The Wars we won
This is a Ongoing Series on the Wars we won and which we were mostly unaware of it generally.
1. Lachit Borpukan.
November 24th is the birthday of one of India’s Greatest General.
Lachit Borphukan Of Assam.
Why is he considered one of the Greatest?
The year was 1671 and the decisive “Battle of Saraighat” was fought on the raging waters
of the Brahmaputra.
On one side was Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s army headed by Ram Singh of Jaipur and on the other was the Ahom General Lachit Borphukan, who made his way into history books that year.
Those were the years when Aurangazeb was at his peak.
In August 1667, the Ahom general Lachit Borphukan had recaptured Guwahati. This outraged Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and he sent the Mughal commander Ram Singh of Amer (Jaipur) with a large force in what would be the last Mughal attempt to conquer Assam.
In 1670, the Mughals under Ram Singh’s army comprising of 21 Rajput chiefs,infantry and 18,000 Turkish cavalry, marched towards Guwahati through the Brahmaputra river.
The unsuspecting and ill-prepared Mughal army marched into the war zone of Guwahati unopposed.
They thought the Ahoms had accepted defeat and retreated.
Then the attacks under Lachit Borphukan started. Ahoms would attack only at night and then retreat immediately. Rumors were spread claiming that ,the Ahom army fought at night because it had rakshasas or demons. When the Mughal army head Ram Singh refused to believe this and demanded proof, Lachit is also said to have sent men dressed like demons into the Mughal camp to convince him!.
Mughals asked Lachit to stop attacking in the night. Lachit replied” Lions only attack in the night”.
Lachit was a Master in Guerrilla warfare. Similar to Shivaji.
In early 1671 when the Mughals made a desperate attempt to break through the fortification, Lachit who was ill at that time is said to have heroically gotten out of his sickbed, and rowed his boat straight at the enemy.This energized the soldiers and they completely vanquished the Mughal army at Sarighat.
Mughal army never dared to attack Assam ever again.
In All, Mughals attacked the Ahom Kingdom 17 times during thier reign. Every-time they were defeated by the Ahoms.....All 17 times.
Ahom kingdom was undefeated for “600” years.
In his honor .Every year, The best cadet of National Defense Academy (NDA) is given the “Lachit Borphukan award”.
Lets Remember this Great Son of India and pass his story to others who may not know it.
For more Details, Read SK Bhuyan’s book ‘Lachit Barphukan and his times’
2.Marthanda Verma
Everyone knows the company “ Apple”, isnt it? It makes the best selling “I-Phone” as well. Apple is also today the worlds most valuable company valued at 2.6 Trillion dollars. In short-its the biggest public listed company in the world today .
Lets go back a few centuries and check out the “first” public listed company in the world.
It was a dutch company by name Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) or popularly called the “Dutch east India company”.( yes, similar to English East India Company and also started around the same period as well) . VOC was worth at a whooping 7.9 trillion dollars ( at todays prices) at its peak.
What did they do?
Pretty much anything. From slave trading ( mostly in Africa) to spice trading ( mostly in kerala and south east asia). They also had the permission from thier king to have a army to capture countries.( Imagine, “Apple” having the same freedom in today’s times).
Started in year 1602, it became the most dominant force in the world by the 1700’s.( yes- bigger than the English East India company). But all that changed due to many reasons- one of the main reasons bieng a man from the tiny state of kerala.
Enter Marthand verma.
Bit of background: Kerala those days had many kingdoms-fighting among themselves. So, it was easy for the Dutch with thier Guns and ships to “persuade “ these kings to give them spices at “low” rates and then sell it at high margins ( 10 to 20 times) in Europe.
Dutch had subdued two major kings ( Calicut and Kochi) and they had total control over the cinnamon and pepper trade from kerala.
Only Travancore was holding out.
Marthand Verma ascended the throne of Travancore in 1729- and with a large army started capturing smaller kingdoms in kerala.
The Dutch were alarmed and send thier commander Gustaff Willem Van Imhoff met Marthand Varma and threatened to invade Travancore. Marthand reportedly replied “ I am planning to attack Europe one day” to thier shock.
The Dutch forces and their allies attacked the Travancore forces at Quilon on November 12, 1739. Marthand was defeated and had to retreat. The Dutch then halted thier attacks.
In February 1741, they attacked from the sea and captured “kolachel” a fort which was just 15 kms from present day “Thiruvanthapuram”- the Capital of Marthand verma’s Travancore Kingdom.
Dutch were led by thier General Lannoy.
In May 1741, Marthand Verma surrounded Kolachel fort. The Dutch were trapped inside the fort, with no access to future food stocks/arms/soldiers.
In August 1741, a fireball fell on the gunpowder stock of the Dutch, burning for two days. The Dutch surrended to Marthand.
Marthand gave the surrended Army a offer.” Join us”.
Lannoy served with Marthand for the next 35 years, building a great Travancore Army. Travancore were able to resist attacks of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.
In 1753- Dutch signed a treaty with Marthand never to attack Kerala again. Simultaneously Collapse of VOC started and the Dutch east india Company winded up in 1799.
Marthand Verma was one of the reasons for the collapse of the one of worlds Richest Corporations.
Soldiers of Travancore Army became the founders of 9th Battalion of the Madras Regiment and July 31st every year is celebrated as “Kolachel Day”
Reference: Historian KK Nair :By Sweat and Sword.
Comments
Post a Comment