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Piyali Baruah

Swahid Piyali Baruah (piyaali) was a prominent hero of the 1857 revolt in Assam, a martyr who was hanged alongside Swahid Maniram Dewan in 1858, for their role as protagonists of a failed conspiracy to launch an armed rebellion against the British. They were hanged together at Jorhat Jail on February 26, 1858 – it was the first public hanging in recorded history of Assam.

Swahid Piyali Baruah is often mistaken for Swahid Piyoli Phukan due to the similarity in their names. But, Piyoli Phukan was hanged by the British 28 years earlier than the Piyali-Maniram hanging. Piyoli Phukan was sent to the gallows along with Jiuram Dulibaruah near Sivasagar tank in the year 1830, when Piyali was probably 2-3 years of age and Maniram was then a loyal friend of the British administration in Assam who worked as a seristadar – a high-ranking official who collected revenue.

Swahid Piyali Baruah was born probably in the year 1827-28 in the renowned Bezbaruah dynasty of Upper Assam – the family that has produced several illustrious sons of the soil of Assam – Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Hemchandra Baruah (of Hemkosh fame), Dinanath Bezbaruah, Singhapurush Radha Govinda Baruah, and several other luminaries who have made rich contributions to various firmaments of Assam.

Piyali Baruah’s formal name was Mahesh Chandra Gabhorumeliya Baruah. Piyali was in charge of the sprawling estates belonging to the female members of the Ahom royal family, hence he carried the surname Gabhorumeliya Baruah, just like his grandfather Jurai had done (in Assamese, ‘gabhoru’ means a woman in the prime of youth).