chap, xvii TOMBS OF THE KINGS OF ASSAM 219
there.
Many are of opinion that his original design was merely to take this
town and pillage it, and afterwards return, as he in fact did.1
It is in this town of Azoo that the tombs of the Kings of Assam and of
all the members of the royal family are situated. Although the Assamese
are idolaters, they do not burn the bodies of the dead, but bury them.
They believe that after death they go to another world, where those who
have lived well in this world lack nothing, and enjoy all kinds of
pleasure ; but, on the contrary, those who have lived badly, and have
taken the property of others, suffer much, principally hunger and
thirst, and accordingly it is prudent to bury something with them to
serve them at need. Thus it was that Mir Jumla found such a quantity of
riches at Azoo,2 since for many centuries every King has
built for himself in the great pagoda a sort of chapel where he was to
be buried, and during their lifetime, each of them sent, to be placed
in the grave where he was to be buried, a quantity of gold and silver,
carpels and other articles. When the body of a dead king is buried, all
his most precious possessions are also placed in the grave, such as the
household
narna. (See Blochmann in Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol.
xli, p. 53.) Here Tavernier copies Bernier (p. 172), but it is
difficult to follow his story. The Mughals seem to have been in
possession of Hajo since 1612 (Jadunath Sarkar, iii. 169).
1
Muhammad Kazim says that Mir Jumla, finding his army tired of the
difficulties with which they were surrounded, ' came to terms with the
Assamis (on the 17th January 1663), who, besides surrendering two
districts, which were added to the crown lands, gave 20,000 tolas of
gold, 128,000 rupees in hard cash, 120 elephants, and the King's
daughter to the conqueror. He then returned to Bengal via Lakhughar and
Kajli, and reached Khizarpur on the 8th April A. D. 1663, where he paid
the debt of nature after suffering for a time from consumption ' {I.e., p.
223). For the terms of peace and a review of the results of the
campaign, which, except for the blockade of the Mughals, was
successful, see Jadunath Sarkar, iii. 201 ff.; Bernier, 172 f. It was
at Garhgaon, not Hajo, that the booty was taken.
2 Muhammad Kazim says 90,000 rupees worth of gold and silver was obtained by Mir Jumla's soldiers from these graves (I. c. 225).
' The tumuli constructed over the graves of the Asam (Ahom) sovereigns
are very extensive, and when opened the remains of the dead have been
found in coffins of massive timber, with gold and silver ornaments, and
outside the coffin various utensils, arms, and implements of
agriculture.' (E. T. Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 9.)
