Ahom Army

Ahom Army
Ahom Army
Active	During Ahom Era
Country	Assam, North East India
Type	Royal Army
Size	At peak 4,00,000 were raised to invade to bengal
Engagements	Saraighat, Itakhuli etc.
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Lachit Borphukan

The Ahom Army consisted of cavalry, infantry as well as naval units based on the Paik system militia of the Ahom kingdom (1228–1824). The kingdom did not have standing army units of professional soldiers till late 18th and early 19th centuries, when Purnandan Burhagohain raised one after noticing the effectiveness of Captain Thomas Welsh's sepoys in subjugating the Moamoria rebellion.

The Ahom Army had various confrontations, the most significant ones were against the west, from Bengal Sultans and the Mughal Empire; and against the south from the Konbaung dynasty (Burma). Its won decisive victories against the forces led by Turbak (1532), the Mughal Empire in the Battle of Saraighat (1671), and the final Battle of Itakhuli^[1] (1682) that expelled the Mughal forces from Assam. Its major failures were against the army of Chilarai (1553), the forces led by Mir Jumla II (1662), and finally the Burmese invasions of Assam (1817, 1819, 1821). Though the Ahom kingdom withstood all invasions from the west, it fell to the single significant challenge from the south and was destroyed.

^ "In the Battle of Itakhuli in September 1682, the Ahom forces chased the defeated Mughals nearly one hundred kilometers back to the Manas river. The Manas then became the Ahom-Mughal boundary until the British occupation." (Richards 1995, p. 247)

[1] "In the Battle of Itakhuli in September 1682, the Ahom forces chased the defeated Mughals nearly one hundred kilometers back to the Manas river. The Manas then became the Ahom-Mughal boundary until the British occupation." (Richards 1995, p. 247)

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