Great injury was thus done to life and property in Bengal. So Aurangzib ordered Mir Jumla to crush the power of the Assam King. But before Mir Jumla started for Kuch Bihar, he transferred the capital of Bengal from Rajmahal to
1. Maasir-i-Alamgiri, p. 39. (Alamgirnama, p. 676. 2. Fathiya-i-'ibriya, B.M.A.M. No. 25,422. fol. 6a;
cAlamgirnama, p. 678.
3. Koch Hajo, a territory on the banks of the Brahmaputra river, to the east of Kuch Bihar, annexed by Shah Jahan. 4. The name Assam came to be applied to the eastern portion
of the Assam Valley which constituted the Ahom Kingdom. Kamarupa included the whole of the Assam valley.
29.
Dacca. This he did to check the Arakanese and Portuguese pirates. He appointed Ihtisham Khan in charge of Dacca and Rai Bhagawati Das Shujai in charge of financial matters.
p
After that he set out from Khizrpur with a well-equipped army towards Kuch Bihar. Meeting no opposition there,
— CVY\(L
he struck coins in the name of Aurangzib,^ changed the
C_- 5 —
name of the city to Alamgimagar. Isfandiyar Beg was left to officiate as fanjdar of Kuch Bihar and Qazi Samu
- - A
to act as diwan there.
On 4th January, 1662, Mir Jumla left Kuch Bihar, proceeded along the banks of the Brahmaputra and passed through Rangamati with his military and naval forces.
Dilir Khan was appointed leader of the vanguard (harawal) ' Z a j f t d L Mir Murtaza, the daroga of the artillery.^ On
20th January 1662,, the royal army took possession of
— — 6 —
Port Jogikhapa, which belonged to Kamrup. Ataullah was 7
left there to be faujdar of that place. Capturing m quick succession the forts of Sirighat, Oauhati,
Solagadha, Lakhokadh, Diwalgaon and Kajpur, Mir Jumla 8
marched into Garhgaon, the capital of Assam. As the rainy season was approaching Mir Jumla had to station^
1. Pathiya-i-*ibriya, fol. 8b.
2. It has been identified to be a place close to Narayanganj in Dacca.
3. Pathiya-i-*ibriya, fol.12 b..( Alamgirnama, p.694., Maasir-
i-Alangiri, p. 40. _
4. Pathiya-i-1ibriya, fol. 1 2 b . .cAlamgirnama, p. 694* 5. PathiyS^-i-* ibriya, fol. 13a. _ 6 . ibid. ,_fol. 14b. 7. CAlamgirnama, p. 696. 8 .
30*
in the vicinity of the river in order to get his troops
across it before the rains* But early in May there were severd rains and Mir Jumla was cut off from his fleet and base of supplies.^ Now the Assam King had a great opportunity, and he attacked from Namrup, the eastern most province of his
2
kingdom. The Mughal outposts were withdrawan and no places other than Garhgaon and Mathurapur remained in the possession of the imperialists* Meanwhile, provisions were exhausted and a terrible epidemic of fever broke in Mathurapur. In the Mughal camp no suitable diet was available for the sick and
all had to live on coarse rice.^ Theresas no alternative but to wait patiently for the end of the rainy season. By bthe end of September the worst was over- large quantities of provisions were sent from Lakhau by land and water under escort, and reached Garhgaon on 24th and 31st October
e
respect ivl*. The Mughal cavalry regained strength and Raja Jayadhwaj and his nobles fled back to the hills of Namrup. Mir Jumla was, or pretended to be, averse to any other terms than the complete submission of the Assam King. But being attacked by a violent fever and being confronted with the
1. Zafarnama. B.M.A.M* , NO.26234, f o ls .72a-73b,Fathiya-i- ibriya, fol. 4Cdrr~
2. CA1 angTrnama ,p. "§08, M aasir-i-Alamgiri , p , 43.
3• Maasir-i-Alamgiri, p. 43, (A1amgirnama, p. 805. See also Jagadish Narayan Sarkar*s Mir J^mla’s invasion of Assam;
a contemporary Dutch Chronicle. It is an account of a Dutch sailor^who- was shipwrecked on an island of Sandwip “in 1661 and entered into the service of Mir Jumla.
31. 'I
demand to return to Bengal, Mir Jumla at last listened to the solicitations of Dirlir Khan, who asked him to
withdraw his troops from Assam. He agreed &o withdraw his troops on condition that^Raja would annually pay 20,000
tolas of gold, 120,000 tolas of silver and twenty^lejskants, Besides fifteen elephants for Mir Jumla and five for Dilir
-f uyH\jits i* ta- wtt'i 4t>
KhanJ^arrange for his daughter to he married to one of the princes and send within the next twelve months three lakhs tolas of silver and ninety elephants to the emperor
2
m four monthly instalments. Finally, Mir Jumla demanded that Sarkar Darang in the Uttarkul and Sarkar Biltali and Sarkar Domariah in the Dakhinkul he ceded to the emperor. The boundary line between Assam and the Mughal dominion in the Dakhinkul would thus he the river Kalang, while in the Uttarkul it would he Aliharari.^
The Ra;ja; having accepted these terms, sent an envoy to the Mughal camp. He presented to Mir Jumla twenty- thousand tolas of gold, one lakh eight thousand tolas of silver, ten elephants and his daughter.^"
1. Maasir-i-Alamgiri, p. 44, Muntakhab, vol. II, p. 169* 2. cAlamgirnama. p. 808, Muntakhab. vol. II, p.
c _ W ° I Z ^
3. Alamgirnama, p. 808, Fathiya-i-1ibriya, fol.94ra- 4. Ibid., p. 809, Maasjr-i-Alamgiri. p. 44#
On 10th January, 1663, after falling victim to fever, Mir Jumla set out in his palki to return. On 11th
February, he marched out of Kajali and arrived at Pandu opposite Gauhati. He sent Rashid Khan as Fanjdar of Kamrup. Mir Jumla then started for Khizrpur, but he
# A
died on ros way, on 31st March 1663*
Meanwhile, Kuch Bihar had been recovered by its Raja
p -
While Mir Jumla was isolated at Garhgaon. IsfUndar Beg was in charge of Kuch Bihar. But his and his officers*s
oppressions were unbearable to the inhabitants of that province. Consequently, they rose in a body and
solicited their expelled Raja Bhim Harayan to resume the reins of government. As soon as the Raja found himself sufficiently strong he sent a polite message to Isfunder Beg and Muhammad Saleh, the commander of the troops, telling
them that if they retired peacefully from his dominions, they would not be molested.^ The Mughal officers ignored the threat. But the loss of men and officers forced them to go to Gauhati. Mir Jumla*s death came at an
inopportune time and Mughal authority was lost over Kuch Bihar.
1. Maasir-i-Alamgiri. p. 44. fAlamgirnama, p. 812. 2. Maasir-i-Alamgiri. p. 44.
3. cAlamgirnama« p. 812. 4. Ibid.
35*.