India, Oct. 31 -- You look at Assam before the Ahoms, a period many people hardly know about. Why did this story need to be told?

In December 2021, when I was working at the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's Office, I attended the Asom Divas celebrations in Dispur, honouring Chaolung Sukaphaa, often called the creator of Bor Axom. When I visited his 100-foot statue in Nazira in 2023, a question occurred to me: Was Assam's history really only 800 years old?

Something about this did not sit right with me. I have always been sceptical of official versions of history, particularly what I call "day zero histories", which begin a civilisation's story at a convenient historical milestone while overlooking everything that came before. I bega...