Dipanjon Konwar
In 1648, Siutamla or Jayadhwaj Singha, grandson of Swargadeo Pratap Singha built the Pat-Ghar (Ho-Lung) and Singori Ghar (Ren-Mai-Ho) in the fields between Ramu Gaon and Dorika river and ascended the throne. Like his grandfather Jayadhwaj was ambitious and took advantage of the confusion in the Mughal Empire, when Shah Jahan fell ill, he ordered the Ahom army to drive out the Mughals from Kamrup. Jayadhawaj Singha became the master of the whole of Brahmaputra valley. His General Borgohain Tangshu Sandikoi swept Mughal Kamrup with the “broom of plunder” and laid waste the country south of it as far as Dacca. He established a military outpost at Hatshila, near Karibari, only five stages from Dacca. Tangshu Sandikoi carried off to Assam a large number of Mughal subjects as captives.
Aurangzeb after ascending to the throne of Delhi ordered Mir Jumla the Governor or Subhadar of Bengal to invade Assam and re-establish Mughal prestige. On 4th January, 1662 Mir Jumla marched down with an army of 12,000 cavalries, and 30,000 infantry, accompanied by a vast flotilla of war boats numbering at least 323. The most powerful of them were the ‘ghurabs’ or floating batteries in charge of the Dutch, each towed by four Kusas (Long row-boats) and carrying 14 guns and a crew of 50 or 60 men. Besides the Portuguese and Mesticos, half breeds, there were some English and Dutch sailors too, There were again several “Muscovites, all extraordinarily well mounted. The Dutch were conscripted, but the English and the Portuguese were volunteers”.
The Ahoms abandoned Hatishala and Dhubri and fell back beyond the Manas River. The angry Jayadhwaj Singha had the two Phukans arrested for such a weak defense and appointed Baduli Phukan to be the Neog Phukan. The king ordered the Jogighopa fort to be strengthened and to build a new fort at Pancharatna. But, Baduli Phukan too was incompetent and abandoned Jogighopa, seeing the massive army of Mir Jumla retreated to Pandu and Saraighat. The king meanwhile deputed Manthir Bharali Baruah a lower-ranking officer as the Parbatia Phukan for an official inquiry of misappropriation of the rich spoils by Tangshu Sandikoi.
He came to Guwahati with the power of a Barphukan and this news disaffected the high-ranking Ahom officers. The weak disenchanted leadership gave up the forts at Kajalimukh, Samdhara, Simlagarh without any resistance, remarking “let the Bejdoloi now come and fight”. The “greatest malcontent Ahom noble was the king’s father-in-law, Rajshasur Barphukan”. The deserters guided the Mughal General on to Lakhua and Garhgaon.
On 17th March, 1662 Mir Jumla forces entered Garhgaon and occupied the palace. Buranji reveals that in November 1662 the Commander-in-Chief Baduli Phukan, along with his brothers and some Ahoms too joined with Mir Jumla forces. Only God and Nature could have saved the King. In the Assam District Gazetteers, B.C. Allen wrote: “The history of the expedition is not unlike that of Napoleon’s ill-fated irruption into the territories of Czar, and rain and fever did for the Ahoms what frost and snow did for the Russian Emperor”.
Jayadhwaj Singha was heartbroken parting with his only child, 6 years old Princess Nang Seng (Tai-Ahom: Nang – Girl; Seng — Beautiful) alias Ramani Gabharu as part of the Ghilajhari Ghat peace treaty to save his country. Princess Ramani with 200 attendants; his niece, the daughter of Tipam Raja, the four sons of the Nobles and part of the war indemnity was handed over to the Mir Jumla camp on 5th January,1663.
On 10th January, 1663 Mir Jumla’s army began their return journey to Bengal. It was decided that the army would move towards Dakhinkol via land route up to Baritali to cross the Brahmaputra from there. At Itakhuli, Mir Jumla left behind the sons of nobles brought as hostages and the other Ahoms who joined him. The lovely Ramani may have already won the heart of the 72 years old Mir Jumla and reminded him of his daughters left behind at Golconda while he toured the empire as Aurangzeb’s General, from being a rich merchant in early life.
Seriously ill with pleurisy and fever Mir Jumla planned to reach Dacca as soon as possible. Mir Jumla leaves Pandu fort, after two weeks rest, on 24th February by boat to Baritala. On 27th March, 1683 Mir Jumal left Baritala on the boat. While his Palki and the army moved along the south bank of Brahmaputra. But, Mir Jhumla breathed his last in the foothills of Garo hills on the 30th of March 1663.
Princess Ramani was handed over to Shaista Khan who took charge as the Subhadar of Bengal. Shaista Khan became the foster father of Ramani, to be brought up as his own. She was betrothed to Aurangzeb’s third son and heir apparent Prince Muhammed Azam Shah, Governor of Gujarat. On May 2, 1668, Ramani Gabharu or Rahmat Banu Begum was married to Prince Azam Shah with a dowry of one lakh, eighty thousand rupees.
Rahmat or Pari being the first love of Prince Azam and the daughter-in-law of Emperor Aurangzeb had much influence in the royal household in Delhi. In Delhi Red Fort, Ramani noticed a well-built and tall soldier of Arab-Mughal ancestry, an expert horse rider and swordsman. She may have requested her husband to issue a farmaan ordering Ismail Siddique to go to her father’s country as a military trainer. Stay with the Muslim artisans, tailors, Sensua (the Kite trainers) and Persi-porhia, the Persian translators. These artisans were settled near the capital since the days of Swargadeo Pratap Singha had adopted Assamese culture as their own. While Ismail Siddique’s descendants now recount the story of a young soldier sent from Delhi. Others say Ismail was a descendant of one of the artisan families, his forefathers came to Assam before Mir Jumla’s invasion.
It can be estimated that Ismail Siddique arrived at Garhgaon in 1668. But, by that time Jayadhwaj Singha has already died in November, 1663. He was succeeded by Supungmung or Chakradhvaj Singha. Far outside the Garhgaon city walls, Ismail settled in a village east of the Dikhow river. The legend is that a tiger created terror in the villages of that area carrying away cattle and killing humans too. Ismail Siddique on hearing that a man from his village was seriously injured charged into the forest and after a long fight killed the tiger, wielding his 4-feet long sword. The villager rejoiced at the killing of the tiger and the news of the brave feat reached the ears of the king. Because of this heroism and his tall well-built physique, Ismail Siddique got the nickname Bagh.
Ismail was interviewed and tested by the nobles. He was appointed as a Hazarika to train the soldiers and Chor-bosa (commando). Swargadeo Chakradhwaj Singha granted land to Ismail Siddique “Bagh” Hazarika and had an eight Bigha tank Baghdhara or Baghmara Pukhuri excavated at Hahchora mouza. A school now exists at that location.
In 1676 Raja Ram Singh returned to Delhi after the failed campaign in Assam. Prince Muhammad Azam Shah was appointed by Emperor Aurangzeb as the new Subhadar of Bengal. Prince Azam and Rahmat Banu Begum arrived at Dacca in 1677. There was much rejoicing in Dacca on the arrival of Pari Bibi, the beautiful foster daughter of Shaista Khan, the retired Subhadar of Bengal.
After Jayadhawaj Singha’s death, no one in Assam nor her mother Pakhari, who married again the new king Chakradwaj Singha, made any enquiries about Ramani’s well-being and health. In 1677 her maternal uncle Laluk Sola Barphukan, elder brother of Lachit Barphukan, sent a letter with many valuable gifts including four elephants with their caparisons when he heard that Padshazada and the Begum were in Dacca. The selfish and power-hungry Laluk wrote to his niece to mediate on his behalf with Prince Azam to make him the Raja of Assam.
She replied: “May God in His mercy raise the height of the shadow of your glory and fame, and may you, under the protection of that shadow, rest on the bed of peace and happiness till the hairs of your head become all white”. She further wrote: “This is what I have felt, I was sent away from home at the age of six as a present to the Mughals. Now I am nineteen years old, and you have not made any enquiry about my miserable self on any day, on any occasion, and in any month.”
In this long letter, Ramani dissuaded her uncle not to undertake any misadventure: “And, so I implore you to take Moina from here by some means or other if you cherish any affection for me. He will be able to tell you all about me and about this place. The Padshazada in a fit of vexation had confined the envoys sent by you. It was this very Moina who came to the inner apartment and disclosed the news to me. I interceded with the Padshahzada and procured the release of your messengers. I also arranged the allotment of two Thanas to the envoys by making a similar request to Padshahzada. You should send your daughter’s son to this place. You should postpone definite action till Moina arrives at your place. You should commence action only when you receive full particulars from the lips of Moina”. Moina was the ligira and faithful servant of Ramani. But, the power-hungry traitor uncle did not listen to her. In 1679 Gauhati and Kamrup were handed over by Laluk Sola Barphukan to Nawab Mansur Khan deputed by Prince Azam Shah.
Swargadeo Gadadhar Singha ascended the throne in 1681 and his first act was to strengthen the army to oust the Mughals from Gauhati. Gadadhar Singha in honour of Ramani Gabharu had a road constructed in her name from Simuluguri Dhodar Ali towards the south to Ramani Bazar. The Ramani Ali (Road) skirting the Naga foothills move eastward crossing Lengibor connect again with Dhodar Ali near Cheraidoi.
Ramani Gabharu died suddenly due to some unknown disease in 1684, just at the age of 27. She did not have the fortune to see her husband become the Emperor in 1707, though for a brief period of three months only. But, she had the satisfaction and pride of knowing that the Mughals were driven out of Assam once and for all after the defeat in the Itakhulir Raan (Itakhuli Battle) of 1682. Her love for Assam and the sacrifice she made during her childhood and youth remain immortalized in the Pari Bibi Mazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Shaista Khan stopped all other construction works in Dacca’s Lal Bagh Fort. In the centre of the complex, he built a memorial of his foster daughter and the Begum of the Padshahzada, which was completed around 1688. It is a mausoleum of white marble and black basalt in a model of the Taj Mahal, with influence in both Hindu and Mughal styles of architecture. It is a single-dome multi-chambered structure. The central hall is encircled by eight smaller chambers on its four sides. The central hall contains the mortal remains of Pari Bibi or Rahmat Banu.
The south-eastern chamber contains the tomb of another princess, maybe of Mohini Aideo the daughter of Tipam Raja. Rests of the chambers are lying still vacant. Near the mausoleum, a pukhuri (tank) was also excavated. A Mughal-style garden and fountains along the paths leads up to the Pari Bibi Mazar in the center of Lalbagh Fort.
(With inputs and photographs from Dibrugarh by Mozibur Rahman. Photograph from Dhaka by Gautam Konwar)
Reference:
1. Bhuyan, S.K., Lachit Barphukan and his times, Second Edition, 1994, Lawyer’s Book Stall, Guwahati.
2. Bhuyan, S. K., Annals of the Delhi Badshahate, Government of Assam, Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, 1947
3. Buragohain, Dilip Kumar, Buronjir Porash: A collection of articles on Assamese Language and Literature , Second Edition Jan 2017, Sabda Prakash, Jorhat-1.
4. Bhuyan, S.K., Atan Buragohain and his times, Second Edition, April 1992, Lawyer’s Book Stall, Guwahati.
5. Sarkar, Jagadish Narayan. The Life of Mir Jumla, The General of Aurangzeb, 1951, Thacker, Spink & Co. (1933) Ltd., Calcutta.