emulate the spirit and skill of lachit barphukan

7/25/2019 Emulate the Spirit and Skill of Lachit Barphukan

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Emulate the spirit and skill of Lachit Barphukan

Author: Lt. Gen. S. K. SinhaPublication: Bharatiya Pragna

Date: August 2001

Maharashtra and Assam may be at two opposite ends of our vast and great country but they stand unitedby a common history, a common heritage and a common spirit. During the medieval period theyproduced two great military leaders of our country, Chhatrapati Shivaji in Maharashtra and LachitBarphukan in Assam. It is in the fitness of things that our National Defense Academy, the cradle formilitary leadership is located at the home of the great Shivaji. It is also very appropriate that the statue ofLachit Barphukan is being installed at this Academy. This is not only pays homage to the memory of oneof our great military leaders of medieval India but also underscores national spirit and promotes nationalintegration.

I feel greatly honoured to be here to unveil the statue of Lachit Barphukan. May I take this opportunityto strike a personal note? I received my military training at the Officers Training School Belgaum, when Iroamed over some of the hills, where Shivaji had operated. From my young days, I have been greatlyfascinated by Shivaji's military genius and his devotion to moral values. I have been his ardent admirer.On being commissioned from Belgaum in 1944, I joined my battalion, and then located on the bank ofthe Brahmaputra at Guwahati. There, I learnt about the military exploits of Lachit. This caught byfascination and admiration. His great victory in the battle of Saraighat over the immensely superiorMughal Army, when Mughal imperial power was at its zenith, makes him one of the truly great militaryleaders of medieval India. More than half a century after my posting to Guwahati I took over as

Governor of Assam. It has been my endeavour that the fame of Lachit Barphukan, which had remainedconfined largely to Assam, be also spread to other parts of the country. We have been holding specialfunctions of Lachit Divas in Assam and we have produced a documentary film on this Ahom General. Acassette of this film is being presented to the N DA. The institution of a gold medal named after LachitBarphukan for the best cadet in the officers like qualities and the installation of his statue at this

Academy, are fulfillments of my long cherished desire.

It is interesting to note the connection between Shivaji and Lachit Barphukan. They were nearcontemporaries. Shivaji was some years older. The successful fight put up by Shivaji against Aurangjebbecame a source of inspiration for the Ahoms in Assam. Like the Rajputs under Rana Pratap and theMarathas under Shivaji, the Ahoms under Lachit were fighting against Mughal imperialism to preservetheir respective independence. There was no communal dimension to the battles waged by them. RanaPratap fought a Mughal Army led by Raja Mansingh, Shivaji fought a Mughal Army led by Raja Jai Singhand Lachit fought a Mughal Army led by Raja Ram Singh.

Two key personalities on the Mughal side operating against Lachit had also operated against Shivaji.Shaista Khan, the maternal uncle of Aurangjeb had been the Viceroy of Deccan and was located here atPune when Shivaji had raided his palace. Shaista Khan managed to escape but in the process lost three of


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his fingers to a cut by sword. The same Shaista Khan was now the Mughal Viceroy from Dhaka fromwhere he provided support for the Mughal expeditionary forces moving up to Assam. At the head ofMughal Army was Raja Ram Singh, the son of Raja Jai Singh. At Purandar Jai Singh had fought againstShivaji. After the treaty of Purandar, his father to escort Shivaji to Agra had detained Ram Singh. It wasthe same Ram Singh who was sent as the head of a formidable Mughal Army to invade Assam. Lachit

Barphukan crossed swords with him at Guwahati.

Assam was the only state of India, which defeated successive attempts by Delhi Sultans and Mughalemperors. Starting from the invasion of Bhaktiyar Khilji in early thirteenth century to the invasions ofthe Mughal armies of Aurangzeb in the late seventeenth century. Assam defeated seventeen suchinvasions. 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 wasMir 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 andthey could not put up any worthwhile resistance. The Ahom capital at Gargaon fell to the invader andking Jayadhwaja Singha fled to the hills. Like Napoleon at Moscow, Mir Jumla at Gargoan found that hehad won only a pyrric victory. The French grand army got, decimated in the severe winter of the Russiansteeps. Similarly Mughal army got decimated by monsoon, malaria and decentry. During its retreat, Mir

Jumla died of illness. However before retreating Mir Jumla had imposed a humiliating treaty on theAhoms. Two Ahom Royal princesses were taken for the Mughal imperial harem. Ahoms had to pay 3lakhs as war indemnity and an annual tribute of 20 elephants. They also had to cede the western half oftheir kingdom from Guwahati to Manas river.

The Ahom king was keen to avenge the defeat he had suffered at the hands of Mughals and LachitBarphukan proved to be the man of the hour. He was the son of Mumai Tamuli Borbarua who startingfrom the humble beginning had risen to the Governor of lower Assam as also Commander-in-Chief ofthe Ahom army. Thus Lachit Barphukan had the benefit of the upbringing the children of mobility of histimes. His father arranged for his education in Humanities, Scriptures and Military skills as he grew up he

was given positions of responsibilities. He was appointed. Scarf Bearer to, the Prime Ministerfunctioning like his private secretary. He was successively appointed Superintendent of the Royal Horse,Commander of the strategic Simulgarh Fort and Superintendent of the Royal Household guards.

King Jayadhwaj Singha died soon after the defeat he had suffered at the hands of Mir Jumla. At his

deathbed, he exhorted his nephew and successor king Chakradhwaj Singha to remove the spear ofhumiliation from the bosom of the nation. The new king was determined to retrieve national honour andstarted making elaborate preparations for recovering territory lost to the Mughals. Stock of food and warmaterial were built up and an expeditionary army organised and trained.

Preparations were complete by 1667 and the king entrusted the command of the expeditionary army toLachit Barphukan. This force started from Gargaon in August 1667 and advanced down theBrahmaputra to Guwahati. Lachit soon captured an important post of the Mughals on the North bank


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and Mughal reserves got drawn there. He beat back Mughal counter attacks. Simultaneously heorganized night raid by his commandos on the South bank of the river against the Mughal fort atGuwahati. The commandos poured water into the mouth of Mughal canons and the Ahom army after aheavy cannonade pressed a determined attack. Lachit captured the fort and the Mughal Governor wastaken a prisoner along with a large number of Mughal soldiers.

The Mughals abandoned Guwahati and Lachit advanced up to Manas river liberating the Ahom territoryceded to Mir Jumla. A stone victory pillar with inscription in Sanskrit now in Guwahati museum praisesLachit Barphukan for his victory against the Mughals at Guwahati in 1667.

Lachit was not the one to just rest on his laurels. He realized that the Mughal Emperor was bound tosend a large army to avenge the defeat of his forces and suffered at Guwahati. He, therefore, set aboutorganizing the defenses of Guwahati in a very meticulous manner for the anticipated invasion of Mughalforces. The terrain around Guwahati of low hills on either bank of the river, helped Lachit in organizingimpregnable defenses. He organised prepared defenses at gaps of 9 ft. on the plains and 13.5 ft on the

hills. The river line within the defensive perimeter on both banks was fortified and stockades were putup on sand banks in the river to deny the use of the waterway. All round defence and defence in depth

were insured. For nearly 2 years he was developing his defenses while the Mughals organised a largeforce and advanced to Guwahati. It is said that Lachit was very ruthless with his subordinates in ensuringpreparation of defences. He beheaded his own uncle who was found negligent in this regard, "My uncleis not greater than my country".

The Mughal Army under Ram Singh consisted of 30,000 infantry, 15,000 archers, 18,000 Turkish cavalry5,000 gunners and over 1000 cannons besides a large flotilla of boats. Portuguese and other Europeansailors 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. With theimpregnable defences that he had prepared at Guwahati, he was confident to beat back the Mughalattack. He realized that he stood no chance in open ground on the plains against the immensely superiorMughal cavalry of Turkish and Arab horse. His small ponies were no match for them. The Mughals hadto be denied any opportunity to exploit their overwhelming superiority in cavalry.

The Mughals made contact with Lachit's defences in March 1669 and laid siege to Guwahati, whichlasted for a little over one year. There were five distinct phases of the battle fought at Guwahati. In thefirst phase the Mughals made repeated attacks against Ahom defences on both banks of the, river butfailed to achieve a breakthrough. In the second phase they tried to send raiding parties by boats to get

inside the Ahom defences. Lachit's river line defences foiled this attempt. A heavy monsoon set induring the third phase.

The Mughals got bogged down in mud and got isolated from each other due to flowing streams. TheAhoms were at an advantage. They were more used to the terrain and accustomed to the climate. Theycarried out extensive guerilla warfare, causing heavy losses to the Mughals. Ram Singh was verycontemptuous of these operations and called it a "thieves affair". He challenged Lachit Barphukan to a


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duel. He also offered a bribe of 3 lakhs to Lachit to abandon Guwahati defences. When this did notwork, he tried a ruse.

A letter addressed to Lachit, attached to an arrow, was host into the Ahom camp. It mentioned thatLachit had been paid one lakh to evacuate Guwahati and urged him to do so soon. The letter found its

way to the Ahom King at Gargaon who became suspicious of the loyalty of Lachit Barphukan.Fortunately, the Prime Minister managed to convince the King that it was a trick being played by theMughal Commander and he should not doubt Lachit's loyalty. However, the King insisted that Lachitcame out of his defences and engage the Mughals in battle on open ground. Despite his objections tosuch a suicidal move, Lachit was forced to follow the order of the King. He came out of his defences onto the Allaboi plains to attack the Mughal army in the open. This was the fourth phase of the battle.

After some initial success in which the Ahoms captured the local Mughal Commander, Mir Nawab, theAhoms drew the full weight of Mughal cavalry personally led by Ram Singh. The Mughal cavalrydecimated the Ahom army on the plains and the later suffered 10,000 killed. Lachit had taken the

precaution of digging a line of defences at the rear of his advancing, columns to which they could fallback if forced to do so. Thus he managed to extricate the remainder of his forces and moved back intohis prepared defences.

The Mughals could not penetrate these defences and ultimately decided to launch a massive naval assaulton the river. 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 ofthe 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 hissoldiers. They rallied behind him and a desperate battle ensured on the Brahmaputra. 'The Ahoms intheir small boats cut circles round the bigger but less maneuverable Mughal boats. The river got littered

with clashing boats and drowning soldiers.

In this furious engagement, Lachit Barphukan managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. TheMughals were decisively defeated and they retreated from Guwahati. Ahom territory up to Manas wasonce again liberated. Thus ended the fifth phase of the battle of Saraighat in a glorious Ahom victory,despite all odds and giving Lachit very deservedly legendary fame in Assam. In his hour of triumph, likeNelson at Trafalgar, Lachit Barphukan died of the illness that he had been suffering from.

The Mughal Commander-in-Chief acknowledging his defeat had a special word of praise for the Ahomsolder and the Ahom Commander-in-chief. He wrote, "Every Assamese soldier is expert in rowingboats, in shooting arrows, in digging trenches and in wielding guns and cannons. I have not seen such aspecimens of versatility in any other part of India." About Lachit Barphukan he wrote, "Glory to thecountry. One single individual leads all the forces. Even I Ram Singh, being personally on the spot, hasnot been able to find any loophole and an opportunity."


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As young cadets on the threshold of your military career you need to be conversant with the lives andattainments of our great military heroes of the past. Lachit like Chhatrapati Shivaji and Rana Pratap wasone of our great military heroes of the medieval period of our history. His exploits should be a source ofgreat inspiration for you. Lachit's unbounded loyalty to his Government and his burning patriotismshould be the beacon lights of your career. His professional competence and personal gallantry helped

him to overcome all odds and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. It should be your endeavour toemulate his inspiring example.

As an old soldier, I urge you to step forward in your career with confidence, emulating the spirit and skillof Lachit Barphukan. In the words of the great Chinese military thinker Sun Tzu of 3rd century BC, that

will ensure that in a hundred battles you will win hundred victories.

(Lt. Gen. S. K. Sinha (Retd) PVSM, is the Governor of Assam)

emulate the spirit and skill of lachit barphukan

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