71-742: The Kamata Kingdom (pron: ˈkʌmətɑ) emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya , a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE. Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, and since it covered most of the western parts of it, the kingdom is also sometimes called as Kamarupa-Kamata. It covered a region corresponding to present-day undivided districts of Kamrup , Goalpara , Jalpaiguri , and Cooch Behar district in India and Rangpur and northern parts of Mymensingh in Bangladesh . The rise of
142-647: A Rajaguru , poets, learned men and physicians. Different epigraphic records mention different officials of the palace: Mahavaradhipati , Mahapratihara , Mahallakapraudhika , etc. Council of Ministers : The king was advised by a council of ministers ( Mantriparisada ), and Xuanzang mentions a meeting Bhaskaravarman had with his ministers. According to the Kamauli grant, these positions were filled by Brahmanas and were hereditary. State functions were specialised and there were different groups of officers looking after different departments. Revenue : Land revenue ( kara )
213-638: A contemporary of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah . Tarafdar, whose work is written in 1965, makes note that there was no Sultan of Bengal in that period by the name of Ibrahim. However, in the 1990s, coins of a Sultan of Bengal by the name of Nasiruddin Ibrahim Shah (r. 1415/16 – 1416/17) were discovered in Beanibazar, Sylhet which has opened discussion regarding this manuscript once again. 16th-century Portuguese explorer João de Barros mentions
284-583: A later commentator. These early references speak about the economic activity of a tribal belt, and they do not mention any state . The earliest mention of a kingdom comes from the 4th-century Allahabad inscription of Samudragupta that calls the kings of Kamarupa and Davaka frontier rulers ( pratyanta nripati ). The corpus of Kamarupa inscriptions left by the rulers of Kamarupa at various places in Assam and present-day Bangladesh are important sources of information. Nevertheless, local grants completely eschew
355-557: A long period before settling in the Chandpur mouza of Rarh (western Bengal). Husain and his elder brother, Yusuf, spent their childhood studying under the local Qadi , who later married his daughter to Husain due to his noble background. Chandpur is often equated to the village of Chandpara in Murshidabad district , where a number of inscriptions can be founded during the early part of Husain's reign. Husain had also constructed
426-560: A member of an aboriginal group called Mlechchha.This dynasty too drew its lineage from the Naraka dynasty , though it had no dynastic relationship with the previous Varman dynasty . The capital of this dynasty was Haruppeshvara, now identified with modern Dah Parbatiya near Tezpur . The kingdom took on feudal characteristics with political power shared between the king and second and third tier rulers called mahasamanta and samanta who enjoyed considerable autonomy. The last ruler in this line
497-626: A number of Vaishnava padas and he also praised his ruler in one of his pada. During Husain Shah's reign a number of significant monuments were constructed. Wali Muhammad built Chota Sona Masjid in Gaur. During his reign, an Islamic scholar known as Shaykh Muhammad ibn Yazdan Bakhsh Bengali visited Ekdala where he transcribed Sahih al-Bukhari and gifted it to the Sultan in Sonargaon . The manuscript
568-615: A result of a system of alliances that pitted the Kamarupa kings (allied to the Maukharis ) against the Gaur kings of Bengal (allied with the East Malwa kings). Susthitavarman died as the Gaur invasion was on, and his two sons, Suprathisthitavarman and Bhaskarvarman fought against an elephant force and were captured and taken to Gaur. They were able to regain their kingdom due probably to a promise of allegiance. Suprathisthitavarman's reign
639-551: A treacherous win with 24,000 infantry, cavalry and a war flotilla. Alauddin destroyed the city and eventually annexed the region up to Hajo by 1502, removed the local chieftains, and established military control over the region. He established his son Shahzada Danyal as an administrator and issued coins in his own name as the "conqueror of Kamru and Kamata ...". This rule was short since the Baro-Bhuyans rose up in revolt soon after and exterminated Sultanate rule. Nevertheless,
710-1147: Is currently kept at the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library in Bankipore , Patna , Bihar. The reign of Husain Shah is also known for religious tolerance towards his subjects. However, R.C. Majumdar write that during his Orissa campaigns, he destroyed some Hindu temples , which Vrindavana Dasa Thakura has mentioned in his Chaitanya Bhagavata . The celebrated medieval saint, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his followers preached Bhakti (Nath-Gopi) throughout Bengal during his reign. When Husain Shah learned of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's huge following among his subjects, he ordered his qazis not to injure him in any way and allow him to go wherever he liked. Later, two high level Hindu officers in Husain Shah's administration, his Private Secretary, ( Dabir-i-Khas ) Rupa Goswami and his Intimate Minister ( Saghir Malik ) Sanatana Goswami became devoted followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Gaudiya Vaishnavas consider him to be
781-526: Is given as 595–600, a very short period, at the end of which he died without an heir. Supratisthitavarman was succeeded by his brother, Bhaskarvarman (600–650), the most illustrious of the Varman kings who succeeded in turning his kingdom and invading the very kingdom that had taken him captive. Bhaskarvarman had become strong enough to offer his alliance with Harshavardhana just as the Thanesar king ascended
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#1732772199431852-438: Is interpreted by a number of modern scholars as an evidence of annexure of at least a part of Tripura by Husain Shah's army. During Husain Shah's expeditions to Tripura, the ruler of Arakan helped Dhanya Manikya, the ruler of Tripura. He also occupied Chittagong and expelled Husain Shah's officers from there. In 1513, Husain Shah assigned the charge of Arakan expedition to Paragal Khan . Paragal Khan advanced from his base on
923-505: Is not understood to have been a homogeneous unified entity. The Kalika Purana mentions a second eastern limit at Lalitakanta near Guwahati . Shin (2018) interprets this to mean that within Kamarupa the region between Karatoya and Lalitakanta was where sedentary life was the norm and the eastern region was the realm of non-sedentary society. These internal divisions came to be understood in terms of pitha s, which were abodes of goddesses. Various epigraphic records found scattered over
994-666: The Ahom kingdom in the 17th century. The western portion of the Kamata kingdom, Koch Bihar continued to be ruled by a branch of the Koch dynasty and later merged with the Indian territory after the independence of India from the British domain. The boundary between Koch Bihar and Koch Hajo is approximately the boundary between West Bengal and Assam today. Sandhya, was a ruler of Kamarupanagara,
1065-642: The Chutiya kingdom (east) were emerging. The Ahoms , who would establish a strong and independent kingdom later, began building their state structures in the region between the Kachari and the Chutiya kingdoms in 1228. Alauddin Hussain Shah issued coins in his name to be "Conqueror of Kamarup and Kamata". The extent of state structures can be culled from the numerous Kamarupa inscriptions left behind by
1136-680: The Classical period on the Indian subcontinent , was (along with Davaka ) the first historical kingdom of Assam . The Kamrupa word first appeared in the Samudragupta Allahabad Edict before that there is no mention of existence of this word. Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 1140 CE, Davaka was absorbed by Kamarupa in the 5th century CE. Ruled by three dynasties from their capitals in present-day Guwahati , North Guwahati and Tezpur , Kamarupa at its height covered
1207-533: The Feni River . After Paragal's death, his son Chhuti Khan took over the charge of the campaign until Chittagong was wrested from Arakanese control. The expedition of territory to the western bank of Kaladan river was placed under his governorship administration. The hostilities probably ended in 1516. The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama , arrived India by sea in 1498. Consequently, a Portuguese mission came to Bengal to establish diplomatic relations towards
1278-873: 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 . After his death in 1519, his son Nusrat Shah succeeded him. The reigns of Husain Shah and Nusrat Shah are generally regarded as the "golden age" of the Bengal sultanate. The dynasty's founder, Alauddin Husain Shah was possibly of Sayyid Arab , or even Afghan origin. The Riyaz-us-Salatin mentions Husain's father Sayyid Ashraf Al-Husaini later inhabiting Termez (in Turkestan ) for
1349-586: The Kamata Kingdom . Husain Shah's army imprisoned King Nilambar of Kamata, pillaged the capital city and annexed the territory up to Hajo . The victory was publicly recorded in an inscription at Malda . According to the Madala Panji , Shah Ismail Ghazi commenced his campaign from the Mandaran fort (in the present-day Hooghly district ) in 1508-9 and reached Puri, raiding Jajpur and Katak on
1420-627: The Kherur Mosque in Chandpara in the first year of his reign in 1494. A lake in this village, called Shaikher Dighi , is also associated with Husain. Krishnadasa Kaviraja , a Vaishnavist author born during Husain's reign, claims that Husain worked for Subuddhi Rai, a revenue officer in the erstwhile Bengal's capital Gaur , and was severely whipped during the excavation of a lake. Local traditions in Murshidabad also claim that Husain
1491-513: The adhikara . They dispensed judicial duties too, though the ultimate authority lay with the king. Law enforcement and punishments were made by officers called dandika , (magistrate) and dandapashika (one who executed the orders of a dandika ). Alauddin Hussain Shah Ala-ud-din Husain Shah ( Bengali : আলাউদ্দিন হোসেন শাহ (1493–1519) was an independent late medieval Sultan of Bengal , who founded
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#17327721994311562-543: The northeast Indian region find any mention in the Ashokan records (3rd century BCE) —it was not part of the Mauryan Empire . The 3rd-2nd century BCE Baudhayana Dharmasutra mentions Anga (eastern Bihar), Magadha (southern Bihar), Pundra (northern Bengal) and Vanga (southern Bengal), and that a Brahmin required purification after visiting these places —but it does not mention Kamarupa, thereby indicating it
1633-636: The paik s (palace-guards), which ended the Abyssinian rule in Bengal. Husain Shah's long reign of more than a quarter of a century was a period of peace and prosperity, which was strikingly contrast to the period that preceded it. The liberal attitude of Husain Shah towards his Hindu subjects is also an important feature of his reign. Immediately after accession to the throne, Husain Shah ordered his soldiers to refrain from plundering Gaur , his capital city. But being annoyed with their continuous plundering, he executed twelve thousand soldiers and recovered
1704-501: The 16th century the Ahom kingdom came into prominence and assumed for themselves the legacy of the ancient Kamarupa kingdom and aspired to extend their kingdom to the Karatoya River . The earliest use of the name Kamarupa to denote the kingdom is from the 4th century , when Samudragupta 's pillar inscription mentions it as a frontier kingdom. Kamarupa finds no mention in the epics Mahabharata or Ramayana and in
1775-621: The Bara-Bhuyans one after another and establishing the Koch dynasty with its dominion from the Karatoya river in the west to the Barnadi river in the east. In the 1581 Raghudev, the son of Chilarai and the nephew of Nara Narayan , affected a split in the kingdom— Koch Hajo and Koch Bihar . Though Raghudev had accepted the suzerainty of his uncle, the two parts of the original Kamata kingdom split for good in 1587 when Naranarayan died,
1846-539: The Baro-Bhuyan confederacy and established the Koch dynasty soon, in 1515. The Koches were the last to call themselves Kamateshwars (the rulers of Kamata), but their influence and expansions were so extensive and far-reaching that their kingdom is sometimes called the Koch Kingdom. In the same century the kingdom split in two: Koch Bihar and Koch Hajo . The eastern kingdom, Koch Hajo, was soon absorbed into
1917-497: The Bengali governor of Sylhet (in present-day Bangladesh ) died, the district was seized by ruler of the neighbouring kingdom of Pratapgarh , Sultan Bazid. One of Husain Shah's nobles, a Hindu convert named Surwar Khan was sent to confront Bazid and when attempts at negotiations failed, fought against the Sultan and his allies. Bazid was defeated and captured and was forced to give heavy concessions to keep his kingdom, though under
1988-497: The Kamarupa kingdom till the 7th century when Bhaskaravarman associated his kingdom with the Pragjyotisha of the epics and traced his dynastic lineage to Bhagadatta and Naraka . In the 9th century, Pragjyotishpura is named as the legendary city from which Naraka reigned after his conquest of Kamarupa . Kamarupa is not included in the list of sixteen Mahajanapadas from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE; nor does it or
2059-465: The Kamarupa kings as well as accounts left by travellers such as those from Xuanzang. Governance followed the classical saptanga structure of state. Kings and courts : The king was considered to be of divine origin. Succession was primogeniture, but two major breaks resulted in different dynasties. In the second, the high officials of the state elected a king, Brahmapala, after the previous king died without leaving an heir. The royal court consisted of
2130-545: The Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the history of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The last rulers were the Khens, who were later displaced in 1498 by Alauddin Hussain Shah , the ruler of the Bengal Sultanate . Though Hussain Shah developed extensive administrative structures, he lost political control to a confederation of Baro-Bhuyan within a few years. Biswa Singha removed
2201-477: The Mahabharata. Kabindra Parameshvar in his Pandabbijay eulogised Husain Shah. Bijay Gupta wrote his Manasamangal Kāvya also during his reign. He eulogised Husain Shah by comparing him with Arjuna ( samgrame Arjun Raja prabhater Rabi ). He mentioned him as Nripati-Tilak (the tilak-mark of kings) and Jagat-bhusan (the adornment of the universe) as well. An official of Husain Shah, Yashoraj Khan, wrote
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2272-628: The Muslim rule had lasting effects. Hussein Shah's coins continued to be used till 1518, when the Koch dynasty began consolidating their rule. Ghiasuddin Aulia, a Muslim divine figure from Mecca , established a colony at Hajo. His tomb, which is said to contain a little soil from Mecca, now called "Poa Mecca" ("a quarter Mecca"), is frequented by Hindus and Muslims alike. Alauddin Hussain Shah's representative in Kamata, his son Shahzada Danyal and his officers,
2343-556: The Nidhanpur copper-plate inscription from his victory camp in the Gaur capital Karnasuvarna (present-day Murshidabad , West Bengal ) to replace a grant issued earlier by Bhutivarman for a settlement in the Sylhet region of present-day Bangladesh. After Bhaskaravarman's death without an heir and a period of civil and political strife the kingdom passed into the hands of Salasthambha (655–670), possibly as erstwhile local governor and
2414-584: The advance of his army and concluded a treaty of friendship with Ala-ud-din Husain Shah. According to this agreement, the country west of Barh went to Sikandar Lodi while the country east of Barh remained under Husain Shah of Bengal. The final dissolution of the Jaunpur Sultanate resulted in the influx of the Jaunpur soldiery in the Bengal army, which was further strengthened by it. In 1499, Husain Shah's general Shah Ismail Ghazi led an expedition to
2485-679: The boundary between them forming roughly the administrative boundary between the present-day Assam and West Bengal . Koch Hajo , the eastern kingdom, soon came under attack from the Mughal , and the region went back and forth for between the Mughal and the Ahoms , finally settling with the Ahoms. Koch Bihar, the western kingdom, first befriended the Mughals and then the British, and the rulers maintained
2556-542: The capital of the erstwhile Kamarupa . After withstanding an attack from Malik Ikhtiyaruddin Iuzbak , in which Iuzbak was killed (in 1257), Sandhya moved his capital to Kamatapur, near present-day Cooch Behar town. Sandhya styled himself Kamateswara and the kingdom came to be known as Kamata. Pratapdhvaj was a minister of Singhadhvaj when he usurped power. At his death, his cousin Dharmanarayan seized power. He
2627-426: The early and late Vedic, Buddhist, and Jain literatures the references to Kamarupa are not about a kingdom. An explanation of the name Kamarupa emerged first in the 10th-century Kalika Purana , six centuries after the first use of the name, as the kingdom where Kamadeva ( Kama ) regained his form ( rupa ). The name Pragjyotisha , on the other hand, is mentioned in the epics, but it did not become associated with
2698-682: The east of Kamarupa in the Kapili river valley in present-day Nagaon district , but which is never mentioned again as an independent political entity in later historical records. Kamarupa, which was probably one among many such state structures, grew territorially to encompass the entire Brahmaputra valley and beyond. As the Gupta Empire weakened, the Varmans, of indigenous origin, began asserting themselves politically by performing horse sacrifices and culturally by claiming semi-divine origins. Under
2769-504: The end of Husain Shah's reign. The reign of Husain Shah witnessed a remarkable development of Bengali literature. Under the patronage of Paragal Khan, Husain Shah's governor of Chittagong, Kabindra Parameshvar wrote his Pandabbijay , a Bengali adaptation of the Mahabharata . Similarly, under the patronage of Paragal's son Chhuti Khan, who succeeded his father as governor of Chittagong, Shrikar Nandi wrote another Bengali adaptation of
2840-415: The entire Brahmaputra Valley , parts of North Bengal , Bhutan and northern part of Bangladesh , and at times portions of what is now West Bengal , Bihar and Sylhet . Though the historical kingdom disappeared by the 12th century to be replaced by smaller political entities, the notion of Kamarupa persisted and ancient and medieval chroniclers continued to call a part of this kingdom Kamrup . In
2911-519: The first major assault from the west. Though it is unclear what the effect of this invasion was on the kingdom; that Bhutivarman's grandson, Sthitavarman (566–590), enjoyed victories over the Gauda Kingdom of Karnasuvarna and performed two aswamedha ceremonies suggests that the Kamarupa kingdom had recovered nearly in full. His son, Susthitavarman (590–600) came under the attack of Mahasenagupta of East Malwa. These back and forth invasions were
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2982-502: The grantee the right to collect revenue and the right to be free of any regular tax himself and immunity from other harassments. Sometimes, the Brahmanas were relocated from North India, with a view to establish varnashramdharma . Nevertheless, the existence of donees indicate the existence of a feudal class. Grants made to temples and religious institutions were called dharmottara and devottara respectively. Land survey : The land
3053-533: The help of the spring floods that same year, captured and killed the Sultan. Subsequent to this attack, Sandhya moved his capital from Kamarupanagara to Kamatapur (present day Gosanimari ) and established a new kingdom, that came to be called Kamata . At that time, western Kamarupa was the domain of the Koch and Mech peoples. In other parts of the erstwhile Kamarupa the Kachari kingdom (central Assam, South bank), Baro Bhuyans (central Assam, North bank), and
3124-513: The kingdom to include the present Koch Bihar districts of West Bengal and the undivided Kamrup and Darrang districts of Assam and northern Mymensingh in Bangladesh as well as eastern parts of Dinajpur district, though he was removed by Alauddin Husain Shah in 1498. Alauddin Hussain Shah , a Sultan of Bengal , removed the last Khen ruler in 1498. This followed a long siege that likely started in 1493 soon after Alauddin's ascension and ended in
3195-461: The looted articles, which included 13,000 gold plates. Subsequently, he disbanded the paik s (the palace guards) who were the most significant agitators inside the palace. He removed all Habshis from administrative posts and replaced them with Turks , Arabs, Afghans , and Bengalis . Sultan Hussain Shah Sharqi , after being defeated by Bahlol Lodi , retired to Bihar, where his occupation
3266-598: The name Kamarupa; instead they use the name Pragjyotisha, with the kings called Pragjyotishadhipati . The fragmentary Nagajari-Khanikargaon rock inscription , written in Sanskrit and probably a land grant, is dated to approximately the 5th century. It was found in Sarupathar in the Golaghat district of Assam. It supports the idea that Sanskritisation spread to the east very quickly. While this dating coincides with
3337-907: The princely state till the end of the British rule. Yuvaraj : Biswa Singha appointed his brother Sisu as the Yuvaraj . The descendant of Sisu became the Raikat kings of Jalpaiguri . Karjis/Karzis : Biswa Singha appointed twelve minister from his tribesman to form a Karjee , this position was hereditary. Two important Karjee and Yuvaraj form a cabinet. Senapati : Commander of a standing army. Paik: Individual male Thakuria: in charge of over 20 paiks . Saikia: in charge of over 100 paiks . Hazari: in charge of over 1000 paiks . Omra: in charge of over 3000 paiks . Nawab: in charge of over 66,000 paiks . Kamarupa Kamarupa ( / ˈ k ɑː m ə ˌ r uː p ə / ; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa ), an early state during
3408-472: The region may have begun before the second century. Over the course of its prevalence, the boundaries of Kamarupa had fluctuated. Nevertheless, the traditional boundary of Kamarupa is held by scholars to be— Karatoya river in the west, Sadiya in the east, between the Dhaka and Mymensingh districts in Bangladesh in the south, and Kanchenjanga in the north. The traditional boundaries are drawn from
3479-433: The region of Chandrapuri visaya , identified with present-day Sylhet division . Thus, the small but powerful kingdom that Pushyavarman established grew in fits and starts over many generations of kings and expanded to include adjoining possibly smaller kingdoms and parts of Bangladesh. After the initial expansion till the beginning of Bhutivarman's reign, the kingdom came under attack from Yasodharman (525–535) of Malwa ,
3550-462: The regions are used to postulate the size of the kingdom. The kingdom is believed to have broken up entirely by the 13th century into smaller kingdoms Kamarupa, first mentioned on Samudragupta 's Allahabad rock pillar as a frontier kingdom, began as a subordinate but sovereign ally of the Gupta empire around present-day Guwahati in the 4th century: It finds mention along with Davaka, a kingdom to
3621-631: The rule of Bhaskaravarman Kamarupa reached its political zenith and the lineage of the Varmans from Narakasura , a demon, became a fixed tradition. The Mlechchha dynasty , another set of indigenous rulers and the Pala dynasty (Kamarupa) that followed, too asserted political legitimacy by asserting descendancy from Narakasura. Pushyavarman (350–374) established the Varman Dynasty, by fighting many enemies from within and without his kingdom; but his son Samudravarman (374–398), named after Samudragupta,
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#17327721994313692-566: The story of a noble Arab merchant from Aden arriving in Chittagong with an army to aid the Sultan of Bengal in conquering Orissa . This merchant later killed the Sultan, thus becoming ruler of Bengal, and according to Heinrich Blochmann , Barros' narrative is in reference to Husain Shah. Referring to a local legend of Rangpur district, Nitish Sengupta asserts that Husain's mother was a Bengali . Most sources are in agreement that Husain
3763-543: The suzerainty of Bengal. In reward for his actions, Surwar Khan was named the new governor of Sylhet and the defeated Sultan's daughter was given in marriage to his son, Mir Khan. According to Rajmala , a late royal chronicle of Tripura , Husain Shah despatched his army four times to Tripura, but the Tripura army offered stiff resistance and did not yield any territory. But the Sonargaon inscription of Khawas Khan (1513)
3834-468: The textual references two of which are contemporneous— Xuanzang (7th century), and Kalika Purana (10th century)—and a late medieval source Yogini Tantra (16th century) though none of these claims are backed by any inscriptional record. Thus based on these references Kamarupa is considered to span the entire Brahmaputra valley and Northeast India and at various times thought to include parts of present-day Bhutan , Bangladesh and Nepal . Kamarupa
3905-427: The throne in 606 after the murder of his brother, the previous king, by Shashanka of Gaur. Harshavardhana finally took control over the kingless Maukhari kingdom and moved his capital to Kanauj. The alliance between Harshavardhana and Bhaskarvarman squeezed Shashanka from either side and reduced his kingdom, though it is unclear whether this alliance resulted in his complete defeat. Nevertheless, Bhaskarvarman did issue
3976-533: The time-span of the Varman dynasty, the inscription does not identify the state formation that issued the grant; the Varman dynasty may not have been responsible. One cannot completely "rule out the possibility of several simultaneous political powers in different sub-regional levels of north-eastern India around or even before the fourth century." Indeed, archaeological discoveries in the Doiyang Dhansiri Valley suggests that early state formation in
4047-420: The way. The Gajapati ruler of Orissa, Prataparudra was busy in a campaign in the south. On hearing this news, he returned and defeated the invading Bengal army and chased it into the borders of Bengal. He reached the Mandaran fort and besieged it, but failed to take it. Intermittent hostilities between the Bengal and Orissa armies along the border continued throughout the reign of Husain Shah. When Gouhar Khan,
4118-492: Was Jaya Pala (1075–1100). Around this time, Kamarupa was attacked and the western portion was conquered by the Pala king Ramapala . From among the local rulers, there emerged a strong ruler named Sandhya ( c. 1250 –1270), the Rai of Kamrup , with his capital at Kamarupanagara, the seat of the last Pala kings. Malik Ikhtiyaruddin Iuzbak , a governor of Gaur for the Mamluk rulers of Delhi , attempted an invasive attack on Sandhya's domain in 1257; and Sandhya, with
4189-436: Was Candivara, the great-great-grandfather of Sankardev . The court poets of Durlabhnarayan ( Hema Saraswati and Harivara Vipra ) and Indranarayan produced literary works that are considered to be the first examples of Early Assamese . The invasion of Assam by Sikandar Shah (1357–1390) weakened Indranarayan. Though Shah had to retreat from central Assam because of an attack on Bengal by Firuz Shah Tughlaq , Indranarayana
4260-526: Was Tyāga Singha (890–900). After the death of Tyāgasimha without an heir, a member of the Bhauma family, Brahma Pala (900–920), was elected as king by the ruling chieftains, just as Gopala of the Pala Empire of Bengal was elected. The original capital of this dynasty was Hadapeshvara, and was shifted to Durjaya built by Ratna Pala (920–960), near modern Guwahati . The greatest of the Pala kings, Dharma Pala (1035–1060) had his capital at Kamarupanagara, now identified with North Guwahati. The last Pala king
4331-433: Was accepted as an overlord by many local rulers. Nevertheless, subsequent kings continued their attempts to stabilise and expand the kingdom. Kalyanavarman (422–446) occupied Davaka and Mahendravarman (470–494) further eastern areas. Narayanavarma (494–518) and his son Bhutivarman (518–542) offered the ashwamedha ( horse sacrifice ); and as the Nidhanpur inscription of Bhaskarvarman avers, these expansions included
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#17327721994314402-410: Was appointed the wazir (prime minister) of Sultan Shamsuddin Muzaffar Shah (r. 1491-1493). Initially, Husain secretly sympathized with the rebels but ultimately he put himself openly as their head and besieged the citadel, where Muzaffar Shah shut himself with a few thousand soldiers. According to the 16th-century historian Nizamuddin , the Sultan was secretly assassinated by Husain with the help of
4473-432: Was beyond the ambit and recognition of the Brahminical culture in the second half of the first millennium BCE. Early dated mentions come from the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century) and Ptolemy 's Geographia (2nd century) which call the region Kirrhadia after the Kirata population. Arthashastra (early centuries of the Christian era ) mentions "Lauhitya", which is identified with Brahmaputra valley by
4544-400: Was challenged by Pratapdhvaj's son Durlabhnarayan and they decided to settle. Durlabhnarayan assumed power Kamrup, Goalpara, Jalpaiguri, Koch Bihar, along with the capital Kamatapur, while Dharmanarayan retained Rangpur and Mymensingh. As part of the settlement in about 1330, Durlabhnarayan received from Dharmanarayan the custody of fourteen families of Brahmans and Kayasthas , one among whom
4615-598: Was collected by special tax-collectors from cultivators. Cultivators who had no proprietary rights on the lands they tilled paid uparikara . Duties ( sulka ) were collected by toll collectors ( Kaibarta ) from merchants who plied keeled boats. The state maintained a monopoly on copper mines ( kamalakara ). The state maintained its stores and treasury via officials: Bhandagaradhikrita and Koshthagarika . Grants : The king occasionally gave Brahmanas grants ( brahmadeya ), which consisted generally of villages, water resources, wastelands etc. ( agraharas ). Such grants conferred on
4686-430: Was confined to a small territory. In 1494, he was again defeated by Sultan Sikandar Lodi and fled to Bengal, where he was granted asylum by Sultan Ala-ud-Din Husain Shah. This resulted in an expedition against Bengal in 1495 by Sultan Sikandar Lodi. Husain Shah of Bengal sent an army under his son Shahzada Danyal to fight with the Delhi army. The armies of Delhi and Bengal met at Barh near Patna . Sikandar Lodi halted
4757-429: Was indeed a native of that area. It is said that it was Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah who had ousted his grandfather Sultan Ibrahim, and as a result, Husain's father and family migrated to Kamata . Buchanan-Hamilton's manuscript is unnamed, and Momtazur Rahman Tarafdar considers the manuscript to have confused Husain Shah of Bengal with Husayn Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur , whose grandfather was Shamsuddin Ibrahim Shah Sharqi,
4828-425: Was seized and killed by the Baro-Bhuyans of the region and the region lapsed into their confederated style of governance till the Koches took over. Though it is not known when the Baro-Bhuyan rule began, historians estimate that Biswa Singha 's campaign against the Baro-Bhuyans began in about 1509. The Kamata kingdom then passed into the hands of the Koch dynasty , with Biswa Singha consolidating his control over
4899-451: Was sufficiently damaged that a Bhuyan from Darrang , Arimatta, was able to usurp power. The Khen dynasty, of Kheng-Bhutanese affiliation, replaced the weak rulers of Kamata kingdom following Arimatta in the middle of the 15th century. Niladhvaj Khen, the first king, united several Baro-Bhuyan chieftains of the area and removed the last of Arimatta's successors—Mriganka. There were only three Khen rulers. The last king, Nilambar expanded
4970-685: Was surveyed and classified. Arable lands ( kshetra ) were held individually or by families, whereas wastelands ( khila ) and forests were held collectively. There were lands called bhucchidranyaya that were left unsurveyed by the state on which no tax was levied. Administration : The entire kingdom was divided into a hierarchy of administrative divisions. From the highest to the lowest, they were bhukti , mandala , vishaya , pura (towns), agrahara (collection of villages) and grama (village). These units were administered by headed by rajanya , rajavallabha , vishayapati etc. Some other offices were nyayakaranika , vyavaharika , kayastha etc., led by
5041-451: Was the rakhal (cow-keeper) for a Brahmin in Chandpara. On the other hand, Francis Buchanan-Hamilton 's writings make mention of a manuscript found in the former Bengali capital Pandua which labels Husain as a native of a village named Devnagar in Rangpur who seized an opportunity to redeem the throne of Bengal that his grandfather, Sultan Ibrahim, had held seventy years prior. There are local traditions in Rangpur which claim that he
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