There were three Burmese invasions of Assam between 1817 and 1826, during which time the Kingdom of Assam came under the control of Burma from 1821 to 1825. Locally, this period, called the manor din (Assamese: "The days/period of the Burmese") by the people of Assam,Note: The corresponding period of Burmese rule in Manipur is called Chahi-Taret Khuntakpa (Meitei: 7 years of devastation). is remembered with horror. The sharp drop in population due to depredations as well as emigrations left the erstwhile kingdom in shambles. It was the climactic period of the Ahom kingdom. The contemporaneous Chahi Taret Khuntakpa is remembered similarly in Manipur. The British, who were earlier reluctant to colonise Assam, came into direct contact with a belligerent Burmese occupying force. Following the First Anglo-Burmese War, they annexed Assam and took Manipur as a subsidiary state.
Background In the later part of 18th century, the Ahom kingdom in Assam was wreaked by series of rebellions. The Moamoria rebellion in Upper Assam and the Dundiya rebellion in Western Assam severely weakened the Ahom kingdom due to loss of lives and property. The Prime Minister Purnananda Burhagohain tried his best to reestablish Ahom rule over the regions. With great efforts, he finally suppressed all the rebellions, and firmly established the royal authority over the kingdom. For smooth functioning of administration or to consolidate his power, he appointed all his relatives in high posts of the Kingdom of Ahom. Badan Chandra Borphukan, the governor of Guwahati, was anxious of the growing power of Purnananda Burhagohain. At first, he tried to make friendship with Purnananda Burhagohain. He gave his daughter Pijou Gabhoru to Purnananda's son, Oreshanath Dhekial Phukan along with a huge amount of gold ornaments and utensils as dowry. The move backfired when Purnananda Burhagohain expressed his displeasure and suspected Badan Chandra Borphukan of misusing his office. Angered by the behaviour of Purnananda Burhagohain, Badan Chandra Borphukan encouraged conspirators in the capital Jorhat with the aim to assassinate Purnananda Burhagohain. The conspiracy failed, the conspirators were punished, and the link between Badan Chandra Borphukan and the conspirators was revealed.
Meanwhile, the people of Western Assam complained to Burhagohain about the atrocities committed by Badan Chandra Borphukan and his two sons, Janmi and Piyoli. Finally in 1815 CE, Purnananda Burhagohain decided to act, and he sent a deputation with orders to arrest Badan Chandra Borphukan and bring him to the capital Jorhat for justice. Pijou Gabhoru, the daughter-in-law of Purnananda Burhagohain, who was also the daughter of Badan Chandra Borphukan, sent an early message to her father, warning him of the impending danger. Warned by his daughter, Badan Chandra Borphukan escaped to Bengal, which was under British rule. Burhagohain's men caught him at Chilmari in Bengal, but he again escaped with the help of local Thanedar or Police officer. He went to Calcutta and visited the Governor General Lord Hastings with the plea for help to oust Purnananda Burhagohain. The Governor-General declined his plea, stating their policy of non-interference in the internal matter of another kingdom. Around that time, Badan Chandra Borphukan met the envoy of Burmese King Bodawpaya, who was on a visit at Calcutta. The envoy, after hearing his plea, took him to Burma and fixed an appointment with Bodawpaya.E. A. Gait 1926: 224-225S.K. Bhuyan 1968 Tungkhungia Buranji or A History of Assam(1681-1826) : 197-199
First Burmese invasion
In 1816, Badan Chandra Borphukan came to the court of Burmese King Bodawpaya and sought help to defeat his political rival Purnanada Burhagohain. The Burmese monarch agreed and sent an expedition under a general of Bhamo, with Badan Chandra Borphukan, which entered Assam in January 1817. The first battle took place on March 27, 1817, at Ghiladhari. The Assamese forces were led by Hao Bora, a Chutia officer, together with Daman Gogoi and Jama Khan. Other officers also participated in resistance during the invasion. The battle continued for a week when Purnananda Burhagohain learned that the enemy was accompanied by Badan Chandra Borphukan. This enraged the Burhagohain so much that he collapsed and died. This, according to chronicles, led to the division in the ranks of the Ahom nobility, and due to lack of reinforcements, the Assam army surrendered. Ruchinath, the son of Purnananda, became the Burhagohain, and asked the king to evacuate, but the king refused. This led Ruchinath to suspect that Chandrakanta Singha was in alliance with Badan Chandra Borphukan,"The new Burha Gohain endeavoured in vain to induce the king to retreat to Lower Assam, and then, perceiving that the latter intended to sacrifice him, to conciliate the Bar Phukan and his Burmese allies, fled westwards to Gauhati." and left for Guwahati without the king when the Burmese army advanced toward the Ahom capital at Jorhat. The king, Chandrakanta Singha, stayed behind, received Badan Chandra Borphukan and made him the Mantri Phukan.
The Burmese army was paid 1,000,000 rupees, and the commanders were given suitable presents. Hemo Aideo, an Ahom princess (daughter of Bagakonwar Tipam Raja and sister of Swargadeo Jogeshwar Singha), was sent to the king of Burma with 50 elephants and dowry. The Burmese army left Assam in April 1817.
After the return of the Burmese forces, Badan Chandra had become all-powerful. He began to torture the supporters of Purnananda Burhagohain, who was already dead. There were also differences between the Barbarua and barphukan. Further, disgusted with the activities of Badanchandra, Numali Rajmao (King Chandrakanta's mother), along with some officials, hatched a conspiracy to get rid of him. It culminated in the assassination of Badanchandra in 1818 by a Subedar named Rup Singh.
Second Burmese invasion Bodawpaya, on hearing this news, sent an army of 30,000 under the command of Kiamingi (Ala Mingi Borgohain) and guided by Patal Senapati (Momai Barua), a Chutia by ethnicity This army was met by an army led by Jagannath Dhekial Phukan on February 15, 1819, at Phulpanisiga, near Janji. The Burmese army was defeated with a loss of about 300 soldiers and retreated a short distance. The Assam army, instead of pursuing the defeated Burmese, returned to the Ahom capital Jorhat, leading to much confusion and panic. Failing to instil confidence, Ruchinath Burhagohain and Purandar Singha sailed down to Guwahati, and the Burmese army was able to occupy the capital two days later.
Chandrakanta was reinstated as the king on March 9, 1819, followed by the execution of the Ahom officials who had supported Ruchinath Burhagohain; and in the middle of April 1819, Kiamingi left for Burma, leaving Mingimaha Tilwa in charge. Under Tilwa's orders, Patalang pursued Ruchinath, engaged his forces in Nagaon and finally pushed him beyond Assam Chokey. Patal Chutia was made the Borbarua, and the Burmese contingent returned to Burma on January 27, 1820. To express his gratitude to Bodawpaya, Chandrakanta Singha sent a princess, Upama Aideo, along with officials and attendants.
Nevertheless, Chandrakanta's attitude toward the Burmese changed soon after. Patalang, who was originally a Kachari,Sir Edward Gait, A History of Assam, p.234. persuaded the king to shake off Burmese allegiance and had a fort constructed at Jaypur (Dighalighat).
Third Burmese invasion
In 1819, Bagyidaw became the king of Burma and decided to annex Assam. He sent Mingimaha Tilwa to Assam in February 1821. Patalang Borbarua was killed and Chandrakanta Singha fled to Guwahati. Mingimaha killed a number of Ahom officials and installed Punyadhar (Jogeshwar Singha), a brother of Hemo Aideo, as the king.
Chandrakanta Singha's response Chandrakanta Singha made his camp at Guwahati and lead his campaign against the Burmese. Purandar, who was unable to raise an army in the British territory, raised one in Bhutan under Robert Bruce, but this force was dispersed by Chandrakanta's Sikh forces in May 1821. A large force, deputed by Tilwa, advanced against Chandrakanta (September 1821), who retreated to Assam Chokey and then to the British territories. Unlike Purandar, Chandrakanta was able to raise a force mainly of Sikhs soldiers, and he retook Assam Chokey (October 1821) and Guwahati (December 1821) and pitched his camp at Mahgarh, near Jorhat, on March 15, 1822. The commander of the Sikh soldiers, Chataniya Singh of Lahore was killed although the Sikhs routed the Burmese hordes.
Bagyidaw, on hearing of the Assam situation, sent in a 20,000 strong contingent under Mingi Maha Bandula who attacked and defeated the forces of Chandrakanta in April 1822. Chandrakanta fell back to Guwahati, and finally to Assam chaki, where he encountered Mingimaha Tilwa in June 1822. He was defeated and had to further retreat into the British territory. After this victory, the Burmese declared Mingimaha Tilwa the Raja of Assam and brought an end to the sovereign Ahom rule in Assam."Towards the end of June, Mingimaha Tilwa, the chief commanding officer of the Assam Chaki was declared Raja of Assam. This marked the extinction of the Ahom monarchy."
Direct Burmese rule The defeat of Chandrakanta at Assam Chokey brought the Burmese face-to-face with the British in the Brahmaputra valley. Tilwa demanded the British hand over the fugitive king, and threatened to enter British territory to seize him, with about 7,000 troops at Assam Chokey and 1,000 more at Guwahati under Bandula. Nevertheless, the Burmese troops faced logistics issues, and as a result, Bandula left Guwahati, leaving Tilwa at Guwahati with only 1,000 troops. At this juncture, Chandrakanta Singha was invited by the Burmese to come back and rule. Chandrakanta abandoned his Baruas and Phukans and surrendered to Tilwa at Assam Chokey. When he reached Jorhat, he was seized and imprisoned instead. After Chandrakanta Singha's final removal, another attempt to drive out the Burmese was organised by Hao Bora of North Lakhimpur with his Baskatia soldiers, but his force was defeated. In pursuit of Hao Bora, Burmese forces crossed the Brahmaputra and overran North Lakhimpur, where they inflicted widespread violence on the population.
Alternative Burmese account This account differs a little from the Burmese account in which the expedition that started in February 1821 with the 20,000 (including 10,000 Khamti Shan and Kachin levies) Burmese Army is said to have taken one and a half years to reach Assam when it defeated Chandrakanta Singha in July 1822 and made Assam a Burmese province under a military governor-general, extinguishing the 600-year-old Ahom court once and for all.Myint-U, River of Lost Footsteps, p. 112Myint-U, Making of Modern Burma, pp. 15–16 Chandrakanta Singha fled to British territory of Bengal. The British ignored Bandula's demands to surrender the fugitive king, and instead sent reinforcement units to frontier forts.Shakespear, pp. 62–63 Maha Bandula left a military garrison of 2,000 men commanded by Maha Thilawa, and returned to Ava.Phayre, pp. 233–234
This period is remembered in Assam as very difficult, with the garrison soldiers and native marauders committing atrocities on the common people leading to thousands leaving Assam for Bengal. Much of the neighboring State of Manipur was also laid waste by the marauding armies.
By 1825, the Meiteis under the leadership of Meitei king Gambhir Singh had repulsed the Burmese and drove them past the Chindwin River.CHAHI-TARET KHUNTAKPA, 1819-1825 AD (seven years of Manipur anarchy, 3212-3218 MF) IIT Guwahati The occupation led to frequent contacts between the Burmese and the British and finally to the First Burmese War and the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826. This treaty marked the end of Burmese rule and the beginning of British rule in Assam.
Atrocities during Burmese rule Reign of terror