The Battle of Saraighat was fought between the Mughal forces lead by Raja Ram Singh and the Ahoms lead by Lachit Borphukan, the Ahom governor of Guwahati in 1671. The Mughal army was defeated by a militarily much weaker Ahom army which used a combination of guerrilla tactics, psychological warfare and military intelligence. The defining battle was fought on the river Brahmaputra, which Lachit Borphukan personally lead, in spite of a high fever.

Background

Assam was the only state of India, which defeated successive attempts by Delhi Sultans and Mughal emperors. Starting from the invasion of Bakhtiyar Khilji in early thirteenth century to the invasions of the Mughal armies of Aurangzeb in the late seventeenth century. Assam defeated seventeen such invasions. No doubt the geographical remoteness of Assam was the major factor but no less important was the military leadership and the fighting qualities displayed by the people of Assam.

Of these seventeen invasions there was only one in which the invader achieved some success. This was Mir Jumla 's invasion. Mir Jumla was the Mughal Viceroy at Dhaka. In 1662 as the head of the large Mughal army he advanced up the Brahmaputra into Assam. There was dissension among the Ahoms and they could not put up any worthwhile resistance. The Ahom capital at Gargaon fell to the invader and king Jayadhwaj Singha fled to the hills. Like Napoleon at Moscow, Mir Jumla at Gargoan found that he had won only a pyrrhic victory. The French grand army got, decimated in the severe winter of the Russian steeps. Similarly Mughal army got decimated by monsoon, malaria and dysentery. During its retreat, Mir Jumla died of illness. However before retreating he had imposed a humiliating treaty on the Ahoms . Two Ahom Royal princesses were taken for the Mughal imperial harem. Ahoms had to pay 3 lakhs as war indemnity and an annual tribute of 20 elephants. They also had to cede the western half of their kingdom from Guwahati to Manas river.

Preparations for an All-Out War

After this humiliating defeat, Jayadhwaj Singha died in utter dissatisfaction. At his deathbed, he exhorted his nephew and successor king Chakradhwaj Singha to remove the spear of humiliation from the bosom of the nation (Assam). The new king was determined to retrieve national honour and started making elaborate preparations for recovering territory lost to the Mughals. Stock of food and war material were built up and an expeditionary army organised and trained.

Preparations were complete in 1667 and Lachit Borphukan, as the new commander in chief of the new Ahom army advanced from Gargaon near Sibsagar in upper Assam to Guwahati.

Initial Phase

Lachit Borphukan soon captured the Mughal post in north Guwahati and later the fort in south Guwahati. (Currently the Kamrup Deputy Commissioner's bungalow is situated on this place). Although the Mughal cannons posed a heavy threat to Lachit's army, the cannons failed to charge as a Assamese muslim subordinate of Lachit, Bagh Hazarika poured water into the cannons in the previous night in a secret mission. The Mughal governor was captured along with a large number of soldiers. The Mughals abandoned Guwahati.

Mughal Retaliation

However, Lachit Borphukan anticipated a larger retaliatory attack by the Mughals and he started arranging defenses, obstacles and garhs (meaning earthen walls) around Guwahati. The hillocks around Guwahati and the Brahmaputra river already served as excellent natural barriers against an invading army. Lachit was thorough, sincere and ruthless in carrying out this task. He even did not care to behead his own uncle for negligence in his duty.

The Mughals struck back in March 1669. Raja Ram Singh was the commander in chief of the advancing Mughal army which consisted of 30,000 infantry, 15,000 archers, 18,000 Turkish cavalry, 5,000 gunners and over 1000 cannons besides a large flotilla of boats. Portuguese and other European sailors were employed, to man the fleet. These forces moved up the Brahmaputra from Dhaka to Guwahati. Lachit's spies kept him informed of the progress of Ram Singh 's advance. The Mughals laid siege to Guwahati, which lasted for a little over one year.

Lachit fought from within the barriers knowing that on open ground his small ponies will not stand a chance against the Mughal cavalry on open ground. He led guerrilla attacks against the Mughals and made them suffer a lot of casualties. Although Ram Singh made a lot of efforts which included trying to bribe Lachit, he failed miserably in this stage of war. The north-east Indian monsoon made their task more difficult.

Ahom Setback

However, the Ahom king became impatient and ordered Lachit to attack the Mughals on open ground, mainly because of a misunderstanding after Ram Singhs failed attempt to prove Lachit Borphukan a traitor. Following this order, although reluctantly, Lachit made an attack against the Mughal army in Allaboi . After some initial success in which the Ahoms captured the local Mughal Commander, Mir Nawab , the Ahoms drew the full weight of Mughal cavalry personally led by Ram Singh . The Mughal cavalry decimated the Ahom army on the plains which suffered 10,000 killed. Lachit had taken the precaution of digging a line of defenses at the rear of his advancing, columns to which they could fall back if forced to do so. Thus he managed to extricate the remainder of his forces and moved back into his prepared defenses.

The Battle of Saraighat

The Mughals could not penetrate these defenses and ultimately decided to launch a massive naval assault on the river at Saraighat. They had large boats, a few of them mounting up to sixteen canons. The Ahom soldiers were demoralized after the Allaboi disaster. Their Commander-in-Chief was seriously ill. At the sight of the massive Mughal fleet, they began to loose their will to fight. Some elements commenced retreat.

Lachit was observing this development from his sickbed. He had himself carried on a lotto a boat and with seven boats advanced headlong against the Mughal fleet. This had an electrifying effect on his soldiers. They rallied behind him and a desperate battle ensured on the Brahmaputra. The Ahoms in their small boats cut circles round the bigger but less maneuverable Mughal boats. The river got littered with clashing boats and drowning soldiers. This is the famous Battle of Saraighat.

The Mughals were decisively defeated and they retreated from Guwahati. Ahom territory up to Manas was once again liberated. Thus ended the the battle of Saraighat in a glorious Ahom victory, despite all odds and giving Lachit Borphukan very deservedly legendary fame in Assam who later died of the illness that he had been suffering from.

Postscript

The Mughal Commander-in-Chief, Raja Ram Singh acknowledging his defeat had a special word of praise for the Assamese solder and the Ahom Commander-in-chief. He wrote, "Every Assamese soldier is expert in rowing boats, in shooting arrows, in digging trenches and in wielding guns and cannons. I have not seen such a specimens of versatility in any other part of India."

External Links

• Emulate the spirit and skill of Lachit Borphukan Author: Lt. Gen. S. K. Sinha