Assam is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of 78,438 km2 (30,285 sq mi). It is the second largest state in northeastern India by area and the largest in terms of population. The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur to the east; Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Bangladesh to the south; and West Bengal to the west via the Siliguri Corridor, a 22-kilometre-wide (14 mi) strip of land that connects the state to the rest of India. Assamese and Boro are the official languages of Assam. Meitei (Manipuri) is the official language of Hojai district and the entirety of the Barak Valley region, while Bengali is an official language in the three districts of Barak Valley.
Lachit Borphukan was an Ahom Borphukan, primarily known for commanding the Ahom Army and the victory in the Battle of Saraighat (1671) that thwarted an invasion by the vastly superior Mughal Forces under the command of Ramsingh I. He died about a year later in April 1672.
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. This was the decisive battle that ended the years long Mughal seige of Guwahati, with the Ahoms pushing away the Mughals west beyond the Manas river.
Sonitpur district [Pron: ˌsə(ʊ)nɪtˈpʊə or ˌʃə(ʊ)nɪtˈpʊə] is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters is located at Tezpur.
The history of Assam is the history of a confluence of people from the east, west, south and the north; the confluence of the Austroasiatic, Tibeto-Burman (Sino-Tibetan), Tai and Indo-Aryan cultures. Although invaded over the centuries, it was never a vassal or a colony to an external power until the third Burmese invasion in 1821, and, subsequently, the British ingress into Assam in 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
Koch Hajo (1581–1616) was the kingdom under Raghudev and his son Parikshit Narayan of the Koch dynasty that stretched from Sankosh River in the west to the Bhareli River in the east on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River. It was created by dividing the Kamata kingdom then under Nara Narayan in medieval Assam. The Sankosh River divided the two new kingdoms, and it is roughly the boundary between the present-day Assam and West Bengal. The western half of the Kamata kingdom emerged as Koch Bihar whereas the eastern half emerged as Koch Hajo. The name Hajo comes from the legendary king Hajo, a Koch tribal chief and an ancestor of the Koch dynasty, who ruled over the Rangpur division in present-day Bangladesh and some regions of present-day Assam.
The Treaty of Ghilajharighat, Tipam, was signed between the Ahoms and the Mughal forces led by Mir Jumla II on January 23, 1663. The treaty Mir Jumla II brought occupation of the Ahom capital, Garhgaon, to an end.
Susenghphaa or Pratap Singha, was the 17th and one of the most prominent kings of the Ahom kingdom. As he was advanced in years when he became king, he is also called the burha Raja. His reign saw an expansion of the Ahom kingdom to the west, the beginning of the Ahom-Mughal conflicts, and a reorganization of the kingdom with an expanded Paik system and reoriented village economy designed by Momai Tamuli Borbarua. His expansion to the west is underlined by the two new offices that he created: that of the Borbarua and the Borphukan. The alliances he formed with the rulers of Koch Hajo resulted in formation that successfully thwarted Mughal expansion. The administrative structure that he created survived until the end of the Ahom kingdom in 1826.
Ahom–Mughal conflicts refers to the series of 17th-century conflicts between the Ahoms and the Mughals over the control of the Brahmaputra valley. It began soon after the eastern branch of the Kamata kingdom then under the Koch dynasty, Koch Hajo, collapsed after a sustained Mughal campaign bringing it face-to-face with the eastern Ahoms. After nearly seventy years of sustained efforts, the Mughals were finally ousted in the Battle of Itakhuli in 1682. The Mughals since then maintained interest to the region west of the Manas river via zamindars, till they were ousted from Bengal by the British about a hundred years later.
Borphukan was one of the five patra mantris (councillors) in the Ahom kingdom, a position that was created by the Ahom king Prataap Singha. The position included both executive and judicial powers, with jurisdiction of the Ahom kingdom west of Kaliabor river. The headquarters of Borphukan was based in Kaliabor and after the Battle of Itakhuli in 1681 in Itakhuli in Guwahati. This position was particularly important and powerful because of its distance from the Ahom capital, giving it a semblance of independence. The region to the east of Kaliabor was governed by the Borbarua. Lachit Deka later became Borphukan or the ruler of Lower Assam according to the fifth chronicles of the Satsori Asom Buranji.
Itakhuli or Sukreswar Hill is a small hill on the south bank of the Brahmaputra at Guwahati. The past official residence of the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup District of Assam was located on top of this hill. The D.C. bungalow was vacated for the Brahmaputra river side development. Adjacent to it in the western side of the D.C.'s bungalow is the Sukreswar Temple. Itakhuli hill has always been of strategic importance it was the seat of the viceroys and a garrison since the early days of Kamrup from Ahom, to Mughal and to the British. If one stands on the lawns on the back side of the D.C. Bungalow one can have a panoramic view of Brahmaputra River with the Karmanakha rocks and Uma Nanda Temple on the Peacock island in the middle, with hills of Nilachal or Kamakhya on the west and Agiathuri hills far off in the north west, Manikarneswar hill and Aswaklanta on the north bank of the river, the Kurua hills on the northeast.
The Baro-Bhuyans were confederacies of soldier-landowners in Assam and Bengal in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The confederacies consisted of loosely independent entities, each led by a warrior chief or a landlord. The tradition of Baro-Bhuyan is peculiar to both Assam and Bengal and differ from the tradition of Bhuinhar of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar—in Assam this phenomenon came into prominence in the 13th century when they resisted the invasion of Ghiyasuddin Iwaj Shah and in Bengal when they resisted Mughal rule in the 16th century.
Mir Jumla II invaded the Ahom kingdom in January 1662 and left it in January–February 1663. He was able to occupy Garhgaon, the Ahom capital, before the beginning of the rainy season, but he and his army were confined mostly to Garhgaon and Madhupur during that period. The Ahom king Sutamla had to take flight and hide in Namrup during Mir Jumla's occupation of the capital. The defection of Baduli Phukan, a high ranking Ahom commander, precipitated the Treaty of Ghilajharighat in January 1663, with the Ahom king accepting tributary status. Mir Jumla died on his way back before he could reach Dhaka, his capital.
Kamrup is the modern region situated between two rivers, the Manas and the Barnadi in Western Assam, with the same territorial extent as the Colonial and post-Colonial "Undivided Kamrup district". It was the capital region of two of the three dynasties of Kamarupa and Guwahati, the current political center of Assam, is situated here. It is characterized by its cultural artifacts.
The Treaty of Majuli (1563) was settled between the Koch king Nara Narayan and the Ahom king Sukhaamphaa. The treaty followed a successful campaign against the Ahom kingdom led by Chilarai, the general of the Koch forces and the brother of the king, which resulted in the fall of Garhgaon, the Ahom capital. The fall of the capital resulted in the Ahom kings flight, as well as treason by high Ahom officials including the kings own brother. The Ahom king sued for peace via his emissary, Aikhek Burhagohain. During the peace negotiations Nara Narayan was camped at Majuli. The terms that were finally settled on were:
- The Ahom king would accept Koch overlordship.
- The land on the North bank of the Brahmaputra to the west of Subansiri river were to be ceded to the Koch
- Five sons of Ahom nobles were to be handed over as hostage.
- Hand over the elephant Khamring and the horse Paksirai
- The Ahoms were to pay a war indemnity—60 elephants, 60 pieces of clothes, 60 maidens, 300 men, a red royal standard along with gold and silver.
The Battle of Itakhuli was fought in August 1682 between the Ahom Kingdom and the Mughal Empire. The Ahoms pushed back Mughal control to the west of the Manas River. The main battle was fought at a garrison island on the Brahmaputra, in which the Mughal fauzdar, Mansur Khan, was defeated and the remnant of the Mughal forces pursued to the Manas River. With this win, the Ahoms recovered Sarkar Kamrup from the Mughals.
The Undivided Goalpara district is an erstwhile district of Assam, India, first constituted by the British rulers of Colonial Assam.
The Koch–Ahom relations (1532–1571) refer to the diplomatic, strategic and military relationships between the Koch and the Ahom kingdoms over the control of the Brahmaputra Valley. Though an initial contact between the Ahoms and Koch occurred during Biswa Singha's reign, the relationship became belligerent with Nara Narayana ascending to power and consolidating his hold over the western portion of Assam; and it ended with the failure of Chilarai's campaign against Sulaiman Karrani. This was followed by an alliance that soon gave way to a fierce conflict between the Ahoms and the Mughals.
The Battle of Alaboi was fought between the Ahom Kingdom and the Mughal Empire around 5 August 1669. The result was a Mughal victory, but Ram Singh I's next move was to open negotiations for peace. The Assamese also were tired of war, and hostilities were suspended for a time. Soon after the battle of Alaboi, Chakradhwaj Singha died in 1669. He was succeeded by his brother Udayaditya Singha. This was part of the seizure of Guwahati that led up to the final Battle of Saraighat which the Ahoms won.
Momai Tamuli Borborua (?–1650) also known by his other name Sukuti was an Ahom general, statesman, and noble and the first incumbent to the office of the Borbarua. He is popularly known for systemizing the paik system and for being the father of famous Ahom general Lachit Borphukan.
