Administering the Ahom Way: Paik System

The administration is the tool that can make any power reach sustainability. But devising a systematic administrative system was a rigorous task, especially in hilly terrain with less population. But the Ahoms knew what they wanted.

the Ahom kingdom in its final years (image source: abhimanuias.com)

With the advent of the Ahoms dynasty in the 13th century, the political life of Assam shifted from the Western part of the Brahmaputra valley to the Eastern frontiers where the Ahoms established their kingdom. This was not an easy task for the newly arrived Ahoms. The region was governed by various tribal chiefs and smaller kingdoms which had their own rules and regulations. There used to be a constant clash among neighbouring provinces mostly because of food supplies. This suggests that the agricultural methods were not adequate to meet the requirements.

The Ahoms had to create administrative machinery which was elaborate and efficient enough to help them accommodate themselves in this region and also to tackle the problems associated with the tribal and semi-tribal societies residing in the valley. Therefore, they devised an extensive system that would solve the problem of managing the people of the region as well as provide them with the manpower necessary to support them in times of war or otherwise. This new system was called the ‘paik’ or ‘khel’ system.

The paik or the khel system was a device that not only helped the Northeastern region to adopt a life outside the age-old agricultural practices but also helped the Ahoms to gain prominence in this region. Under this system, every adult male was registered as a “paik” which was a state service. The age of demarcation of an adult would be anyone between 16 to 50 years. Every male in the Ahom kingdom between the ages of sixteen and fifty who was not a noble, a priest, a high caste or a slave was a paik. Four paiks would form a unit called ‘got’. This was later changed into three paiks.

These paiks from every got would have to render service for the state. These services would be in rotation. For example, one paik from a single got would work for the state for three months. While this person is away, the other members of the got would carry on with their daily work. Once when this paik finishes his quota of three months of service, he would go back to the got. Another person from the got will then serve the state.

Usually, these gots would be involved in agricultural work. In normal situations, they would do agriculture in their fields. But when they were rendering service to the state, they would work in the fields owned by the royal. The produce from such lands would work as a tribute to the royalty. There would be officials who would look after the work of these paiks.

Sometimes these paiks were organised into professional groups called ‘khels’. , paiks were necessary for other economic activities like rowing, fishing, boat building, arrow making etc. The larger khels like that of boat making would be under the supervision of the higher strata officials like the Phukan. Smaller khels like that of the arrow-making would be supervised by officers like Barua.

Phukan and Barua were the official titles under the Ahom administration which later turned into surnames.

This system was very rigid. Mobility of the paiks was not allowed. There was a strict administrative order created to supervise the system. A ‘Bara’ was an officer who led twenty paiks. Over him was a ‘Saikia’ who had a hundred paiks under his command. A ‘Hazarika’ could control over a thousand paiks. Lastly, a ‘Phukan’ had command over 6000 paiks!

Now, what made these paiks work for the state? They could have easily revolted against the ruling elites. Moreover, these rulers were foreigners to them. What made them feel obliged to their superiors?

The answer to this question lies in the tactful administration of the Ahoms. The whole system was devised mainly to create a community of foot soldiers to assist the kingdom in times of aggression. But, every policy is demarcated by the system of give and take. The Ahoms made their economy strong by using the compulsory paik service, and in return, these paiks were provided with two puras of arable land. The luring offer here was that this land was free of charge in return for compulsory labour. That was a fair deal for the poor peasants.

However, these lands were not hereditary and belonged to the khel. In case a paik did not have any heir then the land given to him would be forfeited to the khel to which he belonged.

The Ahoms turned out to beguile regarding administration. They designed the paik or khel system to employ the subjects in various economic activities. This brought them economic stability for a sturdy ruling status and also solved the problem of meaninglessly hiring a bigger army.