Page:Assamese-Its formation and development.djvu/39

 AFFINITIES OF ASSAMESE 3 status.* The presence of forms like Asam, Acdm in early Assamese seems to lend support to this view. Skt. Asdma could have given a sis. form like Asam but hardly Asam. 4. The Shans built their kingdom and consolidated their power in Eastern Assam with the modern town of Sibsagara as their capital and brought the whole tract down to the border of the modern district of Kamrup permanently under their sway. It was towards the close of their reign that modern Kamrup came within the compass of the Shan rule, but even then the Shan domination in Kamrup was fitful and it was often challenged by contending powers. The word Asam was first applied to the Shans and subse- quently to the country they conquered, viz. the regions east of the present district oi Kamrup. lis use was afterwards ex- panded and it included the whole ui the Brahmaputra valley when the province was constituted by the British in 1874. It should be noted, however, as a phonetic vagary that the name of the country still remain^ Asarn(pron. axdm), but the conquerors' name undergoes further phonetic modifications and becomes Ahum, Ah am, Ahum. In modern Assamese the Shans arc invariably designated as /Vioms. As Shan is a wide term, they will in the following pages be referred to as Ahoms. (B) The Affinities oj Assamese. 5. Assamese is very little known abroad. The province of Assam being cut of] from the rest of Northern India by its lation of Assam was divided into Khcls or groups having to render specific service o the state such as arrow-making, boat- building etc. The Chamuwds or higher ranks of subjects were exempted from personal service. He further defines the posi- tion of a Chamuwa as an Ahom subject of a higher status than the Kdri Pdiks, the arrow-making subjects. The Chamuwds were holders of offices or were employed as goldsmiths and artisans and were ordinarily exempted from manual service. They were also called Apdiktin Chamuwds (Ibid. Glossary, p. 237) evidently as different from other Chamuwds or sub- jects who had to render specific services as Pdiks. (An adult male was called a Pdik).