A History of Assam c14.116

c14.116

For more than a year Purandar Singh had been busy collecting a force in the Duārs, which then belonged to Bhutān, with the aid of a Mr. Robert Bruce,* who had long been resident at Jogighopa, and who, with the permission of the Company's officers, procured for him a supply of firearms and ammunition from Calcutta. Towards the end of May 1821, this force, with Mr. Bruce in command, entered the country from the Eastern Duārs, but it was at once attacked and defeated by Chandrakānt's levies. Mr. Bruce was taken prisoner, but was released on his agreeing to enter the victor's service. In September, Chandrakant sustained a defeat at the hands of the Burmese and retreated across the border. He rallied his men in the Goālpāra district, and Mr. Bruce obtained for him three hundred muskets and nine maunds of ammunition from Calcutta. He returned to the attack and, after inflicting several defeats on the Burmese, re-occupied Gauhāti in January 1822.