Colonial Construction of Opium in Assam: A Historical Study
Abstract
The consumption of opium was a very common practice during the Colonial Rule in Assam. The
evil of opium was deeply rooted among all the tribes and communities of Assam which ate the vitals of the
Assamese society. The Assamese people were often called as “Kanikhua”or “Kania” due to their habit of
taking ‘opium’ or ‘kani’. It was during the British Rule that the habit of opium became viral among all the
section of the society which was in the Ahom rule confined only among the upper section of the society. The
main purpose of this work is to see how opium became a dominant factor in the Colonial Assam. It also tries
to study colonial government’s attitude towards the health of their subject. How they defended the use of
opium in Assam by citing its medicinal properties. Further, in this paper an attempt has been made to study
the system and policies developed by the British Government to sold their own Opium in Assam. The present
work is mainly based on archival documents and reports.