Joymoti Konwori - The Unsung Lady

Between the years of 1671 to 1681, the state of Assam, then under the Ahom rulers was under the rule of many incompetent kings who were puppets at the hands of their Nobles and Prime Ministers. The Prime Minister to the Lora Raja or boy king Sulikhpaa, Laluksala Borpukan had ordered for all the princes of the Ahom dynasty to be mutilated, a period known as the Purge of the Princes of 1679 to 1681. The aim was to keep his puppet king on the throne, and so would his power over the ruling of the state. The soldiers were unable to find Prince Gadapani who had fled to the Naga hills. To find Gadapani’s whereabouts, his wife, Joymoti was arrested and brutally tortured. She was tortured for a period of fourteen days, in ‘Jerenga pathar’ in Sivasagar. She was tied to a thorny plant and inhuman physical afflictions were inflicted on her body. She never got weak and instead faced all tortures although she was pregnant then. Gadapani, on learning about the tortures about his wife, reached Jerenga Pathar incognito. He signalled her to speak out the truth. She didn’t and instead signalled back at him to escape. She wanted her husband to be the king and build an empire which would be free of all socio-economic problems. A mother of two, Lai and Lechai, aged 14 and 12. Later after 14 days of inhuman torture she died.  The tremendous sacrifice of Joymoti for her state brought about a ‘renaissance’ in the history of Assam. Given the title of “Sati” because of her valiant fight, Joymoti remains immortal. The first Assamese film, directed by Jyoti Prasad Agarwal, Joymoti, was a biopic of Joymoti Konwari released in March 1935. Her elder son, Sukhrungphaa, or Lai built the Joysagar tank, the largest of all tanks built by the Ahom Kings and also the largest man-made lake of India, stands on the very place in Sivsagar, where Joymoti was tortured three centuries ago. 

Joymoti died on the 13^th day of the Hindu month of Chaitra. 27^th March 2019 is celebrated  as Sati Joymoti Divas.

Joymoti is a perfect exemplar of feminism where she devoted her entire life for her dream of an empire which would be free from socio-economic problems. The kind of persecution she faced has no other parallel in the history ever.