Buranji

Buranji
Buranji
	A folio from a Buranji manuscript

Buranjis (Ahom language: ancient writings)^[1] are a class of historical chronicles and manuscripts associated with the Ahom kingdom.^[2] There were written initially in the Ahom Language^[3] and later in the Assamese language as well.^[4] The Buranjis are an example of historical literature which is rare in India^[5]—they bear resemblance to Southeast Asian traditions of historical literature instead.^[6] The Buranjis are generally found in manuscript form (locally called puthi), a number of these manuscripts have been compiled and published especially in the Assamese language.^[7]

They are some of the primary sources of historical information of Assam's medieval past, especially from the 13th century to the colonial times in 1828;^[8] and they have emerged as the core sources for historiography of the region for the pre-colonial period.^[9] The details in the Buranjis regarding the Ahom-Mughal conflicts agree with those in the Mughal chronicles such as Baharistan, Padshahnama, Alamgirnamah and Fathiyyah; and they also provide additional details not found in these Mughal chronicles.^[10]

^ Hartmann 2011, p. 227: "The Tai-Ahom term buran is cognate with the Standard Thai word boran (ancient). Buranji, then, are ancient writings."
^ "With the coming of the Ahoms, begins a procedure of keeping records of all events of the time, in a class of documents called Buranjis which are so numerous and voluminous that they overshadow the other primary sources like archaeology and numismatics." (Baruah 1986:43)
^ (Barua 1953:132)
^ Goswami & Tamuli 2007, p. 436.
^ "The oft-repeated complaint of the absence of any historical literature in India has to be qualified not only by Kalhana's Rajatarangini in Kashmir but also by Assamese historical literature." (Sarkar 1992:1)
^ "The established fact is that the buranji tradition bore a marked similarity with the Southeast Asian tradition of historical chronicles." (Saikia 2008:477)
^ "A number of Buranjis written in Assamese have been published by the Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, Assam." (Baruah 1986:45)
^ "(T)he primary sources of information of medieval Assam from the thirteenth century onward may broadly be classified under the heads: Ahom and Assamese Buranjis, contemporary chronicles, memoirs and farmans in Persian, letters in Assamese in Persian, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic sources, accounts of foreign travellers and East-India Company's reports and records." (Sarkar 1992:1)
^ "However, the question of traditions of history writing in eastern India is complicated by the presence of a distinctly north-eastern genre called the buranji...Yet it is present not only in Assam, where it has become a central source for the writing of the history of pre-colonial Assam." (Chatterjee 2008:6–7)
^ (Sarkar 1992:4)

[FOOTNOTEHartmann2011227-1] Hartmann 2011, p. 227: "The Tai-Ahom term buran is cognate with the Standard Thai word boran (ancient). Buranji, then, are ancient writings."

[2] "With the coming of the Ahoms, begins a procedure of keeping records of all events of the time, in a class of documents called Buranjis which are so numerous and voluminous that they overshadow the other primary sources like archaeology and numismatics." (Baruah 1986:43)

[3] (Barua 1953:132)

[FOOTNOTEGoswamiTamuli2007436-4] Goswami & Tamuli 2007, p. 436.

[5] "The oft-repeated complaint of the absence of any historical literature in India has to be qualified not only by Kalhana's Rajatarangini in Kashmir but also by Assamese historical literature." (Sarkar 1992:1)

[6] "The established fact is that the buranji tradition bore a marked similarity with the Southeast Asian tradition of historical chronicles." (Saikia 2008:477)

[7] "A number of Buranjis written in Assamese have been published by the Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, Assam." (Baruah 1986:45)

[8] "(T)he primary sources of information of medieval Assam from the thirteenth century onward may broadly be classified under the heads: Ahom and Assamese Buranjis, contemporary chronicles, memoirs and farmans in Persian, letters in Assamese in Persian, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic sources, accounts of foreign travellers and East-India Company's reports and records." (Sarkar 1992:1)

[9] "However, the question of traditions of history writing in eastern India is complicated by the presence of a distinctly north-eastern genre called the buranji...Yet it is present not only in Assam, where it has become a central source for the writing of the history of pre-colonial Assam." (Chatterjee 2008:6–7)

[harvcol|Sarkar|1992|p=4-10] (Sarkar 1992:4)

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