Joymoti Konwari

This article is about the wife of Ahom prince Gadapani. For other uses, see Joymoti.

Joymoti Konwari
Born	Madurigaon, Sivasagar, Assam
Died	Jerenga Pathar, Sivasagar
Other names	Jaynmoti
Spouse(s)	Gadadhar Singha
Children	Lai Lechai
Parent(s)	Laithepena Borgohain and Chandradaru

Joymoti Konwari, was the wife of Tai-Ahom Prince Gadapani (later Supatphaa). She was accorded the honorific Mohiyokhi on account of her heroic endurance of torture until the end, dying at the hands of royalists under Sulikphaa Loraa Roja without disclosing her exiled husband Prince Gadapani's whereabouts, thereby enabling her husband to rise in revolt and assume kingship. Gadapani and Joymoti's son Rudra Singha had the Joysagar Tank dug at the spot where she was tortured. The first Assamese film Joymoti, directed in 1935 by Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, was based on her life.

Biography

Joymoti was born in the middle of the 17th-century in Maduri to Laithepena Borgohain and Chandradaru. She was married to Langi Gadapani Konwar, later an Ahom king, Supatphaa, who established the Tungkhunia line of kings. During the Purge of the Princes from 1679 to 1681 under King Sulikphaa (Loraa Roja), instigated by Laluksola Borphukan, Gadapani took flight. Over the next few years, he sought shelter in the Naga hills.

Failing to trace Prince Gadapani, Sulikphaa's soldiers brought his wife Joymoti to Jerenga Pathar where, despite torture, the princess refused to reveal the whereabouts of her husband. After continuous physical torture over 14 days, Joymoti died on 13 Choit of 1601 Saka, or 27 March 1680.

Memorials & monuments

Joysagar Tank

Joymoti and Gadadhar Singha's eldest son Rudra Singha (Sukhrungphaa, 1696–1714) succeeded his father. In honour of the memory of his mother Joymoti, Rudra Singha built the Joysagar Tank in 1697 at Sibsagar. It is believed to be the biggest man-made lake in India, comprising an area covering 318 acres (1.29 km²) of land, including its four banks, out of which 155 acres (0.63 km²) is filled with fresh water. A 2 km-long earthen water pipeline once ran from the tank to the Rangpur Palace (Kareng Ghar), supplying water to the royal palace.

Fakuwa Dol

Rudra Singha also built the Fakuwa Dol in 1703–04, a pyramid-shaped temple constructed before the Rangnath (Shiva) Temple on the banks of the Joysagar Tank. It is said that Rudra Singha, once again to perpetuate the memory of his mother Soti Joymoti, constructed the temple and placed a golden idol of her within it. It was actually a moidam (grave) of Joymoti. The circumference of the Dol was about 90 ft (27 m), and its height from base to top was 30 ft (9.1 m). There were eight brick pillars around the temple. The temple and the pillars are among some of the Ahom ruins that remain in Assam to this day.

Joymoti Day

Sati Joymoti Divas, commemoration day of Joymoti, is held annually in Assam on 27 March.

Sati Joymoti Award

The State Government of Assam has instituted an annual award in the name of Joymoti, presented to women in recognition of excellence in their chosen fields of work.

Film and theatre

Main articles: Joymoti (1935 film) and Joymoti (2006 film)

Screenshot from Joymoti (actress Aideu Handique as Joymoti)

Joymoti (1935 film) was the first Assamese language film, directed and produced by Jyoti Prasad Agarwala. In 2006, Manju Borah released another film by the same name. The 19th-century Assamese writer Lakshminath Bezbaruah depicted her life in the drama Joymoti Kuwori.

See also

• Joymoti, first Assamese film produced by Jyoti Prasad Agarwala.
• Ahom Dynasty

External links

• Joymoti Konwari: an epitome of ideal womanhood – Dr Kathita Hatibaruah