Kamata Kingdom

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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 first rulers were the Khens, who were displaced by Hussein Shah. The Koches that came to rule later called 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.

[edit] Khen dynasty

See: Khen dynasty

The Khen dynasty ruled the from their capital in Kamatapur (Gosanimari) now in Cooch Behar District. Hussein Shah of Gaur removed the last Khen ruler but he could not consolidate his rule.

[edit] Koch dynasty

See: Koch dynasty

The Kamata kingdom then passed into the hands of another Tibeto-Burman group, the Koch, giving rise to the Koch dynasty. In the 16th century itself, one of the princes then ruling the eastern portion of the kingdom (Koch Hajo) declared independence, and the two parts remained separated for ever, the boundary between the two forming roughly the boundary between the present Assam and West Bengal.

The Koch Hajo kingdom soon came under attack from the Mughal, and the region went back and forth for a number of times between the Mughal and the Ahoms, and finally settling with the Ahoms. The eastern portion (Cooch Behar) first befriended the Mughals and then the British, and the rulers maintained the princely state till the end of the British rule.