17 attempts — the story of Lachit Borphukan
Who is Lachit Borphukan?
The first thing that most of us recall when we hear of the term 17 attempts is that of the battles and raids by Mahmud of Ghazni on India. There are versions and versions of the 17 attempts — most of them hopelessly wrong in their erroneous portrayal to show how unsuccessful the Mahmud was. But today, we are not talking about Ghazni’s raids in India. Instead we will be talking about how one of the world’s largest, richest and most successful kingdoms, ruled by a highly ambitious and fierce ruler, made seventeen unsuccessful attempts at gaining foothold of a much smaller independent state. And eventually gave up.
In this episode of Masala History by Siva, travel with me once again to the region that usually is sadly never considered extensively even in the present, leave alone in history classes. Learn about the how a smalltime Kingdom was so successful they were in keeping the world’s largest and richest kingdom at bay — another one of those extremely important events that our history textbooks tend to give a miss. Sit in your time machines and buckle up, setting the time dial to 1671 CE, as we head to the city of Saraighat, near modern day Guwahati in Assam.
Every year on December 2, the people of Assam celebrate what is known as Sukhpaa Divox (Assam day). This is to commemorate the founder of the Ahom kingdom, that ruled the independent Assam state for over 600 years until eventually being colonised by the British in 1826 CE. As with most legends around founders of dynasties, Sukhpaa was considered the descendant of the God Khunlung and was the Crown Prince of Mong Mao (in modern day Yunnan province of China). In search of establishing a kingdom, Sukhpaa settled in modern day Assam establishing his royal seat.
By early 16th century, King Suhungmung defeated all the neighbouring kingdoms and established Ahom as the indisputable authority on the region. The first set of invasions from the Moghal kingdom happened under King Suhungmung’s reign when Babur’s forces invaded the Ahom region using their naval fleet on the Brahmaputra & Burai rivers. While Ahoms faced few initial losses, overall they ended up driving Moghals away and capturing many soldiers as prisoners, eventually giving rise to a strong Islamic craftsmen society within their borders.
Fast forward to the mid 17th century. By then Muhi-ud-din Aurangazeb Alamgir had ascended the Moghal throne and he deputed his loyal friend from Golconda, Mir Jumla to deal with his brother Prince Shah Shuja, who had retreated to Bengal. While Mir Jumla dealt severe blows to Shah Shuja, in addition he also got the entire eastern part of the Indian sub-continent under his control. One of the places he was able to successfully win over was Guwahati. After victory, Mir Jumla and the Ahom King Sutamla Jayadhwaj Singha signed what was called as the Treaty of Ghilajharighat on 23 Jan 1663, where the Ahom were forced to accept Mughal suzerainty.
Sometime afterward King Supangmung Chakradwaj Singha ascended the throne of the Ahom Kingdom. He was fiercely proud of his royal stature and felt highly disrespected by Aurangazeb, when the latter sent him a robe of honour on his coronation, but had him wear it in front of the envoys as a mark of respect! The King decided that it was time to win back the lost territories and the pride and appointed our hero — Commander Lachit Borphukan to the job.
By then, the Mughal dynasty was single handedly the wealthiest, mightiest kingdom in the entire world. Abdul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Mohammad Aurangazeb, the Baadshah of the Great Mohgul Empire, ruled an area of over 4 million square miles, 160 million subjects and with a revenue of 450 million dollars — about 10 times the revenue of his contemporary Louis XIV of France. Under his reign, India became the largest economy in the World. Trained in humanities and military skills, the Commander Lachit Borphukan set about his job systematically. He took a couple of years to assemble and train the forces that were needed to take on the mighty Mughal empire.
In summer of 1667, King Supangmung presented Lachit with the golden sword as he roared forward. Defeating multiple armies from the Moghals along the way, Lachit Borphukan’s forces eventually met Aurangazeb’s forces at the Battle of Saraighat. From September 1667, the naval battle went on with Lachit’s forces gaining upper hand. And by mid November of that year, the Ahom forces reclaimed Guwahati. When Aurangazeb was informed of the loss of the city, he immediately deputed Mir Ram Singh, the king of Amber to defeat the Assamese army. (For those of you who love some masala, it is to be noted that King Ram Singh helped the great Maratha Shivaji escape from Aurangazeb’s imprisonment in 1666. And as a “punishment”, he was sent on this expedition with his army to fight the Ahoms). Mir Ram Singh and his extremely large army of over 70000 troops eventually reached Saraighat in February 1669.
When Lachit surveyed the extremely large Mughal army he is supposed to have wept that this could potentially mean the end of the Ahom kingdom — he resolved that simply cannot occur while he was still commander. For over a year, the Moghal forces and Lachit’s forces were engaged in 16 battles, in rough terrains, hilly regions and the rivers. Aurangazeb was upset at the dragging wars and sent more reinforcements via Shaista Khan, the governor of Bengal. Ram Singh was growing tired of the war and attempted diplomatic efforts — none were trusted by Ahom as they knew better that Ram Singh himself didn’t enjoy the fullest confidence of the Moghal Emperor. Ram Singh then tried creating unrest in the Ahom army by creating a gossip that Lachit had taken a bribe of one hundred thousand rupees to switch sides. The rumor was sealed by sending an arrow with this information to the Ahom camp. When the news reached the King Chakradwaj Singha, he started doubting Lachit’s loyalty, but it was quickly put to rest by his wise ministers.
Finally in March 1671 CE Aurgazeb sent more reinforcements and a clear message that Ram Singh was to destroy & plunder the Ahoms — not try diplomatic efforts or be friends. With this, the battling armies met for one last time in what is now called the Battle of Saraighat. The Moghals were strong, advanced and outnumbered the Ahoms. The naval battle went in favor of the Moghal invaders and Lachit’s forces had to retreat. Soldiers started deserting the battlefield and some switched sides. This is when Lachit jumped into the battle himself. Leading from the front, with 7 boats on the Brahmaputra proudly proclaiming to his soldiers “If you want to flee, flee. The king has given me a task here and I will do it well. Let the Mughals take me away. You report to the king that his general fought well following his orders”. He was injured, weak and tired — and yet he fought valiantly, side by side with his soldiers. And this act of courage, bravery & loyalty rallied the Ahom soldiers back. The Ahom armies decisively defeated the Moghal forces and made them retreat well beyond the western borders of the Ahom Kingdom.
The battle was won by a single person. The losing commander Ram Singh acknowledging his defeat, noted “Glory to the king! Glory to the counselors! Glory to the commanders! Glory to the country! One single individual leads all the forces! Even I, Ram Singh, being personally on the spot, have not been able to find any loophole and an opportunity!” — such was the respect commanded by Lachit Borphukan even from his enemy leader. While the Moghals did make feeble attempts to invade Guwahati after Lachit’s death, the Ahoms managed to keep their kingdom intact and independent until the British takeover in 1826 CE.
Every year on November 24, the state of Assam celebrates Lachit Divas to commemorate his victory at Battle of Saraighat. Also, every year, the best cadet graduating from the prestigious NDA (National Defence Academy) is awarded the Lachit Borphukan gold medal, celebrating his loyalty and bravery.
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