Lachit Barphukan The National Hero of Assam

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Dr. Birendra Kumar Gohain, an M.Sc. in Physics but after having joined the administrative service he turned to anthropological study to earn a Ph. D. for his work on the Karbis. Subsequently he took serious interest in Ahom history and found a niche as a scholar by his several publications in Assamese and English. The present one on Lachit Barphukan is his latest addition. The first serious work on Lachit, the Great Hero of Assam was by S. K. Bhuyan under the title Lachit Barphukan and His Times first published in 1947. Written sixty-five years later, this work by Dr. Gohain sheds new light on life and ancestry, and also on the personal qualities of Lachit whose steadfast loyalty to his liege lord, the svargadeo and the kingdom never swerved for a moment. While doing so, Dr. Gohain takes liberal recourse to the narratives of the old Ahom chronicles and, at times, tries to take the position as a witness of events that he portrays.

Some modern scholars often lament the lack of sufficient details of persons, whether monarchs or nobles, in the chronicles of the Ahom, or Buranji, as they are called in Assam. It is true, when compared to biographical details of Mughal emperors like Baber-nama, Akbar-nama, Sahjahan-nama, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, and other Persian twarikh, or records of the Mughals, we are at disadvantage to draw a full-length picture of Lachit, or Phu-kwan- lung La-chet, as he was known in Ahom language. This is not to be taken as an exception in the case of Lachit alone. We have very little personal details or family information even of the great monarchs like Siu-ka-pha, Siu-hum-mong, Siu-seng-pha (popularly called Pratap Singha in Assamese), Gadadhar Singha, Rudra Singha, who have been listed in the Indo-Mongoloid Roll of Honour by the very well-reputed scholar Suniti Kumar Chatterji in Kirata vadana-Namani. In fact, the absence of elaborate personal information or particulars of any historical person is a universal feature of Ahom chronicles. For modern historians this is certainly a great deficiency for writing an elaborate treatise on the life of such great figures of Assam history.

No person in Assam can escape the influence of the great historical personality Lachit Barphukan whose name is synony mous with love for motherland. Many odes have been written by the poets on his patriotism and he has become a household name in Assam. His death anniversary is observed every year in Assam on the 24th day of November by all the Assamese people. He has always been an epitome for courage and determination. His achievement is unparalleled as he had finally driven away the mighty Mughals from the soil of his motherland and has etched a name in the annals of Assam history.

Our attempt at writing the historical account of this great patriot's life and achievements is, in fact, inspired by the tales told by our parents about him. The urge to write about him grew stronger seeing the attempts of some writers in Assam in criticising him and also trying to narrow down his achievement by casteism. It is said by these pseudo writers with pedantic over- tones that he was not a member of the Ahom caste. In fact, this matter was settled once for all as early as in 1930 by Rai Saheb Golap Chandra Barua who translated the Ahom manuscript truthfully but alas! These narrow minded writers want to create controversy unnecessarily for their petty gains.

This book has been carefully written as a proud Assamese based on the materials of the original sources of history and on the books of history of Assam as edited and presented by the renowned personality Rai Bahadur Mr. S.K. Bhuyan, the doyen of the scientific research and history-writing on Assam. His ef- forts in collecting the primary sources of Assam history and get- ting them edited and published is no mean achievement. He was an institution by himself in the matter of Assam history and he was rightly called as the sun in the firmament of history writ ing. We salute to this great personality for laying the foundation of historical research in Assam.

Mr. S. K. Bhuyan's book 'Lachit Barphukan and His Times" is the first introduction of Lachit, the great before the world. Till that time, Lachit was known only to the people of Assam. He himself had stated in his preface to his book that he read a short paper on Lachit Barphukan at the first session of the Indian History Congress held at Pune in June 1935 and it was the first time the scholars in India got to learn that there was another national hero who was at par with Shivaji, the great in his fight against the Mughals for protecting the independence of his moth erland. It is also a fact of history that Lachit Barphukan and his master King Chakradhwaj Singha used to know about Shivaji.

It is in this connection that we, as Assamese, must record our appreciation of the commendable initiative taken by Lt. Gen- eral (Retired) Mr S.K. Sinha who took great interest in propagat- ing the heroism of Lachit Barphukan amongst the Indians through a conference organised in New Delhi during his tenure as the Governor of Assam. His efforts were rewarded when at bust of Lachit Barphukan was installed by the Indian Army, Government of India in the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla in 2000. A documentary was also made on Lachit Barphukan.

**Contents and Sample Pages**