| Battle of Saraighat | |||||||||
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| Part of Ahom-Mughal conflicts | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Ahom KingdomSupported by: Jaintia Kingdom Dimasa Kingdom |
 Mughal Empire Jaipur StateSupported by: Koch Behar | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Lachit Borphukan Chakradhwaj Singha Udayaditya Singha Atan Burhagohain |
Ram Singh I Munnawar Khan † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 100,000 (militia)[1] | (35,000+ infantry, 18,000 cavalry, 2000 or 15,000 [2] archers and shieldmen; 21 Rajput Thakurs and their contingents, and 40 ships.)[3][4] | ||||||||
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Assam |
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| Categories |
Battle of Saraighat Timeline | ||||||||||||||||
1662 — – 1663 — – 1664 — – 1665 — – 1666 — – 1667 — – 1668 — – 1669 — – 1670 — – 1671 — – 1672 — – 1673 — – 1674 — – 1675 — – 1676 — – 1677 — |
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An approximate time-scale of events around the Battle of Saraighat | ||||||||||||||||
The Battle of Saraighat was a naval battle fought in 1671 between the Mughal Empire (led by the Kachwaha raja, Ram Singh I), and the Ahom Kingdom (led by Lachit Borphukan) on the Brahmaputra river at Saraighat, now in Guwahati, Assam, India.[5] This was the decisive battle that ended the years long Mughal siege of Guwahati, with the Ahoms pushing away the Mughals west beyond the Manas river.
The Ahoms, smarting from the occupation of the capital by Mir Jumla and the harsh conditions of Treaty of Ghilajharighat, decided to lure a Mughal imperial force to Saraighat and take a stand there.[6] Although weaker,[7] the Ahom Army defeated the massive Mughal Army with clever diplomatic negotiations to buy time, guerrilla tactics, psychological warfare, military intelligence and by exploiting the weakness of the Mughal forces — its navy.[8]
The Battle of Saraighat was the last battle in the last major attempt by the Mughals to extend their empire into Assam. Though the Mughals managed to regain Guwahati briefly later after a Borphukan deserted it, the Ahoms wrested control in the Battle of Itakhuli in 1682 and maintained it till the end of their rule.
The commanders and leaders who were stationed in and around Saraighat emerged as a power group called the Saraighatias that participated in subsequent Ahom internal power struggles.
- ^ "The Ahoms, being a nation of arms, mustered 100,000 when mobilised." (Sarkar 1994:147)
- ^ (Dutta 1981:123)
- ^ "(Aurangzeb commissioned Ram Singh of Amber, son of the distinguished general Mirza Raja Jai Singh, and a commander of 4000 to lead an invasion of Assam. The expeditionary force had at its basic force the original imperial allotment of 4000 troopers in his own pay, 1500 ahadis (gentleman troopers) and 500 barkandezes (imperial artillerymen). This nucleus was gradually augmented by 30,000 infantry (given by the Emperor), 21 Rajput Chiefs (Thakurs) with their own contingents, 18,000 cavalry, and 2000 archers and shieldmen who came as auxiliaries. On water, he had only 40 ships. The Rajput general was accompanied, according to custom, by Rashid Khan, the late faujdar of Kamrup, conversant with the language and customs of the Ahoms." (Sarkar 1992:211)
- ^ (Sarkar 1994:211)
- ^ Baruah (1986, pp. 275–276)
- ^ "Realising the futility of the opposition at the frontier posts, their General Lachit Barpukhan adopted the new strategy of (i) evacuating them one by one, and leaving all territories west of Hajo to their fate; (ii) and concentrating on the defence of Guwahati and the strategic centres around it so as to lure the unwary Mughals to the well-guarded Guwahati sector. This corresponds to what is known in modern warcraft as 'strategic retreat'." (Sarkar 1992:212)
- ^ "But the real reason lay in the unpreparedness of the Ahoms to resist the invader." (Sarkar 1992:212)
- ^ "[The Ahom] navy was not only numerous but also powerful, owing to the vast forests, an abundant number of dockyards (nao-sals), and boat-building and boat-plying activities organised by two guilds (naosalia khel and naobaicha Khel). The Ahom mastery over the water was indisputable and the Mughal crash at Saraighat was possible because of this." (Sarkar 1992:232)