In 17th century, when Aurangzeb ascended the throne, he commanded Mir Jumla, Mughal General at Dhaka to capture Assam. In 1661 AD Mir Jumla led a huge army and captured their capital Garghaon by defeating them. Ahom king Jayadhwaj Singha was forced to agree for a humiliating treaty, which compelled the Ahom to give Mughals territory from Guwahati to Manas river along with large amount of money.
The successor, King Chakradhwaj Singha, who had vowed to recover the lost territories, appointed Lachit Borphukan as the new Commander-in-Chief. In November 1667, Ahom army under Lachit Borphukan launched an attack and successfully crushed Mughals to recapture Guwahati.
When Aurangzeb received the news of defeat at the hands of Ahom in December 1667, he sent his strong army to take back Guwahati. His Army reached Rangamati in February 1669.
Lachit Borphukan and his army had anticipated a counter strike from Mughal. His army had started reinforcing Guwahati defence by constructing walls and planting obstacles to deal with a retaliatory attack by Mughal Army. Ahoms utilized the hilly terrain of Guwahati to their gain to ensure the complete safety. Ahoms were said to have followed movement of Mughal army from Delhi.
In 1669, Mughal reached up to Manas river with its army, which had 35,000 infantry, 18,000 cavalry, 2000 archers along with 40 ships. Sharp Ahom army chose hilly area of Guwahati as their battleground, instead of open field against Mughal army. Mughal forces couldn’t find sufficient mobility in absence of open fields to reach Ahom kingdom. The only option was left via Brahmaputra river passing through it. Brahmaputra at Saraighat was at its narrowest 1 km width, which was ideal defence for Ahoms. When Mughals found Guwahati impregnable by land, they were forced to use their navy, which was their weakest point.
The naval attack was led by admiral Munnawar Khan. The Ahoms were in a desperate situation as they were yet to recover from their losses at Alaboi and Lachit had fallen seriously ill.
The engagement, in which the Mughals had technological and numerical superiority, the Ahom army began to retreat. Seeking to rally his wavering troops, Lachit asked to be transported on to a boat despite his condition. Loudly proclaiming that he would rather perish while performing his duty instead of running away, Lachit pushed forward towards the Mughal forces. Seeing their leader surge towards the enemy had an inspiring effect on the Ahom troops who joined en masse to fight the battle. After the death of Munnawar Khan, Ahoms forced the Mughal army to retreat.
Lachit Borphukan passed away from natural causes in 1672, a year after winning the battle of Saraighat.
Although weaker, the Ahom Army defeated the Mughal Army by brilliant uses of the terrain, clever diplomatic negotiations to buy time, guerrilla tactics, psychological warfare, military intelligence and by exploiting the sole weakness of the Mughal forces—its navy.
The Ahoms eventually expelled Mughals 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.
Lachit Diwas is celebrated in Assam on 24 november( his birth anniversary) to remember this brave hero.The best passing out cadet at the National Defence Academy is awarded the Lachit Borphukan gold medal, which was instituted by the Assam Government in 2000.
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