Goalpara region, largely congruous to the historical
undivided Goalpara district
The Undivided Goalpara district is an erstwhile Districts of Assam, district of Assam, India, first constituted by the British Raj, British rulers of Colonial Assam.
Establishment Historical background
The region was part of Kamarupa in the first ...
, is a
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
that is associated with the
people
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
and culture of Goalpara. It is bounded on the north by
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
, on the east by the
Kamrup region
Kamrup is the modern region situated between two rivers, the Manas and the Barnadi in Western Assam, with the same territorial extent as the Colonial and post-Colonial "Undivided Kamrup district". It was the capital region of two of the thr ...
, in the south by
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...
and in the west by Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri in
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
and Rangpur in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. The natural landmarks are:
Sankosh
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 ...
and
Brahmaputra
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
rivers on the west, the
Manas river on the east in the north bank, and a corresponding region in the south bank; the
Garo Hills
The Garo Hills (Pron: ˈgɑ:rəʊ) are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. They are inhabited by the Garo people. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion.
De ...
in the south and Bhutan Hills in the north.
History
In ancient times, it was a part of a division of the
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 ...
. After the fall of the Kamarupa dynasties Sandhya, a later Kamarupa king, moved his capital from Kamarupanagara (present-day
Guwahati
Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...
) to Kamatapur (near Cooch Behar town) in the middle of the 13th century, and established the
Kamata kingdom
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, a ...
. This situation prevailed till the time of Naranarayana, when it became a part of
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 ...
. It was defined as an administrative unit for the first time in the 17th century when it was called ''Sarkar Dhekuri'' under 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 ...
of the
Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
. After the transfer of the Bengal ''Diwani'' to the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, the Goalpara region, minus the Assam Dooars, then under
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
, came to be called Rangamatty, and after 1816, "Northeast Rangpur". When the British constituted this as a district in 1833 it came to be known after its headquarters which was in Goalpara town. A portion of the Assam
Dooars
The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...
areas were added to this district after the
Bhutan war
The Duar War (or Anglo-Bhutan War) was a war fought between British India and Bhutan in 1864–1865. It has been the only military conflict between the two states since 1774.
Background
Across the nineteenth century, British India commissioned ...
of 1865.
Peoples
A majority of the people belong to the
Rajbongshi speaking
Koch-Rajbongshi community, who are converts from
Mech
In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...
,
Rabha
The Rabha are a Tibeto-Burman community to the Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal. They primarily inhabit the plains of Lower Assam and the Dooars, while some are found in the Garo Hills. Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to thems ...
and
Kachari communities in earlier times.
Goalpariya dialect
Goalpariya is a group of Indo-Aryan dialects spoken in the Goalpara region of Assam, India. Along with Kamrupi, they form the western group of Assamese dialects. The North Bengali dialect is situated to its west, amidst a number of Tibeto- ...
spoken here is a part of Rajbongshi which is a constituent of the
Assamese language
Assamese (), also Asamiya ( ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-east Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language, and it serves as a ''lingua franca'' of the wider region. The easternmost Indo-Iranian language, ...
.
Assamese Brahmins
Assamese Brahmins or Bamun are the Brahmins present in the Assamese people, Assamese society. There are two classes in Assam Bamun and Ganaks. Brahmins were originally priests. Religious worship in temples is generally carried out by them.
T ...
and
Kayastha
Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the C ...
communities are small, and even the
Kalitas, who have a dominating presence in the adjoining
Kamrup region
Kamrup is the modern region situated between two rivers, the Manas and the Barnadi in Western Assam, with the same territorial extent as the Colonial and post-Colonial "Undivided Kamrup district". It was the capital region of two of the thr ...
, are not as significant.
The
Bodos
Boro (बर'/बड़ो ), also called Bodo, is the largest ethnolinguistic group in the Assam state of India. They are a part of the greater Bodo-Kachari family of ethnolinguistic groups and are spread across northeastern India. They are ...
form a strong presence in the region. Traditionally, they are called Kacharis in the south and in the rest of
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
, but called Mech in the north bank of the
Brahmaputra river
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
and the whole of
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 ...
.
Their strongest presence is in the present Kokrajhar district in the north bank. The
Rabha
The Rabha are a Tibeto-Burman community to the Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal. They primarily inhabit the plains of Lower Assam and the Dooars, while some are found in the Garo Hills. Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to thems ...
s, who along with the Bodos, are a semi-Hinduized group concentrated in the south bank. The
Garos
Garos is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territo ...
and the
Hajongs too are not insignificant in the south. The indigenous
Keot(Kaibarta) people are present near the wetlands and riverine areas both in the North and South Bank.
The Muslim population, which is not insignificant, a distinction is made between the local indigenous (''
deshi'') communities that are descendants of ethnic groups convert, and non-local immigrant (''bhatiya'') who have immigrated in recent times from downstream East Bengal (Bangladesh).
Notes
References
*
*
{{coord missing, Assam
Regions of Assam
Cultural regions