Page 31 - Mann Ki Baat - English

great patrons of sports, and Rang- The Ahoms played a
ghar, Asia’s first amphitheatre, significant role in the anti-
situated at Sivasagar, bears colonial movement. The first
testimony to this. resistance in 1828, within two
Their system of years of the arrival of the British,
administration was headed by was led by an Ahom prince called
a powerful cabinet, which had Gomdhar Konwar, who died in
powers to install and even remove a prison to become Assam’s
a king. They had no regular first martyr. Piyoli Phukan and
standing army, but every able- Jiuram Duliya Barua, the first two
bodied male had to serve for a freedom fighters to be hanged
few months in the army. Despite to death way back in 1830, were
that, the Ahoms resisted as many also Ahoms. Other Ahoms who
as 18 attacks by the Sultans of laid down their lives during the
Bengal and Mughals of Delhi. In freedom struggle include Kushal
the Battle of Saraighat (1671), the Konwar, Bhogeswari Phukanani,
Assamese led by General Lachit and Golapi Gogoi, to name a few.
Barphukan, inflicted the most In the post-independence
crushing defeat on the Mughals. period, the Ahoms have played
The arrival of the Ahoms a significant part in public life,
in Assam marked a defining acting as Union Ministers, Chief
moment of human history in Ministers, Vice Chancellors, and
the Indian subcontinent. Among Chief Justices. The community
several other things, one distinct has won
aspect is the Ahomization of the accolades in
original inhabitants. This was other fields such
followed by the Hinduization or as entertainment
Sanskritization of the Ahoms and sports,
themselves, which gave birth to notable amongst
the modern pluralistic Assamese them being Olympic
polity. medal winner Lovlina
Borgohain and Arjuna
awardee Bhogeswar
Baruah.

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