Endangered Archives


EAP373: Documenting, conserving and archiving the Tai Ahom manuscripts of Assam

The Ahom Manuscripts Project will digitize and document the written legacy of Northeastern India’s Ahom Kingdom by photographing and cataloguing approximately 500 Ahom manuscripts (20,000 pages), following best practices and standards for digital imaging, cataloguing, and metatagging, and archiving these materials at the British Library, the Institute for Tai Studies and Research (Moran, India), Gauhati University (Guwahati, India) and Dibrugarh University (Dibrugarh, India).

Founded in 1228, during the great exodus of Tai speakers from southern China that began hundreds of years earlier, the Ahom Kingdom represents the furthest reach of a diverse Tai culture bridging China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Burma. Usually written on Sasi (Aquillaria Agallocha) tree bark, most Ahom manuscripts date to the 17th and 18th centuries, but discuss and/or copy far older texts. They describe all aspects of traditional Ahom life, and have played an active role in maintaining community identity. Among the oldest Tai texts outside Thailand, Ahom texts have seminal cultural, historical, and linguistic value. Separated from Tai culture for centuries, the Ahom branch is essentially unique in never having embraced Buddhism. Ahom texts are free of Sanskrit- and Pali-mediated linguistic and cultural influences that infuse even the 700-year-old Sukhothai Thai inscriptions.

The manuscripts are found in a variety of settings; occasionally well cared for (but not necessarily accessible) in institutions, but more often in private collections held by individual, generally impoverished, families. The material is usually too fragile to be moved, but may be photographed in situ. Many manuscripts are gradually being damaged by Assam’s notoriously wet climate.

An equally important threat is the Ahom community’s diminishing ability to read and interpret texts. Ahom ceased to be a mother-tongue two centuries ago; traditional instruction in the texts is largely a lost tradition. While some Ahom priests can still interpret parts of some texts, most manuscript owners are ignorant of the language, and the manuscripts themselves are increasingly less prized and protected.

The digital images and metadata will be made universally available on-line through the Center for Research in Computational Linguistics, where they will be integrated with existing search tools developed under the Ahom Lexicography project.


EAP373/20: Gileshwar Bailung Collection

This collection of manuscripts belongs to Gileshwar Bailung.

EAP373/20/5: Nemi Mang

Level: File
Scope and Content: "This manuscript is a compilation of two Buddhist Jataka stories. The first story, named Alika, is that of a prince Alika and a princess who are deeply in love and get married. But due to bad karma from previous life they suffer separation and grief. The second story, which comences on Folio 47r, line 5, (Image0095) is a about prince Nemi who is taken on a tour of the different levels of hell by his charioteer. This is one of the 10 famous great lives of the Buddha. Lakni Rai San, Dvn Ruk (6th month of the Rai San year). This refers to either 1741-2 or 1801-2."
Language(s) Tai Ahom
Script(s) Tai Ahom
Legal & Ethical Usage Policy For research purposes only