Ahomisation was an assimilation process in the former Ahom kingdom of Assam by which the people from different ethnic groups in the region became a part of what is now considered as the Ahom population.
History
Sukaphaa (reign 1228–1268 CE), was a Tai prince originally from Mong Mao, who along with about nine thousand soldier-agriculturalists arrived in what is now Assam in 1228. After moving between different places, he finally settled in 1253 at Charaideo in eastern Assam and started forming a state. Upon settling in Assam, Sukaphaa established peaceful relations with the local ethnic groups, especially from the Borahi and the Moran. He later married the daughters of both Badaucha, the Moran Chief, and Thakumatha, the Borahi chief and established cordial relations with them. As he began establishing his domain, he avoided regions that were heavily populated. He also encouraged all his Tai soldiers as well as the members of the Tai elites to marry with the locals, which led to the beginning of the process called Ahomisation, he and his mostly male followers creating the admixed population known as the Ahoms. The Shan-Tai settlers displayed great assimilative capacity. While the Shan invaders called themselves Tai, they came to be referred to as Āsām, Āsam and Acam by the indigenous peoples of the region. The modern Assamese word Āhom by which the Tai people were known was derived from Āsām or Āsam. Socially, they fully identified with the multi-ethnic groups of their occupied territory, and the new name Ahom legitimised and recognised their political supremacy and leadership. The conquest of the Moran and Borahi ethnic groups at the initial stage produced the conquest society. The Tai settlers did not exterminate the vanquished population, but instead took them as partners in peace and development.
The Tai settlers brought with them the superior technique of wet-rice cultivation, and believed that they were divinely ordained to bring the fallow land under the plow. They adopted many stateless shifting cultivators of the region into their fold, though they were also conscious of their numerical inferiority. As a result, the Tai-Ahom polity initially absorbed people from various ethnic groups of the region such as Borahi, Moran and Naga. Later, after subjugating the Chutiya kingdom and Dimasa Kingdom, much of the Chutia and the Dimasa-Kachari populace too were absorbed into the Ahom population. Many indigenous people from various ethnic groups were ceremonially adopted into Ahom clans, as recorded in the chronicles known as "Buranji". Thus the illustrious Ahom family of Miri Sandikai was founded by one Miri (Mising), the adopted son of a Burhagohain. King Gadadhar Singha (1681–1696) accepted two Naga princesses as his consorts. The new converts, if capable, were even elevated to important administrative posts. Thus the second Borphukan became the governor of Lower Assam, who was the son of a Naga of Banferra clan. Queen Phuleswari, who took the regalia to her hand during the reign of king Siva Singha (1714–1744), appointed a Bhutanese youth as her page. Kancheng, the first Barpatra Gohain was born and brought up in a Naga family. Miri-Sandikoi and Moran-Patar were Sandikoi and Patar from the Mising and Moran communities, This was true even for the priestly clans: Naga-Bailung, Miri-bailung and Nara-Bailung Ahom Chutias formed the major sub-division. They were termed as such as they intermarried with the already mixed Ahoms. Most of them have been absorbed into the Ahom fold over time. They held various position in the Ahom kingdom's administration as seen with Momai Tamuli Borbarua, Langi Panisiya Borphukan, Rupchandra Borbarua, Kirtichandra Borbarua, Lachit Borphukan, Piyoli Borphukan, Badanchandra Borphukan, Thumlung Borgohain, Banrukia Gohain(during Susenpha's reign). Even during Sukapha's reign, many Chutia or Moran families like Som-chiring and Changsai were absorbed into the Ahom fold. Majority of Ahoms of the Chetia clan as well as the Lahon clan originated from the Chutia community.