Missing link between Ainus and Assamese?

Guwahati, Nov 23 (UNI) A missing link connects Assamese with the Ainus, a group of people with a cultural and racial background different from that of ethnic Japanese living in extreme North East Asia between Japan and Russia.

''In fact, I have been working on this subject for the past eight years after accidental discovery of a word -'Meko' and a passing reference by a book written by renowned historian Debananada Bharali, way back in the twenties of the last century,'' said Dr Satyakam Phukan, the man behind this new exposure puzzling purists.

If this new revelation has to be accepted, then the whole story of migration of Assamese people will be rejected.

So far, it has always been the case of migration of Aryans from Konouj(North India) to Assam who were supposed to have formed the core of the Assamese people.

''The number of similarities between Ainus and Assamese languages are not a mere coincidence. I have found at least 133 groups of words which have more similarities,'' said Dr Phukan, who despite being an active surgeon has been researching the subject for nearly a decade.

According to him, Assamese people have their own identity. ''It is not a myth but there are historical records which say that there was a Kolita or Kolta Kingdom somewhere in Tibet and there were references of that both in the books of Dr Banikanata Kakoti as well as 'Tribes&Races' by R G Lathan,'' claimed the surgeon.

According to him, the Kolita kingdom either got assimilated or got overrun by Tibetans and one section migrated towards North east Asia, which eventually became Ainus of Hokaido and Sakhalin and the other section went southwards to the North East India to take the shape of Assam.

But scholars of the Assamese language are a little skeptical about the new theory.

''This is an interesting revelation and must be encouraged, but I would love to see some more deliberations on the grammar and morphology before arriving at a conclusion,'' opined Dr Pramod Chandra Bhattacharrya, considered a living legend of indigenous language evolution in the state.

''I do not want to reject the theory but there has to be some more study than the phonetics and words meanings,'' claimed another expert Dr Bisweshwar Hazarika.

But an unfazed Dr Phukan said, ''It will be quite difficult for the old school of thought to digest the new revelations. I am confident that more and more revelation will come to support the theory in future.'' MORE UNI MT DBY PL RD 1127