[Assam] About the name Assam

[Chan Mahanta]

Does S N Sarma refer to any proof or is it a 
conjecture? And at what time frame did the name 
Asam came to be the defining name of the kingdom? 
Will it be reasonable to surmise that it was much 
before the British came?

The Sanskritized form is a pure and unadulterated conjecture of modern times.








At 5:46 PM -0500 3/16/09, kamal deka wrote:
>According to historian Satyendra Nath Sarma, [*Sarma, Satyendra Nath (1976)
>"Assamese Literature", Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.*]
>
>While the Shan invaders called themselves Tai, they came to be referred to
>as "ÅsÇm", "Åsam" and sometimes as "Acam" by the indigenous people of the
>country. The modern Assamese word "Åhom" by which the Tai people are known
>is derived from "ÅsÇm" or "Åsam". The epithet applied to the Shan conquerors
>was subsequently transferred to the country over which they ruled and thus
>the name KÇmar•pa was replaced by ÅsÇm, which ultimately took the
>Sanskritized form "Asama", meaning "unequalled, 
>peerless or uneven" [*Banikanta
>Kakati: "Assamese: Its Formation and Development", p2*]
>
>
>On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 10:57 AM, Dilip and Dil 
>Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>>  The debaters on this subject are looking at only two facets - the Tai-Ahom
>>  connection and the possible Sanskritization. There is a third one to look
>>  at. The Bodo-Kacharis have been in Assam longer than anyone else and their
>>  people are spread all over Assam.
>>  What did they call the land? Many rivers in Assam still have their Bodo
>>  names.
>>  What did they call the Tais who came to Assam in the 13th century?
>>  Is there "xo" sound in Bodo language?
>>  It is very possible that some words in Bodo were at the root of "Oxom",
>>  "Assam", "Asom" or whatever else. Please do not throw away Dr. A. Guha or
>>  Baden Powell(is that the name?) yet.
>>
>>  I don't know a word of Bodo language. Could someone who knows Bodo comment
>>  on the above?
>>  I did go to the website http://www.bodoland.org/language1.htm and found
>>  some interesting words but not much that would help the debate.
>>  Dilip Deka
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  ________________________________
>>  From: Rajen Barua <barua25 at hotmail.com>
>>  To: assamnet <assam at assamnet.org>
>>  Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 8:21:13 AM
>>  Subject: Re: [Assam] About the name Assam
>>
>>
>>
>>  Why would Mr Wahid confront anybody?
>>
>>
>>
>>  What Prof Amalendu Gauha wrote about 'Ha-Sam' was not based on his own
>>  research work. He simply borrowed the writing from Mr Baden Powell even
>>  without quoting Mr Powell. I also wrote about the word 'Ha-Sam' in my
>>  article  but I quoted Mr Baden Powell. Also Prof Guha was writing based on
>>  his communistic outlook, not much as history of the word Assam.
>>
>>
>>
>>  There are many ignorant educated people in Assam. There are again some
>>  educated intellectuals with different agendas.
>>
>>
>>
>>  Let people read Mr. Wahid's writings and confront him if they have any
>>  problem.
>>
>>
>>
>>  Rajen Barua
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  > Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:03:37 -0500
>>  > From: kjit.deka at gmail.com
>>  > To: assam at assamnet.org
>>  > Subject: [Assam] About the name Assam
>>  >
>>  > I am wondering what prevents Mr.Saleh from confronting people like
>>  > Prof.Priyam Goswami of Gauhati University or Prof.Amalendu Guha with his
>>  > newly-found Dutch document which will certainly make them
>>  laughter-evoking
>>  > buffoons for being so ignorant about Assam's history ?
>>  > KJD
>>  > _______________________________________________
>>  > assam mailing list
>>  > assam at assamnet.org
>>  > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>>  _______________________________________________
>>  assam mailing list
>>  assam at assamnet.org
>>  http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>>  _______________________________________________
>>  assam mailing list
>>  assam at assamnet.org
>>  http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>>
>_______________________________________________
>assam mailing list
>assam at assamnet.org
>http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org