AS we rambled through Sibsagar, the heartland of the Ahom kingdom in Assam, we felt as though we were in a town in Rajasthan, so similar was the brick façade. It did not resemble an Assamese town though it was ruled by the Ahom kings for nearly 600 years till the British annexed the region in 1826.
Originally a Burmese Shan tribe, the Ahoms are believed to have repulsed 17 Mughal invasions, including one by Aurangzeb in the mid-17th century. It is said that the Ahoms had sought the help of the British to ward off. . .
