Lachit Borphukan

Lachit Borphukan was an Ahom commander, known for his leadership in the Battle of Saraighat that thwarted an invasion by Mughal forces under the command of Ramsingh I.

Lachit Borphukan
Lachit Borphukan's Statue at his maidam in Jorhat, Assam, India.
DiedApril, 1672[1]
Jorhat, Ahom kingdom
AllegianceAhom kingdom
RankBorphukan and Commander-in-Chief of the Ahom army
Battles/warsBattle of Saraighat

Biography
Most likely Lachit Borphukan (Far right), depiction from Banamali Devar Charit of Dakhinpat Satra

Lachit was born to Momai Tamuli, a commoner who rose to the ranks of Borbarua.[2] A few Buranjis briefly describe Lachit's victory over the Mughal naval fleet, led by Ram Singh, in the Battle of Saraighat.[2] He died soon and was buried at Teok in Jorhat in a maidam.[2] King Chakradhwaj Singha selected Lachit to command the expedition against the Mughals and appointed him as the Borphukan in 1667. Prior to his appointment to Borphukanship, he also had held the offices of Baruas and Phukans.[3]


Lachit was a disciple of Vaishnava preacher Ramgopal.[4]

Legacy
Lachit Borphukan with Bagh Hazarika and other Ahom warriors marching against the Mughal Army[5]

Beginning in the early twentieth century, a few localities in Upper Assam started to commemorate November 24 as Lachit Dibox (trans. Lachit Day) as a medium of protest against the pro-migrant policies of the colonial government.[6][lower-alpha 1] The contemporaneous burgeoning of public interest in history meant that the legend of Barphukan had "attained an iconic status" by the first quarter of the century;[7] yet, Lachit was one of the many quasi-historical icons who were appropriated by Assamese elites towards different politico-cultural ends and his popularity remained below Joymoti Konwari and others.[2] In 1947, Surya Kumar Bhuyan published Lachit's biography Lachit Barphukan and His Times, against the backdrop of Ahom conflicts with the Mughal Empire; not only did the work grant a veneer of "academic respectability" to the legend but also "mythologized" his exploits in the Assamese psyche.[2][6]

In postcolonial Assam, cultural heroes like Lachit were largely displaced by anti-colonial activists in Nehruvian nation-building; Jayeeta Sharma notes the legend of Lachit to have "retired into the domain of knowledge, away from activism."[2][lower-alpha 2] However, the legend survived in the backwaters of Assamese sub-nationalism, with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) — a secessionist organization seeking the creation of an independent and sovereign Assam — extensively using Lachit's imagery for propaganda.[6][lower-alpha 3] Lachit's memory would be significantly appropriated within a governmental framework only under the governorship of Srinivas Kumar Sinha.[2][6][lower-alpha 4]

With time, Lachit has been appropriated within a Hindu Nationalist grammar as an Indian military hero; Jayeeta Sharma, writing as of 2004, noted that it was no more the ULFA but the Government of Assam that tried the most to bring him into prominence.[6][2] BJP's rise in Assam has established Lachit as a Hindu defender against Muslim aggression; historians reject such characterizations and accuse the party of rerouting nativist sentiments to communal faultlines.[9] Not only was Lachit a Tai whose fellow commanders included Muslims but also the Mughal forces were led by a Rajput.[9] In January 2023 All Tai Ahom Students Union criticized Himanta Biswa Sarma against distortion of Ahom history and said Lachit was a "Assamese Hero" and not a "Hindu Hero" and "Indian hero" at first place"[10][9][11] In fact, Assamese historians further claimed that, Lachit Borphukan and his soldiers were never Hindus at first place and rather he and his soldiers were the followers of their native tribal Tai Ahom Religion.[12]

Notes
  1. The event celebrated Barpukhan as the last hero of soveireign Assam who had successfully resisted foreign invaders.
  2. The Government of Assam's only attempt at institutionalizing Barphukan's memory was probably in the naming of the Saraighat Bridge in 1962.
  3. In 1968, ULFA established the Lachit Sena (Lachit Army) to drive away all foreigners but to no effect. A couple of decades hence, Suresh Phukan wrote Moidamor Pora Moi Lachite Koiso (trans. This is Lachit speaking from my burial tomb) which exerted significant influence on ULFA cadres and sympathizers; it had Barphukan, in the narrator's robe, admonishing Assam's political class for betraying the interests of the native people and commending the separatist cause.[6]
  4. Sinha started the annual "Lachit Barphukan Memorial Lecture" at Gauhati University in 1998 and lobbied the Ministry of Defense to confer the best passing out cadet from the National Defence Academy with an eponymous medal; probationary IAS cadres from the state were required to enact Lachit defeating the Mughals.[6][8]

References
  1. "Lachit's death did not occur from his illness he had at the time of the battle of Saraighat, his death occurred one year after the battle in April, 1672"(Gogoi 1968:747)
  2. Sharma, Jayeeta (2004). "Heroes for our Times: Assam's Lachit, India's Missile Man". In Zavos, John; Wyatt, Andrew; Hewitt, Vernon (eds.). The Politics of Cultural Mobilization in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195668018.
  3. (Baruah 1986:270)
  4. (Bhuyan 1934:56)
  5. Misra, Amaresh (8 April 2019). Here. ISBN 9789386915788.
  6. Baruah, Sanjib (2020). In the Name of the Nation: India and Its Northeast. Stanford University Press.
  7. Saikia, Arupjyoti (December 2008). "History, buranjis and nation: Suryya Kumar Bhuyan's histories in twentieth-century Assam". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 45 (4): 473–507. doi:10.1177/001946460804500401. ISSN 0019-4646. S2CID 144145900.
  8. "Lachit Borphukan gold medal award: NDA ideal platform for grooming of cadets: Gogoi - Regional | News Post". Newslivetv.com. 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  9. Zaman, Rokibuz. "Why Assamese historians and writers are protesting against the BJP's celebration of Lachit Borphukan". Scroll.in. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  10. "Assam: Tai Ahom body warns CM Himanta Biswa Sarma against distortion of Ahom history". 10 January 2023.
  11. "Bir Lachit Borphukan is an 'Assamese Hero' and not a 'Hindu Hero': Akhil Gogoi". 24 November 2022.
  12. "Why Assamese historians and writers are protesting against the BJP's celebration of Lachit Borphukan".


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