The Ahom Political System: An Enquiry into the State Formation Process in Medieval Assam (1228-1714)

Abstract

IN 1NTI-DUHRING (1877-78) Engels had suggested that classes and state emerged in primitive society tllrough a gradual transformation of the lnanagerial functionaries, customarily in charge of common aSairs, into an exploitative power. In that process7 a part of the community's property was transformed into private property, and the customary functional power into state power. In his Origin of Fclmily, Private Property and State (1884), Engels continued his probe and brought into focus the roles of force, wars of conquest and slavery (the latter, a form of surplus-yielding labour) as crucial factors leading to a rupture of the gentile constitution and the appearance of classes and state. While this general theory of state formation is still valid in its essentialsn there is scope for further enriching it by trying to answer questions raised but not answered by it. In this paper) we try to explain the time lag an observed fact-betsveen the emergence of property relations within a tribe and that of a state organisation per se. We also make an attempt to identify stages in the relevant political development. A11 this we try to do on the basis of fresh data from our case study of the TaiAhoms of Assam.