DEITIES OF AHOM

- March 07, 2019

In the early 13th century, there was a small kingdom of Tai people named Mong Mao , related to the Shan, in present-day Yunnan Province , China. In 1228, the Mong Mao prince Chao-lung Sukaphaa decided to move into a new house, in a new region, far away from the current kingdom, with a vast new river and a fresh new mountain range. Therefore, he, along with his 3 wives , 2 sons, 2elephants, 5nobles , 300 horses and about 9000 followers, mostly men went all the way across the Patkai hills and entered the beautiful valley by the Brahmaputra river. They called it Mung-Dun-Chun-Kham, the golden land (the magnificent kingdom of Assam). Sukaphaa established his capital at Charaideo near present-day Sivasagar in 1253 and began the task of state formation. The Ahom kingdom then consolidated its power, building their kingdom for the next 600 years.

The Ahoms have their own religion, even though most of the Ahoms have converted to Hinduism. Their religion is called Phuralung. Phura means The unified force of the world, which is nothing and everything. Lung means Dragon, a religious as well as royal symbol of the Ahoms.

As per history Tai-Ahom people were not image-worshipers. They had no icons of Gods and Goddesses in their own religion (Tai philosophy and religion) as well as in their religious books. It is found that the Tai-Ahom royal family possessed a secrete tutelary deity named “Chumdeo” (Chumpha-rung-mung-sheng-mung). The deity (Phra) was bright in colour and was believed that it ruled over the kingdom for which the ruling king kept the deity secretly in his custody. The cheif deity is Lengdon( Indra) whom Ahoms recognize as their forefather.

Ahom believe the image of God which is kept in a small box placed in a gold seat is called Chumdeo. The ‘Chumdeo’ is supposed to possess certain mystic power and gives unlimited wealth and power to the custodian king. According to some historians “Chum” and “Cheng” were the two idols who were given to two princes Hkung-lung and Hkung-lai by their grandfather King Lengdon, the king of Heaven (Mung-phi).The “Chum” and “Cheng” were known in Assamese as “Chumdeo” and “Shengdeo”. A historian of Asiatic countries Ney Elias threw some lights on these two deities on the basis of his research works on Burmese and Shan sources. According to him the two images were the ancestors of Hkung-lung and Hkung-lai. The Heavenly king Lengdon sent down his two princes to rule over the lower country (Earth), the “Chumdeo” was handed over to H Kung-lung and “Shengdeo” to H Kung-lai. The Shengdeo was lost on the way to lower country. The “Chumdeo” was left with H Kung-lung.

The deity or the vigraha “Chumdeo” was to be worshipped everyday and only on two auspicious occasions the king was allowed to see the deity in every year. One was in the month of Magha and the other was in the month of Chaitra (the last day of Chaitra). The Chum-phra-rung-mung was brought by the Tai-Ahom king Hso-ka-Hpa to Assam, a land which was named by the shan people as Mung-dun Hsum-Hkam (a land of golden harvests). Regarding “Chumdeo”, some historians believed that the shape of the deity was like of a heron and could not be identified with any known deities. It was also assumed to be in the shape of a well-figured dragon as dragon was an emblem and a revered object of worship both in China and Burma. The Cheng (Sheng) may be an accompanying female dragon. Till today there is no definite identification/ mention about the image of Chum-phra-reng-mung-sheng-mung. Chumdeo remained a secrete deity of Tai-Ahom royal family right from Chaopha Chao-lung Hso-ka-pha to Chaopha Su-din-Pha (Swargadeo Chandrakanta Singha). This deity was indispensible in the coronation ceremony of Ahom kings.

In Assam some of the Tai-Ahom God and Goddesses are compared to Hindu God and Goddesses by the Hindu priests and pundits by the following names:

Besides Lengdon, Jashing-pha, Lao-khri and a number of other deities are adored in the Tai-Ahom cult of worship and some of them are: Pha-tung-ching, Khun-ther-khao, Khrai-pha-rung-kham, Pha-but-rum-shang-dam, Pha-shi-ip-shang-deng, Phura-tera etc. Phura worship was carried out in the Phura-tong puja among the Ahoms. The household deity is also worshipped by the Ahoms by making a post in the corner of the main house as a centre of worship. Another religious ceremony “Rik-khan-mong-khan” was performed by the king and his people after completion of an important occasion like victory in a war thereby invoking the higher power to grant longer life to the king and the country.

In the Vedic and Puranic period Gods and Goddesses are represented by material images which the Hindus worship. During the early Vedic period the mighty forces of nature were invoked in hymns, but at a later period with the growth of the sculptural art first crude and later fine icons and statuettes were cut out from- stones or made of metals. The Ahoms invoked supernatural powers, formless spirirts, Nats as they are called by the Burmese, with rice, eggs, I Bowers and sometimes animal sacrifices. They produced art and architecture, but no icons of gods for the purpose of worship.

Originally when Hkung-lung and Hkung-lai were sent down from Heaven by Lengdon to rule over a country called Mong-ri Mong-ram on earth, Chumdeo was handed to the elder Prince Hkun-Lung (or Hkun-Lu as the Shans and perhaps also the Chinese pronounce it ) to be worshipped every day and Sheng-deo to Ilkun Lai. On two auspicious occasions every year, namely, one in the month of Magh (January-February ), and the other in the month of Chaitra (March-April ), particularly the last day of Chaitra the deities were to be taken out of the casket by the king himself and washed adding milk, scents and gathian ( a kind of fragrant root ). The washing is a ceremonial performance the water of which being thus sanctified is sprinkled over the persons assembled. The ceremony should be performed by the king dressed in clean white clothes. After the washing is over the king should worship the deities with appropriate offerings and look at them with devotion and put them back into the casket. Lengdon also said he would watch all this from Heaven and eight lakh ( eight hundred thousand ) Gods would descend to the earth.