Sadiya Serpent Pillar

The Snake pillar is an octagonal stone pillar about 11 feet (3.4 m) high with a square base measuring 15 inches (38 cm) on each side.^[6] It is made from a single block of stone. A giant snake wraps around the pillar from the base to the top. The snake's head is human-like and seems to be biting a vassel (which resembles a Purna-Kalasha).

According to Assam State Museum officer and historian Abantika Parashar^[7][8], the Snake Pillar was constructed during the Chutia reign.^[9] She writes,

"..Therefore, there can be no doubt that the serpent pillar is associated with the Chutia rule. This idea is also strongly supported by the fact that the coil-shaped serpent (Kundalini) represents another form of the Dikkarvasini (Tamreshwari or Kechaikhati), the goddess worshiped by the Chutia)"

As per the Assam Gazetteer (1928), the pillar was found between the Dibang and Deopani rivers, on the eastern side close to the seventh milepost of the road from Sadiya to Nizamghat. There was a stone bridge located nearby to the pillar and a road led from this bridge to a brick tank in the vicinity.^[10] The British explorer S. F Hannay found a brick gateway, stone bridge and a brick tank in the same region (between the Dibang and Deopani rivers), but fortified by tall ramparts. The brick tank had mason marks, similar to those found in the Tamreswari temple.^[11]

Another British explorer T. Block found two similar octagonal stone snake pillars in the Tamreswari Temple built by Chutia kings.^[12] The writer T. Block describes:

"They (the pillars) were found in the north-eastern section of the enclosed area (of Tamreswari). I found two such bases, their shape is octagonal, 2 feet 6 inches in diameter, with a circular hollow inside; these rested on squares, with their corners cut off and differently moulded. The hemispherical capital measures 2 feet 4 inches in diameter at its base and is perforated by a hollow shaft 1 feet 10 inches land. Near the bottom, a pair of snakes biting their tails is twisted around it."

The serpent motif and octagonal shaft of the pillar occur within a wider religious and architectural setting in the Sadiya region. At the Tamreswari Temple, T. Block recorded two hollow octagonal stone bases with hemispherical capitals, around which pairs of serpents were twisted.^[13] Similar serpent iconography was also observed on a terracotta plate attached to the enclosure wall of Tamreswari temple as well as on a pillar found at the historical Naksaparvat site.^[14] The octagonal form also occurs in religious architecture attributed to the Chutia period. The Bura Buri Than, another historic shrine at Sadiya, retains an octagonal stone foundation beneath the modern structure.^[15] The Baghar Chukar Doul at Dhakuakhana has an octagonal ground plan with eight vertical walls.^[16] Octagonal stone pillars from the medieval period have been discovered outside the Sadiya region as well. The Gachtal pillar inscription (found near Doboka) was incised on one side of an octagonal stone pillar.^[17] The inscription has been dated to Śaka 1284, corresponding to 1362 CE,^[18] thus predating the 1532 inscription on the serpent pillar.

The region's religious setting was strongly shaped by Shaiva, Shakta, and Tantric traditions. In its description of the pitha of Dikkaravasini or Tamreswari,^[19] the Kalika Purana (11th-12th century) associates the site with two forms of the diety: Tiksnakanta or Ugratara, her fierce manifestation, and Lalitakanta or Mangalacandika, her benign manifestation.^[20] The prescribed ritual includes the drawing of a triangular diagram and a mandala, while eight dvarapalas are to be worshipped in the eight directions of the circle.^[21] These passages show that eight directional guardians formed part of the religious vocabulary associated with the pitha. The Yogini Tantra, a 16th-century text, also describes Saumara as eight-cornered and associates it with Dikkaravasini^[22]:

aṣṭakoṇaṃ ca Saumaraṃ yatra dikkaravāsinī,
tasmin viśanti ye lokā ajñānāj jānanto 'pi vā,
te 'pi devyāḥ prasādena siddhiṃ gacchanti nānyathā.

This octagonal form later acquired additional meanings under the Ahom kingdom. A tradition recorded in later Assamese chronicles states that, when Pratap Singha (r.1603–1641) considered issuing coins, his scholars cited the above verse from Yogini Tantra, which was interpreted in the chronicles as justification for issuing octagonal coins.^[23] Singh(1980) also noted other proposed explanations, including a Shaivite association with the eight forms of Siva, Tantric diagrammatic forms, and the eight hands of Dikkaravasini.^[24] He nevertheless considered it more probable that the physical form of Ahom octagonal coinage was influenced by octagonal borders on Bengal Sultanate coins.^{[24][25][26][27]} Octagonal forms also became common in later Ahom sacred architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries.^[28]

The stone pillar contains one of the earliest Ahom inscription founded to date inscribed in it, dated to 1532.^[29][30]

The Ahoms under Suhungmung conquered Sadiya in 1524, after which Phrasenmung Borgohain was stationed there. Chutia resistance, however, continued, with uprisings in the Sadiya region in 1527 and 1529.^[31] Following the earlier uprising, in Lakni Rungrao (i.e. 1527 CE)^[32], Chao-Shenglung Kinglun was appointed Thaomunglung Bo-ngen (Sadiyakhowa Gohain)^[33] and given charge of the country extending from Kangkham to the source of the Lohit.^[34] During the renewed Chutia uprising of 1529, Phrasenmung and Thaomung Bangen operated together in the Sadiya region; after the revolt had been suppressed, Suhungmung left both officers in charge of Sadiya.^[35] In the following year, Phrasenmung was summoned from Sadiya to the royal court.^[36] According to the Satsari Assam Buranji, the king had become apprehensive of Phrasenmung's growing power and consequently recalled him from Sadiya, placing the Burhagohain in charge of the region.^[37]

Against this background of the post-conquest administration of Sadiya, the pillar records an agreement concerning the neighbouring Mishmis in the year 1532. The nine-and-a-half-line Ahom inscription was issued by the Sadiyakhowa Gohain (referred to as Thaomunglung Bo-ngen) and confirmed the Mishmis in possession of the hills near the Dibang River, while requiring them to supply four baskets of poison and other articles as tribute and to keep watch over the Sadiyakhowa Gohain.^[38]

It was re-discovered in 1921 in Sadiya, removed from its original site in 1953, and placed in Assam State Museum and since then has been in display there.^[39]

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  Sadiya Serpent pillar as preserved in the Assam State Museum.
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  Caption about the Ahom inscription on the Sadiya Serpent pillar in Assam State Museum.