Paper short abstract:

This is a reappraisal of the mainstream majoritarian history by articulated Ahom historians who present new ideas of their own.

Paper long abstract:

The paper is going to be a study on interpretation of history by the Tai-Ahoms in Assam contravening the existing national narrative on their identity issues. It denotes a reappraisal of the mainstream majoritarian history and talks about thoughts of articulated Ahom historians who present new ideas of their own.

Mainstream historians of Assam ( Edward Gait, Eric Seidenfaden, B J Terwiel, Surya Kumar Bhuyan, Maheswar Neog, Satyendranath Sharma and S. Yasmin Saikia) often try to hegemonize and superimpose the caste Hindu Assamese identity on the Ahoms, the migrant dominant tribal group from other parts of Asia. The Ahom historians (Padmeswar Gogoi, Romesh Buragohain, J.N Phukhan and Girin Phukan) on the other hand poses strong challenge to these dominant discourse and propounds new historical discourse. Politically conscious sections among marginalised Tai- Ahom community are engaged in constructing their own political histories, leading to a reappraisal of mainstream history. Emphasising the link between history and development, the paper further explores the possibility of alternate models of counter-hegemonic futures linked to new reconstructions of the past. The paper asserts that at national level the Ahom discourse of new history can set a model paradigm of secularism, while internationally in context of the changing notions of cross cultural as well as intra Asian connectivities in the age of globalization, this new discourse of history may open up new meaning in India's Look East policy.