[Assam] Ajay Singh seeks a ViJJoy over famous Saraighat! Another nail is being hammered in onto the coffin of the illustrious history of Assam in the process of overt Indian policy of wiping it clean from the Assamese memory.

[Bartta Bistar]

Assam's historic battleground

Thursday, January 04, 2007 11:48:22 am

http://www.timesnow.tv/Sections/World/Assams_historic_battleground/articleshow/1049711.cms





A memorial of the Battle of Saraighat

An inscription detailing the Battle of Saraighat, a historic encounter where
a small army of the then Ahom Kingdom outdid the formidable Mughal
battalions of Aurangzeb. The war of 1671 gave Assam its most celebrated
hero, the chief of the Ahom Army, General Lachit Borphukan.



With human population of the rise and the encroachers not bothered to spare
any land, now the battle is on to restore the sites rightful place in
history.



The general's valour is legendary in Assam but the site where he defeated
the Mughals is shrouded in controversy. Governor of Assam has questioned the
historical authenticity of the site.



"We haven't got enough documentary evidence to say and to locate exactly
where it was. We're trying to gather as much documentary proof as possible
from the Archaeological department and the District departments," said Assam
Governor, Ajai Singh.



The debate erupted after reports of encroachment on one of the ramparts that
is believed to have been built under Borphukan's supervision to ward off the
Mughals. But Archaeological studies and survey in this area have become
nearly impossible with encroachers refusing to co-operate.





Assam Governor, Ajai Singh visiting the site



"Our problem is that this has become a place of human habitation, so there
will be some damage if there's any attempt to displace us. I'll have nothing
to say if the Government someday decides to move us out of here," said
Jyotish Haldar, a headman in Medhipara.



And to make matters worse, Archaeological and land records do not mention
where exactly the rampart was built. Eminent historians in the state,
though, have little doubt!



"What the Governor said and what the Archaeological evidences suggest can be
considered and can hold good. But information passed on through oral history
cannot be ignored," said Prof Ranju Bezboruah, Head of the Department of
History in Guwahati University.



But with the Raj Bhawan taking a keen interest in the current controversy,
it promises to be more controversial before history gets its due.



(By Devajit Sharma
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