
through an unknown road through India.
This is the road from Yunnan through Burma, Assam and India. When Chang Tien finally reported this
to the Chinese Emperor, he was very impressed. This also prompted him the necessity
of opening up the western routes
to other countries and to India. Accordingly the Huns were subjugated and the
route leadinhg towards the Central Asia were thus opened. This road which is to
pl;ay a vital road for trade with China is popularly known as the Nortwestern
Silk Road.
However,
the mystery of the Southwest Silk Road remained for a long time. “In 122 BCE, when
one Han envoy dispatched by Emperor Wu, reached as far as the Dian Kingdom
(Kunming), Changqiang, the king of Dian, detained them. The Han envoy waited
over a year, as the Kunming people blocked their way westward so that none of
them were able to reach India. But they did learn, however, that some
1,000 or more Li (500 kilometer) to
the west there was a state called Dianyue whose people rode elephants and that
merchants from Shu sometimes went there with their goods on unofficial trading
missions." (BW&C
pp 19). It was possible that Changqiang and the Kunming people stopped the
Han envoys just like the Parthia people blocked Ban Chao, an Eastern Han envoy
of the first century who was expected to open direct communications with the
Romans. Both of
the Han attempts to open direct communication failed because local peoples
wanted to retain their secret and monopolize one part of the highly profitable
long-distance trade.”
“The above
documents present us with further information of the SSR, for instance, about
the Dianyue state, about which scholars disagreed. Some argued that it was
located in present-day Tengyue in southern Yunnan; some stated that it was
Piaoyue (panyue or hanyue), an ancient state located in
Burma; other insisted that it was Kamarupa in Assam. No matter where it was, the Shu
merchants had been there and it seemed that they wanted to keep the trade a
secret, which suggested that long-distance trade had already been going on.”
(BW&C pp 19)
“Besides, there is evidence to show that
Buddhist missionaries were already active in South China by the middle of the
first century AD.” (Bagchi pp 8). “We also know on the authority
of the classical writers that Chinese merchandise used to be taken through
Eastern India to the Gangetic valley for export by sea in the first century AD.
It is also likely that the Buddhist monks had carried Buddhism to South China
by Assam-Burma route in the early centuries of the Christian eara. “ (Bagchi pp
17).
When Xuan
Zeng, the Chinese pilgrim, visited Kamrupa in the seventh century, he had
knowledge of this road. From the people of Kamrupa, the pilgrim learnt that through
this road, “the south-west borders of Sichuan can be reached within two months’
journey, but the mountains were hard to pass and there were pestilential
vapours and poisionous snake and herbs”.
In spite
of his remarks, we have evidence that this road was quite in use for
communication even during this time. This can be inferred from the following
record. When Bhaskorbormon, the king of Kamrup, met the pilgrim, he enquired
from the latter about a particular song which had come from China and was very
popular in Assam in that period. The song was known as “the music of the
conquests of Ts’in-wang of Mahacina” (sina rajkumaror bijoy geet). Bhaskorbormon
told the pilgrim that he had heard of this prince of Ts’in in China who had
brought that country out of anarchy and ruin into properity and made it supreme
over distant regions to which his good influence extended. “All his subjects”,
the king continued, “having their moral and material wants cared for by this
ruler, sing the song of Ts’in-wang’s victory conquests and this fine song has
long been known there (Kamrupa)”
Today we know that “he song referred to was the song of victory
of Prince of Ts’in, the second son of the T’ang Emperor Kao-tsu, over the
rebels in A.D. 619. The account shows that a Chinese musical piece which was
composed after AD 619 in China had been carried to Eastern India where it had
attained a popularity already before AD 638 when Hiuen-Tsang visited the
country. This further shows that notwithstanding the difficulties in
communication the intercourse between Eastern India and South-western China was
very close and intimate.” (Bagchi pp 19)
In areas of Sichuan and Yunnan one can see evidence of
Buddhist statuary produced by pilgrims who arrived early in the Common Era
Almost all scholars agree that after the third century CE Buddhist pilgrims
traveling along southwestern routes to and from India centers of Buddhist
learning increased considerably, thereby creating cultural overlaps of
historical significance. Theravada, Mahayana, and later Tibetan Buddhism all
made their presence felt along different spurs of the Southwest Silk Road. The
kingdoms of Nanzhao and Dali in turn absorbed elements of all three traditions.
Assam produced the original Tantric Buddhist teachings that spread to Tibet by
way of the "Tea and Horse Trade" routes into northwestern Yunnan’.
We also find
other records of Indian and Chinese pilgrims travelling through this route
through Assam in the fourth century AD.
An Indian monk named Buddhabhadra went to China along with a Chinese
monk Che-yen who was travelling India with Fa-hien. “They travelled on foot for three years. They did not travel by the
Central Asian route but altogether by a new route. They went to Tonikin (North
Vietnam) evidently through Burma, and from there by boat to China.” (Bagchi
pp 44). There are also records of
some Chinese pilgroms coming to India through this road. “It is reported by Yi-tsing in the seventh century that twenty Chinese
monks had come to India in the middle of the third century by the Yunnan-Burma
overland route on pilgrimage. A monastery was specially built for the use of
these monks near Bodhgaya by king Sri Gupta, an ancestor of the Gupta Emperrors.”
(Bagchi pp 60).
Due to
topographical reasons, this must be the same road that was used by the
different races that immigrated to Assam from the East: the Negritos, the
Austrics and the Mongoloids. This road was in usage till recent times. In the
Patkai range, bordering Assam and Burma, there is a famous pass called the
‘Pansu Pass’ that connects Assam with Burma through this road. It is through
this pass that the Tie-Ahoms came came through Burma in the thirteenth century
and ruled Assam for six hundred years till the advent of the British. During WWII, this road became famous again when
the Allied Army built the famous Stillwell Road connecting Ledo from Assam to
Yunnan in China through Burma.
Other Trade Roads through Assam: In ancient time, during the epic days
and later, Bhutan was a part of Pragjyotish (Assam). There are several roads
going from Assam to Bhutan. One
famous road goes from Hajo near Guwahati to Twang in Arunachal Pradesh and then
to Bhutan and Tibet. There are other roads through Manas.
There are three routes from Assam to Bengal. One by the river
Brahmaputra and the other two by land. The Brahmaputra River was an excellent
waterway for the movement of vessels. Of the two land routes, one was on the
north bank of the Brahmaputra from Tezpur (Darang district of Assam) to Lakhnauti
(the capital of Bengal Sultans) and Tamlipti through the districts of Kamrupa
and Goalpara, The road also connectsThe second route was in the south bank of
the Brahmaputra River from Sadia (Xodia) to Goalpara. When crossing the river,
it joined the first path. The second path seems to be favored by merchants who
were interested in sea-trade, since it connected with the river ports of
Bengal. Moreover,
The
“Tea and Horse Caravan Road”
of Southwest China was developed later in the middle of the seventh century,
when Tibet accepted Buddhism and established political relations with China.
This routes connect India with Yunnan in China through Nepal and Tibet. The route crosses some very high and
dangerous terrain. It starts from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in Southwest
China, runs along the eastern foothills of the Hengduan Mountains, a center of
tea production in China, then crosses the Hengduan mountain range and deep
canyons of several major rivers, thus spanning the two highest plateaus of
China before finally reaching India through Bhutan and Nepal south of the
Himalayas. The route also links with the route connecting Assam.
The name of the road indicates its importance in the trade of
tea and horses, but other products passed along it as well. Horse caravans
carried tea, sugar and salt from Sichuan and Yunnan to Tibet and brought back
colorful local mountain goods. The "Tea and Horse Trade" was
important, because it illustrates a strong reciprocal relationship between
China and its neighbors; Tibetans desired tea for use in meditation and for
added nutrition, while war horses were vital to the Chinese dealing with
aggressive nomadic cavalries to the north. Chinese courts until the Ming
dynasty utilized tea as a precious commodity to trade with the Tibetans and
other upland peoples of Sichuan and Yunnan for the valuable horses that were
bred in the western region. This route to Lhasa, about 1500 miles in length,
carried merchants and pilgrims between these two regions for 4,000-5,000 years.
As Tansen Sen writes, the shortest route between India and China by the Song
(960-1279) period was through Tibet. Along these routes travelers carried on trade in Buddhist
religious articles through the 11th century. The road also served as a significant
corridor for migration as well as a channel for cultural communication among
the ethnic groups in western China; beyond this, it was a bridge for
international cultural and economic exchange between China and India. Many
Buddhist monks came to India in later periods through this road.
Marco Polo himself wrote of his travels along the spur of this
route into Tibet following the Mongol conquest of the Dali kingdom of Yunnan in
the early 13th century.
Reference :
1)
India
and China – 1000 years : PC Bagchi
2)
Westerns
in China – Foster Stockwell
3)
India and
the World – D P Singhal (1969)
4)
The
Background of the Assamese Culture – R M Nath
5)
Between
Winds and Cluds-Bing Yang >
“The Sichuan-Yunnan-Burma-India Road was a major section of the SSR. It started
from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan and a symbol of the developed Shu culture
that was no less significant than the Shang culture. Guanghan, a city less than
one hundred kilometers from Chengdu, was the site of the well-known Sanxingdui
relics that had cultivated a sophisticated bronze culture, which might have
exerted great influence on Southeast Asia.40 From Chengdu
through Kunming to Dali, the latter two being major commercial and cultural
centers of Yunnan, there were two roads. The northern one passed the following
cities: Chengdu–Linqiong (Qionglai)–Lingguan (Lushan)–Zuodu (Hanyuan)–Qiongdu
(Xichang)–Qingling (Dayao, entering Yunnan)–Dabonong (Xiangyun)–Yeyu (Dali).
Because the Ling Pass (Lingguan) had to be used, the northern route was called
the Road of Lingguan (Lingguan Dao). The southern one went through the
following cities: Chengdu–Yibin–Zhuti (Zhaotong)–Wei County (Qujing)–Dian
(Kunming)–Anning–Chuxiong–Yeyu (Dali). So the two roads joined in Dali
connecting the Road of Bonan (Bonan Dao), so called because it crossed the
Bonan Mountain. The Road of Bonan passed through Yongchang and Tengyue to Burma
and India. ( Between Winds and Clouds – Bin Yang pp 8 Ch 2)
1)
:”Nisar
Ahmad, when discussing the Assam-Bengal trade of the medieval ages, also
detailed the trade routes between the two areas. Three routes lead from Assam
to Bengal: one by water and the other two by land. The Brahmaputra River was an
excellent waterway for the movement of vessels. Of the two land routes, one was
from Tezpur (Darang district of Assam) to Lakhnauti (the capital of Bengal
Sultans) through the districts of Kamrupa and Goalpara, in the north of
Brahmaputra; the second route was in the south of the Brahmaputra River. When
crossing the river, it joined the first path. The second path seems to be
favored by merchants who were interested in sea-trade, since it connected with
the river ports of Bengal. Moreover, Lakhnauti had the advantage of a line of
connection with Tibet via Kamrupa.” Between Winds and Cluds Ch 2 pp 12)
2)
When Zhang Qian saw cloth and bamboo
canes from Sichuan in Bactria of the late second century BCE, he suspected a
route between Southwest China and India. So he reported on this possibility to
Emperor Wu, who
then dispatched his envoys to explore the way to India. All of them failed,
with one having been stopped by the Kunming people in Yunnan. Many scholars of
China such as Fang Guoyu accepted what Zhang Qian reported. They believed that
the road was in use as late as the second century BCE. Could the date have been
pushed back earlier? The majority of scholars in China support the argument
that the road emerged as early as the fourth century BCE. One piece of evidence
they cited was what Ji Xianlin, a most famous scholar of Sino-Indian cultural
relationships, discussed the word cinapattas in Arthasastra,
a Sanskrit work of around the fourth century BCE. Cinapatta was translated by Ji into
"bunches of Chinese silk," implying that Chinese silk was known to
Indians at that time.52 However, how did
Chinese silk (BW&C Ch 2 pp 13)
3)
China's
Southwestern Silk Road in World History - James
A. Anderson
"Ancient Tea-Horse
Road", first appeared during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and lasted until
the 1960s when Tibetan highways were constructed
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