Aurangzeb’s Most Underrated Humiliation

Lachit Borphukan and the Ahoms’ Last Stand in Saraighat

“Gauhati and Kamarupa do not belong to the Mughals. It was through mere chance that they fell into the hands of the Mughals for a few seasons. Now God has given them back to us. When He pleases to give them back to the brother-sovereign, the Mughal emperor, he will then get Gauhati, and not before that.” Thus read the Ahom emissary’s missive¹ to the Rajput king Ram Singh, encamped in Sualkuchi, a scant twenty miles from Guwahati across the Brahmaputra. Ram Singh, charged with securing Lower Assam for his suzerain, Aurangzeb, had threatened swift retribution should the Ahoms refuse submission—a mere hour’s battle, he had boasted, would see Guwahati fall. Adding further insult to injury, he even proffered implements of war, should the Ahoms be lacking in those.

In response, the Ahom general not only conveyed the utmost improbability of capitulation, but also added that his men were prepared to fight till the last drop of their blood. As for the humiliating offer, he added that the Rajput “has come over a long-distance undergoing fatigue in his journey, and the provisions may be inadequate for his own purpose. Our Majesty the Heavenly King has nothing unavailable to him. If the Rajput Raja falls short of materials, let him ask me and I shall try to oblige him.” This war of words was part of a far more protracted psychological operation the likes of which are rare to find in medieval Indian history. The Mughals were eager to conquer and the Ahoms hoped to wear them out with delays. In response to the general’s taunt, a Rajput servant named Devakinandan brought him a bag of poppy seeds.² “This is how numerous we are,” was the implication. To which the general dispatched Ahom servants Nim and Ramcharan with a tube filled with sand. “This is the characteristic of our soldiers. They’re as numerous and as dissoluble as this sand.”³

But why this hammy exchange instead of a direct, full-frontal encounter? Was this cowardice? We will return to this question but first let’s understand where it all began and why Ram Singh even came to Assam against a fellow Hindu. The story begins years before any of its lead characters assume their roles—before Ram Singh, before Aurangzeb, and before this Ahom general.