Koch dynasty
Encyclopedia
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
and Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, named after the Koch tribe, emerged as the dominant ruling house in the Kamata kingdom
Kamata Kingdom
The Kamata kingdom appeared in the western part of the older Kamarupa kingdom in the 13th century, after the fall of the Pala dynasty. The rise of the Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the History of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The first rulers were the...
in 1515 after the fall of the Khen dynasty
Khen dynasty
The Khen dynasty of Assam replaced the Pala dynasty in the 12th century. Their accession marks the end of the Kamarupa kingdom, and the beginning of the Kamata kingdom....
in 1498. The first of the Koch kings, Viswa Singha and then his sons, Nara Narayan
Nara Narayan
Maharaja Naranarayan was the third and last ruler of the undivided Koch kingdom of Kamata. He succeeded his father Biswa Singha. Under him the Koch kingdom reached its cultural and political zenith. He introduced a silver coin, called the Narayani, that greatly influenced the numismatics of Assam...
as the subsequent king and Chilarai
Chilarai
Shukladhwaj , or more popularly Chilarai , was the younger brother of Nara Narayana, the king of the Kamata kingdom in the 16th century. He was Nara Narayana's commander-in-chief, and he got his name Chilarai because his movement as a general was as fast as a chila .Chilarai is known to have...
as the general, soon occupied the western portion of the erstwhile Kamarupa Kingdom as well as some regions of south Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. The dynasty forked for the first time into two major branches that controlled Koch Bihar
Koch Bihar
Koch Bihar was a small kingdom located south of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, west of the upper Brahmaputra valley Ahom kingdom, and north-east of the Ganges plain and Bengal. It was formed when the Kamata Kingdom under the Koch dynasty split following the death of Nara Narayan in 1586. The...
and Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo was the eastern portion of the Kamata kingdom that splintered off under Raghudev Narayan in 1581 from the Kamata kingdom then under Nara Narayana in medieval Assam. The Sankosh river was fixed as the boundary between Koch Hajo and the western portion that came to be called Koch Bihar....
. Koch Bihar became a vassal of the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
s, whereas Koch Hajo came under Ahom
Ahom kingdom
The Ahom Kingdom was a medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India...
control and was subsequently absorbed. Koch Bihar became a princely state during British rule and was absorbed after Indian independence. A third branch of this dynasty at Khaspur disappeared into the Kachari kingdom
Kachari Kingdom
The Kachari Kingdom was a powerful kingdom in medieval Assam. The rulers belonged to the Dimasa people, part of the greater Bodo-Kachari ethnic group...
.
Historical background
After the fall of the Pala dynasty of Kamarupa, the Kamarupa fractured into differing domains. In the extreme east the Sutiya kingdom emerged on the north bank of Brahmaputra riverBrahmaputra River
The Brahmaputra , also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia. It is the only Indian river that is attributed the masculine gender and thus referred to as a in Indo-Aryan languages and languages with Indo-Aryan influence...
. The Ahom kingdom
Ahom kingdom
The Ahom Kingdom was a medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India...
emerged in the south bank and to their west was the Kachari kingdom
Kachari Kingdom
The Kachari Kingdom was a powerful kingdom in medieval Assam. The rulers belonged to the Dimasa people, part of the greater Bodo-Kachari ethnic group...
. Further west was the region of the Baro-Bhuyan
Baro-Bhuyan
The Baro-Bhuyans were warrior chiefs and landlords of medieval Assam and Bengal who maintained a loose independent confederacy. In times of aggression by external powers, they generally cooperated in defending and expelling the aggressor. In times of peace, they maintained their respective...
landlords and still further west was the Kamata kingdom
Kamata Kingdom
The Kamata kingdom appeared in the western part of the older Kamarupa kingdom in the 13th century, after the fall of the Pala dynasty. The rise of the Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the History of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The first rulers were the...
. The last of the Kamata kings before the Koches emerged was Nilambar, who was defeated and whose kingdom was occupied by Alauddin Husain Shah of Gaur in 1498. After the conquest, he left his son Daniyal to rule over and expand the conquered region. He soon came into conflict with the Baro-Bhuyans led by one Harup Narayan of the Brahmaputa valley, and was defeated, captured and executed.
It was at this historical moment that Bisu, son of a Mech
Mech tribe
Mech tribe is one of the scheduled tribes of India and belong to Bodo-Kachari group of tribes. They belong to Mongoloid race and speak mainly Bodo language, which is a Tibeto-Burman dialect but have got influenced by the Assamese language. The Mech people live in the Dooars region of West Bengal...
chieftain with a Koch mother emerged as one who could unify different tribal groups and engage the Bara Bhuyans and defeat them to become the sole authority in the erstwhile Kamata region. On coming into power, he assumed the name Viswa Singha.
Beginning of the Koch dynasty
The first ruler of the Koch dynasty was Vishwa Singha, who established himself in 1515 as the ruler of the Kamata kingdomKamata Kingdom
The Kamata kingdom appeared in the western part of the older Kamarupa kingdom in the 13th century, after the fall of the Pala dynasty. The rise of the Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the History of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The first rulers were the...
. According to J N Sarkar, Viswa Singha belonged to one of the dominant Koch tribes, which were a collection of Mongoloid tribes, loosely allied to the Meches, Garo
Garo (tribe)
See also Garo for other uses.The Garos are a tribal people in Meghalaya, India and neighboring areas of Bangladesh, who call themselves A·chik Mande or simply A·chik or Mande...
s, Tharus and also Dravidians. They had adopted Hinduism a few generations before Vishwa Singha and claimed the Kshatriya varna. The earliest known ancestor of Viswa Singha was his father Haria Mandal, from the Chiknabari village in Goalpara district
Goalpara District
Goalpara district is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located in Goalpara town.-History:...
, the head of the twelve most powerful Mech
Mech tribe
Mech tribe is one of the scheduled tribes of India and belong to Bodo-Kachari group of tribes. They belong to Mongoloid race and speak mainly Bodo language, which is a Tibeto-Burman dialect but have got influenced by the Assamese language. The Mech people live in the Dooars region of West Bengal...
families. He was married to Jira and Hira, daughters of a Koch chief named Hajo, after whom Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo was the eastern portion of the Kamata kingdom that splintered off under Raghudev Narayan in 1581 from the Kamata kingdom then under Nara Narayana in medieval Assam. The Sankosh river was fixed as the boundary between Koch Hajo and the western portion that came to be called Koch Bihar....
was named. Viswa Singha was the son of Haria Mandal and Hira.
Viswa Singha sought the alliance of tribal chiefs against the more powerful Baro-Bhuyans and began his campaign around 1509. Successively, he defeated the Bhuyans of Ouguri, Jhargaon, Karnapur, Phulaguri, Bijni and Pandunath (Pandu, in Guwahati
Guwahati
Guwahati, Pragjyotishpura in ancient Assam formerly known as Gauhati is a metropolis,the largest city of Assam in India and ancient urban area in North East India, with a population of 963,429. It is also the largest metropolitan area in north-eastern India...
). He was particularly stretched by the Bhuyan of Kanrnapur, and could defeat him only by a stratagem during Bihu
Bihu
Bihu denotes a set of three different cultural festivals of Assam and celebrated by the Assamese diaspora around the world. Though they owe their origins to ancient rites and practices they have taken definite urban features and have become popular festivals in urban and commercialized milieus in...
. After subjugating the petty rulers, he announced himself the king of Kamata bounded on the east by Barnadi river and on the west by the Karatoya river in the year 1515. He moved his capital from Chikana to Kamatapur (also called Kantapur) which is just a few miles southeast of the present-day Cooch Behar town.
Viswa Singha's two sons, Naranarayan and Shukladhwaj (Chilarai
Chilarai
Shukladhwaj , or more popularly Chilarai , was the younger brother of Nara Narayana, the king of the Kamata kingdom in the 16th century. He was Nara Narayana's commander-in-chief, and he got his name Chilarai because his movement as a general was as fast as a chila .Chilarai is known to have...
), the king and the commander-in-chief of the army respectively, took the kingdom to its zenith. Nara Narayan made Raghudev, the son of Chilarai, the governor of Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo was the eastern portion of the Kamata kingdom that splintered off under Raghudev Narayan in 1581 from the Kamata kingdom then under Nara Narayana in medieval Assam. The Sankosh river was fixed as the boundary between Koch Hajo and the western portion that came to be called Koch Bihar....
, the eastern portion of the country. After the death of Nara Narayan, Raghudev declared independence. The division of the Kamata kingdom into Koch Bihar
Koch Bihar
Koch Bihar was a small kingdom located south of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, west of the upper Brahmaputra valley Ahom kingdom, and north-east of the Ganges plain and Bengal. It was formed when the Kamata Kingdom under the Koch dynasty split following the death of Nara Narayan in 1586. The...
and Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo was the eastern portion of the Kamata kingdom that splintered off under Raghudev Narayan in 1581 from the Kamata kingdom then under Nara Narayana in medieval Assam. The Sankosh river was fixed as the boundary between Koch Hajo and the western portion that came to be called Koch Bihar....
was permanent.
Nara Narayan was impressed by the bhakti
Bhakti
In Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
saint Srimanta Sankardeva
Srimanta Sankardeva
Mahapurusha Srimanta Shankardeva , was the greatest Assamese saint-scholar, playwright, social-religious reformer and a colossal figure in the cultural and religious history of Assam, India...
who became a member of his court in the last three years of his life and who established a sattra in the kingdom.
Early history of Cooch Behar
The princely state known as Cooch BeharKoch Bihar
Koch Bihar was a small kingdom located south of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, west of the upper Brahmaputra valley Ahom kingdom, and north-east of the Ganges plain and Bengal. It was formed when the Kamata Kingdom under the Koch dynasty split following the death of Nara Narayan in 1586. The...
during the British rule was part of the Kamarupa Kingdom from the 4th to 12th century, ruled by the Varman
Varman dynasty
The Varman dynasty ruled Kamarupa from 350 to 650. Pushyavarman the first historical ruler of Assam established this dynasty in c350 AD...
, Mlechchha
Mlechchha dynasty
The Mlechchha dynasty ruled Kamarupa from their capital at Hadapeshvar in the present-day Tezpur after the fall of the Varman dynasty. The rulers were aboriginals, though their lineage from Narakasura was constructed to accord legitimacy to their rule...
and Pala
Pala dynasty (Kamarupa)
The Pala dynasty of Kamarupa ruled the kingdom from 900 CE to 1100 CE. Like the Pala dynasty of Bengal, the first ruler in this dynasty was elected, which probably explains the name of this dynasty "Pala". But unlike the Palas of Bengal, who were Buddhists, the Palas of Kamarupa were Vaishnava...
dynasties. From the 12th century, the area became a part of Kamata kingdom
Kamata Kingdom
The Kamata kingdom appeared in the western part of the older Kamarupa kingdom in the 13th century, after the fall of the Pala dynasty. The rise of the Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the History of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The first rulers were the...
, first ruled by the Khen dynasty
Khen dynasty
The Khen dynasty of Assam replaced the Pala dynasty in the 12th century. Their accession marks the end of the Kamarupa kingdom, and the beginning of the Kamata kingdom....
from their capital at Kamatapur. The most important Khen rulers were Niladhaj (1440-1460), Chakradhaj (1460-1480) and Nilambar (1480-1498) The Khens were an indigenous tribe and they ruled till about 1498 CE when they fell into the trick of Alauddin Hussain Shah
Alauddin Hussain Shah
Ala-ud-din Husain Shah was an independent late medieval Sultan of Bengal, who founded the Hussain Shahi dynasty. He became the ruler of Bengal after assassinating the Abyssinian Sultan, Shams-ud-Din Muzaffar Shah, whom he had served under as wazir...
, the independent Pathan Sultan of Gour
Gaur, West Bengal
Gour, or Gaur , as it is spelt mostly in modern times, or Lakhnauti is a ruined city, in the Malda district of West Bengal, India, on the west bank of the Ganges river, 40 kilometers downstream from Rajmahal.-History:...
and lost their empire. The new invaders came into conflict with the local Bhuyan chieftains and the Ahom king
Ahom Dynasty
The Ahom Dynasty ruled the Ahom Kingdom in present-day Assam for nearly 600 years. The dynasty was established by Sukaphaa, a Shan prince of Mong Mao who came to Assam after crossing the Patkai mountains...
Suhungmung
Suhungmung
Suhungmung , was one of the most important 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 Kingdom expanded greatly for the first time since Sukaphaa, at the cost of...
, and lost control of the region.
After the Muslims left the area there was confusion and commotion in the country. During this time independent Bhuiyans started ruling over small areas. Among these a Koch Bhuiyan named Hajo had two daughters named Jira and Hira. On the other side there was a small territory at Chikna Mountains situated between the Sankosh River and the Champabati River, about 80 kilometers north of Dhubri
Dhubri
Dhubri is the headquarters of Dhubri district India. It is a small old town on the bank of the Brahmaputra and Gadadhar Rivers. In 1883, the town was first constituted as a Municipal Board and is situated about west from Guwahati, the state capital.Dhubri was an important commercial centre and...
in the present-day Goalpara District
Goalpara District
Goalpara district is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located in Goalpara town.-History:...
of Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. This territory was ruled by Haridas Mondal, a Mech
Mech tribe
Mech tribe is one of the scheduled tribes of India and belong to Bodo-Kachari group of tribes. They belong to Mongoloid race and speak mainly Bodo language, which is a Tibeto-Burman dialect but have got influenced by the Assamese language. The Mech people live in the Dooars region of West Bengal...
chieftain. To establish unity with Chikna, Hajo wedded off his daughters to Chief Haridas Mandal. In due time Jira gave birth to Madan and Chandan while Hira gave birth to Sishu (Sisya Singha) and Bishu (Biswa Singha). Among the four brothers Bishu was the cleverest and strongest.
One day the four brothers were praying to Goddess Bhagwati in a playful mood and they offered one of their friends for sacrifice; it is believed that mysteriously the head of the friend was cut off his body. Turka Kotwal ordered their arrest. Fearing capture they took shelter in the forest.
Later they collected soldiers, elephants and horses and attacked the Turka Kotwal. Madan was killed in the battle; to take revenge Biswa Singha killed Turka Kotwal. To please stepmother Jira, whose son Madan was killed instead of becoming himself the king, Biswa Singha enthroned Chandan as the King. In this way in 1510 the Koch kingdom was started.
Rulers of undivided Koch kingdom
- Biswa Singha (1515-1540)
- Nara NarayanNara NarayanMaharaja Naranarayan was the third and last ruler of the undivided Koch kingdom of Kamata. He succeeded his father Biswa Singha. Under him the Koch kingdom reached its cultural and political zenith. He introduced a silver coin, called the Narayani, that greatly influenced the numismatics of Assam...
(1540-1586)
Rulers of Koch Bihar
- Lakshmi Narayan
- Bir Narayan
- Pran Narayan
- Basudev Narayan
- Mahindra Narayan
- Roop Narayan
- Upendra Narayan
- Devendra Narayan
- Dhairjendra Narayan
- Rajendra Narayan
- Dharendra Narayan
- Harendra Narayan
- Shivendra Narayan
- Narendra Narayan
- Nripendra Narayan
- Rajrajendra Narayan
- Jitendra Narayan (father of Gayatri DeviGayatri DeviGayatri Devi , often styled as Maharani Gayatri Devi, Rajmata of Jaipur, was born as Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar...
) - Jagaddipendra NarayanJagaddipendra NarayanJagaddipendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur was Maharaja of Cooch-Behar, in India. He served in British forces during World War II and ceded full ruling powers to the Government of India in 1949....
- Virajdendra Narayan
Rulers of Koch Hajo
- Raghudev (son of ChilaraiChilaraiShukladhwaj , or more popularly Chilarai , was the younger brother of Nara Narayana, the king of the Kamata kingdom in the 16th century. He was Nara Narayana's commander-in-chief, and he got his name Chilarai because his movement as a general was as fast as a chila .Chilarai is known to have...
, nephew of Nara Narayan) - Parikshit Narayan
Rulers of Darrang
Parikshit Narayana was attacked by the MughalsMughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
stationed at Dhaka in alliance with Lakshmi Narayan of Koch Bihar in 1612. His kingdom Koch Hajo, bounded by Sankosh river in the west and Barnadi river in the east, was occupied by the end of that year. Parikshit Narayan was sent to Delhi for an audience with the Mughal Emperor, but his brother Balinarayan escaped and took refuge in the Ahom kingdom
Ahom kingdom
The Ahom Kingdom was a medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India...
. The region to the east of Barnadi and up to the Bharali river was under the control of some Baro-Bhuyan
Baro-Bhuyan
The Baro-Bhuyans were warrior chiefs and landlords of medieval Assam and Bengal who maintained a loose independent confederacy. In times of aggression by external powers, they generally cooperated in defending and expelling the aggressor. In times of peace, they maintained their respective...
chieftains, but they were soon removed by the Mughals. In 1615 the Mughals, under Syed Hakim and Syed Aba Bakr, attacked the Ahoms but were repelled back to the Barnadi river. The Ahom king, Prataap Singha, then established Balinarayan as a vassal in the newly acquired region between Barnadi and Bharali rivers, and called it Darrang. Balinarayan's descendants continued to rule the region till it was annexed by the British in 1826.
- Balinarayan (brother of Parikshit Narayan)
- Mahendra Narayan
- Chandra Narayan
- Surya Narayan
- ...
Rulers of Bijni
The Bijni rulers reigned between the Sankosh and the Manas rivers, the region immediately to the east of Koch BiharKoch Bihar
Koch Bihar was a small kingdom located south of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, west of the upper Brahmaputra valley Ahom kingdom, and north-east of the Ganges plain and Bengal. It was formed when the Kamata Kingdom under the Koch dynasty split following the death of Nara Narayan in 1586. The...
.
- Chandra Narayan (son of Parikshit Narayan)
- Joy narayan
- Shiv Narayan
- Bijoy Narayan
- Mukunda Narayan
- Haridev Narayan
- Indra Narayan
- Amrit Narayan
- Kumud Narayan
- ...
- Bhairabendra Narayan
Rulers of Khaspur
- Kamal Narayan (Gohain Kamal, son of Viswa Singha, governor of Khaspur)
- Udita Narayan (declared independence of Khaspur)
- Vijay Singha
- Dhir Singha
- Mahendra Singha
- Ranjit Singha
- Nara Singha
- Bhim Simha (his only issue, daughter Kanchani, married prince Lakshmichandra of Kachari kingdomKachari KingdomThe Kachari Kingdom was a powerful kingdom in medieval Assam. The rulers belonged to the Dimasa people, part of the greater Bodo-Kachari ethnic group...
, and Khaspur merged into the Kachari kingdom.)