Northeast India: the Ethnic Corridor of Asia

Historically, physically and culturally, Assam is a land of exceptional interest. The region has a
very eventful pre-history which goes back at least to the start of the Neolithic age and beyond. Assam
is rightly called a miniature India; like India, Assam saw the migration of all the principal human races
since remote past in different waves and periods of history. Layers of races and cultures established
themselves on its soil, lived for hundreds and thousands of years only to be absorbed, by another layer
of more developed race and culture. Culturally, the region was influenced by the Indian as well as the
Chinese and the Souteastern culture. Overall, it may rightly said that Assam is the final meeting
ground of the East and the West. Today there are about 200 different ethnic groups living in the
region which compares to Indias total about 600 ethnic groups. Linguistically also Assam is a
proverbial polygot state in India. The people of the state speak about 140 different mother tongues.
The significance of the numbers are brought home in proper perspective only when we realize that the
region comprises of only 4% of Indias population and occupies only about 8% of Indias total area. T
There is a reason for this high ethnicity concentration in this small region. Physically, the
region is isolated from the rest of Asia by high mountain ranges except for its East and West
confines, through which migration of all the principal human races took place in different waves in
different periods of history. Anthropologically the region is unique in the world where all the major
races of the world assembled- a feature which did not happen anywhere else in the world. The

Negritos, the Austro-Asiatics, the Dravidians, the Mongoloids, the Alpines, the Aryans all emigrated
to this land in different times. From time immemorial Assam has been acting as the melting pot of
different races and cultures. In summary it can be said that, the region acted as a great ethnic
corridor between the mainland of India on one hand and the mainlands of China as well as of Souteast
Asia, and it became a labyrinth with a mosaic of varied and interesting cultures and a melting pot of
different races. The above makes the Assam corridor the ideal for a trade route, and it is no wonder
that several old trade routes cris-cross through Assam since ancient time.
The Soutwetsren Silk Road (SSR): Normally when we talk about Silk Road, we generally mean
the traditional Northwestern Silk Road from mainland China to the west, and this Southwestern Silk
Road is relatively unknown. This silk road is the oldest silk road and goes through the heart of Assam,
the Brahmaputra valley. This trade route is known as the Southwest Silk Road (SSR) that connects
Assam with China through Upper Burma and Yunnan on its East, and with India through the road to
Pataliputra on its West. There was another Silk Road that had its origin in Southwestern China. Its

location has only been documented by historians. This was an overland route starting in Chengdu in

Sichuan Province and going through Yunnan, Burma, India (Assam), Afganistan and Russia where it
joined the first Silk Road at Mary in Turkemanstan (Russia). Its significance lies not only in the fact
that this route has been a cultural and trade link between China and India since ancient times, but it
was also the first route by which silk, gold and precious stones were traded between China, Burma,
India, the Middle East, Africa & Europe. In fact, European and Arabs merchants travelled through
Burma, Yunnan, Sichuan and Shaanx and Hennan provice long before they reached the southern coast
by way of sea. (Westerns in China Foster Stockwell pp 15)
The antiquity of this Southwest Silk Road is recognized by other authors also. Long before

the northwestern routes were opened about the second century BC, and long before the development
of the Indianised states, there were two other routes from India to China. One of these began at
Pataliputra (modern Patna), passed through Assam and Upper Burma near Bhamo, and proceeded over
the mountains and across the river valleys to Yunnanfu (Kunming), the main city of the southern
province of China. (DP Singhal 1969 pp 294). The other route however is the route through Tibet
which was opened in the seventh century.
In fact there were and still are three different roads that connects Bhamo in Burma with
Guwahati in Assam. The Assam-Burma route to China started from Pataliputra (Patna) which was

ancient capital of India, passed by Champa (Bhagalpur), Kajangala (Rajmahal) and Pundravardhana
(North Bengal) and proceeded up to Kamarupa (Guahati) in Assam. From Assam, the routes to Burma
were three in early times as now: one by the valley Brahmaputra up to the Patkoi range and then
through the passes up to Upper Burma; the second through Manipur up to the Chindwin valley; and the
third through Arakan up to the Irrawaddy valley. All these routes met on the frontier of Burma near
Bhamo and then proceeded over the mountains and across the river valley of the Yunnanfu i.e. Kunming,
which was the chief city of the southern province of China. (Bagchi pp 17).
The antiquity of this road can be traced from archeological records recently uncovered in
China. In the 1950s tens of thousands of cowries in Yunnan have been found in tombs dating back to

between the Warring State period (475 BCE221 BCE) and the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE9 CE).
These cowries were from the Pacific and Indian oceans, especially from the Maldives. They may have
been shipped to Burma first and then arrived in Yunnan in the same way, but it is more likely that they
went first to Bengal by sea, and then were brought to Yunnan through overland routes.. If so, the
route could be traced back to the mid-first millennium BCE. (BW&C pp 14) However the date can easily
be pushed further back, because, Several hundred cowries have been found in the Sanxingdui relics

near Chengdu, in tombs that are dated about 1100 BCE. The shells, like what was unearthed in Yunnan.

 It is more likely that they arrived via the SSR, considering again the overwhelming challenge of
navigating from South China Sea or the Indian Ocean to South or Southeast China. If they did indeed
follow the SSR, the spread of bronze drums suggests that the road is dated to the late second
millennium BCE.(BW&C 14).
The Mahabharata, the great Indian epic, which is substantially a record of event before the
Buddha, records China as Cina. This is a Sanskrit adaptation of the name Tsin that was given to China

under the Tsin dynasty. (Bagchi-pp 7). We also find records that king Bhogodotto of Kamrup (Assam)
joined the Kurukhetra war with a force of Cina soldiers. This also indicates Assams connection with
China through the Eastern route from ancient times.
This Southweast Silk Road (SSR) is rightly called a cultural and trade route. Besides trade,
there has been many cultural exchange between China and India through Assam . Many a word for

commercial products brought to India from outside bears the hidden history of Chinese traders who
had once led their caravans through the dangerous hilly tracks of Burma and Assam and across the
deserts of Central Asia to Upper India. (Bagchi pp 59). Vermillion bears a Chinese name in Sanskrit.
Sindura (Assamese Xendur) seems to have been derived from tsin-tung or China red. This word most
probably came to India through Assam by the earliest immigrants, the Austro-Asiatics who were known
to love pigmants. Another product of cultural exchange is the Chinese Silk which is mentioned in
Sanaskrit as Cinapatta in the Arthasashtra, a third century BC classic of India. Chinese silk was one of
the most prized commodities for export through Assam.
This is also well corroborated by various other sources. The Bell Pagoda at Bhamo on the

Irawadi in northern Burma was connected with the ancient silk trade, and it occupies the site of a
building that was erected by Asoka, the first Buddhist King of India, in the 3 rd century B.C., as the
place of worship for the silk merchants at the end of the road into southern China. The silk trade is
said to have been conducted through Bhamo from the seventh century B.C From Bhamo the Chinese
silk was taken to India, and through Palibothra (Patna) which it reached in time of Ptolemy it was
carried farther west into Persia and Asia Minor.The envoys of Marcus Aurelius, who were sent to
China and obtained silk in exchange for ivory, rhinoceros horn, and the tortoiseshell, must have gone
through Bhamo. Their mission was followed by a regular trade, silk being exchanged for coral and
amber. (The Story of the Road-1939 pp 40).
We have various other records to show that Silk came to India through Assam. The Kiratas,
(an early Mongoloid race in Assam, were traders in silk, a word that was derived from the Mongolian
original word sirkek. The Indian word sari is probably derived from the same word. It is therefore

clear that in ancient times traders from different parts of Tibet, Central Asia and China flocked to
Assam through various routes, and as they traded mostly in silk, they were generally called Seres
Cirrahadoi Syrities Cirata-Kirata. The word Kirata therefore, is a general term referring to the
people of the Mongolian origin and it refers specially to the Bodos. (Nath-1948). It is the Kiratas who
introduced the cultivation of silk with its different varities in Assam and it is from Assam that Silk
was later introduced to mainland India. Whatever may be the date of the introduction of the worm,

its geographical distribution at present day, and the fact species first introduced was a multivoltine,
seem to me to lead to the conclusion that the insect was first introduced into India from the northeast (i.e. Assam) (J.Geoghegan-1872).
Assam is the home of several types of silk, and the silk commonly found in Assam is nonmulberry silk. The most prominent and prestigious being muga, the golden silk found exclusively in
this state. Muga apart, there is pat and eri or endi, the latter being used in the manufacture of
warm clothes for winter. Pat, which is a mulberry silk, is found in small quantities. Endi is yellowish in
colour and is found in rough and smooth varieties. It derives its name from the castor leaves on which
the worm feeds. This is woven, into shawls and clothing for the winter.
The craft of weaving goes along with the production of silk.

Weaving is an important

characteristic of North East India Neolithic culture. It had been practiced among all the ethnic
groups of Assam. The craft of weaving grew to such sophistication in Assam that it was known all over
India and abroad. Kautilyas Arthashashtra, a political literature of 3 rd century BC, makes references
to the highly sophisticated silk clothing from Assam.
As stated above, the knowledge of this Silk Road was relatively unknown to the outsiders for a
long time. In ancient times, the knowledge about the different trade routes were generally guarded as
secrets for obvious reasons. There is an interesting record how China came to know about this
Southwest Silk Road in 2nd century BC. In the beginning of the third century BC, when India was
united under as an empire under the Maurians , China was still a divided country. Towards the close of
the third century, a new dynasty named Han, came into power in China. The western marches of the
Chinese Empire were at this period in the hands of the Huns who we hereditaru enemies of the
Chinese. The Han emperor therefore tried to make alliance with the people further west in order to
control the Huns. As such the Emperor entrusted certain Chang Tien in 138 BC to explore the western
region. It however took him long ten years to cross the enemy territory and reach Bacteria. There he
was surprised to notice some bamboo and cotton stuff, aparently made in south China that were being
marketed in Bacteraia. On enquiry he found that these products came from Yunnan province through an

unknown road through India. This is the road from Yunnan through Burma, Assam and India. When
Chang Tien finally reported this to the Chinese Emperor, he was very impressed. This also prompted
him the necessity of opening up the western routes to other countries and to India. Accordingly the
Huns were subjugated and the route leadinhg towards the Central Asia were thus opened. This road
which is to pl;ay a vital road for trade with China is popularly known as the Nortwestern Silk Road.
However, the mystery of the Southwest Silk Road remained for a long time. In 122 BCE, when

one Han envoy dispatched by Emperor Wu, reached as far as the Dian Kingdom (Kunming), Changqiang,
the king of Dian, detained them. The Han envoy waited over a year, as the Kunming people blocked
their way westward so that none of them were able to reach India. But they did learn, however, that
some 1,000 or more Li (500 kilometer) to the west there was a state called Dianyue whose people rode
elephants and that merchants from Shu sometimes went there with their goods on unofficial trading
missions." (BW&C pp 19). It was possible that Changqiang and the Kunming people stopped the Han
envoys just like the Parthia people blocked Ban Chao, an Eastern Han envoy of the first century who
was expected to open direct communications with the Romans. Both of the Han attempts to open
direct communication failed because local peoples wanted to retain their secret and monopolize one
part of the highly profitable long-distance trade.
The above documents present us with further information of the SSR, for instance, about the
Dianyue state, about which scholars disagreed. Some argued that it was located in present-day
Tengyue in southern Yunnan; some stated that it was Piaoyue (panyue or hanyue), an ancient state
located in Burma; other insisted that it was Kamarupa in Assam. No matter where it was, the Shu
merchants had been there and it seemed that they wanted to keep the trade a secret, which
suggested that long-distance trade had already been going on. (BW&C pp 19)
Besides, there is evidence to show that Buddhist missionaries were already active in South
China by the middle of the first century AD. (Bagchi pp 8). We also know on the authority of the
classical writers that Chinese merchandise used to be taken through Eastern India to the Gangetic
valley for export by sea in the first century AD. It is also likely that the Buddhist monks had carried
Buddhism to South China by Assam-Burma route in the early centuries of the Christian eara. (Bagchi
pp 17).
When Xuan Zeng, the Chinese pilgrim, visited Kamrupa in the seventh century, he had
knowledge of this road. From the people of Kamrupa, the pilgrim learnt that through this road, the
south-west borders of Sichuan can be reached within two months journey, but the mountains were
hard to pass and there were pestilential vapours and poisionous snake and herbs.

In spite of his remarks, we have evidence that this road was quite in use for communication
even during this time. This can be inferred from the following record. When Bhaskorbormon, the king
of Kamrup, met the pilgrim, he enquired from the latter about a particular song which had come from
China and was very popular in Assam in that period. The song was known as the music of the conquests
of Tsin-wang of Mahacina (sina rajkumaror bijoy geet). Bhaskorbormon told the pilgrim that he had
heard of this prince of Tsin in China who had brought that country out of anarchy and ruin into
properity and made it supreme over distant regions to which his good influence extended. All his
subjects, the king continued, having their moral and material wants cared for by this ruler, sing the

song of Tsin-wangs victory conquests and this fine song has long been known there (Kamrupa)

Today

we know that he song referred to was the song of victory of Prince of Tsin, the second son of the

Tang Emperor Kao-tsu, over the rebels in A.D. 619. The account shows that a Chinese musical piece
which was composed after AD 619 in China had been carried to Eastern India where it had attained a
popularity already before AD 638 when Hiuen-Tsang visited the country. This further shows that
notwithstanding the difficulties in communication the intercourse between Eastern India and Southwestern China was very close and intimate. (Bagchi pp 19)
In areas of Sichuan and Yunnan one can see evidence of Buddhist statuary produced by pilgrims
who arrived early in the Common Era Almost all scholars agree that after the third century CE
Buddhist pilgrims traveling along southwestern routes to and from India centers of Buddhist learning
increased considerably, thereby creating cultural overlaps of historical significance. Theravada,
Mahayana, and later Tibetan Buddhism all made their presence felt along different spurs of the
Southwest Silk Road. The kingdoms of Nanzhao and Dali in turn absorbed elements of all three
traditions. Assam produced the original Tantric Buddhist teachings that spread to Tibet by way of the
"Tea and Horse Trade" routes into northwestern Yunnan.
We also find other records of Indian and Chinese pilgrims travelling through this route through
Assam in the fourth century AD. An Indian monk named Buddhabhadra went to China along with a
Chinese monk Che-yen who was travelling India with Fa-hien. They travelled on foot for three years.

They did not travel by the Central Asian route but altogether by a new route. They went to Tonikin
(North Vietnam) evidently through Burma, and from there by boat to China. (Bagchi pp 44). There are
also records of some Chinese pilgroms coming to India through this road. It is reported by Yi-tsing in

the seventh century that twenty Chinese monks had come to India in the middle of the third century
by the Yunnan-Burma overland route on pilgrimage. A monastery was specially built for the use of
these monks near Bodhgaya by king Sri Gupta, an ancestor of the Gupta Emperrors. (Bagchi pp 60).

Due to topographical reasons, this must be the same road that was used by the different races
that immigrated to Assam from the East: the Negritos, the Austrics and the Mongoloids. This road
was in usage till recent times. In the Patkai range, bordering Assam and Burma, there is a famous pass
called the Pansu Pass that connects Assam with Burma through this road. It is through this pass that
the Tie-Ahoms came came through Burma in the thirteenth century and ruled Assam for six hundred
years till the advent of the British. During WWII, this road became famous again when the Allied
Army built the famous Stillwell Road connecting Ledo from Assam to Yunnan in China through Burma.
Other Trade Roads through Assam: In ancient time, during the epic days and later, Bhutan
was a part of Pragjyotish (Assam). There are several roads going from Assam to Bhutan. One famous
road goes from Hajo near Guwahati to Twang in Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bhutan and Tibet.
There are other roads through Manas.
There are three routes from Assam to Bengal. One by the river Brahmaputra and the other
two by land. The Brahmaputra River was an excellent waterway for the movement of vessels. Of the
two land routes, one was on the north bank of the Brahmaputra from Tezpur (Darang district of
Assam) to Lakhnauti (the capital of Bengal Sultans) and Tamlipti through the districts of Kamrupa and
Goalpara, The road also connectsThe second route was in the south bank of the Brahmaputra River
from Sadia (Xodia) to Goalpara. When crossing the river, it joined the first path. The second path
seems to be favored by merchants who were interested in sea-trade, since it connected with the river
ports of Bengal. Moreover,
The Tea and Horse Caravan Road of Southwest China was developed later in the middle of
the seventh century, when Tibet accepted Buddhism and established political relations with China. This
routes connect India with Yunnan in China through Nepal and Tibet. The route crosses some very high
and dangerous terrain. It starts from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in Southwest China, runs along the
eastern foothills of the Hengduan Mountains, a center of tea production in China, then crosses the
Hengduan mountain range and deep canyons of several major rivers, thus spanning the two highest
plateaus of China before finally reaching India through Bhutan and Nepal south of the Himalayas. The
route also links with the route connecting Assam.
The name of the road indicates its importance in the trade of tea and horses, but other products
passed along it as well. Horse caravans carried tea, sugar and salt from Sichuan and Yunnan to Tibet
and brought back colorful local mountain goods. The "Tea and Horse Trade" was important, because it
illustrates a strong reciprocal relationship between China and its neighbors; Tibetans desired tea for
use in meditation and for added nutrition, while war horses were vital to the Chinese dealing with

aggressive nomadic cavalries to the north. Chinese courts until the Ming dynasty utilized tea as a
precious commodity to trade with the Tibetans and other upland peoples of Sichuan and Yunnan for the
valuable horses that were bred in the western region. This route to Lhasa, about 1500 miles in length,
carried merchants and pilgrims between these two regions for 4,000-5,000 years. As Tansen Sen
writes, the shortest route between India and China by the Song (960-1279) period was through Tibet.
Along these routes travelers carried on trade in Buddhist religious articles through the 11 th century.
The road also served as a significant corridor for migration as well as a channel for cultural
communication among the ethnic groups in western China; beyond this, it was a bridge for international
cultural and economic exchange between China and India. Many Buddhist monks came to India in later
periods through this road.
Marco Polo himself wrote of his travels along the spur of this route into Tibet following the
Mongol conquest of the Dali kingdom of Yunnan in the early 13 th century.

Reference :

1) India and China 1000 years : PC Bagchi

2) Westerns in China Foster Stockwell
3) India and the World D P Singhal (1969)
4) The Background of the Assamese Culture R M Nath
5) Between Winds and Cluds-Bing Yang > The Sichuan-Yunnan-Burma-India Road was a major
section of the SSR. It started from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan and a symbol of the developed
Shu culture that was no less significant than the Shang culture. Guanghan, a city less than one
hundred kilometers from Chengdu, was the site of the well-known Sanxingdui relics that had
cultivated a sophisticated bronze culture, which might have exerted great influence on Southeast
Asia.40 From Chengdu through Kunming to Dali, the latter two being major commercial and cultural
centers of Yunnan, there were two roads. The northern one passed the following cities: Chengdu
Linqiong (Qionglai)Lingguan (Lushan)Zuodu (Hanyuan)Qiongdu (Xichang)Qingling (Dayao,
entering Yunnan)Dabonong (Xiangyun)Yeyu (Dali). Because the Ling Pass (Lingguan) had to be
used, the northern route was called the Road of Lingguan (Lingguan Dao). The southern one went
through

the

following

cities:

ChengduYibinZhuti

(Zhaotong)Wei

County

(Qujing)Dian

(Kunming)AnningChuxiongYeyu (Dali). So the two roads joined in Dali connecting the Road of
Bonan (Bonan Dao), so called because it crossed the Bonan Mountain. The Road of Bonan passed

through Yongchang and Tengyue to Burma and India. ( Between Winds and Clouds Bin Yang pp 8
Ch 2)
1) :Nisar Ahmad, when discussing the Assam-Bengal trade of the medieval ages, also detailed the
trade routes between the two areas. Three routes lead from Assam to Bengal: one by water and the
other two by land. The Brahmaputra River was an excellent waterway for the movement of vessels.
Of the two land routes, one was from Tezpur (Darang district of Assam) to Lakhnauti (the capital of
Bengal Sultans) through the districts of Kamrupa and Goalpara, in the north of Brahmaputra; the
second route was in the south of the Brahmaputra River. When crossing the river, it joined the first
path. The second path seems to be favored by merchants who were interested in sea-trade, since it
connected with the river ports of Bengal. Moreover, Lakhnauti had the advantage of a line of
connection with Tibet via Kamrupa. Between Winds and Cluds Ch 2 pp 12)
2) When Zhang Qian saw cloth and bamboo canes from Sichuan in Bactria of the late second century
BCE, he suspected a route between Southwest China and India. So he reported on this possibility to
Emperor Wu, who then dispatched his envoys to explore the way to India. All of them failed, with one
having been stopped by the Kunming people in Yunnan. Many scholars of China such as Fang
Guoyu accepted what Zhang Qian reported. They believed that the road was in use as late as the
second century BCE. Could the date have been pushed back earlier? The majority of scholars in
China support the argument that the road emerged as early as the fourth century BCE. One piece of
evidence they cited was what Ji Xianlin, a most famous scholar of Sino-Indian cultural relationships,
discussed the word cinapattas in Arthasastra, a Sanskrit work of around the fourth century
BCE. Cinapatta was translated by Ji into "bunches of Chinese silk," implying that Chinese silk was
known to Indians at that time.52 However, how did Chinese silk (BW&C Ch 2 pp 13)
3) China's Southwestern Silk Road in World History - James A. Anderson

"Ancient Tea-Horse Road", first appeared during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and lasted until the
1960s when Tibetan highways were constructed

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