Old History of Bam: 
The present Bam has an old history. Bam finds its mention in the History of Cachar written by Upendra Chandra Guha in 1912 under the title “Cacharer Itibritya”.According to Upendra Chandra Guha, in olden time Rajghat, a village in Bam by the bank of river Rukni thirty seven km south of Silchar was the Capital of Tippera kingdom. Subsequently the capital was shifted to Joypur near Kailash Sahar then to Manik Bhander  and finally to Agartala. Rajdhigi of Islamabad in Bam also finds mention in the book along with capital Rajghat.This Rajdhigi is still in existence and intact. Designed in the likeness of Joysagar of Ahom kings this 14 bigha Rajdhigi belonged to the Tippera Royal family. The vast tank has been converted in to fishery project by Assam Government in 1957.The banks of Rajdhigi are so wide that offices and residential quarters of Fisheries Department have been constructed on the Banks.

Raj Dighi of Tippera kings in Bam

  The reason for shifting the capital from Rajghat to Kailas Sahar and probable period is not known. Lieutenant Fisher, in charge of Cachar Affairs in his report on 29^th July 1831 to David Scott, Agent to the Governor General, North East Frontier stated that the survey team had found the Rukni river banks in Bam “still covered with remains of villages which were formerly well inhabited but have been abandoned within the last fifty years in consequence of oppressions to which the country has been subjected to”. This implies that Bam was inhabited by people up to 1781. It is not yet clear whether the people who lived in Bam up to 1781 were Tippera or any other people after Tippera people left Bam for Agartala via Kailash Sahar. By oppressions he might have meant the frequent Kuki or Lushai incursion which used to take place during that period. Early Bam people used to talk about Kukir Bhagan along with Mogor Bhagan and Jangir Bhagan. By word Bhagan they meant flight of a people to save the life from attack of other forces.

   The origin of the name Bam is shrouded in mystery. No one knows for sure how the region came to be known as Bam and since when. According to one source before partition of India many people from Sylhet came and settled in Hailakandi and Dholai of Hailakandi.Subsequently one section of these people from Dholai came to this southern part of Cachar and settled. As this place is located in the left side of Hailakandi and Dholai it was named as Bam -Dholai.There is some logic in this theory. The people who migrated from Dholai of Hailakandi might have named their new home after their old village. According to another version this place was backward and name Bam was given to signify backwardness. According to another opinion it was the last settlement in the left bank of Barak River and hence called Bam-the Bengali equivalent of left. According to another legend Ranfarnhi a hilly way through Rengti Hills near Ramprasadpur of Bam for going westwards to Hailakandi from Manipur, the region in question falls to the left of Ranfarnhi and hence called Bam. Yet according to another legend Bam came from Dimasa word ‘Bam Dig Dig’. Davidson discovered this place and entrusted Ganesh Barman for survey of the place. After completion of survey he found a beautiful round shaped region and exclaimed ‘Bam Dig Dig’ and the place came to be known as Bam. All these are legend and hypothesis. But there is no recorded history of origin of the name Bam. Till now mention of Bam has not been found in any official record of the Government. The first time the name Bam surfaced in print media was 1912 in Cacharer Itibritya written by Upendra Chandra Guha.The British Government created Parganah covering Bam region  and named it Davidsonabad Parganah after a Britiser- Davidson-most probably a tea planter in Cachar.The mention of Davidsonabad Parganah is found in the Statistical Account of Cachar-1879. In all probability British would have named it Bam Parganah if the name Bam existed at that time as all Parganas in Cachar were named after the places and no Parganah was named after any British personality. It is therefore likely that this region was named Bam in between 1879 and 1912 or earlier than that.B.C.Allen in his Assam District Gazetteers Volume I, Cachar-1905 and Hunter in his Statistical Account of Cachar 1879 mentioned this region either as Southern Cachar or inner line area but not as Bam. It is up to the future researchers to determine the date  and origin of name Bam more precisely.

PS:To be continued in the next section :"New Settlement in Bam". 

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