Sutanpha

Sutanphaa (Siva Singha; died 14 December 1744) was the 31st king of Assam of the Ahom dynasty from 1714 to 1744. He was the eldest son of his predecessor Rudra Singha.

Sutanphaa (Siva Singha; died 14 December 1744) was the 31st king of Assam of the Ahom dynasty from 1714 to 1744. He was the eldest son of his predecessor Rudra Singha.

Reign

As per the death bed injunction of Rudra Singha, he was succeeded by his eldest son. Siva Singha ascended the throne on the 20th day of Magh, and assumed the Ahom name Sutanphaa and the Hindu name of Siva Singha. He gave up Rudra Singha's plan to organize a confederacy of the rajas of Hindustan and to invade Bengal (Mughal Empire), but obeyed his father's injunction to become a disciple of Krishnaram Bhattacharjya (Nyayavagish), the Shakta priest from nearby Nabadwip in present-day West Bengal. He gave the management of the Kamakhya Temple to Krishnaram, who came to be known as Parbatiya Gosain, as his residence was on top of the Nilachal hill. Siva Singha accepted him as the royal priest and made a large number of land grants to temples and Brahmin priests. Siva Singha is said to have established such an elaborate system of espionage during his reign that he had accurate information of everything that was done or spoken in the kingdom.

Religious proclivities

|left|217x217px]] It was during his reign that Hinduism became the predominant religion among Ahoms, and those who persisted in holding old tribal beliefs and customs came to be regarded as a separate degraded class. He made numerous temples and made large-number of land grants to Brahmanas, so that out of 48 copper plates recording land grants by all Ahom kings 19 of them belonged to him. He made an attempt to use Saktism as an counterforce against the growing power of Vaisnava Satras. Alongside he made support, provisions of Paiks, and land grants to the Brahman Satras as well. Believed to have been built by the Ahom King, Siba Singha (1718-1744) Balilecha Kali Mandir at Ballilesha village is a living Sakti Peeth. There is an 18th inch high statute of Kali made of Asta Dhatu inside the temple. Though there were also Bishnu Doul and Shiva Daul, the carthquake of 1897 almost destroyed them. A Kali Pukhuri covering 8 Pura of land however still exists. It is situated in a beautiful location on river bank of Pagaldia about 7 km away south-east of Nalbari town.

Art and literature

]] Siva Singha was a great patron of literature and music. His reign is considered the golden era of Assamese manuscripts, many notable manuscripts were written one of which was the Hastividyarnava which received royal patronage. Foreign musicians were invited into his country to instruct his own and the Monarch became the author of a large collection of pious songs. File:Folio of Hastividyarnava glorifying Queen Ambika.jpg|Court depiction File:Coin of Ahom queen Ambika devi.jpg|Full-rupee, inscribing Siva Singha and Ambika File:Silver half rupee of Siva Simha.jpg|Half-Rupee, inscribing Siva Singha and Bar Raja Sarbeswari File:Siva Singha1.jpg|King Siva Singha

See also

Ahom dynasty Ahom kingdom Phuleshwari Moamoria rebellion

Notes

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1366623906 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.