[Assam] [FriendsofAssamNE] FW: [asom] Re: Assam or Asom

[Barua25]

The correct position regarding the names Assam and Oxom are as follows:

Assam was known as Kamrup in the middle ages. Huen Tsang who visited the land in the 7th century described it as  Kamrup.

Then the Shan or Syam tribe from Upper Burma conquered Kamrup in the 13th century. Local people used to call these people as  Asam or Asyam which is a derivation from the word Syam. Since then our land was known as Asyam or Assam by the Moguls and all other people in India. The Ahom buronjis as well as the Mogul historians used to describe the land as Asyam or Asam.  When the British came, they have formalized the English spelling to Assam.

Evidence shows that the Assamese did not call their name Oxom like they do now till 17th century. It is from this word Asyam, the word Oxom was derived in local Assamese language. Originally used by Sri Xongkordev in his Kirton, the word Oxom used to mean the Shan or Syam people (not the land) in Assamese. Later the word Oxom went phonetic change to become Ahom to represent the Syam people while the word Oxom was adopted in the 17th century to mean the land of Assam in local Assamese language (read Dr S. K. Bhuyan's history) .  But so far as outside Assam, all know our land as Assam till today. Nobody call our land Oxom as nobody pronounce the Assamese guttural X sound. Even when Assam got independence in 1947, the official name of the land was adopted as Assam in the Constitution. The word Oxom does not exits in the Constitution.

Thus Assam has two names; Official name Assam and local name Oxom.
The case is similar to India which also has two names: Official name India and local name Bharat.

We should recognize this fact that words Assam and Oxom are two separate words and we should leave these as they are. The word Oxom is not an Assamese translation of the word Assam like the word Bharat which is not  an Indian translation of the word India. Like we are not trying to change the word India to Bharat, we should leave the words Assam and Oxom as two separate words and not try to change anything. If we know the correct derivation of these two words, we will see that the words Assam represent the Monglian culture while the word Oxom represent the Aryan culture in Assam. Both the words are local Assamese words. We need both the words.

The spelling 'Asom' on the other hand is, as correctly stated by MM is neither here nor there and is a Bhusung Pohu spelling in my opinion.  Assamese people need to decide if they want to change the name to Oxom, and if so they should say so and sit with a Hobo Diok attitude.

I attach my recent article in Assamese for reference.
RB

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: mc mahant 
  To: BBaruah at aol.com 
  Cc: assam at assamnet.org 
  Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 9:55 PM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] [FriendsofAssamNE] FW: [asom] Re: Assam or Asom


  Bhubon Kokaideo,

  It is rare to meet somebody like Saleh Sahab going so earnestly, undeterred by the din all around , to locate the truth and all the truth.


  He was asking me-who else can guide him better to the truth.That was sweet-but I know little.

  RB has gone so deep into the phonetics/gutterals part of it to justify OXOM as the logical.

  Jogen Phukon of G.U. history dept. propounded something of the HISTORY aspect of Assam.

  "Some people cannot see the woods for the trees". Call me as I call myself- Oxom and Oxomiya. Don't like it? Then lump it! Or create your own call name. Like Moscow for MockBa , Kharkov for xapkoff. Or learn it- "Ich bin ein Berliner" . After all it is but a (dirty?) 4 letter word!

  Saleh Sahab's work is valuable. We will  love him to continue with academic brilliance.

  mm






   


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: BBaruah at aol.com
    To: FriendsofAssamNE at yahoogroups.com
    CC: assam at assamnet.org
    Subject: Re: [Assam] [FriendsofAssamNE] FW: [asom] Re: Assam or Asom
    Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 16:19:59 EDT


    Congratulations to Mr Saleh for his excellent research into the origin of "Assam" from irrefutable resources. I am sure it will help remove a lot of confusions and pave the way either to retain 'Assam'  or coin a new  name without further controversy.

    Bhuban   


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