![Madan Kamdev 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Madan_Kamdev_1.jpg)
Kamrup is the modern region situated between two rivers, the
Manas and the
Barnadi in
Western Assam
Lower Assam division is one of the 5 administrative divisions of Assam. It was formed in 1874, comprising Undivided Kamrup district of Western Assam, undivided Darrang and Nagoan districts of Central Assam and Khasi & Jaintia hills of Meghalay ...
, with the same territorial extent as the Colonial and post-Colonial "
Undivided Kamrup district
Undivided Kamrup district is a former administrative district located in Western Assam from which Kamrup Rural (2003), Kamrup Metropolitan (2003), Barpeta (1983), Nalbari (1985) and Baksa (2004) districts were formed. It was announced in January ...
". It was the capital region of two of the three dynasties of
Kamarupa
Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam.
Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...
and Guwahati, the current political center of Assam, is situated here. It is characterized by its
cultural artifacts
A cultural artifact, or cultural artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology, ethnology and sociology for anything created by humans which gives information ...
.
Etymology
The origin of name is attributed to a legend in the
Kalika Purana
The Kalika Purana ( sa, Kālikā Purāṇa), also called the Kali Purana, Sati Purana or Kalika Tantra, is one of the eighteen minor Puranas (''Upapurana'') in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. The text was likely composed in Assam or Cooch Beha ...
which mentions that it is in this region that
Kamadeva
Kama ( sa, काम, ), also known as Kamadeva and Manmatha, is the Hindu god of love and desire, often portrayed alongside his consort, Rati.
The Atharvaveda, Atharva Veda regards Kamadeva as the wielder of the creative power of the universe ...
regained his form.
Ancient Kamrup (350–1140)
The history of the Kamrup region dates back to the 4th century under
Kamarupa Kingdom
Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam.
Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...
. The kingdom was successively ruled by three dynasties - the
Varman, the
Mlechchha
Mleccha (from Vedic Sanskrit ', meaning "non-Vedic", "foreigner" or "barbarian") is a Sanskrit term, initially referring to those of an incomprehensible speech, later foreign or barbarous invaders as contra-distinguished from elite groups.
The ...
(Mech) and the
Pala Pala may refer to:
Places
Chad
*Pala, Chad, the capital of the region of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest
Estonia
* Pala, Kose Parish, village in Kose Parish, Harju County
* Pala, Kuusalu Parish, village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County
*Pala, Järva County, vi ...
dynasties. Among these, the capitals of the Varman Dynasty and the Pala Dynasty, called
Pragjyotishpura
Pragjyotishpura () or Pragjyotisapura, now deemed to be a region within modern Guwahati, was an ancient city and capital of the Varman dynasty (350 - 650 A.D). Though the earliest mention of Pragjyotisha in local sources come from the 7th centu ...
and
Durjaya
Durjaya, now North Guwahati, was capital of Kamarupa kingdom under the Pala Dynasty for the period 900 to 1100 C.E. Pala rulers built their capital on the banks of the Brahmaputra and surrounded it with a rampart and a strong palisade, whence th ...
respectively, were in Kamrup, whereas the capital of the Mlechchha dynasty was in Tezpur outside the Kamrup region.
Samudragupta
Samudragupta (Gupta script: ''Sa-mu-dra-gu-pta'', (c. 335–375 CE) was the second emperor of the Gupta Empire of ancient India, and is regarded among the greatest rulers of the dynasty. As a son of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta I and the Li ...
's 4th-century
Allahabad prasasti mention Kamarupa as well as
Davaka
Davaka was a kingdom of ancient Indian subcontinent, located in current central region of Assam state. The references to it comes from the 4th century Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta, where it is mentioned as one of five frontier k ...
(
Nagaon district
Nagaon is an administrative district in the Indian state of Assam. At the time of the 2011 census it was the most populous district in Assam, before Hojai district was split from it in 2016.
History
Batadrowa gave birth to the Vaishnavite ...
in central Assam) and it is presumed that a later Kamarupa king absorbed Davaka. Though the kingdom came to be known as Kamarupa, the kings called themselves the rulers of Pragjyotisha (''Pragjyotishadhipati''), and not Kamarupa. Vaidydeva, an 11th-century ruler, named Kamarupa as a ''mandala'' within the Pragjyotisha ''bhukti''. According to Sircar, the Kamarupa mandala is congruent to undivided Kamrup of the modern times.
Medieval Kamrup
Kamata (1250-1581)
The Kamarupa region soon lost a unified political rule.
Sandhya, a 13th-century ruler in the Kamarupanagara (
North Guwahati
North Guwahati is northern part of the city of Guwahati and a town area committee in Kamrup Rural district in the Indian state of Assam.This town abounds in historical places and picnic spots. National Highway 27 passes through North Guwahati. A ...
), moved his capital to present-day
North Bengal
North Bengal ( bn, উত্তরবঙ্গ/উত্তর বাংলা) is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. Gen ...
and his new kingdom came to be called Kamata; or sometimes as Kamata-Kamrup. Though Kamata included
Koch Bihar,
Darrang
Darrang () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located at Mangaldoi. The district occupies an area of 1585 km2.
History
No definitive records about Darrang are available for the pre ...
,
Kamrup districts, and northern
Mymensingh
Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north ...
in general, its control over the Kamrup region was lax. In the extreme east of the erstwhile Kamarupa kingdom the
Chutiya,
Kachari and the
Ahom Ahom may refer to:
*Ahom people, an ethnic community in Assam
* Ahom language, a language associated with the Ahom people
*Ahom religion, an ethnic folk religion of Tai-Ahom people
*Ahom alphabet, a script used to write the Ahom language
* Ahom kin ...
kingdoms emerged, with the
Baro-Bhuyan
The Baro-Bhuyans (or ''Baro-Bhuyan Raj''; also ''Baro-Bhuians'' and Baro-Bhuiyans) refers to the confederacies of soldier-landowners in Assam and Bengal in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The confederacies consisted of loose ...
s in Kamrup, Nagaon, Lakhimpur and Darrang providing the buffer between these kingdoms in the east and the Kamata kingdom in the west.
Koch Hajo (1581-1612)
In the beginning of the 16th century
Viswa Singha filled the vacuum left by the destruction of the
Khen dynasty
The Khen dynasty (also Khyen dynasty) of Assam was a late medieval dynasty of erstwhile Kamata kingdom. After the fall of the Pala dynasty of Kamrupa, the western region was reorganized into Kamata kingdom, when Sandhya moved his capital fro ...
of Kamata and consolidated his rule over the Baro-Bhuyan chieftains ruling over the Kamrup region, and by the time of
Naranarayana, the kingdom extended a firm rule between the
Karatoya and the
Bhareli rivers. Even though the Koch kings called themselves Kamateshwars (lords of Kamata), their kingdom came to be called the Koch kingdom and not as Kamrup.
In 1581 the Kamata kingdom was bifurcated with Raghudev gaining control over the portion to the east of the
Sankosh river
Sankosh (also Mo Chu, and Svarnakosha) is a river that rises in northern Bhutan and empties into the Brahmaputra in the state of Assam in India. In Bhutan, it is known as the Puna Tsang Chu below the confluences of several tributaries near the ...
up to the Bharali river in the north bank; and east of the Brahmaputra in present-day Bangladesh. Raghudev's kingdom came to be called
Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo (1581-1616) was the kingdom under Raghudev and his son Parikshit Narayan of the Koch dynasty that stretched from Sankosh river in the west to the Bhareli river in the east on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river. It was created by di ...
in Muslim chronicles, and Kamrup in
Ekasarana
Ekasarana Dharma (literally: ''Shelter-in-One religion'') is a neo-Vaishnavite monolithic religion propagated by Srimanta Sankardeva in the 15th-16th century in the Indian state of Assam. It reduced focus on vedic ritualism and focuses on d ...
documents. As the
Mughal established the rule of the
Bengal Subah
The Bengal Subah ( bn, সুবাহ বাংলা; fa, ), also referred to as Mughal Bengal ( bn, মোগল বাংলা), was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire (and later an independent state under the Nawabs of Ben ...
in
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
, Koch Bihar entered into an alliance with them against Parikshitnarayana, the son and successor of Raghudev. The Mughals pushed eastward, removed Parikshit from power and consolidated power right up to the eastern border of Kamrup by 1615 (up to the Barnadi river). Though the Mughals pushed further east they came into direct military conflict with the
Ahom kingdom and finally settled the boundary at Barnadi river following the
Treaty of Asurar Ali
The Treaty of Asurar Ali (early February 1639) was signed between the Mughal Empire, Mughal ''faujdar'' Allah Yar Khan and the Ahom kingdom, Ahom general Momai Tamuli Borbarua. The treaty came at the end of a period of Mughal efforts to drive int ...
in 1639.
Sarkar Kamrup (1612-1682)
![Hajo Powa Mecca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Hajo_Powa_Mecca.jpg)
The Mughals established four
sarkars in the newly acquired land---among which were Dhekeri (between Sankosh and Manas) and Kamrup (between Manas and Barnadi). Kamrup was also renamed as Shujabad, after
Shah Shuja, the
Subahdar
Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...
of
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
. The Mughal governors were called ''Faujdars of Shujabad''.
The sixth faujdar,
Lutfullah Shirazi
Mīr Lutfullāh Khān Bahādur Shirāzī ( fa, , bn, মীর লুৎফুল্লাহ খান বাহাদুর শিরাজী), was a Mughal official who held a number of positions during his life such as the Faujdar of Shuj ...
, built a hilltop
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
in
Koch Hajo
Koch Hajo (1581-1616) was the kingdom under Raghudev and his son Parikshit Narayan of the Koch dynasty that stretched from Sankosh river in the west to the Bhareli river in the east on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river. It was created by di ...
in 1657. The mosque contained the
mazar (mausoleum)
A ''mazār'' ( ar, مزار), or ''darīh'' () in the Maghreb, is a mausoleum or shrine in some places of the world, typically that of a saint or notable religious leader. Medieval Arabic texts may also use the words ''mašhad'' or ''maqām'' ...
of Prince Ghiyath ad-Din Awliya of
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, who is commonly credited for introducing Islam to the region. The Mughals lost Kamrup forever in 1682 after the
Battle of Itakhuli.
Incomplete list of Faujdars of Guahati:
#Makram Khan (1612-1614)
#Mir Sufi (1614-1616)
#Shaykh Kamal (1616-1632)
#Abd as-Salam (1632-1638)
#Noorullah (1638-1656)
#
Lutfullah Shirazi
Mīr Lutfullāh Khān Bahādur Shirāzī ( fa, , bn, মীর লুৎফুল্লাহ খান বাহাদুর শিরাজী), was a Mughal official who held a number of positions during his life such as the Faujdar of Shuj ...
(1656-1658)
Borphukan's domain (1682-1820)
After the
Battle of Itakhuli (1682), the
Ahom kingdom established control over Sarkar Kamrup, and it became the domain of the
Borphukan
Borphukan ( Ahom language: ''Phu-Kan-Lung'') was one of the five (councillors) in the Ahom kingdom, a position that was created by the Ahom king Prataap Singha. The position included both executive and judicial powers, with jurisdiction of the ...
, based in Guwahati. The region continued to be called Kamrup and its eastern and western boundaries were identical to the later British district. In addition to the Kamrup region, the Borphukan's domain included the additional region to the east up to
Kaliabor
Kaliabor, a sub-division town in Nagaon district of Assam situated at a distance of 48 km east of Nagaon town. It was the headquarters of Borphukans during the Ahom era. Kaliabor lies in the middle of assam and surrounded in the north by t ...
. The Koch prince that oversaw
Darrang
Darrang () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located at Mangaldoi. The district occupies an area of 1585 km2.
History
No definitive records about Darrang are available for the pre ...
, too, reported to the Borphukan. The Ahoms did not impose their administrative system fully over Kamrup, and the resultant ''pargana''-based system was a mixed Mughal-Ahom system, in contrast to the
Paik system
The ''Paik'' system was a type of corvee labour system on which the economy of the Ahom kingdom of medieval Assam depended. In this system, adult and able males, called ''paiks'' were obligated to render service to the state and form its militia ...
in the rest of the kingdom in the east.
Burmese empire (1821-1824)
The region became part of the
Burmese empire between 1821 and 1824.
Colonial Kamrup (1833–1947)
The region came under Burmese control in 1822. The British, in control over the region to the west of the Manas river since the transfer of Bengal in 1765, marched into Guwahati on 28 March 1824 at the beginning of the
First Anglo-Burmese War
The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese ...
and established administrative control by October. The
Kamrup district
Kamrup Rural district, or simply Kamrup district (Pron: ˈkæmˌrəp or ˈkæmˌru:p), is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India formed by dividing the old Kamrup district into two in the year 2003; other being Kamrup Metrop ...
that the British constituted in 1833/1836 was largely congruous to the Mughal Sarkar Kamrup of 1639.
Modern Kamrup
After Indian Independence in 1947, the Kamrup district maintained its form. The district was divided, beginning in 1983, and the original district is often called "Undivided Kamrup district". The Kamapitha, Sarkar Kamrup of 1639 and the Undivided Kamrup district from the Colonial as well as the Independent periods is today defined as the Kamrup.
See also
*
Kamrup
*
Kamrupi
*
Dewangiri
Dewangiri was a northern part of Kamrup, measuring , which was ceded to Bhutan in 1951. The area contains ruins of ancient temples and loose structures. In modern times it lost its earlier importance. It was used only for winter grazing of Bhutane ...
References
Bibliography
*
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*
External links
*
{{Western Assam
Cultural regions
Regions of Assam
Regions of India