A History of Assam c13.67

c13.67

The route taken by the Bar Barua lay through a friendly country, and Sāmpāni, the furthest point attained by the Kachāri expedition of the previous year, was reached without any occurrence worthy of note.* At that place he received a deputation of prominent Kachāris, who assured him that nothing was to be feared from the neighbouring Nāga tribes. He proceeded to Bikrampur,† taking the precaution to send messengers ahead to reassure the people, who, at each camping place, came and paid their respects, and were much relieved to find that they were not expected to supply provisions for the army. The Jaintia outposts at Bālesvar, Dalāgaon and Mulāgul were easily taken. On reaching the last-mentioned place, the Bar Barua again sent messengers to Rām Singh, calling upon him to surrender Tāmradhvaj. Seeing that resistance was hopeless, he did so, and, at the same time, requested the Bar Barua to stay his advance and to direct the Bar Phukan, who was also rapidly drawing near, to do the same. The Bar Barua replied that unless the family and officers of Tāmradhvaj were also given up, he would continue his march next day. After some hesitation, this further demand was also complied with, but the Bar Barua nevertheless continued his march to Jaintiapur.