Joymoti Konwari, was the wife of Tai-Ahom Prince Gadapani. She was accorded the honorific Mohiyokhi on account of her heroic endurance of torture until the end, dying at the hands of royalists under SulikphaaLoraa 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 filmJoymoti, 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, 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 continuousphysical torture over 14 days, Joymoti died on 13 Choit of 1601 Saka, or 27 March 1680.
Joymoti and Gadadhar Singha's eldest son Lai succeeded his father. He took on the Hindu name Rudra Singha. 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 of land, including its four banks, out of which is filled with fresh water. A 2 km-long earthen water pipeline once ran from the tank to the Rangpur Palace, 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 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 of Joymoti. The circumference of the Dol was about, and its height from base to top was. 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.
