Traditional Science and Material Culture of Early Assam

The study of aspects of science and technology in traditional wisdom is comparatively a new field of investigation. There are only a few scholars who have undertaken studies in this field. Apparently no serious attempt has been made so far to study the elements of science and technology attributed to the traditions of the various ethnic groups of North East India. Though a few scholars have sparsely thrown light on the material culture of some ethnic groups of people of the north eastern region whenever the cultural history of those people is studied, there is no exclusive study on the elements of traditional science and technology embedded in the culture of people of this part of the country.

The present work is an exploratory study on elements of science and technology in the traditional culture of North East India. The elements of science and technology explored in the present work from the traditional culture of the various ethnic groups of people of North East India is discussed in ten different disciplines. These disciplines are – traditional taxonomy, traditional agriculture, traditional human medicines, traditional veterinary medicines, traditional fish and fishery technology, traditional practices of environment management, traditional mathematical and astronomical lore, traditional crafts and industries, traditional metallurgy and traditional architectural lore.

This is an exclusive book on traditional knowledge system of the indigenous people of early Assam. This study obviously requires a multidimensional approach involving a multi-pronged methodology. An attempt has been made in the present work to identify the elements of science and technology in the indigenous culture of this region by scrutinizing literary sources, delving into the folklore materials, looking at archaeological evidences and by establishing contacts with folk healers, farmers, traditional technology practitioners, experts and veteran tradition bearers. Extensive field work throughout the entire north eastern states along with library study in different libraries of the country has been done to explore the elements. Various museums and traditional institutes have been visited for collection of materials.