A History of Assam c12.5

c12.5

Soon after his accession Jasa Mānik, Raja of Jaintia, who was on bad terms with the Kachāri Raja, Pratāp Nārāyan, endeavoured to embroil the Ahom king by offering him his daughter on condition that he fetched her by a route which led through the Kachāri country. Pratāp Singh sent messengers to Pratāp Nārāyan to ask for his assent, but the latter, having come to despise the power of the Ahoms since their defeat by Chilarāi, refused to give it, and shortly afterwards made a raid on a village inside the Ahom boundary. Incensed by his refusal and by the subsequent unprovoked aggression, Pratāp Singh determined to clear a road by force. In June 1606 he sent troops up the Kallang to Rahā and thence up the Kopili, where they defeated a tributary chief of the Kachāris. They proceeded viâ Hānān to Sātgaon and defeated the Kachāris at Dharamtika, capturing many guns, swords and spears. The main body of the Kachāris then retreated to Māibong, leaving a garrison in a fort at the junction of the Kopili and Marādoyang rivers. The Ahoms made an assault on this fort but were repelled. They entrenched themselves and sent word to Pratāp Singh, who in October led a fresh force up the Dhansiri valley, and occupied a fortified position at Demālai. In November the Jaintia princess was successfully escorted from Jaintiapur to Rahā, and thence to the Ahom country. Pratāp Singh returned to his capital, and the bulk of his troops in Nowgong were withdrawn; but a strong garrison was left at Rahā in charge of a Gohāin named Sundar.