All Indians know some of the names of the great defenders of India and some of the great defenders of Dharma Guru Gobind Singh namely Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharana Pratap but there's another defender of India and a protector of Dharma whose name is unfortunately not as well-known as it should be. I truly believe that it should be as well-known as those other three names previously mentioned are.
His name is Lachit Borphukan of the great Ahom Kingdom. He's a person that every Indian should learn about and cherish the same way that Shivaji Maharana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh are Lachit Borphukan was a great general of the Ahom Army who who once and for all ended the Mughal hold over Assam Lachit Borphukan was one of the five Patra Mantris counselors in the Ahom kingdom a position that was created by the a Ahom King Pratap Singha.
He was trained in the military arts from a young age and he held various posts of eminence such as the superintendent of the Royal horses or Ghoda Baruah, commander of the Simulgarh Fort and superintendent of the royal household Guards or Dolakasharia Baruah, assisted the Ahom king he was given the responsibility of serving as the Soladhar Baruah of the Ahom Swargadeo the valiant Ahoms had successfully defended frequent attacks on their homeland from the time of Muhammad Ghori on no less than seventeen invasions. Dissensions among the arms however allowed the Mughals to capitalize and capture parts of Assam including Guwahati. under the humiliating Treaty of Ghiladharighat in 1663 Jayadhwaja Singha, had to send one of his daughters to the Imperial Mughal harem a disgusting tradition that the Mughals had he also had to supply 90 elephants three hundred thousand Tolas of silver and cede the entire region to the west of Bareli river on the north bank of Brahmaputra and Kallang to the Mughals.
Jayadhwaja died soon after, heartbroken at the humiliation he suffered his successor King Chakradhwaj Singha selected Lachit Borphukan to lead the forces of the Ahom kingdom to liberate Guwahati from Mughal occupation during the time when Chakradhwaj Singah had decided to rescue Guwahati from Mughal hands the Mughal Empire was at its most powerful under Aurangzeb who was a religious zealot and a bigot who was known for brutally suppressing revolts and smaller kingdoms and Hindus across the country. Paradoxically, as well due to his bigotry the seeds of the Empire's destruction were also sown during his reign the mughal empire crumbled soon after Aurangzeb's death the Ahom king presented Lachit Borphukan with a gold hafted sword called a Hengdang and the customary paraphernalia of distinction Lachit Borphukan raised the army and preparations were completed by the summer of sixteen sixty seven and this is when Lachit Borphukan first came into prominence when he recovered Guwahati from the Mughals in 1667 the Ahoms surprised the Mughals with their guerrilla tactics and forced them out of Guwahati.
Lachit Borphukan, however would truly come to be known due to his valour his bravery and his sacrifice in the Battle of Saraighat, one of the worst defeats that the Mughal army would ever face after being defeated by Lachit and his forces the angry Aurangzeb sent the Mughal army under Ram Singh I to retake Guwahati his giant army consisted of 30,000 infantry 15,000 archers 18,000 Turkish cavalry 5000 gunners and over 1,000 canons beside a large flotilla of boats The Ahoms very smartly used guerilla warfare and a very clever choice of terrain to attain victory over a larger and a much better equipped mughal army Lachit chose the hilly terrain of Guwahati, for the battle because he knew it would give the Ahom Army an advantage lets it also realize that the Mughal Army's weakest point was the Navy and that is why he chose Saraighat, where the Brahmaputra was at its narrowest point just a width of 1 kilometer as the point for naval defense and thus Ram Singh the Mughal commander-in-chief failed to make any advance against the Ahom Army during the first phase of the war and because Ram Singh was stuck he decided to try some dirty tactics so what he did was he fired an arrow which had a letter attached to it to the Ahom camp and in the letter it said that Lachit accepted a significant amount of money from Ram Singh and from the Mughal Emperor and thus had decided to surrender this letter somehow made its way to the Ahom king who started doubting much its loyalty but thankfully he was convinced by the Ahom Prime Minister that Lachit's loyalty was something that really shouldn't be doubted and he was completely committed to winning the battle against the Mughals.
The Ahom King was convinced but he still insisted that Lachit come out of his defenses and engaged the Mughals in battle on open ground despite Lachit's objections to such a suicidal move much He was forced to follow the orders of the king he came out of his defenses on to the Allaboi planes to attack the Mughal army in the open this was the fourth phase of the battle and it did prove to be a disastrous decision as the Ahoms took heavy losses not only that during this time Lachit also felt seriously ill and the Ahom soldiers began to lose their will to fight Though Lachit was seriously ill he decided to keep on fighting. he boarded a boat and with seven boats advanced against the Mughal fleet he told the soldiers if you want to flee, flee the king has given me a task here and I will do it well let the Mughals take me away you report to the king that his general fought well following his orders his soldiers hearing lachit's speech rallied and a desperate battle ensued on the banks of the river Brahmaputra. Lachit's reentry had an electrifying effect on the Ahom Army and they attacked the Mughals from all sides with absolutely no fear of death the Mughals were very surprised by this all-out attack and thus were completely routed and took heavy losses and were forced to retreat from Guwahati.
The Mughal commander-in-chief acknowledging his defeat by the home soldiers and their commander-in-chief Lachit Borphukan wrote back to Aurangzeb: glory to the king glory to the councilors glory to the commanders glory to the country one single individual leads all the forces even Ram Singh being personally on the spot have not been able to find any loophole and an opportunity.
Thus, Lachit, through his sheer power of will his cunning his bravery and his sacrifice was able to defeat the mighty Mughal Empire, and completely rout them and removed them from Assam. however sadly lachit had died soon after the Battle of Saraighat and in recognition of Lachit Borphukan's bravery and his skill the best passing out cadet at the National Defense Academy in India is awarded the Lachit Borphukan gold medal this is one of the greatest generals of medieval India and a great defender of India and a great defender of the Dharma. This is somebody who's Name should be known to every single man woman and child of Indian origin and it should be taught to all children in all households and should be known just the way the names of Shivaji the names of Maharana Pratap the names of banda Bahadur, and Guru Gobind Singh are known across India.
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