Battle of Saraighat
| Battle of Saraighat | |||||||||
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| Part of Ahom-Mughal conflicts | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Ahom Kingdom Supported by: Jaintia Kingdom Dimasa Kingdom |
Mughal Empire Jaipur State Supported 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) | (35,000+ infantry, 18,000 cavalry, 15,000 archers and shieldmen; 21 Rajput Thakurs and their contingents, and 40 ships.) | ||||||||
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Assam |
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| Categories |
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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. 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. Although weaker, 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.
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.