A History of Assam c11.117

c11.117

In 1542 a Chutiya raid is recorded, but the great event of the reign was the commencement of a series of conflicts with the Koch king Nar Nārāyan, who was rapidly becoming the most powerful ruler in this part of India. The Buranjis are, for the most part, silent as to the cause of the war, but it commenced in 1546 with the advance of a Koch force under the redoubtable Sukladhvaj *alias* Chilarai, the king's brother and generalissimo, along the north bank of the Brahmaputra as far as the Dikrai river, where it was met by the Ahoms. A battle ensued in which the Koches, whose chief weapons were bows and arrows, succeeded in killing several of the Ahom leaders, whereupon the common soldiers fled and were pursued with great slaughter. The remnants of the Ahom army assembled at Kharanga, whence they marched to Kaliābar, at which place a second, but less decisive, action was fought. The Ahoms then took up a new position at Salā, where they were again attacked by the Koches and put to flight, with the loss of twenty of their chief officers. No further attempt was made to dislodge the invaders, who were left in undisturbed possession of the country they had occupied. While engaged in these operations, they had been hurriedly constructing a great road, the whole way from their capital in Koch Bilār, to Nārāyanpur, in the south-west of what is now the North Lakhimpur subdivision. It was completed in the following year, and the main body of the Koch army then moved forward to Nārāyanpur which they fortified. Suklenmung mustered all his available forces, and took up and fortified a position on the bank of the Pichala river. Their communications being thus threatened, the Koches were forced, either to retreat at once, or to assume the offensive. They chose the latter alternative, and attempted to take the Ahom entrenchments by storm. They were repulsed with heavy loss, and in the disorderly retreat which followed, large numbers were surrounded and killed. By this single victory Suklenmung regained the whole of his lost territory; and he returned to his capital in triumph and performed the Rikkhvan ceremony.