CHAPTER VII THE AFTERMATHS Being defeated in the battle of Saraighat, Raja Ram Singh withdrew in I67I to Rangamati and encamped himself there till 1676. The prolonged haltage of Ram Singh at Rangamati after retreat from war and without any activities create some mystery. He was neither called back nor asked to renew the Assam Campaign by the Emperor.^ It is possible that the Emperor intended to reinforce the detachments under Ram Singh as soon as the Marathas were subdued. As this did never happen and in l6?0s the hosti­ lities of the Marathas attained a serious magnitude against the Mughals, Ram Singh had to be called back abandoning the hope of immediately recapturing the ceded territories from 2 the Ahoms. In Assam since the death of Chakradhwaj Singh in I67O in a short space of eleven years (i.e . I67O-I68I) there had been no less than seven kings, not one of whom had died a natural death. Conspiracy, intrigues and over-ambitions amongst the selected officers became the order of the day. One Debera Barbarua coming up from an insignificant house had become the master conspirator who was responsible for the assassination of as many as three kings.^ When Debera Barbarua was acting with unlimited power of king-maker and 160 161 destroyer, the other Dangarias i.e . the Phukans, the Raj- khowas and the Hazarikas consulted the Prime Minister Atan Buragohain who was still in Guwahati concentrating himself for erecting a permanent defensive system against the intruders. They requested him to save the country and the people from the atrocities perpetrated under the behest of Debera. Buragohain accompanied by Laluk Sola Barphukan and other Phukans, Baruas, Hazarikas and Saikias marched to Upper Assam. Debera encountered the Saraighatias or the officers from Guwahati in a battle at Bahgara. He was defeated and captured and after the trial was killed at Rajahat, being hoed from head to foot by the Haris.^ Buragohain and his followers after consultation removed the protege king installed by Debera and made the Dihingia prince Arjun,. the king in 1674 A.D. All the high ranking officers offered the crown to Atan Buragohain but he declined saying that "I am a minister and so I cannot be a king” since kingship was a privilege only to royal blood.^ Barphukan returned to Guwahati after having placed the affairs of the capital on a systematic basis. But soon ( there took place conflict between the king and Buragohain whom the former thought to be the superpower, A fight ensued between the two parties. Buragohain won the contest and the king and his four sons were killed. Anarchy prevailed. Buragohain looked after the affairs for some time. Another prince was selected by Buragohain and made king with the 162 consent of the counseller. He assumed the name of Sudaipha.^ Sudaipha dismissed one Mecha Barbarua from service for having married a princess by Mecha who did not belong to royal blood. After some time an attack was made on the king in 1678 A.D. in the darkness of night. The king was saved after sustaining injuries but the assassin escaped. Buragohain and other Dangarias suspected Mecha for the offence and a large number of other officers suspected to be 7 in collision dismissed from services. Meanwhile differences surfaced between the Buragohain and Barphukan. The Barphukan, his brother Bhatdhara and the younger son of Duara met at Kaliabar. They were joined by some other officers from Guwahati. They discussed the situa­ tion and decided: ”It now transpires that we shall all be undone having placed our reliance upon the Buragohain. It is Ctod alone who has saved us somehow. If we depend upon others' help something disastrous may come upon us, while no harm can proceed from any quarter if we are strong." The Barphukan then despatched three men to Nawab Mansur Khan through Baduli who played the role of a traitor helping the Mughal against his own country at the time of Mir Jumla’ s invasion. The messengers put before the Nawab, "The Barphukan has sent us with this message: Please arrange the appear­ ance of some two hundred horses on the north and south banks at Sarai, and some twenty boats on the waters, and we shall abandon the garrison of Guwahati and proceed upstream. But 163 I shall have to be made King of Assam in return.” The Nawab sent the messengers to Dhaka with his men to meet Azamtara, son of the Padshah. Azamtara vowed to fulfil the desire of g the Barphukan. The plot was divulged to Sudaipha, who at once took steps to frustrate it. He hastily raised an army and divided it into two parts, one of which was stationed at Chintamani to raise a fort, while the other was sent down­ stream to resist the advance of the Muhammedans. But it was too late to save Guwahati, which was surrendered to the Muhammedans by the Barphukan early in March 16?9.^ This bloodless occupation of Guwahati effected by the Mughal with the help of Baduli who removed all fears from Mughal con­ tingents of Assamese reprisal. After surrendering Guwahati fort in a friendly manner the Barphukan sailed upstream and arrived at Kaliabar where he assumed independence and began to dismiss and appoint,officers. Having heard all this the king ordered the three Dangarias to leave the Ghintamanigarh half constructed and proceed to Guwahati. Barphukan and his supporters of Sarai- 4 ghat met the Dangarias at Biswanath. Barphukan arrested all the loyal officers including Atan Buragohain, the prime minister, whom he detained at Kaliabar.King Sudaipha playing some strategum tried to capture Barphukan but all his attempts were in vain. Finally the king was also captured along with many other officers. The king was executed by the 164 Barphukan. The Barphukan then fetched one Saru Gohain a prince of the Samuguria family, aged only fourteen years and made him king. The king was known as Lara Raja due to his young age. The Barphukan’ s daughter aged five years 12 became his chief queen, Atan Buragohain who was imprisoned at Kaliabar was murdered along with his family at the instance of the Bar­ phukan. He now occupied the position recently held by the Buragohain and before him by Debera Barbaruah. But un­ deterred by their fate, he resolved not merely, as they had done, to exercise the power, but also to assume the rank of king. It is said that he communicated his design to the Emperor of Delhi, who sent a reply conveying his approval, but whether this be true or not, there is no doubt that he openly asserted his equality with the king and clothed him­ self in garments which the latter alone was allowed to wear. But his triumph was short-lived. His overweening arrogance set the other nobles against him and he was assassinated. His three sons and two of his brothers shared the same fate, Bhatdhara Phukan, his third brother, who was at Kaliabar, ’saved his life by a timely flight to Muhammedan territory, where he tried to induce the local officials to give him troops to avenge his brother's death. Though he obtained encouragement from Prince Muhammad Azam, but due to the lack of strong force under the disposal of Bhatdhara, the plan did not succeed. In order to prevent further conspiracies, Lara Raja determined to maim or kill all possible rivals of 165 the royal family. In the process except prince Gadapani who had been living in concealment near Rani in Kamrup, in the house of a Garo woman wearing the garb of a common were mutilated. peasant and working in the field like ordinary cultivator,/ The cause of Gadapani was espoused by the Dangarias due to the incapacity and utter want of aptitude for public business by Lara Raja. In July 1681 Lara Raja was killed and Gadapani assuming the Ahom name Supatpha and Hindu name Gadadhar 13 Singh became the king of Assam. The first act of the king was to recapture Guwahati by ousting the Mughals. He consulted the three Dangarias and other nobles and commanded them to attack the Bangals at Guwahati. A well organized i'orce under the leadership of all the high dignitaries, i.e . Gargayan Dung&ria, Dilihial Lanf'i Bura^’iohain, Cheng Khan Solal Gohain, Dilingis Bar- baruah, etc., was sent to attack the Muhammedans. The fort of Bahbari and Kajoli fell at the first assault and a great naval victory was gained near the mouth of Barnadi, the whole of enemy's fleet falling into the hands of the Assamese. This misfortune paralysed the fouzdar of Guwahati - Mansur Khan. He fled without offering any further resistance to the advancing Ahoms, who pursued them as far as Manas. A vast amount of booty including gold, silver, cannons, guns were captured at Itakhuli. They also secured plenty of money, men, horses, camels, bullocks and buffaloes. The spoils obtained in this engagement exceeded the amount captured in any other previous warfare, Bhatdhara Phukan, who had 166 attempted to incite the Muhammedans to invade Assam, was captured with his son, and an awful punishment was inflicted upon him. His son was killed and he was compelled to eat his flesh, after which he was also put to death. A Muha- mmedan spy, who was caught, was taken round the camp and shown all the dispositions of the Ahom commanders, and was then killed. This was the last Muhaminedan w£ir (1682) in Assam. ^ The reconquest of Guwahati by Mughals was briefly mentioned in Maasir-i-Alamgiri. No Muslim accounts could be found about this last war.