page_title: Sukaphaa
section_title: Search for a capital
hierarchical_section_title: Sukaphaa / King of Ahom kingdom / Search for a capital
caption_attribution_description: English: sukafa kshetra
context_page_description: Chaolung Sukaphaa, also Siu-Ka-Pha, the first Ahom king in medieval Assam, was the founder of the Ahom kingdom. A Tai prince originally from Mong Mao, the kingdom he established in 1228 existed for nearly six hundred years and in the process unified the various indigenous ethnic groups of the region that left a deep impact on the region. In reverence to his position in Assam's history the honorific Chaolung is generally associated with his name.
  Since 1996 December 2 has been celebrated in Assam as the Sukaphaa Divawkh, or Axom Divawkh, to commemorate the advent of the first king of the Ahom kingdom in Assam after his journey over the Patkai Hills.
context_section_description: Over the next few years, he moved from place to place searching for the right capital, leaving behind his representative at each stage to rule the colonized land.  Then he went up the Burhidihing river and established a province at Lakhen Telsa.  Then he came back down the river and established his rule at Tipam. In 1236 he moved to Mungklang (Abhoipur), and in 1240 down the Brahmaputra to Habung (Dhemaji).  In 1244 he went further down to Ligirigaon (Song-Tak), a few miles from present-day Nazira, and in 1246 to Simaluguri (Tun Nyeu), a place downstream from the present-day Simaluguri. Finally in 1253 he built himself his capital city at Charaideo near present-day Sibsagar town.  The capital of the Ahom kingdom changed many times after this, but Charaideo remained the symbolic center of Ahom rule.
  With the help of local recruits, he established three large farms for sali rice cultivation, called Barakhowakhat, Engerakhat and Gachikalakhat.
  In 1268 Sukaphaa died.  At the time of his death, his kingdom was bounded by the Brahmaputra River in the west, the Disang River in the north, the Dikhow River (26°58′15″N 94°38′12″E) in the south and the Naga Hills in the east.
caption: Artist's depiction of the court of Sukaphaa.
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