A History of Assam c18.4

c18.4

But, whatever his ancestry, Gharib Nawāz proved himself an exceedingly able king and a most successful leader; and, under his energetic guidance, the Manipuris emerged from the obscurity in which they had lain for centuries. Between the years 1725 and 1749 he waged a series of successful wars against the Burmese, and captured many important towns. He might even have taken Ava itself, but for the fall of his standard in a gale, which so alarmed his superstitious mind that he hastily patched up a peace and retreated. His son, Ugat Shah, *alias* Kakilal Thaba, took advantage of the fiasco to sow discontent amongst his followers. Gharib Nawāz was compelled to go into exile, and was soon afterwards murdered at his son's instigation. This was the beginning of a series of what Mackenzie justly describes as internal wars “of the most savage and revolting type, in which sons murdered fathers, and brothers murdered brothers, without a single trait of heroism to relieve the dark scene of blood and treachery.”