Lachit: The Indomitable-Aneesh Gokhale

Book: Lachit: The Indomitable
Author: Aneesh Gokhale
Publisher: Bloomsbury India

Have you heard about The Battle of Saraighat?

Lachit: The Indomitable by Aneesh Gokhale is a tale of valor. It is the story of Lachit Barphukan, the Ahom commander who led the Assamese to victory over the Mughals. Having lost control of Guwahati to the invading forces of Diler Khan and Mir Jumla, the Ahom monarch Chakradhwaj Singha begins a campaign to retake what rightfully belongs to the Assamese. The land has been ravaged by war, the treasuries are empty, the armouries barely exist. Not to speak of a despondent populace. He elevates Lachit to the status of Barphukan, and makes him the Senapati. When Lachit Barphukan recaptures Guwahati, Aurangzeb sends Ram Singh with a huge army to Assam. In this unputdownable novel, Aneesh Gokhale describes in rich detail the epic defence raised by the Assamese under the leadership of Lachit Barphukan, culminating in the famous Battle of Saraighat, a battle fought entirely in the river Brahmaputra.

The book explores the lesser-known story of Lachit Barphukan, the Assamese commander who took on the Mughals. Aneesh explores the story of the Ahom dynasty and how they plan to retake Guwahati from the Mughals. The story is told in a wonderful manner and it goes back in time to bring to light one of the lesser-known stories of our history. The plot is engaging and fast paced. The book focuses on the story of Lachit, and rather than make it a larger-than-life story of a war. I liked how the author has kept the human aspect of the person on the forefront showing both the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. Another interesting aspect is that he brings to light the fact that Lachit was a contemporary of Shivaji Maharaj and that while living on opposite sides of the Indian subcontinent, both were fighting a common enemy. However, there are things that need to be relooked into the book, especially the proofreading as there are some grammar issues and spelling errors that need to be corrected. Secondly, I felt that the plot is not quite smooth and there are gaps that reduce the overall reading experience. When there is a change of scene inside the chapter, there are no clear markers to denote the same and thus the reader has to go back and reread to get the grasp of the change.

Coming to the characters, I liked the way Aneesh structures his characters and develops them over the course of the story. The idea to keep a focus on all the primary characters was interesting and while the book is about Lachit, he develops all the other characters as well so as to not keep the narrative one sided. The character descriptions are detailed and Aneesh keeps the minute details so as to help the reader visualize the characters while reading.

Overall, the book is recommended for anyone looking to understand more about Lachit Barphukan. The book scores a 4.38/5 for me.

I was provided a copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Get your copy of the book on Amazon India or your nearest bookstore.