Sadiya

History

Early history

Archaeometric evidence points to brick-building activity in the Sadiya region during the early medieval period. A 2024 study of bricks from Pratimagarh and Padum Pukhuri grouped them with a technological horizon which the authors broadly assign to the seventh–tenth centuries CE.

The Sadiya region also occupied an important place in the sacred geography represented in the Kalika Purana. The goddess Dikkaravasini, identified by scholars with Tamreswari at Sadiya, marked the eastern end of one of the text's conceptions of Kamarupa. Jae-Eun Shin notes that the Kalika Purana contrasts the region extending from Lalitakanta, near present-day Guwahati, eastwards to Dikkaravasini with the region extending westwards from Lalitakanta to the Karatoya River. The former was represented as the country of the Kiratas (generally identified with the Tibeto-burman populations), covering much of the middle and upper Brahmaputra valley, while the latter was portrayed as a Brahmanical sedentary society inhabited by Brahmins, sages and people of the varna order. Shin interprets this contrast as reflecting the uneven spread of sedentary agriculture and Brahmanical settlement into the middle and upper valley, while noting that both regions were nevertheless conceived as parts of Kamarupa's sacred geography.

By the thirteenth century, the Sadiya plains had become associated with the Chutia polity. Based on an inscribed brick bearing the name of Śrī Śrī Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa discovered at Bhismaknagar, Chutia king Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa of the early fifteenth century is assumed to have had his capital in the area; the palaeography of the inscription supports this dating. The Chutia kingdom rulers exercised power by regulating eastward trade and the movement of people between Assam, Tibet, and southern China.

Eastern frontier incursions

Sadiya's location at the eastern end of the Brahmaputra valley also placed it within the wider network linking Assam with the Tai polities of Upper Burma. Early-fourteenth-century Chinese evidence records Yuan political and military activity on the Indian frontier of Mäng Köng (Mogaung). The Yuan Wenlei records that in 1304 a Mongol army killed an unidentified ruler styled the "King of Xitian" (India) and installed his grandson. Christian Daniels notes that a member of the Mäng Köng ruling family was stationed at a fort on the Indian frontier and suggests that, from the geographical position of Mäng Köng, this frontier may have lain either in the upper Brahmaputra Valley or in Manipur.

Tai and Shan chronicle traditions record a later westward expedition into Upper Assam by Sam Long Hpa, ruler of Mong Kawng, the region being referred to in the chronicles as Mong Wehsali Long. One version preserved in the Mogaung chronicles states that he conquered much of the territory then under the Chutia kings, while another records the submission of Wehsali and an arrangement for the payment of tribute. The traditional chronology places this expedition in the early thirteenth century, but modern studies generally assign it to the fourteenth century. Daniels notes that Dehong Tai chronicles variously date the expedition to 1319 or 1348 and that contemporary Chinese evidence places the emergence of the Mäng Maaw polity only in the 1330s, with its florescence in the 1340s. In 1524, the Mongkawng or Nora general Phukloimung attacked Sadiya from what is today Myitkyina District of Myanmar but was defeated and pushed back.

Vaishnavism under Chutia rule

Sadiya and the neighbouring Kundila region formed an important eastern locus of Vaishnava activity and memory. Jae-Eun Shin argues that land grants issued by the Chutia rulers indicate the growing presence of Vaishnava Brahmins at the royal court and in rural society. The Dhenukhana copper plate of 1392 records grants to Brahmins whose names and affiliations were predominantly Vaishnava, while the Ghilamara plate of 1401 records a grant to Ravideva, the son of Hari, who was described as a devotee of Vasudeva.

According to a tradition preserved by Gharmora Satra, two Chutia princes studied at Nabadwip, where they met a Brahmin named Sankarshan—also rendered Sankarisan—of Kannauj. After returning to Sadiya, the elder prince is said to have brought Sankarshan and several occupational families to the capital and established a Vaishnava institution on the bank of the Gharmora River at Sadiya, endowing it with land, attendants and an image of Vishnu. The tradition further holds that Sankarshan's successors remained at Sadiya for five generations and preached among the Chutias, Deoris, Miris and Abors of the surrounding plains and hills before the institution was relocated following the Ahom conquest. Kundila also appears in the genealogical traditions of later Assamese Vaishnava preceptors. Accounts concerning Padma Ata place his ancestors at Kundila or Kundilnagara before a branch of the family migrated downstream to the Narayanpur region, while Ramananda Dvija's Sri Sri Bansigopal Devar Charitra describes Harivara, an ancestor of Bansigopal Deva, as being “of the Kundil gusthi”.

Sadiya and Kundil continued to occupy an important place in later Assamese Vaishnava traditions. The Adi Charita states that Sankardev visited Kundilnagara and brought back a Vasudeva image, while the Sri Thakur Charit relates that Jayadhwaj Singha later had another Vasudeva image brought from Kundil for Damodar Thakur's Narowa Satra, now known as Basudev Than in Dhakuakhana. From the 16th century onward, Sankardev's Rukminiharana became particularly popular in the Sadiya region; its circulation and dramatic performance contributed to the identification of the local landscape with Bhismaka, Rukmini, Vidarbha and Kundina.

Under Ahoms

After annexing the Chutia kingdom in 1524, Ahom king Suhungmung ordered Phrasenmung Borgohain to stay at Sadiya. Three hundred men were put under his command, three elephants were given to him. Chutia resistance, however, continued, with uprisings in the Sadiya region in 1527 and 1529. Following the earlier uprising, in Lakni Rungrao (i.e. 1527 CE), Chao-Shenglung Kinglun Burhagohain was appointed Thaomunglung Bo-ngen (Sadiyakhowa Gohain) and given charge of the country extending from Kangkham to the source of the Lohit. During the renewed Chutia uprising of 1529, Phrasenmung and Thaomung Bangen operated together in the Sadiya region; after the revolt had been suppressed, Suhungmung left both officers in charge of Sadiya. In the following year, Phrasenmung was summoned from Sadiya to the royal court. According to the Satsari Assam Buranji, Phrasenmung had been left in the former Chutia kingdom to bring the region under control, but the people of Sadiya came to regard the Borgohain as their king. On hearing this, Suhungmung summoned him; when Phrasenmung did not return, the Burhagohain went to Sadiya and brought him back by stratagem. The chronicle states that from then on the Burhagohain held charge of Sadiya.

Chutia Resistance

Ahom authority in Sadiya was repeatedly challenged by groups of Chutias after the annexation. The first recorded uprising occurred in 1527, when the Dihingia Gohain (Thao-mung Mung-klang), sent to reinforce Phrasengmung Borgohain, was killed by the rebels. The revolt was suppressed, but was followed by administrative changes in the eastern territories, including the appointment of Kinglun Burhagohain as Thao-mung Bo-ngen, later known as the Sadiya-khowa Gohain. In Ahom lexicons, bo is glossed as a salt-mine, and ngen as silver, so Thao-mung-Bo-ngen essentially meant "Minister of Salt mines and Silver".

A larger rebellion broke out in 1529. Fighting occurred at Chandangiri, Doithang and Marankao, as well as along the Dibang and Lohit rivers. Chao Shuling was temporarily captured by the rebels before being rescued, and Suhungmung personally proceeded to Sadiya before the uprising was suppressed. In 1550, following the death of the Sadiya-khowa Gohain, a Chutia leader named Kanshapatra declared himself king at Sadiya. Supported by several dissident Ahom princes, he resisted for three years before being defeated and killed in 1553 along with many of his followers. Another rebellion occurred in 1572 under a leader styled Senapati; after being pursued into Kanchai and Pukhurikhana, the Senapati, the chief of Kanchai and numerous Chutias were captured.

Related outbreaks also occurred elsewhere in the former Chutia territories. Rebels killed an Ahom official near the Disang River in 1542, while Chutia forces plundered Ahom settlements at Namrup and Kheram in 1565. In 1665, Chutias joined Miris and Daflas in a revolt on the north bank, and another uprising in 1673 saw Chutia bands attack Miri villages at Rupa and Dimow and resist Ahom authority before being subdued. These recurrent uprisings continued for nearly a century and a half after the fall of the Chutia kingdom before the region and its population were more fully incorporated into the Ahom administrative system.

17th-century Frontier

During the reign of Jayadhwaj Singha, Miri villages that indulged in lawless activities were suppressed in 1665. Also, several Miri villages were reduced by Gadadhar Singha in 1683. In 1697, a great earthquake devastated Sadiya, in which many hills crumbled down. These events may, however, have referred to the broader historical region of Sadiya, which included other areas such as Dhemaji. Paleoseismological evidence associates the 1697 event with surface rupture along the eastern Himalayan front near Himebasti, located at the exit of the Subansiri River, approximately 130 km west of Pasighat, rather than locating its origin at the modern-day Sadiya region itself. In Ahom usage, moreover, Miri groups associated with the former Sadiya state were known as Sadiyal Miris, indicating that “Sadiya” could also carry a broader political or regional meaning.

Khamti Ascendancy

In 1799, the Khamtis in league with the Phakials, Miris, Mishmis, Muluks, Khanghak, Pani Naras and Abors, created disturbance in Sadiya but were suppressed with harsh measures by Purnananda Burhagohain and were widely dispersed. Khamtis, after their suppression in 1799, remained subdued for a time.

During the Burmese invasion the Phakials, which included Tai Khamti, Tai Khamyang, Tai Phakial, Tai Turung, Tai Aiton were asked by the Burmese army to return to Mogaung in Burma. The Khamtis in allegiance with Singphos, ousted the last Sadiya Khowa Gohain, Govinda Gohain in 1810–11. From 1811, the Khamti chief Chao Salan Gohain became the new Sadiya-Khowa Gohain and later assisted in the Burmese invasion of Assam and in 1835 when Chao Salan Gohain died, Chao Rang Pha succeeded the Sadiya-Khowa Gohainship till its annexation by the British in 1839. The British after their occupation of Assam in 1825, found that the Sadiya tract was entirely under Khamti control.

British period

Sadiya was the extreme north-east frontier station of the British Raj, in the Lakhimpur district of Eastern Bengal and Assam regions. On the opposite bank is a railway station that used to connect with the Assam-Bengal line of that era. Sadiya had been garrisoned by detachments of native infantry and military police, and was the base of a chain of outposts. There had a bazaar, to which the hill-men beyond the frontier—Mishmis, Abors, and Khamtis—used to bring down rubber, wax, ivory, and musk, to barter for cotton cloth, salt and metal goods. In 1943–44 there was a United States Army Air Force (USAAF) field at Sadiya which hosted the 89th Fighter Squadron of the 80th Group, headquartered at Nagaghuli, now Chabua Air Base of the Indian Air Force. Sadiya today serves as one of the district headquarters for the Indian Red Cross Society.

In 1882, Francis Jack Needham was appointed Assistant Political Agent for the British authorities after having served in the region as an assistant Superintendent of Police since 1876. He finally retired from service in 1905 after spending his life exploring above the Brahmaputra River and writing a treatise on the grammar of Miri, Singpho, and Khamti languages. He was awarded the Gill Memorial Medal in 1887 and made a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1889. His main purpose in life was exploration, partly in order to try and discover the source of the Brahmaputra River. His award of the Gill Memorial Medal and F.R.G.S. was for penetrating the Zayul Valley and into Tibet from Assam.

Trade and communications

Sadiya occupied a strategic position at the eastern end of the Brahmaputra Valley, close to routes crossing the eastern Himalayas and the ranges separating Assam from Upper Burma. Three routes were described from Sadiya towards Tibet: through the Dihang or Tsangpo valley, through the Dibang valley, and through the Lohit valley into Zayul. Other routes and trading connections extended southeastwards towards Hukawng and the Shan states of Upper Burma. A route reconstructed by Laichen (2000) ran from Bhamo to Mogaung, continued through the Hukawng Valley and across the Patkai range to Bisa, and from there reached Sadiya. These routes connected in turn with the overland network extending eastwards towards Yunnan. In the wider regional context, D. G. E. Hall identified a northerly overland route connecting India and China through Assam, Upper Burma and Yunnan.

Control of these routes contributed to the political importance of Sadiya. During the period of the Chutia kingdom, its rulers exercised authority by regulating eastward trade and the movement of people between Assam, Tibet and southern China. Archaeological evidence indicates that some of these eastern routes were already strategically important during this period. A fortified earthen enclosure at Tindolong near Tezu, assigned approximately to the fourteenth–fifteenth century, stood on the principal route leading from Sadiya and Bhismaknagar towards Parshuram Kund along the Lohit River. Its position and defensive features have been interpreted as indicating that it served as a post for maintaining vigilance along the route.

Other archaeological evidence points to wider eastern connections. Kaolin (China clay) pottery recovered from Bhismaknagar has been interpreted as evidence of early cultural contact with China and the transmission of ceramic ideas into Northeast India. The eastern Himalayan exchange network also included Mishmi teeta (Coptis teeta), a medicinal root which was already part of pre-Company commerce and was used in both Indian and Chinese medical traditions. The surviving evidence does not, however, establish that all goods travelling along the wider Assam–Burma–Yunnan network necessarily passed directly through the town of Sadiya. The commercial and strategic significance of these eastern connections continued after the Chutia kingdom was annexed. Laichen (2000) notes that the conquest brought the Ahoms into closer contact with the Miris, Abors, Daflas and Mishmis, through whom metals such as copper and silver could be obtained from China, while the new territories also gave them possession of the brine springs of Sadiya.

More detailed descriptions of the trade at Sadiya survive from the early nineteenth century. John M'Cosh described its commerce as rapidly increasing and listed gold, silver, amber, musk, ivory, Khamti daos, Chinese and Burmese manufactured articles, poisons and regional dyestuffs among the commodities passing through its market. He also recorded that traders from the surrounding hills descended to Sadiya during the cold season with musk, animal skins, ivory, copper vessels from Tibet and other products, which they exchanged for cattle, beads and goods from the plains.

R. Boileau Pemberton recorded that four Marwari merchants had established themselves at Sadiya under British protection. They imported broadcloth, muslin and other textiles, together with salt, tobacco, betel nut, rice, opium, liquor and household goods, and bartered them with the surrounding communities for gold, ivory, silver, amber, musk, daos, Burmese cloth and Chinese boxes. Pemberton further observed that this trade was gradually extending across the mountains towards the Hukawng Valley in Upper Burma. M'Cosh also noted that much of the silver circulating in Assam was imported from China as bullion and served as a medium in the wider commerce between Assamese and Chinese traders.

Sadiya was also an important centre of indigenous salt production. Francis Hamilton, whose account was compiled between 1807 and 1814, recorded an "important mine of salt" in the province of Sadiya which yielded about 40,000 rupees annually to the royal treasury. Salt was produced from brine collected in excavated pools and evaporated by boiling, after which it was transported to Jorhat in the joints of large bamboos. Hamilton described the salt as purer, though more expensive, than that imported from Bengal, and noted that it provided an important alternative supply when the Bengal trade was interrupted. Production of salt in Sadiya was at one time reported to have reached 100,000 maunds. Salt produced from the brine springs of the Tirap region, particularly around Barduria and Namsang, was also carried overland to Sadiya and Jorhat and exchanged with the people of Assam; this traffic continued until regular supplies of salt from Bengal began to arrive through merchants of the East India Company.

Architecture and ruins

The entire area of Sadiya was a well developed city in the medieval times. The ruins like Bhismaknagar, Rukmininagar, Tamreswari temple, Pratimagarh, Bura-buri temple built during the Chutia period.

Tamreswari (Kechai-Khati) Temple

This was the most notable among the temples built by Chutia kings. The temple was dedicated to Kechaikhati (literal meaning: eater-of-raw-flesh), a primordial female tribal deity commonly found among other groups. The other name for Kechaikhaiti is Pishasi meaning "The Elder Daughter". Scholars assert that Kesaikhaiti is equivalent to the Tai-Khamti female deity Nang Hoo Toungh. The deity Pishasi or Kechaikhaiti is considered to be the daughter of Gira-Girasi and the younger sister of Pishadema. The temple was taken care of by the tribal priest known as the Deoris and was worshipped by the Borgaya Khel of the Deoris. When the British visited the temple complex, the main temples has disappeared and only a small square structure remained. The wall and doors of the temple were well designed with beautiful works. There were two giant elephant sculptures with silver tusks at the main door of the complex. The walls were made without any mortar and instead used iron dowels and brackets. The whole temple was surrounded with brick walls and on the western wall there was a place for human sacrifice. Although the temple is now completely submerged under marshy lands due to silt deposition in 1959, previous studies show that the main statues of the temple were built of sandstone and granite. The stone inscription found in the temple reads:

“Shiv-Charan-Prasadat Vridharajatan
Ya-Sri-srimata-Mukta Dharmanarayana
Shri shrimati Digaravasini Ichtaka
Di-Virchit-Prakara-Nivaddha
Krit Agrahainike Saka 1364”

— Tamreswari Wall inscription

The inscription describes that the walls of the temple have been built by the son Mukta Dharmanarayan of the old king (name not specified) in the Saka year 1364 (1442 AD).

The roof of the Tamreswari temple was originally sheeted with copper as mentioned in the Changrung Phukan Buranji (1711 AD), from which the name is derived. In 1848, when Dalton visited the site, he found a stone structure, but the copper roof was already removed. As per T. Block who visited the site in 1905, this square structure in the corner cannot have been the main building inside the complex and the brick wall evidently enclosed some sort of a grand temple in the center which has disappeared with time. According to S.F. Hannay, the temple complex was as near as possible square with the doorway to the west. There was a substantial brick wall, about 4.5 feet thick rising to the height of 8 feet, on the foundation of rudely cut blocks of sandstone. The entrance of the complex was on the west face, where there had been a stone enclosure and door. The ruins of the gateway which remains include the lintel carved on the edge in a chain of lotus flowers, some ornamented small pillars and an elephant statue. The three blocks forming the doorway, each of 7.5 feet long and 2 feet by 18 inches in girth, along with the blocks of the projecting wall, were reddish porphyritic granite of an adamantine hardness. There was another stone gateway at the southeast corner leading to the stream, in the bed of which are several carved and plain blocks of granite and sandstone. According to Debala Mitra(1956), the temple was originally Chaturayatana, i.e. having four shrines, built of sandstone and granite and located in the south-east section of the rectangular brick enclosure, prakara roughly measuring 208 ft by 130 ft. The compound wall was 4 feet wide and 8 feet tall and had a stone gateway on the eastern side. In the floods of 1959, due to deposit of silt in the banks of Paya river the structure was completely submerged in the waters.

Bura-Buri (Gira-Girasi) Than

The Bura-Buri Than is another important temple built by the Chutia kings. It was dedicated to Primordial parents Gira-Girasi or Bura Buri (literal meaning: the-old-ones), which were later sanskritised as Shiva and Sakti. The two deities are also known as Kundil Mama. The temple was looked upon after by tribal priest called the Deoris and was worshipped by the Dibongia khel of the Deoris. Gira-Girasi or Bura-Buri are considered to be a wedded pair and are the parents of Pishasi or Kechaikhaiti and Pishadema. Although the structure has fallen due to natural calamities, the base still remains intact upon which a new temple has been built. The foundation is an octagonal shaped base made of stone with each edge spanning 3.4 meters in length. The temple was built using granite stone and fixed using iron dowels and brackets similar to the ones used in Malinithan and Tamreswari temple. The temple was surrounded by a wall built using bricks of 18–25 cm length and 12–17 cm breadth.

Bhismaknagar Fort

The Bhismaknagar Fort located in Roing is a monument built by Chutia kings with the walls of the fort spread over 10 km². The name is derived from Bhishmaka of Vidarbha, the Hindu lineage created for the Chutias in the 16th-century Rukmimi-harana by Srimanta Sankardeva. The fort incorporates built bricks. A brick with the name of the Chutiya king Lakshminarayan indicates that the fort was repaired during the early 15th-century. The Bhismaknagar central complex extended over an area of 1860 square meters and displays three halls, six ingresses and two extension rooms. There is also a 2 meters high stone wall inside the complex. The architecture of the fort displays medieval culture. While quarrying in the fort, enormous pieces of work of art like potteries, terracotta figurines, terracotta plaques and decorative tiles were recovered.

The city's area is 10 square km. It is surrounded by a wall 4.5 meters high and 6 meters wide made using granite stone (6–9 courses) and bricks on the east, west and south directions. In the north, the Mishmi hills provided a natural barrier. Although very less excavation has been carried out by the Arunachal government, preliminary excavations have revealed three tanks and two gates in the eastern and western directions.

The Bhismaknagar central complex extended over an area of 1860 square meters and displays three halls, six ingresses and two extension rooms. There is also a 2 meters high stone wall inside the complex. The architecture of the fort displays the medieval culture. While quarrying the fort the enormous pieces of work of art like potteries, terracotta figurines, terracotta plaques and decorative tiles were preserved.

Rukmini Nagar

In the hills north of Roing lie scattered some old brick structures, mainly between the Chidu and Chimri villages situated at an altitude of about 305 m. The local people, the Idu Mishmi, were desirous of giving an Idu word to the name, and hence it came to be called Rukmini Nati (nati—the Idu word for bricks). An exploration-cum-excavation work, undertaken by the Research Department of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh, to study the ruins, has thrown some light on the antiquities. In course of the progress of work, which continued from January 1973 to April 1974, excavation of two mounds at Chimri, II km from Roing, unearthed two rooms, 10x10 m and 10x12 m respectively built on a slope, at a distance of 14 m from each other. The contents dug out from inside the walls of the rooms were of river-borne materials, a fact which suggests that they were destroyed by floods. The potsherds resembling those of Bhismaknagar in shape, fabric and technique that were unearthed bear ample evidence to the extension to this area of the same culture as of Bhismaknagar.

The other archaeological sites in this area are located (I) near Chidu Inspection Bungalow, (2) at Cheko Nati between Chidu and Chimri and (3) in the hills north of Chimri. No relics, however, could be found at the first two sites, although potsherds at Chidu and brick walls, steps, etc. at Cheko Nati were reported to have been seen earlier. The third site north of Chimri is situated at a high altitude of about 610 m. Not a single brick found there was in alignment, and everything seemed destroyed. The situation of all the four sites on a hilly terrain suitable for defence indicate that they are parts of a single complex representing a fort which extended from Chidu to Chimri. It is probable that the main centre of this complex was at Cheko Nati. Another archaeological site called Duku Limbo is on the left bank of the Dibang at'the foot of Elopa hill. The brickbats found at this site suggest that the Brismaknagar culture had extended to this point.

Tezu Fort

An old Mud Fort in the Tindolong area, six km from Tezu, was explored in 1972. It falls on the main road from Sadiya to Tezu. The area of the fort, enclosed by earthen ramparts—365.76 m X 350.52 m, is square in shape. The rampart is eight ft high, and equally broad at the top with sloping sides. On both the -inner and outer sides of the rampart run two ditches about 6 m wide. There is a prominent mound, circular in shape (diameter 30.48 m approximately) and about 3 m in height, almost at the centre of the enclosure. The mound appears to be a cavalier for lookout purposes. Some potsherds found at this site are too fragmentary to bear any conclusive evidence. It may, however, be assumed that the Mud Fort linked by the route from Bhismaknagar to Parshuram Kund was probably associated with the early culture that flourished in and around Sadiya and Bhismaknagar.

The complex seems to represent a defensive mud-fort or redoubt of a modest dimension unlike the fortified city of Bhismakanagara. It was suitable for a small band of soldiers to maintain vigilance against the enemies from their hide-outs inside jungle especially in guerilla warfare, the normal practice in the region. Scarp and counter-scarp provided by the rampart and ditches immensely strengthened the defence in the topography of the country. Strategic considerations are palpable from the situation of the fort on principal route from Sadiya and Bhismaknagar to Parshuram Kund facing the Lohit river, perhaps to keep watch on the enemy from its left bank around Chowkham and hence the position of the mound meant for this purpose nearer the river. The fort has been assigned roughly to a period about the 14th–15th century.

Geography

Sadiya is located at 27°50′N 95°40′E / 27.83°N 95.67°E. It has an average elevation of 123 m (404 ft). It is the only area of Assam where the newly described subspecies of hoolock gibbon, which is known as Mishmi Hills hoolock H. h. mishmiensis occurs.

Politics

Sadiya is part of Lakhimpur (Lok Sabha constituency). Name of the assembly constituency is 126-Sadiya LAC.

Sadiya is one of the three Sub-Divisions of Tinsukia District. Chapakhowa is the centre of Sadiya. Sadiya is located in the Tinsukia district of Assam, and the legislative constituency contains 126 members of the legislative assembly. The only town under the Sadiya assembly constituency is Chapakhowa town, with 10305 number of total population. According to the 2011 census, Schedule Caste (SC) living in Sadiya is 2974, of which 1516 are male and 1458 are female, and Schedule Tribe (ST) residing in Sadiya is 25167, of which 12908 are male and 12259 are female.