Chaolung Sukapha:
The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways led a vibrant celebration of Assam Day and paid rich tributes to Chaolung Sukapha.
- Chaolung Sukapha was a 13th-century ruler who founded the Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries.
- He is widely referred to as the architect of “Bor Asom” or “greater Assam”.
- It was in Charaideo he established his first small principality, sowing the seeds of further expansion of the Ahom kingdom.
- He divided the kingdom into territorial units called khels or phoids, each under an officer responsible for supplying a fixed number of paiks.
- Paiks are the able-bodied male population who owed labour and military service to the state.
- Every adult male between sixteen and fifty was registered as a paik and served the king for part of the year in agriculture, construction, or war. In return, he was allotted land for personal cultivation.
- He emphasized guerrilla tactics suited to the terrain of rivers, jungles, and hills.
- Sukapha’s significance lies in his successful efforts towards assimilation of different communities and tribes.
- He adopted a policy of conciliation and assimilation rather than annihilation.
- Sukapha developed very amiable relationships with the tribal communities living in Assam — especially the Sutias, the Morans and the Kacharis.
