Prime Minister recently unveiled the "Statue of Valour", a 125-foot bronze statue of Ahom general Lachit Barphukan in Jorhat, Assam.
About Lachit Barphukan (1622 - 1672)
Place of Birth: Charaideo district of Assam.
Mother: Kunti Moran
Father: Momai Tamuli Barbarua
He wasthe first Barbarua (military and judicial head) in the Ahom Kingdom.
As a Barphukan (commander-in-chief)of the Ahom army,he led successful campaigns against the Mughals during the reigns of Emperor Jahangir and Shahjahan.
He was the founder of the Paik practices (a system of forced labour in the Ahom kingdom).
Clan: LachitBarphukan belonged toLukhurakhun clan (Ahom kingdom had many clans).
Role as Military Chief: King Swargadeo Chakradhwaj Singh appointed Lachit Barphukan.
In this authority Lachit Barphukan led the Ahom forces to victory in the Battle of Saraighat.
Battle of Saraighat (1671)
Background:
In 1662, under the leadership of Mir Jumla the Army of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb defeated the Ahom kingdom and included it in the Tax-based state.
In 1669, Mughal forces led by Ram Sigh annexed Guwahati in the Battle of Alaboi.
Location: It took place on the Brahmaputra River at Saraighat, near the city of Guwahati in the present-day Indian state of Assam.
Combatant: The battle was largely a naval war. The Ahom forces were led by Lachit Barphukan, while the Mughal forces were commanded by the Mughal general Ram Singh.
Outcome: The Ahom forces under Lachit Barphukan decisively defeated the larger Mughal army, effectively ending the Mughal attempts to conquer the Ahom kingdom
Significance: The battle stopped the Mughal advanceto Assam, and the rest of today’s Northeast India.
About Ahom Kingdom (1228 to 1826)
Kingdom
Founder: Sukaphaa, a Shan prince of Mong Mao who came to Assam after crossing the Patkai Mountains.
Establishment: Ahoms migrated to the Brahmaputra valley from present-day Myanmar in the 13th century.
Expansion of territory: In the 16th century, under the rule of Suhungmung, Ahom captured territories of the Chutiya and Koch-hajo kingdoms.
Capital: Charaideo (east of Guwahati) was the first capital of the Ahom dynasty
Society
Clan: Ahom society was divided into clans or khels. A khel often controlled several villages.
The peasant was given land by his village community. Even the king could not take it away without the community’s consent.
People from heavily populated areas were shifted to less populated areas, thus Ahom clans were broken up.
Political Features
Suppression of Older Political Systems: Ahom created a new state by suppressing the older political system of the bhuiyans (landlords).
Forced Labor System – Paiks: Ahom state depended upon forced labourers called Paiks.
A census of the population was taken. Each village had to send several paiks by rotation.
Administration
Centralized Administration: By first half of seventeenth century administration became quite centralised.
Council of Ministers
The king was assisted by a council of ministers referred to as Patra Mantris.
The foremost Patra Mantris were the Great Gohains (the Buragohain, Borgohain and Barpatragohain).
Important officers: Barbarua (military and judicial head) and Barphukan (military and civil head)
The position of Barphukan was similar to that of a Viceroy.
Economy
Artisans: There were very few castes of artisans. Hence, artisans in the Ahom areas came from the adjoining kingdoms.
New agricultural practices: The Ahoms also introduced new methods of rice cultivation.
Military Strategy
Mandatory military services: Almost all adult males served in the armyduring war.
Military Tactics
Deployment of spies to monitor enemy movements and utilization of guerrilla warfare tactics was also used.
A class of officials known as Kataki acted as messengers in the enemy camp.
Naval Strength: The Navy constituted the most important and powerful force within the Ahom military system.
Military Divisions: The military division included an elephant cavalry, commanded by an officer named Hatibaruah.
Religion
Originally, Ahoms worshipped their tribal gods. But, in the reign of Sib Singh (1714-1744),Hinduism became the predominant religion.
Burial System (Charaideo Maidams)
About: Charaideo Maidams are mounds containing remains of royalty of the Ahom dynasty. Mounds are located along the foothills of the Patkai range.
Lachit Maidam: It has remains of Lachit Barphukan. It was built in 1772 by Swargadeo Udayaditya Singha at Hoolungapara near Jorhat.
World recognition
Charaideo Maidams are commonly known as the Pyramids of Assam.
They are included in the tentative list of UNESCO’s World Heritage.
Art and Culture
Artists: Poets and scholars were given land grants.
Buranjis: The buranjis are a genre of historical chronicles of Ahom dynasty.
These were initially written in Tai-Ahom language but later were mostly produced in Assamese language, presumably after the Ahoms converted to Hinduism
Translations of Sanskrit books: Important works of Sanskrit were translated into the local language.
End of rule
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 Yandaboo in 1826.
