A History of Assam c11.95

c11.95

Next day, Turbak was reinforced by Husain Khān with six elephants, 100 horses and 500 foot soldiers. He now took up a position at the mouth of the Dikrai, while the Ahoms pitched their camp on the opposite bank. The two armies lay facing each other for several months, each waiting for the other to leave its entrenchments. The initiative was eventually taken by the Ahoms, who attacked and defeated the Muhammadans in a series of engagements. The final battle was fought near the Bharali. A number of elephants and horses on the Musalman side got bogged in a morass, and their line of battle was thus thrown into confusion. Turbak tried to save the day by leading a cavalry charge in person, but in vain. He was transfixed by a spear,* and, when he fell, the defeat became a rout. The Ahoms followed hard on the fugitives as far as the Karatoya river, where their commander is said to have erected a temple and excavated a tank in commemoration of the victory. Before returning, an envoy is said to have been sent by him to the king of Gaur with presents, and to have brought back a princess for the Ahom king. It would thus appear that this invasion was the work, not of the nominal king of Bengal, but of some local Muhammadan chief or free-lance, of whom, at this period, there were many in the outlying parts of that province.