Talk:Assam - Definition

i removed portions which were copied from [1] (http://www.assam.org/content.php?menu=9&page_id=1) Kingturtle 08:57 May 1, 2003 (UTC)

The expanded portion on Bihu can be deleted since Bihu has an individual entry. Chaipau 01:34, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Reason for NPOV tag

I have put a NPOV tag on this article because the Different Interpretation section seems very pov to me. Example:

This was because the local Assamese people did not have the aptitude for hard work. They lived in a paradise where no work was required to grow their food since the land was so fertile. Therefore they grew lazy and fat and were averse to hard work.

I am not knowledgeable about this topic, so I'll refrain from editing it myself, but maybe someone who is familiar with this can have a look at it and separate facts from opinion. The section also needs some spelling/style revisions, I think. Sietse 11:56, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• The section has been NPOV-ized.

Thanks! That's a lot better. Sietse 10:53, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Disputed reference to assama

This is a request to user connecting from 65.38.226.42, 65.38.226.56 and other IP addresses.

The paragraph on assama needs a reference. The paragraph is:

The word “assama” was used during the time while Bhaskarvarman ruled Kamarupa. Then the present upper Assam used to emit poisonous gasses and uninhabitable. To this land, some of the Kamrupi criminals escaped during those days in order to avoid punishment. The Chinese traveler Xuensang wrote about it in his travel note. Those people were also referred “assama” or "asama";, and Xuensang not traveling back to China through this route was because he was worried about getting attacked by “assama” people.“assama” or “asama” in Kamrupi can also mean one who is not compared with.

Please provide the reference in which assama is used in the context of an escaped convict during Bhaskarvarman's time. Is it a Sanskrit or Assamese word? The reference that the Chinese traveller did not travel to China via Assam for fear of these assamas is also needed. There are references of a robust trade between Kamrupa and China at that time, and Bhaskarvarman is said to have mentioned a Chinese song which was popular in Kamrupa at that time (Suniti Kumar Chatterjee). Why would Xuanzang not take this well travelled trade route if he wanted to get back to China?

The Assamese word for a convict is assami with roots in the Persian language, according to Assamese dictionaries (Chandra Kanta Abhidhan). The text that mentioned this was deleted. To build up a good page and make it into a featured article, please follow the guidelines given in Wikipedia:NPOV_tutorial and Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view/Examples.

Chaipau 23:08, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Additional disputed paragaph

You have not replied to the earlier dispute. Instead you have edited added another problematic paragraph.

Anthera Assama was discovered long before the Yandabu Accord, and assama here implies unequal or not comparable with – assama was chosen as part of the scientific name because the silkworm can only live in the climate of foothills of Eastern Himalayas.

First, the sentence is factually not correct. The earliest nomenclature of the Muga silkworm is from 1837 [2] (http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/bombycoidea/saturniidae/saturniinae/antheraea/index.html#assamensis), more than 10 years after the Treaty of Yandaboo. Second, the date of Yandaboo Treaty is not important because it isn't likely that the British did not have a name for Assam before the treaty was signed. Third, assama is indeed "unequal", but that does not mean the name of Assam comes from assama. Please give reference to your claim that the Muga silkworm is named after the Sanskrit word for unequal because it can survive only in the foothills of the Himalayas (which is also untrue because the Muga silkworm provides a thriving sericulture business today as well as it did in the past in the Brahmaputra valley, which is almost at sea-level).

Kindly refrain from adding anything to the article before this dispute is settled.

Chaipau 06:38, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Motto - Land of the Red River and Blue Hills

What is the source of reference for this motto?

(To the best of my knowledge, a U.S. national by name Jugal Kalita introduced this motto for the first time in a website called assam.org that he owns. There were neither historic-evidences nor records for this motto so I edited and deleted the same.)

Jai Aai Asom – this motto has been since 1950 very popular and popularized by the students of Assam, a very Assamese motto without any foreign hand.

Reference 1 Kamrupi Bhagavad Puran

Reference 2 Ja Mo Lo Pho – by Shuen Shang Xuanzan(Kamarupa – by Huen Tsang)

asama or assama – Kamrupi meaning would be weird or not compared with. This word had never been used in Kamrupi scriptures to represent a land, but had been used in Kamrupi scriptures to represent a specific class of people not caste (see reference 1). These people were not Ahom either but weird/sinner according to the scripture, and anybody claiming them Ahom would do a big mistake demonstrating lake of knowledge.

Both Chinese and Japanese write foreign name using their own art. Ja Mo Lo Pho is the mane one will find in original scripture or travel note that is preserved in a shrine in China. The Chinese do not see the same as travel note but see as Holy Scripture.

Even Kamrupi villagers use the word asama/assama for the weird context, also the other not comparable with, as in the reference 1 “Kamrupi Bhagavad Puran”. As I stated, no Kamrupi scriptures used this word to represent the land.

Assamese words are misspelled and mispronounced Kamrupi words. Kamrupi is a dieing language while Kamrup is a Lost Kingdom. The modern Assamese language is the dialect of Ahom Kindom. A good and practical name for this dialect should be Ahomese. No Kamrupi scriptures were written in this dialect.

Foothills of Eastern Himalayas – is a big area it goes all the way to present Bangladesh. In fact places like Rangpur/Noihati presently in Bangladesh were in Kamrup. The Brahmaputra valley is not almost at sea-level. The valley is very inclined land but Brahmaputra ends almost at sea-level.

Anthera Assama does not live in a climate other than Foothills of Eastern Himalayas, according to a biologist, if not genetically engineered. This fact should be documented somewhere. That is the reasion why it got Sanskrit name in part, i.e., assama.

Upper Assam State was created at a relatively later date than the Indiabu Accord, I will have to check when.