“Before taking up this project, I didn’t know that many surnames in Assam have their origin in the numbers used by the ancient Ahom regime,” says writer Munjuluri Krishna Kumari.
She explains that in the Ahom regime, every physically fit male was required to offer his services to the defence of the king and these defence requirements were known as ‘paiks’.
Generally, four ‘paiks’ constituted a ‘got’, seven such ‘gots’ were headed by an officer who was assigned the title of ‘Bora’, five “Boras’ came under the command of another officer of a higher rank known as ‘Saikia’, 10 such Saikias that constituted of 1,000 ‘paiks’ were commanded by a ‘Hazarika’, she says, adding: “Similarly, 3,000 ‘paiks’ were commanded by a ‘Rajkhowa’, a junior to “Phukon’, who was assigned as a commander of 6,000 such ‘paiks’.”
‘Barphukan’ was one of the five great Ministers at the helm of the council of ministers constituted by the regime, she says with a smile, referring to the book Assam’s Braveheart Lachit Barphukan by English writer Arup Kumar Dutta, which she has translated into Telugu, under the title Assam Yuddha Veerudu Lachit Barphukan.
Ms. Krishna Kumari is part of the Assam Publication Board’s project that has roped in 26 translators, 23 editors and two technicians, to translate the book into 23 languages of India and bring the valour and legacy of Lachit Barphukan to a wider audience across the country.
“For Telugu translation of the book, my name was suggested by the National Book Trust Assistant Editor (Telugu) Pattipaka Mohan and Aparajita Pujari, an award-winning film critic of Assam, who is supervising the translation project, came in contact with me,” informs the former Director of All India Radio, Vijayawada.
She has completed the translation work and says that it has enriched her in terms of her knowledge about the fascinating history of the Ahom regime.
“Lachit Barphukan was a fierce and indefatigable Ahom Commander and with his military prowess, he evicted the last vestiges of Mughal presence from the frontier of Assam in 1667. An enraged Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, to avenge the humiliating defeat, sent a strong contingent of Mughal army under Raja Ram Singh Kachwaha to defeat him in 1668,” she shares insights from the book.
The final battle of Saraighat, which started in 1671, is intriguing, she says, elaborating “on the day of the battle, Lachit fell ill but he fought the enemy with extraordinary bravery, motivating his troops, who also fought with a fierce zeal and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Mughal army.”
After navigating through the usual linguistic and cultural challenges in translation, Ms. Krishna Kumari says she is happy to be part of “probably the first literary endeavour in the country to incorporate such large number of regional languages.”
The year 2022 marked the 400th birth anniversary of the great General, celebrated on a grand scale by the Assam government. The 23 translated versions of the book will be simultaneously launched across the country in the first week of January, 2024.
