Sadiya is a town in Tinsukia district, Assam, in India. It was the capital of the Chutia Kingdom but after the downfall of the kingdom, the Ahoms administered it through the Sadiyakhowa Gohain. Extensive remains of buildings and fortifications built during the Chutia rule near Sadiya point to the importance of the region in the past. Historically Sadiya or Sadhaya referred to the Chutia kingdom, Sadhayapura (preasent-day Sadiya) being its capital. It is claimed to be the center of development of the eastern Assamese dialects. Its stands on a grassy plain, almost surrounded by forested Himalayan mountains, on the right bank of Lohit River which is locally (but erroneously) considered the main stream of the Brahmaputra River. The deepest point of the Brahmaputra River is located near this region. It is famous for a flower named satphul (the word means "blessing" or a "desert flower"), which is much like Jasmine.
Sadiya's position at the eastern end of the Brahmaputra Valley made it an important centre of long-distance trade linking the Assamese plains with Tibet, Upper Burma and Yunnan. Routes led northward through the Dihang, Dibang and Lohit valleys and southeastward through Hukawng and the Shan state of Mongkawng; nineteenth-century accounts describe its market as exchanging textiles, salt and other plains goods for gold, silver, ivory, musk, amber, daos and products associated with Tibet, Burma and China.
Etymology
Historically, the region between the Lohit River and the Dibang River was known as Sadhayapura as per copper inscriptions. It is believed that Sadiya is a corrupted form of Sadhayapura."Furthermore, it is fairly certain from the dates available in the inscriptions that Nandin and Satyanārāyaṇa ruled Sadhayāpura in the latter half of the fourteenth century, while Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa belonged to the beginning, and Dharmanārāyaṇa to the middle of the fifteenth century. It is also nearly clear that Sadhayāpurī (or Svadhayāpurī) mentioned in the inscriptions is the same as Sadhiyā or Sadiya of later times."
History Early history Archaeometric evidence points to brick-building activity in the Sadiya region during the early medieval period. A 2024 study of bricks from Pratimagarh and Padum Pukhuri grouped them with a technological horizon which the authors broadly assign to the seventh–tenth centuries CE.
The Sadiya region also occupied an important place in the sacred geography represented in the Kalika Purana. The goddess Dikkaravasini, identified by scholars with Tamreswari at Sadiya, marked the eastern end of one of the text's conceptions of Kamarupa. Jae-Eun Shin notes that the Kalika Purana contrasts the region extending from Lalitakanta, near present-day Guwahati, eastwards to Dikkaravasini with the region extending westwards from Lalitakanta to the Karatoya River. The former was represented as the country of the Kiratas (generally identified with the Tibeto-burman populations), covering much of the middle and upper Brahmaputra valley, while the latter was portrayed as a Brahmanical sedentary society inhabited by Brahmins, sages and people of the varna order. Shin interprets this contrast as reflecting the uneven spread of sedentary agriculture and Brahmanical settlement into the middle and upper valley, while noting that both regions were nevertheless conceived as parts of Kamarupa's sacred geography.
By the thirteenth century, the Sadiya plains had become associated with the Chutia polity. Based on an inscribed brick bearing the name of Śrī Śrī Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa discovered at Bhismaknagar, Chutia king Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa of the early fifteenth century is assumed to have had his capital in the area; the palaeography of the inscription supports this dating.Based on an inscribed brick with the name of Śrīśrī-Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa, discovered from the ruins of the forts in Bhismaknagar, it is assumed that Chutiya king Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa of the early fifteenth century had his capital in the area. The paleographical analysis of the inscription supports this dating". The Chutia kingdom rulers exercised power by regulating eastward trade and the movement of people between Assam, Tibet, and southern China.
Eastern frontier incursions Sadiya's location at the eastern end of the Brahmaputra valley also placed it within the wider network linking Assam with the Tai polities of Upper Burma. Early-fourteenth-century Chinese evidence records Yuan political and military activity on the Indian frontier of Mäng Köng (Mogaung). The Yuan Wenlei records that in 1304 a Mongol army killed an unidentified ruler styled the "King of Xitian" (India) and installed his grandson. Christian Daniels notes that a member of the Mäng Köng ruling family was stationed at a fort on the Indian frontier and suggests that, from the geographical position of Mäng Köng, this frontier may have lain either in the upper Brahmaputra Valley or in Manipur.
Tai and Shan chronicle traditions record a later westward expedition into Upper Assam by Sam Long Hpa, ruler of Mong Kawng, the region being referred to in the chronicles as Mong Wehsali Long. One version preserved in the Mogaung chronicles states that he conquered much of the territory then under the Chutia kings, while another records the submission of Wehsali and an arrangement for the payment of tribute. The traditional chronology places this expedition in the early thirteenth century, but modern studies generally assign it to the fourteenth century. Daniels notes that Dehong Tai chronicles variously date the expedition to 1319 or 1348 and that contemporary Chinese evidence places the emergence of the Mäng Maaw polity only in the 1330s, with its florescence in the 1340s. In 1524, the Mongkawng or Nora general Phukloimung attacked Sadiya from what is today Myitkyina District of Myanmar but was defeated and pushed back."According to some Ahom buranjis, in 1524, the Nara king Phukloimung attacked Sadiya and was defeated. Thus, Mohnyin probably sent troops to invade Assam"
Vaishnavism under Chutia rule Sadiya and the neighbouring Kundila region formed an important eastern locus of Vaishnava activity and memory. Jae-Eun Shin argues that land grants issued by the Chutia rulers indicate the growing presence of Vaishnava Brahmins at the royal court and in rural society. The Dhenukhana copper plate of 1392 records grants to Brahmins whose names and affiliations were predominantly Vaishnava, while the Ghilamara plate of 1401 records a grant to Ravideva, the son of Hari, who was described as a devotee of Vasudeva.
According to a tradition preserved by Gharmora Satra, two Chutia princes studied at Nabadwip, where they met a Brahmin named Sankarshan—also rendered Sankarisan—of Kannauj. After returning to Sadiya, the elder prince is said to have brought Sankarshan and several occupational families to the capital and established a Vaishnava institution on the bank of the Gharmora River at Sadiya, endowing it with land, attendants and an image of Vishnu. The tradition further holds that Sankarshan's successors remained at Sadiya for five generations and preached among the Chutias, Deoris, Miris and Abors of the surrounding plains and hills before the institution was relocated following the Ahom conquest. Kundila also appears in the genealogical traditions of later Assamese Vaishnava preceptors. Accounts concerning Padma Ata place his ancestors at Kundila or Kundilnagara before a branch of the family migrated downstream to the Narayanpur region, while Ramananda Dvija's Sri Sri Bansigopal Devar Charitra describes Harivara, an ancestor of Bansigopal Deva, as being “of the Kundil gusthi”.
Sadiya and Kundil continued to occupy an important place in later Assamese Vaishnava traditions. The Adi Charita states that Sankardev visited Kundilnagara and brought back a Vasudeva image, while the Sri Thakur Charit relates that Jayadhwaj Singha later had another Vasudeva image brought from Kundil for Damodar Thakur's Narowa Satra, now known as Basudev Than in Dhakuakhana.Harinarayan Dvija, Sri Thakur Charit, edited by N. Gogoi, 2nd ed. (Biswanath Chariali, 2001), verses 467–470, cited in From the 16th century onward, Sankardev's Rukminiharana became particularly popular in the Sadiya region; its circulation and dramatic performance contributed to the identification of the local landscape with Bhismaka, Rukmini, Vidarbha and Kundina.
Under Ahoms
After annexing the Chutia kingdom in 1524, Ahom king Suhungmung ordered Phrasenmung Borgohain to stay at Sadiya. Three hundred men were put under his command, three elephants were given to him. Chutia resistance, however, continued, with uprisings in the Sadiya region in 1527 and 1529.Barua, Golap Chandra, Ahom Buranji, pp. 60–64. Following the earlier uprising, in Lakni Rungrao (i.e. 1527 CE), Chao-Shenglung Kinglun Burhagohain was appointed Thaomunglung Bo-ngen (Sadiyakhowa Gohain)Barua, Golap Chandra, Ahom Buranji,p.61, Ahom script: Lakni Rung-rao cham Hao Chao-seng-lung King-lun pai pao Mung Kang-kham. Ka reu Tilao phak kan nai cham hao Timan. Hao Chao Thao-mung-lung Mo-Ngen jao. and given charge of the country extending from Kangkham to the source of the Lohit.Barua, Golap Chandra, Ahom Buranji, p. 61. During the renewed Chutia uprising of 1529, Phrasenmung and Thaomung Bangen operated together in the Sadiya region; after the revolt had been suppressed, Suhungmung left both officers in charge of Sadiya.Barua, Golap Chandra, Ahom Buranji, pp. 62–64. In the following year, Phrasenmung was summoned from Sadiya to the royal court.Barua, Golap Chandra, Ahom Buranji, p. 64. According to the Satsari Assam Buranji, Phrasenmung had been left in the former Chutia kingdom to bring the region under control, but the people of Sadiya came to regard the Borgohain as their king. On hearing this, Suhungmung summoned him; when Phrasenmung did not return, the Burhagohain went to Sadiya and brought him back by stratagem. The chronicle states that from then on the Burhagohain held charge of Sadiya.Bhuyan, S. K. (ed.), Satsari Assam Buranji, p. 15.
Chutia Resistance Ahom authority in Sadiya was repeatedly challenged by groups of Chutias after the annexation. The first recorded uprising occurred in 1527, when the Dihingia Gohain (Thao-mung Mung-klang), sent to reinforce Phrasengmung Borgohain, was killed by the rebels. The revolt was suppressed, but was followed by administrative changes in the eastern territories, including the appointment of Kinglun Burhagohain as Thao-mung Bo-ngen, later known as the Sadiya-khowa Gohain. In Ahom lexicons, bo is glossed as a salt-mine, and ngen as silver, so Thao-mung-Bo-ngen essentially meant "Minister of Salt mines and Silver".
A larger rebellion broke out in 1529. Fighting occurred at Chandangiri, Doithang and Marankao, as well as along the Dibang and Lohit rivers. Chao Shuling was temporarily captured by the rebels before being rescued, and Suhungmung personally proceeded to Sadiya before the uprising was suppressed. In 1550, following the death of the Sadiya-khowa Gohain, a Chutia leader named Kanshapatra declared himself king at Sadiya. Supported by several dissident Ahom princes, he resisted for three years before being defeated and killed in 1553 along with many of his followers. Another rebellion occurred in 1572 under a leader styled Senapati; after being pursued into Kanchai and Pukhurikhana, the Senapati, the chief of Kanchai and numerous Chutias were captured.