68 SOCIAL SCIENTIST that there were a number of trends which were rooted in the past which had functional potentials that were important in the total cultural context. If oaiedieval Assam is understood with some amount of emphasis on a longer time span, the accentuation shifts from the novelties to the continuities. Guha views state formation in medieval Assam without wishing to illuminate its past history, without understanding the essential nature of the structure of pre-Ahom Assam. In fact, a consideration of the pre-Ahom history of Assam would suggest several developmental processes which can open up important and new possibilities which were of immense significance in the medieval period, but which are accorded very little attention in the work of Guha. The author is grateful to Dr. Dalip K. Chakrabarti who read the whole draft and suggested a number of useful modifications. 1. A. Guha, The Ahom Political System: An Enquiry into the State Formation Process in Medieval Assam (1228-1714, Social Scientist, Volume 11, Dec. 1983, pp. 3-34: The Medieval Economy of Assam', The Cambridge Economic History of India, Volume 1, (ed.) by Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib, Hyderabad, 1984, pp. 478-509. Our main focus will be on his paper in the Social Scientist but his general discussion of the medieval economy of Assam in the Cambridge Economic History of India will be used as well to analyse more fruitfully some of his main agruments. 2. For a detailed study see N. Lahiri, Pre-Ahom Assam, Studies in the Inscriptions of Assam between the 5th and the 13th centuries A. D., Unpublished M. Phil thesis, Department of History, University of Delhi, 1983. 3. Cambridge Economic History of India, p. 478. 4: Ibid. 5. Social Scientist, op. cit., p. 12. 6. Cambridge Economic History of India, p. 482. 7. Social Scientist, op. cit., p. 28. 8. Cambridge Economic History of India, p. 480. 9. Social Scientist, op. c^., p. 10. 10. D. Sharma (ed.), Kamarupasasanazali, Gauhati, 1981, p. 140. 11. D. Sharma (ed.).op. cit., p. 144. 12. Social Scientist, op. cit. 13. M.M. Sharma (ed.) Inscriptions of Ancient Assam, Gauhati, 1977, pp. 225-272. 14. D. Sharma (ed.), op. cit., pp. 140-146; M.M. Sharma, op. cit.,pp. 273-302- 15. M.M. Sharma, op. cit.. No. 7. 16. Ibid., line 2. 17. Ibid., lines 3-4. 18. Ibid., line 7. 19. Ibid., No. 1 (Appendix). 20. Ibid., Nos. 9-22. 21. Ibid., No. 12, lines 33-38. 22. ZW..No.6,line49. 23. Ibid., No. 11. line 36. 24. Ibid., No. 13, line 52. 25. Ibid., No. 14, line 52. 26. Ibid., No. 18, line 29. 27. Ibid., No. 13. line 53. 28. Z6u/.,No. 15, line 35. 29. Ibid., No. 1,8. line 50. 30. 2W.,No. 14, line 59.