The Khamti rising at Sadiya

01The Khamtis and Sadiya

The Khamtis are a Tai people who came over the Patkai and settled around Sadiya in the eighteenth century, in the last years of Ahom power. Their chief held the old Ahom office of Sadiya Khowa Gohain. After the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826 the Company took the frontier in hand, set a Political Agent at Sadiya and began to cut the chief’s authority. Resentment grew over revenue, over runaway dependants and over the Company’s claim to judge Khamti disputes.

02The attack and after

On the night of 28 January 1839 Khamti bands attacked the cantonment at Sadiya from several sides and set the lines on fire. Colonel Adam White, the Political Agent, was cut down in the fighting along with a number of sepoys. The garrison rallied by daylight and drove the attackers off. Columns then went into the Khamti villages through 1839 and 1840; many Khamtis were moved away from Sadiya, and the post was never again left so lightly held.