[Assam] A short and strong "Petition" --- like a lancer charge
Himendra Thakur
hthakur at comcast.net
Fri Dec 29 06:55:18 PST 2006
Subject: A short and strong "Petition" --- like a lancer charge.
Dear Barua,
I am disappointed by your efforts to keep "Mirjumala as "Grooten Mogol in Assam" in your proposed revised draft. Additionally, your repeated reference to other people's "ignorance" have already alienated many.
However, let us not get into a debate at this critical hour.
I positively agree with you that "Again the purpose of the petition is simply to stop the GOA to change the name so that we have a discussion in a democratic process if we want to change the name at all."
The "Petition" must be rewritten to reflect the above "purpose of the petition" ---- by deleting the Dutch connection and other controversial points like the X sound, etc. --- and by emphasizing discussion in a democratic process . That will make the "Petition" short and strong, like a lancer charge.
I request everybody to come forward and support the "purpose of the petition" .
With the best wishes for a Happy New Year to everybody,
Himendra
----- Original Message -----
From: Barua25
To: Himendra Thakur
Cc: shantikam hazarika ; Ankur Bora ; Manoj Das ; assam at assamnet.org ; W.Saleh
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 11:19 PM
Subject: Re: Petition to the Supreme Court of India to invalidate the December 15 Resolution of the State Legislature
Himenda & Dilip Deka:
Thanks for your positive support and criticism.
The reference para:
We attach herewith a copy of a map of the Kingdom of Bengale (Kingdom of Bengal) which was published around 1662. The map was drawn by a Dutchman, John van Leenen, who was in "Bengale" in 1661. The document is presently in the Maritime Museum, Rotterdam. As can be seen, the name Assam appears on the map. A letter sent by Joan Maertsuyker, Governor-General of Dutch Batavia who congratulated Mirjumala on 29-08-1663 and addressed Mirjumala as "Grooten Mogol in Assam". The diary of a Dutchman published in 1675, mentions the name of Assam and the people of Assam as Assamer. The Dutchman was forced to fight alongside the army of Mirjumla in 1662.
I think you are objecting to the phrases marked in red. I think these words in red may be easily omitted if you find these objectionable or misleading (although from historical point of view we don't find any). These words actually are not adding anything to our main message which is the spelling of the name 'Assam'. We will omit these words.
This brings us to the point raised by Dilip Deka as to why we had to bring the Dutch references and why the Ahom Buronjis reference is not sufficient. The answer is very simple. The Ahom Buronjis have references which point to the fact that our state was called Ashyam or Acham even during the Moghol days. However, please note that these spellings were in either Assamese (with prothom so or talobyo xo jyo kar etc), or in Hindi, Persi or Sanskrit (dontyo xo or talobyo xo). You may find some briefs of these reference in my Assamese article posted in the website. However, this does not tell what was the Roman script spelling of our state before the advent of the British. This important reference is now for the first time furnished by the Dutch records of the Map, the letter and the Diary of the Dutchman. These references clearly shows that our state was known to the outside world as 'Assam' as early as 1660s. These two references clearly shows that the word 'Assam' was not introduced by the British. On the other hand the British used that spelling in the Treaty of Yandabu in 1826 from old reference. (One may note that the English /ss/ phoneme has the pronounciation of /sh/ leading us to believe that the foreigners used the spelling Assam to pronounce the local Ashyam (which is derived from the Sanskrit word Shyam) correctly.
Now this is a very valid and important piece of information as researched by Wahid Saley of The Netherlands. If this piece of information were known to educated literary people like Chandra Prasad Saikia, (ex AXX President and ex Editor etc) he would not have considered 'Assam' as a 'mlessa' word and we would not have been in this mess today. It is a pity that educated Assamese are ignorant of their own history and heritage. Now we are ready to throw away the Tai-Ahom heritage with the word Assam just like that simply because educated Assamese are spreading mis information that the name Assam is a British introduction. How sad!!!!
Anyhow, hope this clarifies your questions.
Himenda:
You referred to the statement on X sound and commented that it will enfeeble the petition since there is no reference to such international recognition of the X.
If you don't mind, let me educate you on this without going into much argument.
(1) Assamese has this guttural kh sound which is recognised by the Roman letter X by all scholars from the Baptist Missionaries to Banikanta Kakoty on one hand and from Suniti Kumar Chayyerjee to Upendra Sarma to Golok Ch Goswami.
This X sound has a history and heritage in Assamese. Like the Bihu and the Gamwsa, this X sound is our Bapoti Xahwn.
In this reagrds, I would like you to read my short article :"The X In Assamese" published in the Assam Tribune and which is included in the referenced website. After reading this, I would like to discuss with you more on this if you still have questions.
We Assamese may not like it the X representation for various reasons. Ignorance is one. But that is another matter.
However trying to represent the kh sound with S is like Assamese burying their heads in the sand.
The bottomline is we are not trying to impose the X representation like to GOA is trying to impose the S representation without any discussion.
Again the purpose of the petition is simply to stop the GOA to change the name so that we have a discussion in a democratic process if we want to change the name at all.
Hope this will clarify the matter.
Satyam Shivam Sundaram.
The moment we deviate from this, Assamese will have to bury their heads in snad.
Let us not do that, Let us stand up as a courgaeous people.
Now may we have Dilip's signature please. We are fast approaching the 100 marks, and we request everybody to sign the petition to be included in the first 100 signatures.
Rajen
----- Original Message -----
From: Himendra Thakur
To: Barua25
Cc: shantikam hazarika ; Ankur Bora ; Manoj Das ; assam at assamnet.org
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 7:35 PM
Subject: Petition to the Supreme Court of India to invalidate the December 15 Resolution of the State Legislature
To
Mr. Rajen Barua
Katy, Texas, USA
Subject: Petition to the Supreme Court of India to invalidate the December 15 Resolution of the State Legislature.
Dear Barua,
I join you in registering my strong opposition to the entirely unwarranted move on the part of the State Legislature to change the name of our State from Assam to Asom. By recording my name, email address, etc. [in red font] in the table provided by you below, I give my consent to put my name as a signatory to the petition, on the condition that the paragraph number 4, and all its related references, will be deleted from the "Petition". .
The paragraph 4 in the "Petition" refers to some Dutch mercenary sailors as follows:
We attach herewith a copy of a map of the Kingdom of Bengale (Kingdom of Bengal) which was published around 1662. The map was drawn by a Dutchman, John van Leenen, who was in "Bengale" in 1661. The document is presently in the Maritime Museum, Rotterdam. As can be seen, the name Assam appears on the map. A letter sent by Joan Maertsuyker, Governor-General of Dutch Batavia who congratulated Mirjumala on 29-08-1663 and addressed Mirjumala as "Grooten Mogol in Assam". The diary of a Dutchman published in 1675, mentions the name of Assam and the people of Assam as Assamer. The Dutchman was forced to fight alongside the army of Mirjumla in 1662.
Inclusion of this paragraph in the "Petition" may mislead a reader as an endorsement of the "congratulations" (dated on 29-08-1663) by Joan Maertsuyker to Mirjumala on his successful attack on Assam. I request the signatories of the "Petition" to distance themselves from such "congratulations" for successful attack on Assam.
The paragraph 4 also asserts that "The Dutchman was forced to fight alongside the army of Mirjumla in 1662" without establishing any basis of such a statement. According to a translation of the diary of a Dutchman by Benudhar Sarma into Assamese as "Bangamua nou-yatrar Kahini" that I read many years ago, these fortune-hunting sailors of the seventeenth century were low-life mercenaries who enjoyed butchering the unarmed Assamese victims during Mirjumala's occupation. A number of name-mistakes by these sailors are mentioned in that book. These sailors cannot be cited as an authority of correct names or maps prevalent at that time.
I agree with you that the State's name is not something for changing in as casual a fashion as it has been done, without a thorough and informed public discussion and debate. It was never a mandate of the people. Even the Opposition parties' demand for a debate was summarily cut off in a highly undemocratic fashion.
In fact, this should be the main tenet of the "Petition" which will make the "Petition" brief and powerful. The "Petition" will be weakened if we try to promote the name "Assam" because a bunch of seventeenth century buccaneers said so.
Similarly, the topic of Roman transliteration of the Assamese name 'Oxom' (the 'x' here being an internationally recognized representation of the guttural 'kh' sound ) may enfeeble the "Petition" due to a lack of reference of the said "international recognition."
We are grateful to you for taking the initiative and I personally appreciate you for all your efforts. I am writing the above points to strengthen the "Petition." Well Wishers and Friends of Assam should also appeal to the Vice Chancellors of the Universities in Assam to encourage scholars to study the subject and come up with a thorough and informed public discussion and debate. National organizations like Assam Sahitya Sabha and other cultural bodies also should participate. The Opposition parties' demand for a debate must be agreed to. The State Legislature does not have any mandate to change the name of our State from Assam to Asom without consent of all concerned.
Please consider if the Well Wishers and Friends of Assam should file a petition to the Supreme Court of India to invalidate the December 15 Resolution of the State Legislature.
With the best wishes,
Himendra Barthakur
----- Original Message -----
From: Barua25
To: Himendra Thakur
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 9:56 PM
Subject: FRIENDS OF ASSAM
Dear Friends and Wellwishers of Assam:
PETITION TO SAVE THE NAME OF ASSAM
On 15th December 2006, the State Assembly of Assam adopted a
resolution by voice vote to write the name of the State of Assam as
'Asom'. No argument or reasoning was given for the name change, nor
any debate was allowed in spite of requests from the opposition. We are
starting a general campaign to oppose the government of Assam's
resolution to change the name of the state from Assam to Asom.
We, a number of friends and well wishers of Assam living in and outside
the state are shocked to see the above news report, and hereby
register our strong opposition to this entirely unwarranted move on
the part of the State Legislature. For this we are circulating the
attached petition all over the world to collect signatures from those
who support our move.
Please note that this petition is sent under no organizational banner but only under individual initiativwe only. We would like you to support our effort to retain the present name
Assam. You may sign the petition, simply by furnishing the information mentioned at the end of this mail.
It would be of immense help to us if you would be kind enough to
forward this e-mail to your friends who might be willing to support
this cause.
You are welcome to give your valuable suggestions if any, regarding the
petition or any other issues.
The letter will also be addressed separately to Mr. Brindaban Goswami,
the Opposition Leader, Assam Assembly, as well as copied to the Prime
Minister's and Home Minister's office.
The petition will be mailed on 1st January 2007 with the first set of
Signatures. So please send your replies to us at least by 30th December 2006.
Yours etc
Rajen Barua
Katy, Texas
- The Map of Bengale published in 1662.
http://www.indiawijzer.nl/links/assam/map_of_bengale.jpg
- Letter of Joan Maetsuyker, Governor General of Dutch Batavia, 29-08-1663
http://indiawijzer.nl/links/assam/letter_to_mirzumala_1.jpg
- Treaty of Yandaboo, 24-02-1826
http://projectsouthasia.sdstate.edu/Docs/history/primarydocs/Treaties/Burma/002.htm
- Website link with more articles on this issue:
http://www.indiawijzer.nl/links/assam/assam_or_asom.htm
I oppose the resolution to change the name of the state from Assam to Asom, and hereby give my consent to put my name as a signatory to the petition.
Full name: Himendra Barthakur
Name of Spouse (optional)
City Salem, Massachusetts
Country USA
E-mail address hthakur at comcast.net
Please reply to this e-mail with copy to barua25 at hotmail.com to Rajen
Barua, Katy, Texas who is coordinating the compilation of the names of the signatories and mailing the petition to the Chief Minister of Assam.
---------------------------------------------
To
Mr. Tarun Gogoi
Honorable Chief Minister of Assam,
Sachibalaya, Dispur, Assam 781006
Dated Houston 1st January, 2007
Sub: State Assembly's Resolution to Change the name of Assam to Asom.
Dear Sir:
On 15th December, 2006, the State Assembly of Assam adopted a resolution by voice vote to write the name of the State of Assam as 'Asom'. No argument or reasoning was given for the name change, nor any debate was allowed in spite of requests from the opposition.
We are a number of friends and well wishers of Assam living in and outside the state, who are shocked to see the above news report. We hereby register our strong opposition to this entirely unwarranted move on the part of the State Legislature for the following reasons:
1. The State's name is not something for changing in as casual a fashion as it has been done, without a thorough and informed public discussion and debate. It was never a mandate of the people. Even the Opposition parties' demand for a debate was summarily cut off in a highly undemocratic fashion.
2. The Legislature did not give a credible set of reasons for the change from the internationally well-recognized name 'Assam' to 'Asom'. In these days of 'globalization', to dilute and muddy Assam's international name recognition is entirely counterproductive.
3. There is clear historical evidence that the name of 'Assam' is not a coined word by the British but which had been there long before the British signed the Treaty of Yandaboo on 24th February 1826 and used the word Assam in the treaty. Even from the Ahom Buronjis, we find that the Moghols used the name 'Ashyam' for the state. The same is also evident from the various historical documents from the Moghol period and Dutch chronicles of pre-British period. In Persian publications of Moghol period, like Akbarnama (1542-1605), Padshah-Namah (1627-1647), Alamgir-Namah (1657-1667) and Tarikh-I Mulk-I Áshám , the name Asham is mentioned
4. We attach herewith a copy of a map of the Kingdom of Bengale (Kingdom of Bengal) which was published around 1662. The map was drawn by a Dutchman, John van Leenen, who was in "Bengale" in 1661. The document is presently in the Maritime Museum, Rotterdam. As can be seen, the name Assam appears on the map. A letter sent by Joan Maertsuyker, Governor-General of Dutch Batavia who congratulated Mirjumala on 29-08-1663 and addressed Mirjumala as "Grooten Mogol in Assam". The diary of a Dutchman published in 1675, mentions the name of Assam and the people of Assam as Assamer. The Dutchman was forced to fight alongside the army of Mirjumla in 1662.
5. According to many historians, the phonetic name 'Assam' was derived from the Sanskrit name 'Shyam' (as in Shyam-dex, the name of Thailand), the name of the Shan people who invaded and conquered Kamrup in the 13th century. According to historian Baden Powel, on the other hand, the word 'Assam' might have been derived from even older original Boro word 'Ha-som', meaning low land. Thus we find that the phonetic name of Assam had been with us for at least the last 800 years since the coming of the Tai-Ahoms to our land; even if we ignore the possibility of an earlier Boro origin.
6. At present, non-Assamese speaking people the world over pronounce the name of our state as 'Asam' (where both the initial and the middle 'a' pronounced as 'a' in the word 'father', and 's' as in the word 'sun'). Changing the name to 'Asom' will merely encourage the non-Assamese speakers to pronounce the name of our state as something like 'Osom' or even "Esom' ( with the 's' being pronounced as in 'sun') as a simple survey will clearly illustrate and thereby defeating any intent of asserting our unique language heritage embedded in the name "Oxom' (the 'x' here being an internationally recognized representation of the guttural 'kh' sound ).
7. Today our state has two names: 'Assam' internationally and 'Oxom' in Assamese. This is similar to 'India' internationally and 'Bharat' in Indian languages; or 'West Bengal' internationally and 'Poschim Bongo' in Bengali. Such duality does not rob or dilute the states' unique cultural, language or ethnic heritage.
8. Today Assam faces numerous problems which are crying out for the Government's attention and action. But changing the state's ancient name of Assam to a misguided attempt at Roman transliteration of the Assamese name 'Oxom' to 'Asom', with all the associated costs: monetary, cultural and historical, is certainly not one of them.
9. The 'xo' or 'kho' guttural sound is unique to the Assamese language, among the myriad of the sub-continental languages. We should protect and promote this heritage, instead of diluting it to destruction by equating it to the 'so' sound of other languages, as this imposition of 'Asom' by an act of legislative fiat will surely do.
Based on the above considerations, we urge you to exercise your leadership in rescinding this un-deliberated, unwise and destructive of an-unique-Assamese-language-heritage act of the Assam legislature forthwith. We will be pleased to furnish additional historical documentation and intellectual arguments to prove our points, should that be necessary. You may kindly contact Rajen Barua of USA (e-mail: barua25 at hotmail.com) or Wahid Saleh of The Netherlands (e-mail: w.saleh at indiawijzer.nl) for further discussions and clarifications in this regard.
Your Sincerely
Well Wishers and Friends of Assam
1. Rajen & Ajanta Barua, Katy, Texas, USA
2. Chandan & Bonti Mahanta, St Louis, MO, USA
3. Wahid Saleh, Berkel en Rodenrijs, The Netherlands.
4. Ramgopal Sarangapani, Houston, Texas, USA
5. Partha Gogoi, Washington, DC, USA
6. Ankur Bora, Austin, Texas, USA
7. Rini Kakoty, London, UK
8. Shantikam & Sangeeta Hazarika, Guwahati, Assam
9. Monoj Das, New Delhi, India
10. Chanakya Bora, Noida, India
11. Jayanta & Alakananda Barman, Guwahati, Assam
12. Bidyananda & Kavita Barkakoty, Guwahati, Assam
13. Bikram M Baruah, Abu Dhabi, UAE
14. Shankar Borua, Huntsville, Texas, USA
Copy:
Honorable Prime Minister of India
Honorable Home Minister of India
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