Lachit Borphukan, the great general of the Ahom kingdom
During a recent Assam election rally, the Prime Minister addressed the 17th-century Ahom General Lachit Borphukan as India’s symbol of “self-reliant military power“.
The Ahom dynasty was forced into a settlement in 1661 due to the invasions of Mir Jumla and Dhir Khan. In the year 1665, Lachit was made the Army Chief (Borphukan) of the Ahom Army.
In the Ahom army, the commonder of 10 soldiers was called “Deka”, 100’s “Sania”, 1,000’s “Hazarika”, 3 thousand’s “Rajkhowa” and 6 thousand’s commonder was called “Phukan”. Borphukan is the chief of them all.
Lachit Borphukan:
- Born on 24 November 1622, Lachit Borfukan is remembered for his significant leadership in the Battle of Saraighat.
- Lachit was a skilled warrior of strong naval power, systematic inland water transport and skilled naval strategist.
- In the year 1671, he failed the Mughal army’s attempt to capture Assam. In this war, the Mughal Army (Aurangzeb) was led by Ram Singh of Amer (Jaipur).
Lachit Divas:
- Every year, “Lachit Divas” are organized all over Assam to commemorate the heroic saga of Lachit.
- The National Defense Academy awards best Cadet with the “LachitBorfukan Gold Medal”.
Battle of Saraighat:
- This war was fought in 1671 at Guwahati, on the banks of the Brahmaputra River.
- It is known as the biggest naval battle on a river, after which the idea of Ahom victory was abandoned by the Mughals.
Ahom kingdom:
- In the 13thcenturyChaolungSukapha laid the foundation of the Ahom kingdom. Before joining the British Empire by the Treaty of Yandabu of 1826, the Ahom kingdom remained for about 600
- The Ahoms created a new state, suppressing the old political system of the Bhuiyan (zamindars).
- The Ahom society was divided into clans. One clan often controlled several villages.
- The Ahom people had their own separate ethnic religion, but later on, the Ahom people embraced the Hindu religion.
- Language and script were also Indianised, due to which a script resembling Sanskrit-Bangla script emerged.
- The governance of the Ahom kingdom was feudalistic, in which all the virtues of feudalism were inseparable.
Source – The Hindu
