Suhung was an Ahom king who ruled over the kingdom for a very short span of time, from 1674 to 1675 AD. He was crowned as the king by Debera Borbarua who had poisoned the former king Ramdhwaj Singha. The reign of Suhung was marked by atrocities of his minister Debera Borbarua. When the king decided to get rid of his corrupt minister, the minister in turn weaved conspiracy against him and killed him by poisoning. Suhung was the maternal nephew of Debera Borbarua.
Coronation of Suhung
After the death of Ramdhwaj Singha, when his descendents started to struggle for his throne, his brother Narayan Gohain Tipam Raja arrived the capital Garhgaon to claim his succession. Debera Borbarua, along with his two lieutenants battled against them thereby defeating them and killing Narayan Gohain. After this another brother of the former king, Ban Gohain Namrupia Raja, was also killed in the same way and subsequently the minister killed all the brothers of the king who were the claimants of the throne. Afterwards, Debera Borbarua installed Suhung as the king of Ahom kingdom.
A custom prevailed among the Kacharis in that period according to which an envoy of Kachari kingdom was sent to the Ahom kingdom for greeting the new king. The envoy was in fact sent to greet Swargdeo Ramdhwaj Singha but when they reached they came to know about his death and the coronation of the new king, Suhung. As the envoy had come with letters and presents for the former king, Suhung instructed them to bring another letter addressed to him as he would not open any letter meant for the former monarch.
Activities of Debera Borbarua
Atrocities of the minister Debera Borbarua were at height during the reign of Suhung and he was involved in the execution of nobles and officers who were in hostile terms with him. The slaughter campaign of Debera Borbarua involved a specific strategy in which when any officer visited the court in regard to his duties, the minister used to tell him that the king was offended with him and he had been dismissed from the office. On the way to home, the nobles or officers were then slaughtered by the two lieutenants of the minister. In this way he had caused a major destruction in the office of the king. However he never informed or explained his activities to the king.
Death of Suhung
The chief queen of the king, Pakhari Gabharu, when observed the atrocities of Debera Borbarua, demanded Suhung to take actions against him. Following this, Suhung secretly consulted his queen and Simaluguria Naobaicha Phukan who was a rival of Debera Borbarua and decided to kill the corrupt minister. This planning was however held in Tai-Ahom language which was considered as the original language of Ahom rulers.
The meeting for the destruction of Debera Borbarua was also attended by a maid who eventually informed the minister about it. To counter this plan Debera immediately conspired against the king and secretly administered poison to the king through his medicine. This resulted in the death of Suhung. After the death of the king, Debera Borbarua entered the royal palace and killed the chief queen. He later placed her body at the feet of Suhung at the Moidam or royal tomb.