Andharu Bali - have you ever heard this beautiful name? Do you know where it’s located?
Well, Andharu Bali is the stretch of sand or the sandbank on the Brahmaputra River where the historic Saraighat Battle was fought between the Ahoms and the Mughals in 1671.
That stretch of sand is located behind the Sonaram Higher Secondary School in Bharalumukh. It stretches from the mouth of the Bharalu River till the Nilachal hills. The sandbank is so named as it is often shadowed by the Nilachal Hill - Andharu meaning dark.
As we all know, the Battle of Saraighat was mainly a naval war. Although weaker, the Ahom Army defeated the Mughal Army by brilliant use of the terrain, clever diplomatic negotiations to buy time, guerrilla tactics, psychological warfare, military intelligence and by exploiting the sole weakness of the Mughal forces - its navy.
Lachit Borphukan, the commander of the Ahom Army, strategically made a complex system of mud embankments on this very stretch of sand and waited for the monsoon season to continue the battle. Andharu Bali was also set up as the headquarters of the Ahom army. This was done to lead the Mughal army into a naval battle which was their weakest asset.
History records that Haradutta Choudhury, who led the Dundiya rebellion against the Ahom Kingdom for the latter’s oppressive occupation of Kamrup was also captured and killed on this same sandbank in 1800.
The west end of Andharu Bali, towards Nilachal Hill is also known as Sagun-thutia (Vulture’s beak-like) because of its shape.