Suklenmung(1539–1552) was a

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of the Ahom kingdom in medieval

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. Since he established his capital at

Garhgaon Gargaon (Pron:/gɑ:ˈgɑ̃ʊ/) is a town in Assam, India and was the capital of the Ahom kingdom for many years. It was built by the Ahom king Suklenmung (Gargoyaan Rojaa) in 1540. It is said that the capital was built at the suggestion of ...

(which would remain the capital of the Ahom kingdom till the establishment of the Tungkhungia kings), he is also called the Garhgaiya roja in the

Buranji Buranjis (Ahom language: ''ancient writings'') are a class of historical chronicles and manuscripts associated with the Ahom kingdom written initially in Ahom Language and later in Assamese language as well. The Buranjis are an example of histor ...

s. It was during his reign that

Madhabdev Madhavdev (1489–1596) (Pron: ˈʃrɪ ˈʃrɪ ˈmɑ:dəbˌdeɪv) is an important preceptor of the Ekasarana Dharma known for his loyalty to his guru, Srimanta Sankardev as well as his artistic brilliance. Initially a sakta worshipper, he wa ...

and

Sankardeva Srimanta Sankardev( শ্ৰীমন্ত শংকৰদেৱ )(; ; 1449–1568) was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath; a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, dancer, actor, musician, artist social-religious reformer and a figure of im ...

's son-in-law Hari were captured and Hari executed, which precipitated the departure of Sankardeva from the Ahom kingdom. It is frequently said that the first coins were struck during the reign of Garhgayan Raja, but is merely due to misreading of the Ahom legend on the coins of

Chakradhwaj Singha Supangmung (reigned 1663–1670), also known as Chakradhwaj Singha ( as, স্বৰ্গদেউ চক্ৰধ্বজ সিংহ), was an important Ahom king under whom the Ahom kingdom took back Guwahati from the Mughals followin ...

(1663-1669). The first coins of the Ahom kingdom were struck during the

Jayadhwaj Singha Sutamla (1648–1663) Jayadhwaj Singha was the 20th king of the Ahom kingdom. During his reign the Mughal viceroy at Bengal Mir Jumla II invaded and occupied his capital Garhgaon as a result of which he had to retreat to the Namrup area, a ...

reign (1648-1663)

Ascension

Suklenmung became the king after

Suhungmung Suhungmung (), or Dihingia Roja I was one of the most prominent Ahom Kings who ruled at the cusp of Assam's medieval history. His reign broke from the early Ahom rule and established a multi-ethnic polity in his kingdom. Under him the Ahom K ...

, his father and the erstwhile king, was assassinated by one of his servants, Ratiman, in January 1539. Some

s suspect that Suklenmung was behind the plot even though Suklenmung tried to dispel the rumors by having the brothers of Ratiman, the assassin, executed. During the middle of the 16th century, Suklenmung intervened against the Burmese aggression on Mong Kwang, a Shan state in Upper Burma. In return Mong Kwang ruler Chao Siu-Kwei offered his daughter, Nang Sao Seng to the Ahom king. During his father's reign Suklen (as he was then known) offered the first defense against the Bengal invader Turbak in 1532, which he lost and in which he suffered personal injury grievous enough that he had to be replaced by the

Borpatrogohain Borpatragohain was the third of the three great ''Gohains'' (counsellors) in the Ahom kingdom. This position was created by Suhungmung Dihingia Raja in the year 1527 when Koncheng was made the first Borpatrogohain. The designation was borrowed fro ...

as the commander of the army.

Territory

Suklenmung consolidated the kingdom's command over the regions captured from the

Kachari kingdom The Dimasa Kingdom (also Kachari kingdom) was a late medieval/early modern kingdom in Assam, Northeast India ruled by Dimasa kings. The Dimasa kingdom and others (Kamata, Chutiya) that developed in the wake of the Kamarupa kingdom were examp ...

, by moving the

Baro-Bhuyan The Baro-Bhuyans (or ''Baro-Bhuyan Raj''; also ''Baro-Bhuians'' and Baro-Bhuiyans) refers to the confederacies of soldier-landowners in Assam and Bengal in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The confederacies consisted of loose ...

in the Kopili river valley closer to the capital. In 1546, the kingdom was invaded by the Koch commander,

Chilarai Shukladhwaja (Pron:ʃʊkləˈdwɑːdʒ) (1510-1577AD), or more popularly known as Bir Chilarai(Pron:/ʧɪləˌraɪ/), was the 3rd son of Biswa Singha, founder of the Koch Dynasty in Kamata Kingdom and younger brother of Nara Narayan, the 2nd kin ...

, who advanced along a road constructed in secret by his half-brother, Gohain Kamal (and thus called

Gohain Kamal Ali Gohain Kamal Ali, was a road that connected the capital of the Koch kingdom to heart of Agomani in Dhubri and Narayanpur in Lakhimpur district in Assam. This was constructed under the supervision of Gohain Kamal, the step-brother of the king, Nar ...

), along the north bank of the

Brahmaputra river The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...

to establish a camp at Narayanpur in present day

North Lakhimpur North Lakhimpur ( ) is a city and a municipal board in Lakhimpur district in the Indian state of Assam, about northeast of Guwahati. It is the district headquarters of Lakhimpur district. North Lakhimpur is also the name of the subdivision of ...

district. Suklenmung was able to remove the Koch army from the northbank.

Administration

Suklenmung had the Garhgaon tank excavated, the ''Naga Ali'' constructed.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suklenmung Ahom kings Ahom kingdom 1552 deaths Year of birth unknown