Ahom Palace: Gargaon, Assam

Ahoms were one of the significant dynasties in the medieval Assam.
They brought the whole Assam, which consisted of diverse tribal groups, under one umbrella and ruled it for around 600 years, and also protected their territory from repeated Mughal attacks.
The palace of Ahoms at Gargaon is their legacy.
Salman Rashdie once mentioned in his work about cities that 'as soon as they are built they give an impression to be eternal', but he didn't mention that as the time passes some cities and monuments loose there former glory.
Gargoan palace was the third capital of Ahom kingdom. According to the chronicles it was in the year 1540 C.E that 15th Ahom king Suklengmung moved the capital from Saraguwa to Gargaon.
Originally, the Gargaon palace was built up of wood and other perishable material, but king Pramatta Singha constructed brick wall and a masonry gateway in capital complex as an extention to the palace. The part of the palace which is standing today was constructed by king Rajeshwar Singha in
1752 C.E and is known as Karunj (Kareng) Ghar. The Ahoms ruled from here for around 250 years.

Scholars speculate that capital might have shifted to Gargoan because of its advantages for transportation, communication and security purposes. It is believed that before the Ahoms chose Gargoan as their capital it was known as Hemenabari, chronicles mention that Hemena lived here and denied the permission to the Ahom ruler to built a capital here, it was after his death that Ahoms were able to built their long sought capital. It is believed that the present building has seven stories, out of which four are under the ground and three above the ground. It is also believed that there was a tunnel in this palace connecting it to Talatal Ghar in Rangpur.


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