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 Khens, who were later displaced by Alauddin Hussain Shah, the Turko-Afghan ruler of Gauda. Though Hussain Shah developed extensive administrative structures, he could not maintain political control and the control went to the Koch dynasty. The Koches 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.

The Kamata Kingdom comprised the tract of land bounded by the Karatoya in the west, the Brahmaputra in the east, the Dooars in the north and the Padma-Brahmaputra basin in the south. Most probably, Nalrajar Garh in Chilapata Forest was the earliest capital of Kamatapur; and subsequently through a long course of changes and developments the capital was shifted to Maynaguri and then to Prithu Rajar Garh; before its final shifting to Gosanimari, an ancient river port-town since the seventh century, for sometime, the capital was at Singijani. After the destruction of the kingdom of Kamata by Hussain Shah of Gauda, there emerged the Koch kingdom.

Sangaldip in the mid-seventh century, according to Dr. Sailen Debnath, was the first king of Kamatapur; though the continuous history of Kamatapur is available only after the fall of the Kamarupa Palas and the consequent disintegration of the ancient kingdom of Kamrup. Maharaj Prithu, Raja Sandhya, Maharaj Durlabhnarayan and Niladhwaj were the most powerful and influential rulers of the kingdom. Nilambar of the Khen dynasty was the last ruler of Kamatapur. Though he was a valiant fighter in the battlefield, yet, he had to give in to the tricks and military game-plans used by the generals of the army of Hussain Shah. But in earlier times the rulers of Kamatapur nearly in most of the occasions defeated the invaders from Gaur.

Contents

Khen dynasty

See: Khen dynasty

The Khen dynasty ruled from their capital in Kamatapur (Gosanimari) now in Cooch Behar District. The last king, Nilambar (1480-1498) expanded the kingdom to include the present Koch Bihar districts of West Bengal and the undivided Kamrup and Darrang districts of Assam and northern Mymensing in Bangladesh as well as eastern parts of Dinajpur district (Sarkar 1992:44).

Invasion by Hussein Shah

Alauddin Hussain Shah (c1494-1519), an Afghan ruler of Gaur, removed the last Khen ruler in 1498.[1] According to tradition, this involved an instigation by the minister of Kamatapur whose son had a liaison with the Kamatapur queen, and Hussein Shah invaded the Kamata kingdom with 24,000 infantry, cavalry and a war flotilla (Sarkar 1992:46). After a long seize of the Kamatapur fort and a tracherous win, Hussein Shah finally destroyed the city and annexed the region up to Hajo, thereby regaining much of the land Bengal had lost earlier to Kamatapur, and some more. Hussein Shah's son was made the viceroy.

Hussein Shah removed the local chieftains and established military control over the region. He issued coins in his name "conqueror of Kamru, Kamata". His conquest expanded the kingdom to the western border of the Ahom kingdom. Hussein Shah finally lost military and political control to revolts by local chieftains including the Bara Bhuyans as well as the Ahom king, Suhungmung, and the region lapsed into local control and rise of the Koch dynasty.

Nevertheless, the Afghan 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 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 (Sarkar 1992:48).

Koch dynasty

See: Koch dynasty

The Kamata kingdom then passed into the hands of another Tibeto-Burman group, the Koch Rajbongshi, 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 western portion (Koch Bihar) first befriended the Mughals and then the British, and the rulers maintained the princely state till the end of the British rule.

Notes

  1. ^ The dates and duration of this invasion are not very well established. See (Sarkar 1992:46–47).

References