The Sootia Kingdom (1187–1673) (also Chutam, Xodiya, Tiura)
was an early medieval state in the present eastern Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It
extended over the present districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh,
parts of Jorhat, Sibsagar, Sonitpur in Assam;
and East Siang, Subansiri, Lower
Dibang, Lohit districts
in Arunachal Pradesh[4] and
controlled the eastern trade and migration of people to and from Tibet, Southern China and
Assam.[5]
Among the Chutia kings was Gaurinarayan (Ratnadhwajpal), son of
Birpal the legendary founder of the kingdom. He brought many other Chutia
groups into his kingdom. In 1224, Ratnadhwajpal defeated another Chutia king
named Bhadrasena, the king of Swetagiri, and conquered the area between Subansiri and
Sissi rivers, i.e. present-day Dhemaji district. In
1228, he went on another campaign to further expand his kingdom and subjugate
the Chutia king Nyayapal (ruling the areas between Biswanath and
Subansiri,i.e. present-day Biswanath and Lakhimpur districts)
and marched toward Kamatapur, where he formed an alliance with the Kamata ruler
by marrying a princess. Then he marched to Dhaka, and made
friends with the Gauda ruler. The hostilities with the Ahoms began
when the Chutia Kingdom expanded to the south during which the Ahom king, Sutuphaa, was
killed by the Chutia king during a friendly negotiation. This conflict
triggered a number of battles between the two sides which saw the great loss of
men and money. The simmering dispute often flared till 1524 when the Ahoms
struck the Chutia Kingdom at its weakest state, took Sadiya and killed the then
king, Nityapal. The Ahoms established their rule by instituting the position of
Sadiyakhowa Gohain, a newly constituted position of frontier-governor in
charge of Sadiya. But the Chutia had dispersed to frontier regions, and
continued raids against the Ahoms. It finally ended in 1673 when they fell
under the domination of the Ahoms.
Chutias belong to the Boro-Garo linguistic
group, one of the Bodo-Kachari
peoples.[6] Chutias
are inhabitants of Upper Assam who established political power in Sadiya and
adjoining areas falling within modern Arunachal Pradesh It became the
dominant power in eastern
Assam in the 12th century and remained so until the 16th
century with its domain from Parshuram Kund in
the east to Vishwanath[9] in the
west.
The Ahom
dynasty (1228–1826) ruled the Ahom kingdom in present-day Assam, India for nearly 598 years. The dynasty was established
by Sukaphaa, a Shan prince
of Mong Mao who
came to Assam after crossing the Patkai mountains.
The rule of this dynasty ended with the Burmese invasion of Assam and
the subsequent annexation by the British East India Company following
the Treaty of Yandabo in
1826.
In external medieval chronicles
the kings of this dynasty were called Asam Raja, whereas the
subjects of the kingdom called them Chaopha (Chao-ruler, Pha-heaven),
or Swargadeo (the equivalent in Assamese).
The office of the Ahom king, was
reserved exclusively for the descendants of the first king Sukaphaa (1228–1268)
who came to Assam from Mong
Mao in 1228. Succession was
by agnatic primogeniture.
Nevertheless, following Rudra
Singha's deathbed injunction four of his
five sons became the king one after the other. The descendants of Sukaphaa were
not eligible for ministerial positions—a division of power that was followed
till the end of the dynasty and the kingdom. When the nobles asked Atan Burhagohain to
become the king, the Tai priests rejected the idea and he desisted from
ascending the throne.
The king could be appointed only
with the concurrence of the patra mantris (council of
ministers—Burhagohain, Borgohain, Borpatrogohain, Borbarua and Borphukan). During three periods in the
14th century, the kingdom had no kings when acceptable candidates were not
found. The ministers could remove unacceptable kings, and it used to involve
executing the erstwhile king.
The Ahom kings were given divine
origin. According to Ahom tradition, Sukaphaa was a descendant of Khunlung, the
grandson of the king of the heavens Leungdon, who had come down from the
heavens and ruled Mong-Ri-Mong-Ram. During the reign of Suhungmung (1497–1539) which saw the
composition of the first Assamese Buranji and increased Hindu
influence, the Ahom kings were traced to the union of Indra (identified with Lengdon) and Syama (a low-caste woman), and
were declared Indravamsa kshatriyas, a lineage created exclusively
for the Ahoms.[2] Suhungmung adopted the
title Swarganarayan, and the later kings were called Swargadeo's
(Lord of the heavens). It was during his reign that the Buranji titled Sri Sri
Swarganarayan Maharajor Jonmokotha was written wherein the source and
lineage of the Ahom kings was connected to the Hindu God, Indra, Lord of the Heaven.
Dam-Phi (Dam: dead; Phi:
god) is the worship of ancestors as gods and it is performed either in
individual households (Dam-Phi) or publicly (Me-Dam-Me-Phi). The dead in Ahom society
becomes a Dam (literally, 'spirit of the dead').[13] They are held in awe (fear,
wonder, and reverence); worshipped and propitiated for protection.[14] After the fourteenth
generation a Dam becomes a god (Phi) and is worshiped
by the whole community.
The Ahoms migrated from
present-day Myanmar to the Brahmaputra valley in the 13th-century. They settled
in with the locals initially and created a new state; and in the 16th-century
they vastly expanded their power and territory by occupying the Chutiya kingdom in
Upper Assam, removing the Baro-Bhuyan confederacy in Nagaon and
Darrang,and pushing the Dimasa kingdom further south. As the
kingdom pushed west it came under attack from Turkic and Afghan rulers; and on
one occasion the Ahoms general Ton Kham Borgohain pursued retreating invaders
through a nascent Koch kingdom and reached the Karatoya
river—and since then they began to see themselves as the rightful heir of the
erstwhile Kamarupa kingdom.
From the beginning the
relationship between the Ahoms and the Mughals was hostile and that was due
to certain factors, such as, Mughal alliance with Koch Bihar, the western enemy of the Ahoms
and secondly the growing advance of the Mughals in north-eastern frontier which
alarmed them. While the Mughals supported Lakshminarayan, son of Nara Narayan of Koch Behar, the Ahom
king Sukhaamphaa (1552–1603) entered into alliance by marrying the daughter of
Lakshminarayan's cousin Raghudeva, the son of Chilarai who became the ruler of the
eastern part of the kingdom, Koch Hajo which approximately included
the modern districts of Goalpara, Barpeta, Kamrup, Darrang and a part of Sonitpur (up to Bharali). This dynastic alliance between
Ahom and Koch was renewed afterwards by the next Ahom king Susenghphaa (Pratap Singha, 1603-1641)
who married a daughter of Raja Parikshit. It is true that with a view to satisfy the territorial ambitions
of his own nephew, Nar Narayan allowed partition of his kingdom. But
unfortunately, in spite of being pacified, Raghudeva and his successors remained
all along hostile towards the Koch royal house and this rivalry and antagonism
between these two frontier states invited intervention and aggression of their
two mighty neighbourhood powers: the Mughals on the west and Ahoms on the east.
From the time the Mughals appeared
in the north-eastern frontier, a state of indirect rivalry and hostility began
between the Mughals and the Ahoms. After the final defeat of Parikshit (1613)
the first organised Mughal attack upon Assam was
made with a view to conquer that kingdom. It was the outcome of the aggressive
imperialism of the Mughals. "A desire for political supremacy and
territorial expansion appears to have been the guiding motives of the
Mughals." Boundary
disputes and the trade rivalries
appear to have complicated the situation and political issues precipitated the
conflict. After the extinction of the Kamrup monarchy, the Mughals came to
regard the territory east of Barnadi up to Singiri as part of the conquered region and hence asserted their
political right over it. Ahoms strongly resented this claim. "Moreover the
rich natural resources of the Assam valley and the prosperous kingdom of Kamrup
in lower Brahmaputra valley, abounding in elephants and aromatic plants excited
the cupidity of the Mughals and they were determined to force open the door of
Assam."[1]
The first organised open encounter
with the Ahom kingdom was the well-deserved punishment meted out by the Ahom
government to an unauthorised trader from Mughal India named Ratan Singh. His
illicit trade was detected, his goods were confiscated and he was expelled from
Assam. The Mughals got the necessary pretext for war and an imperial army was at once detached in 1615 under the
command of Abu Bakr and Raja Satrajit of Bhusna. The imperial army advanced towards Barnagar, the old capital of Kamrup and
next moved to Hajo and numerous outposts were raised in the surrounding region.
In November 1615, Abu Bakr suddenly fell upon Kajali, the Ahom frontier post on
the southwest. After a short skirmish, the Ahoms were defeated and leaving
their war boats and the fort, they fled. Flushed with easy success the Mughals
indulged in a series of aggressive measures against the Ahoms. The Ahom king
then fortified the fort of Samdhara with a view to check the advance of the Mughals. Meanwhile,
the Mughals had reached the confluence of the Brahmaputra and the Bharali facing Samdhara. After a
month of inaction, the Mughals achieved a great triumph. They transported their
horses across the Bharali and made a violent assault on the Ahom stockade on
the left bank. The Ahoms thus suffered another discomfiture. The Ahom king sent
a strong detachment to the Ahom commanders at Samdhara and exhorted them to
fall on the enemy and fight to finish. The Ahoms gained an initial success and
reoccupied the stockade at the mouth of Bharali. The imperialists were taken by
complete surprise and suffered heavy casualties. Thus in spite of the initial
success, the maiden attempt of the Mughals upon Assam ended in a disastrous
failure. They suffered a colossal loss in men and money besides military
prestige.[2]
After the first disastrous failure
in Assam, the Mughals henceforth continued to follow a defensive and
conciliatory policy in regards to the Assam state. Because of their heavy
engagement in Kamrup, the Mughals henceforward were very cautious not to offend
their mighty neighbour. But the Ahoms being encouraged at their recent
brilliant success continued to pursue hostile policy against the Mughals and
proceeded to take advantage of the prevailing political confusion in Kamrup.
The Assam disaster encouraged seditions and rebellions in
Mughal occupied Kamrup. The Ahoms encouraged the Kamrup rebels and thereby
caused hardship to the Mughals. There was hardly any open and direct conflict
between the two powers as such. In the year 1618 CE the Ahom king Pratap
Singha installed Balinarayan, the
brother of Parikshit as King of Darrang, stationed 3000 Chutia troops
at Mangaldai[3] and continued to help him
for some time to reoccupy Kamrup. But in spite of Ahom king's material
assistance, Balinarayan ultimately failed to reconquer Kamrup. The Ahoms
interfered in Kamrup for the third time on behalf of the hill chiefs of
Dhanikal in 1619. The hill chiefs being sick of Mughal subjection made a bold
attempt to seize the hill fort of Ranihat and
they sought the help of the Ahom king. The Ahom responded to the appeal and
sent a large detachment to their assistance. After hard fighting, the Mughals
courted defeat and were compelled to evacuate Ranihat hotly pursued by the
Ahoms.
The reign of Shah
Jahan (1628–1655) marks a new
epoch in Ahom-Mughal relations… the asylum given by the Ahom king to the
hill-chiefs of Dhanikal who had sought his protection against the ill-treatment
of the Bengal Subahdar Qasim Khan Chishti.
The second factor, which precipitated the crisis, was the wickedness and
treachery of Satrajit, the Thanadar of Pandu who
made a common cause with Balinarayan and instigated him to take advantage of
the change of governor in Bengal in order to attack Kamrup. The invasion of
Kamrup by Balinarayan compelled the Mughals to resort to arms. The Ahoms gained
initial success. A fierce encounter took place, which ultimately ended with the
total discomfiture of the imperialists. Thereupon, the Mughal fell back to
their frontier post of Hajo. The Ahoms laid siege to
Hajo and fighting continued for some time. At last both sides having been
thoroughly worn out, the fighting was stopped for some time.
The Ahom-Mughal conflict started
afresh towards the end of December 1636. The Mughals entered Kamrup proper. The
decisive defeat inflicted by the imperialists on Balinarayan and the Ahoms in
November 1637 turned the tide of fortune in favour of imperialists. The whole
of Kamrup was cleared and re-annexed to the Pan-Mughalia. The third round of
conflict began soon. The imperialists advanced up the Brahmaputra and halted
opposite to Samdhara in October 1638; severe fighting ensued. Although the
faint-hearted Ahom admiral retired from battlefield, the garrison in the fort
of Samdhara offered such a gallant defence that the Mughals had to give up the
contest with great loss of men and materials.[4]
Both sides became eager for peace.
Hence a treaty of peace was signed in February 1639. According to the Treaty of Asurar Ali between
the Ahom general Momai Tamuli Borbarua, and the Mughal commander Allah Yar
Khan, western Assam commencing from Gauhati passed
into the hands of Mughals.[5] The Ahom king, for the first
time, acknowledged formally the Mughal overlordship in Kamrup, the Mughals
acknowledged the independence of the Ahom king and gave up all pretensions to
the territories east of Barnadi on the north and Kalang on
the south and the Ahom king agreed not to interfere in Kamrup. Besides trade
and commercial intercourses were resumed.[6][7]
The Ahom-Mughal relation following
the peace of 1639 was far from satisfactory. However, it would be wrong to
assume that both sides strictly honoured the peace treaty of 1639. The keynote
of the political history of this period is the endless criminations and
recriminations of the Mughals and the Assamese on various rounds, such as,
'Kheda' operations, trade and commercial intercourse, boundary disputes, extradition of
political offenders, and violation of personal liberty and privileges of the
subject people. On these issues frictions continued mounting without, of
course, any open armed-clash. It was really a period of armed peace between the
Mughals and the Ahoms.
In 1648, the Mughal Faujdar of
Gauhati sent a message of congratulations to the Ahom king Jayadhwaj (Sutamla) on his succession.
But, Jayadhwaj Singha (1648–1663), taking advantage of the emperor Shah Jahan's
illness and the war of succession, expelled the Mughals from Gauhati, and
chased them down beyond the river Manaha (Manas). He also devastated the territory
near Dacca and
carried off to Assam a large number of Mughal subjects as captives.
Aurangzeb after ascending on the
throne of Delhi ordered Mir Jumla to invade Cooch Behar and
Assam and re-establish Mughal prestige in eastern India. After having occupied
Koch Behar had also declared its independence. Mir Jumla entered Assam in the
beginning of 1662. He easily repulsed the feeble resistance offered by the
Assamese at the garrisons between Manaha and Guwahati. He occupied one garrison after
another, and Pandu, Guwahati, and Kajali fell into the hands of the Mughals
practically unopposed.
The easy success of Mir Jumla was
due to dissatisfaction in the Assam camp. The leading commanders and the
officers were the exclusive monopolies of the Tai-Ahom. But. King Jayadhwaj
Singha had appointed a Kayastha as
viceroy of Western Assam and commander-in-chief of
the Ahom army despatch against Mir Jumla leading to resentment among the ranks.
This officer was Manthir Bharali Barua of Bejdoloi family. He was also appointed
Parbatia Phukan. This appointment caused bitter resentment among the
hereditary Ahom nobles and commanders and the resistance which they offered to
the invaders was neither worthy of the efficient military organisation of the
Ahoms nor of the reputation which they acquired by repeated success in their
enterprises against foreigners, and Mir Jumla's march into Assam was an
uninterrupted series of triumph and victories through the real secret of his
success, namely, defection in Ahom camp, which has not been touched upon by any
historian of the expedition.
The Ahoms, however, recovered
their senses when the hostile force reached the neighbourhood of Kaliabor. They
concentrated their defence at Simalugarh and Samdhara. In February 1662, Mir
Jumla laid siege to Simalugarh and after the severe hand-to-hand fight, the
Ahoms abandoned the fort and took to flight. The Ahom forces at Samdhara on the
opposite bank, being unnerved by the fall of Simalugarh, left their charge
without any opposition worth the name. After this brilliant success, Mir Jumla
entered the Ahom capital Garhgaon on 17 March 1662. The Ahom king Jayadhwaj
took shelter in the eastern hills abandoning his capital and all his treasures.
Immense spoils fell into the hands of the Mughal Empire – 82 elephants, about
300,000 coins in gold and silver, 675 big guns, about 4750 maunds of gunpowder in boxes, 7828 shields, 1000 odd ships, and 173 stores
of rice.
But, Mir Jumla conquered only the
soil of Ahom capital and neither the king nor the country. The rainy season was fast approaching and so
Mir Jumla halted there and made necessary arrangements for holding the
conquered land. Communications with the imperial fleet at Lakhau as well as
with Dacca were
arranged. But the torrential rain and violence of the rivers caused immense
hardship to the Mughals and the communication with the Mughal fleet and Lakhau
and with Dacca became completely disrupted.
The Ahoms took the fullest
advantage of the unspeakable hardship of the Mughals. With the progress
of monsoon, the Ahoms easily recovered all the country east of Lakhau.
Only Garhgaon and Mathurapur remained in the possession of Mughals. The Ahoms were not
slow to take advantages of the miserable plight of the Mughals. The Ahom king
came out of his refuge and ordered his commanders to expel the invaders from
his kingdom. A serious epidemic broke out in the Mughal camp at Mathurapur,
which took away the lives of hundreds of Mughal soldiers. There was no suitable
diet or comfort in the Mughal camp. At last life became unbearable at
Mathurapur and hence the Mughals abandoned it.[10]
By the end of September, the worst
was over. The rains decreased, and flood went down, roads reappeared and communications became easier.
The contact with the Mughal fleet at Lakhau was restored which cheered the
long-suffering Mughal garrison. The Mughal army under Mir Jumla joined the
fleet at Devalgaon. The Ahom king Jayadhwaj Singha took refuge in hill again. But in
December, Mir Jumla fell seriously ill and the soldiers refused to advance any
further. Meanwhile, the Ahom king became extremely anxious for peace. At last a
treaty was concluded at Ghilajharighat in January 1663, according to which the Ahoms ceded western
Assam to the Mughals, promised a war indemnity of three lakhs of rupees and ninety elephants. Besides, the king had to deliver his
only child and daughter Ramani Gabharu, as well as his niece, the daughter of
the Tipam Raja to the harem of the Mughal emperor. Thus, according to the
treaty Jayadhwaj Singha transferred Kamrup to the possession of the Mughals and
promised to pay a heavy war indemnity.[11][12]
The question of prompt payment of
war indemnity of elephants and cash became a source of friction between the
Ahoms and the Mughals.
The first installment was paid by Jayadhwaj promptly. But as soon as Mir Jumla
withdrew from Assam the Ahoms began to default. Jayadhwaj Singha's successor Chakradhwaj Singha (Supangmung, 1663-1670) was against any
payment at all on principle. He shouted out from his throne: – "Death is
preferable to a life of subordination to foreigners". In 1665 the king
summoned an assembly of his ministers and nobles and ordered them to adopt
measures for expelling the Mughals from western Assam, adding—"My
ancestors were never subordinate to any other people; and I for myself cannot
remain under the vassalage of any foreign power. I am a descendant of the
Heavenly King and how can I pay tribute to the wretched foreigners."
A large portion of the war
indemnity still remained undelivered for which the Ahom king had to receive
threatening letters from Syed Firoz Khan,
the new Faujdar at
Guwahati On receiving Firoz Khan's letter the Ahom king made up his mind
to fight.[19] On Thursday, Bhadra 3,
1589 saka near aboutAugust 20, 1667, the Ahom army started
from the capital and sailed down the Brahmaputra in two divisions. They
encamped at Kaliabor, the Vice Regal
headquarters, from where they conducted their war operations against the
Mughals. Syed Firoz Khan, the imperial governor of Guwahati and his army were
not prepared for such an eventuality, with the result that the Ahoms gained a
series of victories over the enemy. The Ahom army on the south bank was
successful in their fighting. Their chief objective was the capture of Itakhuli which
is a small hill on the south bank of the Brahmaputra at Guwahati. On 2 November
1667, Itakhuli and the
contiguous garrison of Guwahati fell into the hands of the Ahoms. The enemy
was chased down to the mouth of the Manaha river, the old boundary between
Assam and Mughal India. The Ahom also succeeded in bringing back the
Assamese subjects who had previously been taken as captives by the Mughals
during the expedition of Mir Jumla. Thus within the short span of two months
the Ahoms succeeded their lost possession and along with it their lost prestige
and glory, this was due to the determination and courage of Ahom king Chakradhwaj Singha. On receiving the news of victory the king cried out-"It is
now that I can eat my morsel of food with ease and pleasure". The success
of the Ahoms in recovering possession of Guwahati and western Assam forms a
momentous chapter in the history of their conflicts with the Mughals.
In December 1667, the Mughal
emperor Aurangzeb received intelligence of the capture of Guwahati by the
Ahoms, and he at once resolved to dispatch a strong army to reestablish Mughal
prestige in North-East frontier. He commissioned Raja Ramsingh I of Amber, son of the distinguished general
Mirza-Raja Jai Singh I, to lead an invasion of Assam. He
was accompanied by Rashid Khan, the ex-Faujdar of Guwahati. Ram Singha
reached the frontier garrison of Rangamati in February 1669. On Ram Singha's
arrival at Rangamati, the Ahom commanders stationed at
Manaha attempted to oppose the advance of the enemy. There were few skirmishes,
but the Assamese could not attain any success.[22] The Assamese were not
prepared for such an eventuality and they left their frontier garrisons and
sailed down to Guwahati.
Also, the Ahoms had not quite
completed their preparations for resisting Ramsingh I’s advance. Lachit Borphukan, the
commander-in-chief of the Ahom camp had realized fully that postponement of the
open encounter would enable him to bring his preparations to perfection in the
light of the enemy’s superior strength. Lachit Borphukan sent the following
message to Ram Singh "Tell Raja Ram Singh that we want to know why he has
come to our country." Firoz Khan, ex-Fauzadar of Guwahatii, now a prisoner
of the Ahoms, was released and Lachit Barphukan sent him to Raja Ram Singh with
the above message.
Ram Singh demanded through Firoz Khan the restoration of the limit fixed in
1639 between Allah Yar Khan and Momai Tamuli Borbarua. By the time he received
this reply Barphukan would rather fight than yield an inch of the territory
which providence had given to his master.
The result was that in the first
two battles of the campaign were fought near Tezpur in the beginning of April
1669. The Ahoms were worsted on both occasions, but they gained a naval battle,
and soon afterwards repulsed the Muhammadans and Ram Singha was compelled to
retire to Hajo where he quarreled with Rashid Khan. Eventually, Ram Singha cut
his tent ropes and ordered him out of the camp. Soon afterwards the
Muhammadans were again defeated near Sualkuchi, both on land and water.
At this juncture, Ramsingh I challenged Chakradhwaj Singha to single combat, and undertook, if he were defeated, to
return with the army to Bengal. The Ahom king declined the invitation, and ordered
his generals to renew their attack. They did so, and won another double
engagement near Sessa. They followed up this success by taking the fort at Agiathuti, but soon afterwards Ram Singha attacked the Ahom army and routed
it, inflicting heavy loss. The Barphukan hurried up with reinforcements, but
his flank was tired and he was obliged to retreat with loss of his ships. Raja
Ram Singha now opened negotiations for peace. The Ahoms were also tired of the
war, and hostilities were suspended for a time. Sporadic engagement
accompanied by proposals of peace continued during 1669 and 1670. From October
1669 to March 1670, Ram Singha withdrew himself from the fight.
In the meantime Ramsingh I sent a letter to the
Barphukan inviting the king of Assam to fight a duel in the presence of the two
hostile armies. But the Ahom king dismissed the insolent challenge by simply
saying—"Ram Singha is a mere servant and he has no umbrella over his head.
So I do not like to fight a duel with such a man." Chakradhvaj Singha
could not hold his patience any longer. In the meantime, the Mughal had then
concentrated their army near Alaboi Hill in the vicinity of Dalibari. A terrible contest ensued on the plains to the south of the
Alaboi Hill. The Ahoms were badly defeated in that battle. The massacre at
Alaboi had terribly upset Lachit Barphukan. Though the Alaboi massacre
meant a serious loss to the Ahoms, it did not confer upon the enemy any
decisive advantage.
But Ram Singha repeated his
demands for the evacuation of Guwahati and reversion to the status quo ante
of the year 1639. The Barphukan remained firm in the position he had previously
maintained. So war was inevitable between the two parties. But when the war was
taking a more critical turn, Chakradhwaj Singha,
the king of Assam died in April 1670. He was succeeded by his brother Udayaditya
Singha (Sunyatphaa, 1670-1672)
Although the negotiations with the
Mughals continued, but Ram Singha suspecting the sincerity of the Barphukan
returned to attack. Udayaditya renewed the war and ordered the Barphukan to
march with 20,000 men from Samdhara to Saraighat. The Ahoms were successful on
land but their navy was forced to retreat. Barphukan arrived with more ships
and Mughal army was beaten and the Ahoms also gained a second land victory. The
Mughals could not stand the dash and fury of the Assamese onset. The Assamese
were fighting for their life and liberty, and the Mughals for the mere luxury
of triumph and territorial expansion. The Barphukan intended to chase them
further still, but he was dissuaded by Achyutanda Doloi. The combat came to an
end, and it was a decisive victory for the Assamese.[34][35] This battle is known in
history as the Battle of Saraighat. Ram Singha weakened by the repeated losses retreated to Rangamati
in March 1671. Hadira opposite to Goalpara became the Ahom frontier outpost.
Thus Mughals were evicted from Kamrup, strong fortifications were constructed
at Guwahati. Thus Ahoms remained in undisturbed possession of their territories
till 1679 A.D
In 1679, during the reign of
Sudoiphaa or Parvatiya Raja, Laluk Barphukan, the Ahom viceroy of Gauhati, and
his brother entered into a conspiracy and invited Muhammad Azam Shah,
the then Nawab
of Bengal (married to his niece Ramani
Gabharu), to take possession of the fort
at Saraighat. Accordingly,
in March Laluk Sola made over Gauhati to the Mughals in return for a promised
reward of four lakhs of rupees and an assurance to support Laluk's candidature
for the throne of Assam.
In 1681, Gadapani was formally installed as
sovereign of Assam under the name Gadadhar Singha (Supaatphaa, 1681-1696). His
first act after taking reign was the dispatch of an army against Mansur Khan, which succeeded in recovering
Gauhati in August 1682 after a decisive encounter at Itakhuli. The Ahoms
expelled Mansur Khan from Gauhati and re-established their possession over the
territories extending up to the river Manaha (Manas). Thus, Manaha (river Manas)
became once more the western boundary of Assam and it remained as such till the
occupation of the western Assam by the British in the year 1824.
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