Bakata

Bakata was first an Ahom province (Mueang) and later the capital of the Ahom kingdom (present-day Assam, Northeast India) established by the Ahom king Suhungmung (1497–1539) in the 16th century. Since his capital was by the Dihing river, Suhungmung is also known as the Dihingia Raja. The next king, Suklenmung (1539–1552), moved the capital to Garhgaon. Studies of palaeochannels in Upper Assam based on satellite imagery match with the historical accounts and suggest that the Dihing River once followed a more southerly course and likely joined the Disang River near Bakata.¹ The Satsari Buranji mentions that the Bakata province during the reign of Tao Khamti was under the rule of his brother Susheng-phaa.²

The place is recorded in the Chinese chronicle Ming Shilu and is referred to as Bajiata, an early 15th-century polity ruled by the Tai/Ahom chief Dao-Qing-Han.³ Before it became the Ahom capital in the early 16th century, the Ming Shilu describes Bajiata as one of the three Ahom polities annexed in 1408 by Podi-nalang (last name Narayan) ⁴ of Da Gu-la, an unidentified polity located somewhere in Assam, in the year 1408 AD.⁵ According to the chronicle, Podi-nalang attacked the three Ahom polities of Di-ban (Tipam), Ba-jia-ta, and Meng-lun, occupied their territories, and carried off their chiefs Kan-jie-li-mei, Dao-Qing-Han, and Dao-Han-Ti, respectively.⁶

The historical Bakhar Bengena tree, scientifically dated to 1433–34 CE, corresponding to an age of about 580 years in 2013–14, is located at Bakata. Local tradition identifies the tree as having once marked the boundary between the Chutia and Ahom kingdoms.⁷⁸ This tradition is broadly consistent with the Buranjis, which describe the Dihing River, lying west of Bakata, as a boundary between the two kingdoms.⁹¹⁰