Context: The Assam Chief Minister launched an event to mark the 400th anniversary of Lachit Barphukan, a celebrated general of the Ahom dynasty, who ruled Assam for 600 years.

• The minister claimed that the Mughals never conquered northeastern India and South India but these facts have been distorted.

Lachit Borphukan

• Lachit Borphukan was a general of the Ahom Kingdom whose army he led successfully in resisting the imperial expansion of the Mughal Empire in the late 1600s. 

• Lachit Borphukan was associated with the Battle of Saraighat and the Battle of Alaboi.

• He was a commander in the Ahom kingdom, located in present-day Assam.

Lachit Divas

• On 24 November each year, Lachit Divas is celebrated state-wide in Assam to commemorate the heroism of Lachit Borphukan.

• On this day, Borphukan has defeated the Mughal army on the banks of the Brahmaputra in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.

• The best passing out cadet of National Defence Academy has been conferred the Lachit gold medal every year since 1999 commemorating his valour.

Ahom kingdom

• It was a late medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam.

• It was established by Sukaphaa, a Tai prince from Mong Ma.

• The kingdom is well known for maintaining its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisting Mughal expansion in Northeast India.

• Between 1615 and 1682, the Mughal Empire made a series of attempts, under Jahangir and then Aurangzeb, to annex the Ahom kingdom.

• In January 1662, Mughal Governor of Bengal Mir Jumla’s forces engaged with the Ahom army and went on to occupy part of the territory under Ahom rule.

• Between 1667 and 1682, the Ahoms under a series of rulers, starting with Chakradhwaj Singha, (reigned 1663-70) launched a counter-offensive to reclaim lost territories.

• This resulted in the battle of Saraighat and Battle of Alaboi.

Battle of Alaboi:

• It was fought on August 5, 1669 in the Alaboi Hills near Dadara in North Guwahati.

• Aurangzeb dispatched the Rajput Raja Ram Singh I to recapture territories won back by the Ahoms.

• Borphukan relied on his knowledge of the territory and engaged in guerrilla warfare, carrying out assaults on the Mughals.

• After initial setbacks, Ram Singh sent his entire battery of Rajput soldiers and Mughal veterans and turned the tide of the battle and Mughals had won.

• Ten thousand Ahoms died in the battle.

Battle of Saraighat

• It was fought in 1671 on the Brahmaputra river at Saraighat, now in Guwahati.

• Between the Mughal Empire (led by the Kachwaha raja, Ram Singh I), and the Ahom Kingdom (led by Lachit Borphukan).

• Unlike in Alaboi, Borphukan in Saraighat enticed the Mughals into a naval battle.

• They lured the Mughal fleet into moving ahead by feigning an attack with a few ships from the front. The Mughals vacated the waters behind them, from where the main Ahom fleet attacked and achieved a decisive victory.

• Every Assamese soldier showed specimens of versatility – expertise in rowing boats, shooting arrows, digging trenches and wielding guns and cannons.