Singarigharutha ceremony

Singarigharutha was the traditional Tai-Ahom ceremony of coronation of the Ahom kings of Assam. During the period of Ahom supremacy in Assam, the Singarigharutha ceremony had important constitutional significance. It was believed that even though an Ahom prince became king, he could not attain the status of full-fledged monarch until his Singarigharutha ceremony was completely performed. Therefore, each Ahom ruler after their accession to the throne tried to organize the ceremony as soon as possible. But it was not as easy since the ceremony was very expensive and there were records when some of the Ahom kings had to postpone it owing to emergency situations or due to financial crisis of the state.

The Singarigharutha ceremony was first observed by the Ahom King Sudangphaa, popularly known as Bamuni Konwar. Sudangphaa came to throne in 1397 CE. He transferred his capital from Charaideo to Charguwa. In the new capital, Sudangphaa organized the Singarigharutha, a Tai-Ahom ceremony of coronation and claimed the mandate of Heaven to rule the Ahom Kingdom as a descendant of Lengdon or Indra, the Lord of Heaven and Earth. From that time onward, the Ahom kings performed the Singarigharutha ceremony as the main event of their coronations. The ritual was termed Singarigharutha because the wood of singari tree were used to construct the main platform on which the King sat during the procedure. Most of the Ahom rulers preferred to perform the Singarigharutha ceremony in Charaideo, which was considered very sacred by the Tai-Ahom community of Assam, since the reign of the first Ahom King Sukaphaa.

To perform the ceremony, the king, at first, consulted the Tai-Ahom priests and astrologers: the Deodhai and Bailungs. An auspicious day was fixed.

On the day of ceremony, the king, wearing the Somdeo, or image of his tutelary deity, and carrying in his hand the Hengdan or ancestral sword, proceeded on a male elephant, followed by his chief queen in a female elephant, to Charaideo, where he planted a pipal tree (ficus religiosa). The royal couple next entered the Patghar, where the presiding priest poured a libation of water over them. Some Ahom chronicles stated that two people of common origin were selected and placed under the bamboo platform. When consecrated water was poured over the royal couple, it fell on the people below. The two who were under the bamboo platform were presented with gifts of gold and silver coins. Then they were exiled far from the capital, sometime even exiled from the kingdom, as it was believed that all the evil or ill omens of the new king and queen will leave with them. Such people were called Neusa-Jua which literally means the one who takes away the evils or ill omens. In olden days descendants of Neusa-Jua people were found in Goalpara district.

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