Lachit Borphukan

About

• Borphukan has always been revered in Assam as the warrior who defeated Mughal armies in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.
• He was chosen as one of the five Borphukans of the Ahom kingdom by king Charadhwaj Singha, and given administrative, judicial, and military responsibilities.
• Unlike the Mughals who preferred battles in the open with their massive armies, Borphukan preferred guerrilla tactics which provided an edge to his smaller, but fast moving and capable forces.
• Lachit Borphukan died a year after the Battle of Saraighat from a long festering illness.

The Ahom kingdom

• The Ahom kingdom had been repeatedly attacked by the Turkic and Afghan rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and later by the Mughals.
• The Mughal-Ahom wars had been going on since 1615-16, with the first Mughal attack on Assam with a view to capturing the region. The Ahoms had ruled major parts of Assam for nearly 600 years, between 1228 and 1826.
• From 1615 to 1639, many battles would be fought between the two, and tired of war, both sides agreed to sign a treaty after the Mughals had advanced into Assam and captured Kamrup.

The Battle of Saraighat

• The Battle of Saraighat was a naval battle fought in 1671 between the Mughal Empire and the Ahom Kingdom on the Brahmaputra river at Saraighat, now in Guwahati, Assam, India.
• Borphukan was commander of the Ahom armies during the battle of Saraighat –. The battle, which took place during the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s reign, was seen as a decisive Ahom victory.