Sulikphaa

Sulikphaa or Ratnadhwaj Singha was the king of the Ahom Kingdom (now in northeast India) from 1679 CE to 1681 CE. He was only fourteen years of age when Laluksola Borphukan, the Ahom viceroy of Guwahati and Lower Assam, raised him to the throne, after deposing the former king, Sudoiphaa. Due to his youth at the time of his accession, he was generally known as Lora Raja or the Boy-king. His reign was characterized by the atrocities committed by Laluksola Borphukan, who held the real authority behind the throne. The most notorious act which occurred during his reign was the mutilation of Ahom princes belonging to the Royal Ahom Dynasty. While most of the Ahom princes suffered mutilation, Prince Gadapani, the future king Gadadhar Singha, from the Tungkhungia branch of the Royal Ahom Dynasty, escaped, due to the efforts of his illustrious wife, Joymati Konwari, who refused to divulge any information regarding her husband’s whereabouts even in face of the tortures inflicted by the henchmen of Lora Raja. After Laluksola Borphukan was assassinated in court intrigues, the nobles at Kaliabar decided to get rid of the incompetent Lora Raja and put an able prince on the throne. Prince Gadapani, who was living incognito at a place called Rani in Kamrup at that time, was nominated for the throne. Sulikphaa or Lora Raja was deposed and exiled to Namrup, only to be executed later on.

Sulikphaa hailed from the Samuguria branch of the Royal Ahom Dynasty. His early name was Sarugohain. He was the grandson of Narayan Tipam Raja, who was the younger brother of the former Ahom king Suhung. In 1679 CE, after having some differences with Atan Burhagohain, the prime-minister of the Ahom kingdom, Laluksola Borphukan, the Ahom Viceroy of Guwahati and Lower Assam, decided to seize power in the Royal Court at Garhgaon. He therefore held treasonable correspondence with the Mughal Subedar of Bengal Subah, Muhammad Azam Shah, son of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who had already married his niece Ramani Gabharu, alias Rahmat Banu, the daughter of the Ahom king Jaydhwaj Singha, in February 1679, in order to take possession of Guwahati. In return, Laluksola Borphukan sought assistance from the Mughal prince against Atan Burhagohain, to which the prince readily agreed. In March 1679, Laluksola Borphukan surrendered Guwahati to the Mughals, and himself marched to the capital, Garhgaon. Atan Burhagohain and his supporters were taken captive. Laluksola Borphukan initially came to terms with King Sudoiphaa, but when the king later tried to arrest him for his treasonable act of negotiating with the Mughals, Laluksola Borphukan deposed the monarch. The original ambition of Laluksola Borphukan was to declare himself king, but he feared opposition from the orthodox section of the Ahom nobility and Ahom priests, since by the customs of the Ahom kingdom only the members of the Royal Ahom Dynasty, the direct descendants of the first Ahom king, Sukaphaa, were eligible for the throne. Therefore, in order to maintain control in the court and also to satisfy the other nobles, he decided to install a prince whom he could control at will. In October 1679, he fetched Sarugohain from Samaguri, aged only fourteen years, and made him king at Barnaosal. The Ahom priest named the new king Sulikphaa, while the Hindu priest named him Ratnadhwaj Singha. On account of his youth at the time of his accession, he was commonly known among the people as Lora Raja or the Boy-King.

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