Book throws light on how Assam resisted repeated Muslim invasions for nearly 5 centuries

Guwahati, Nov 24 As Assam is celebrating the year-long varied events on the occasion of the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Borphukan, the great Ahom General who had inflicted the most crushing defeat on the mighty Mughals, a new book throws light on how Assam had fought relentlessly against Muslim invasions for close to five decades.

While the Assam government has made it a point to take the Lachit Borphukan story across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the celebration in New Delhi on Friday.

Lachit Borphukan, it may be recalled, had defeated the Mughal army in the Battle of Saraighat, one that took place on the Brahmaputra in March 1671.

Such was the defeat that it also signalled the beginning of the Mughal empire's gradual collapse.

"Unfortunately, the Lachit Borphukan story has largely remained untold to the rest of India. His 400th birth anniversary thus has come as an opportunity to project the heroism of the great Assamese General at both the national as well as international level," said veteran journalist and author Samudra Gupta Kashyap, who has recently published a book titled, "Assam's Great Heroes Who Fought the Muslim Invasions".

He told : "It is a matter of regret that while kings and generals of other parts of the subcontinent have found place in Indian history, repeated invasion of Assam for nearly five centuries, beginning with Bakhtiyar Khilji of the Slave Dynasty in 1206 A.D., have somehow not found favour with our histor."

In his book, Kashyap has given in detail how Qutb ud-Din Aibak, soon after taking over the reins of Delhi, had dispatched Ikhtiyar al-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji on a mission to central and eastern India.

"After conquering Bihar and Bengal in 1203 A.D., Khilji headed for Assam. But such was the counter-attack by the Kamrup