SOCEAL HISTORY

KAMA RUPA

V o l. II.

BY0

NA G E NDRA -NA TH VA SU PRA C HYA VIDYAMA HA RNA VA ,S IDDHANTA -VAR IDHI , TA TTVA C HINTAMA NI &c . &c .

C ompiler ofBengaIi Visvako sba and Hindi Visvakosba (E ncyclopaediaIndica ) au thor ofMayurbhanj A rchaeological S urveyReports,C astes and S cots of Bengal, and the Modern Buddh ismin O rissa , late E ditor ofthe S abityé Parishad Patrika ,

E ditor, Ragakalpadruma

(E ncyclopaedia o f Indian Mus ic)&c. (520. & c.

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TA BL E O F C O NTE NTS

V o l. II.

CHAPTE R I .

The Baro Bhuiyas in A ssam

1 . C handivara S iromani

2 . Hari Bhuiya3 . S rihari

4 . S ripati

5 . S ridhara

6 . S adananda

7 . C h iranande or C hirapati Datta

8 . Gadadhara

9 . Bu ra Khan10. Gandharva Raye

1 1 . L ohabara

1 2 . C hanu Giri

13 . Gadadhar

CHAPTE R I I .

Downfall of the Baro Bhuiyas and

Mech P owerCHAPTE R I I I .

Mach rule and S oc ial Reforms in Kamarupa

CHAPTE R IV .

R ise ofVaishnavism in Assam

S ankaradeva

S pread ofVaisnavism (Mahapurushiya) in Assam

CHAPTE R V.

The Damodaria sect

The Bamunia sect

Mayamaria orMoamaria sect

CHAPTE R VI.

Briefh istoryof Gauripur Raj

A PPE NDI X I .

(Genealogical tables)

C handivara S iromani Bhu iya and S ankara

ubhadra A i, the great -

grandd augh ter of

radeva

Fam i l Madhava, grand-father’s bro ther of

radeva

IIaripala Bhu iyaRama C haran

S ridlmr Bhu iya and Narayana Gam tha

of S ripati S arasvat i

Fam i ly of S ridhara Bhu iya

Fam ilyof S adananda Bhu iya

Fam i ly of C h irananda Bhu iya

Fam ily of S ridhara Bhu iya

Fam ily of C handra Bhu iya

Fam i ly of D inamani Bhu iya, father- ih - law of C hatur

bhaja, grandson of S ankaradeva 5 2

Bura Khan’s fam ily or the K akat i fam i ly of Barapeta 5 3

- 5 4

Fam i ly of L ohabara Bhu iya,C haudhury fam ily of

Mau za K hataFam ily of L obahar Bhu iya

Th e Fam ily ofHarivallabh Bhu iya

The Fam i ly of Gadadhar Bhu iya or Barabhagiya

C haudhuri fam ily of Nama BarabhagFam ily of Gadadhar Bhu iya

Fam ily of S ubhankara Dasa or the fam i ly of Batanagaria Barua

Fam i ly of S ubhavkara Dasa or theMazumdar Fami lyof C hamta 62 - 64

Fam i ly of L andabar Datta of J haparkuchi and

Dau lasal

A PP E NDIX I I .

Genealogyof the Gauripur Raj Family

V

PR E F A C E .

The first part of this bo ok w as published fou r years ago

and in the Introdu c tion l had given an o u tline o f the p lan

to be fo llow ed in the second part. Bu t I regret to say that

the last fou r ye sur have b n to m e a p eriod ofgreat trial

as ow ing to chron ic n ephrites and asthm a attended w ith

w eakn ess ofheart, I passed my tim e Istruggling betw een life

and death , and had in c o nseq u enc e to give Up som e ofthe

details that l lyard thought ofw o rking o u t in this part. Whenever I c o u ld snatch a

'

J’

few days ofc omparative health, I se t

myselfto w o rk, bu t I exp erienc ed a great obstru ction from

the dilatorine ss o f the press . I had to change fo ur presses

su c c e ssivelyfo r c omp leting this w o rk, the sho rtness ofac c ented

typ es infihese presses m ade it impo ssible fo r m e to observe

u n ifo rm ity in the spelling of tho se w o rds which had to be

ac c ented. Defec ts and irregu larities o n this head w ill be

observed thro ugho u t the bo ok. for which I beg to be excu sed.

O ne of the“

no tew o rthy featu res of this bo ok is that

l have given in the app endix exhau stive genealogical tableshf the Baro Bhu iya and o f the leaders of variou s sec ts

princ ipallythe Vaisnavas , who se histo ry] have treated in this

part. I had to c o llec t these ac c o unts from som e A ssam ese

gentlem en and Ibeg to o ffer myheartfelt thanks to them .

I have , how ever given m o re or less elabo rate ac counts of

the Q§>jec t I o riginallyto ok up in hand, w o rking in the m idst

ofgreat difficu lties, bu t I am so rryI c o u ld no t to u ch the inter

esting subj ect ofthe developm ent o f the m odern Sakta cu lt of

A ssam . If I live to bring o u t a sec ondl

edition of this w o rk. I

shall tryto trac e this m emorable event which had su ch a w ide

spread influ enc e on the neighbou ring lo calities.

Ghe Visvako sh C o ttage . Nagendranath Vasu .

9, Visvako sh L ane ,l- lo-Z6 .

Bagbazar, C alcu tta.

CHA PTE R

THE BA RO -BHUIYA S m ssm .

A king of the name o f Dar]re igned a t Kama tapu r in thew hen Pu ru so t tama Dasa'

sway in C ent ra l A ssam . Th iKama tesvara in t he A ssam Bu rbeen na rra ted befo re tha t ow ingins as io ns o f t he Muhammadans“as in t u rmo i l A t las t ma t te rspass a nd ana rchy reigned ek ingd oms then rose he re a

IL Iyas tha A di-Bhu iyas rose int e rn A ssam and the [ Lisa dynt h ei r sway in C en tra l A ssam .

rsyann now curved ou t a kh imse lf in Kama ta o r w este rnA ccord ing to the Bu ranj i and GDurlabhané rayana had to be

c onstant w ar-fare w i th the'S ee Vo l. I . , p. 2 4 8 - 2 49

THE SO C EA L h iSTO RY O F

KAMARUMVol. ll.

C HA PTE R I.

THE BA RO -BHUIYA S IN A S S AM.

A king of the name of Du rlabhan i rz‘

iyana

reigned at Kama tapu r in the w e st ofK fimaru pa

w hen Pu ru so t tama Dasa " w as holding h is

sw ay in C ent ra l A ssam . This king is ca l led

K ama tesvara in the A ssam Bu ranj i . I t has

been narrated befo re that ow ing to repeated

invas ions o f the Muhammadans the co un try

w as in tu rmo i l . A t last mat ters came t o a

pass and anarchy reigned everyw here . Pe t ty

k ingdoms then[

rose here and there . The

Kayastha A di-Bhu iyas rose in pow er in E as

t ern A ssam and the Dasa dynasty es lished

thei r sway in C entral A ssam . ni

riyana now curved ou t a k for

h imse lf in Kamata‘

i o r w estern Kamaru pa .

A ccord ing to the Buranj i and G uru -C harit'

ra

Durlabhanarayana had to . be engaged in

constant w ar-fare w ith the neighbou ring

*S ee Vo l. I . , p

- 2 43 9 .

THE SO C IAL m

KA

aka

THE BARO - E H

re igned at K fimatapu r in ther e .

w hen Pnru so ttama Dasa‘

sa, Yer 2 6— 5 3

i po ra ry

l iabha

the ru le

end and

n i th one

t h e roya l

. i vanadeva

n a t temp t

t h is is w hyt o k ings .

naNclr iyana

t t eniu s o f

hi a t tempts

t say tha t

ia ofi the De va

TH E SOC IAL H lSTO RY OF K AMARUPA

princes . He had to fight a long and bloodyw ar against the king Dharmanfirayana o f

Gauda . A t last both these kings ste pped

thei r host i l i ties and became friends . A t

the invitation of Durlabhanarayana seven

Brahmanas and seven Kayasthas came to

the k ingdom ofKamata from Gangla .

The fol low ing account show s that a ch ief o f

the name o f Narayana l i ved in north Benga l

corresponding to the modern distric t of

Dinaj pu r abou t the time w e are speak ing o f.

We learn from Batu -Bhatta’

s D evcwamm ,

tha t ‘Danujarideva of the Deva dynasty w as

the ru ler or feudatory chief of Kantakadvipa .

He paid his respects to Dasarathi the son of

Makaranda Bandya at a p lace cal led Bandya

ghat i and made a gift the vi l lages o f Hariko ti,

Na ihati , L atagrama ,Pa ida ,

and Navaehara

to his sons . He w as a friend and re lat ive o f

L akshmana S ena ,the -

.k ing of Gauda. He

accompanied L akshmana S ena w hen the

latter fled aw ay being attacked by theMuhammadans . He a lso fought against the Mu sa lmans brave ly standing by the .side ofMadhavaS ena ,

the son ofL akshmana S ena . A t last he

drow ned h imse lf in the h oly river Bhagira th i .

Kantakad—

vipa w as then taken by the Mu sa lmai ns and h is son Harideva settled at Pandu

nagara (modern Pandua) . His so n Narayana

deva w as a man know ing Dharma and

u ph olding Dharma . Bu t sti l l he was no t

favou red by the Genius o f Roya lty . He had

tw o sonsh

Pura'

ndara and Puruj it . Purandara

renounced the w orld and became a S annyasi .

Puruj it’s son was A ditya. Adi tya had two

TH E BARO -BHUIYA S IN AS S AM

sons,Bevendra and K shitindra . Through the

grace o f the goddess Ranachandi Devendra he

came the lord of‘

Pandunagara . Devendra’

s son

w asMahendradeva . He became king at Panda

nagara having expelled the Muhammadans

and having exter’

m inated the Kansya race .

1

S ome time ago a si lver coin o f Mahendradeva w as found at Pandas near the ru ins

of Gauda . This co in bears the w ords “C handr

charana parayana ssfisaswm Mahendradeva megawatt] Pandunagara

911g mtg and

1 8 36 S aka . Hence it is proved thatMahendradeva ,

w as the king o f Gauda in 1 3 36 S aka

year i e . 1 4 1 4 A . D.

We th ink that Narayana w ho has been

described as‘know ing vi rtue ’ (fi lm ) and

‘uphold ing vi rtu e’ (mam is the same

person as Dharmanarayana the contempo ra ry

o f Du rlabhanarayana o f Kamata. Du rlabha

narayana flou rished at a time w hen the ru le

o f the o ld roya l dynasty w as a t an end and

the vari ou s chiefs w ere figh t ing w i th one

ano ther in the h o pe o f seizing the roya l

au th ority . In Nor th Benga l , Narayanadeva

to o,in tho se u nse tt led days , made an a ttempt

to conque r t he k ingd om ofKamat a‘

i . Th is is w hya w ar took place be tw een these tw o k ings .

I t is recorded in the Devavansa tha t Narayanadeva “w as no t favou red by t he Geniu s o f

Roya lty .

” This sh ow s tha t h is attempts

w ere fru i tless . I t is need less t o say tha t

Narayana w as a Kayastha o f the Deva

(1 ) Vide Batu Bhatta‘s Devavamsa, verses, 2 6—53.

TH E SOC IA L HISTORY OF KAMARUPA

fami ly . Du rlabhanz‘

irayana to o be longed to a

l ine o ffeudatory ch iefs. Beingfi rmly establ ished

in h is kingdom after his v ic tory in the w a r, he

had brought seven w ise Kayasthas w ho seem to

be the members o fhis own caste , so that w ith

thei r h e lp he m igh t restore peace and order

in h is domin ions . From th e account o f th e

Deva l ine that has been gi ven above i t is

known that Narayanadeva’s great-

grandson

Mahendradeva w as the lord o f Pandunagara .

I t has a lso been mentioned before tha t h is

si lver co in has been discovered near Maldah .

S ome o f h is coins have been found in

E astern Bengal .These coins sh ow that even du ring the

early days of the 1 5 th centu ry w hen,

the

Muhammadans had establ ished themse lves in

the country Mahendradeva had for some

t ime been know n as the ‘lord of Gauda .

’

Hence it does no t at all appear strange that

h is ancestor Narayanadeva or Dharma

narayana w ou ld have been know n as the ‘lord

of Gauda ’in A ssam . A s fo r the descendants

ofthe seven Kayasthas w ho w ere h onou red

by Du rlabhanarayana , some say that thei r

ancestors m igrated to A ssam from Dinaj pu r,

w h i le others hold that the original seat

of thei r fami ly w as at K anauj pur.These

tw o statements d o no t appear conflicting.

Narayanadeva had indeed been l iving in thenorthern part of Dinaj pu r in order to be

safe from theMuhammadans . This p lace wasw ith in the kingdom of Gauda and the

borders of the ancient principa l i ty of Kamatawere not far from i t . Hence it is but natura l

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TH E S OC IAL HISTO RY OF KAMA RUPA

grea tes t amo ngst the se ven ‘

O n

acco unt o f thesc confl icting account s,i t is ve ry

d iffi cu l t t o give the names o f the Brahmanas

w h o come from Gauda a t the invi tati on of

Du rlabhanarfiyana .

A ccord ing t o the au th or of Gu rucharita,

the seven Kayas thas w e re Hari , S rihari ,A ripati, S ridhara

,C hidananda , S adananda

and C handivara . O f a ll the men comingfrom Gauda C handrvara w as the m ost learned

and most inte l l igent . The King Durlabha

nz‘

irayana conferred the ti tle o f S iroman i o r

the chief of the B l’m ij/as u pon h im . A ccording

to the w ork ca l led Da ranga Raj avansava li,the Bhniyas rose to pow er in the yea r 1 2 36

o f the S aka E ra i . e . 1 3 1 4 A . D .

‘ Now i t

is to be determined w he ther abou t tha t

t ime there w as a king ca l led Dharmanarfi

rayana in Gauda ,and w he ther there w as any

occasion fo r the com ing o f the Brahmanas

and Kayasthas t o the kingdom ofKamata. We

are also to ascerta in w hythe h ighest h onou r

w as conferred o n a Kayastha though the re

w ere su i table Brahmanas.

I t has been said before that there is no

agreement be tw een the l ist gi ven in the A ssam

Bu ranj i,o f the Brahmans w h o w ere brought by

the k inga ama tsand the l ist ofthe Brahmanas

w ho had come to A ssam w i th the Kayasthas .

Hence the conc lu sion is tha t the seven

Brahmanas spoken of in the Buranj i and the

seven Kayasthas w ho w ere the ancestors of

(4 ) mmfi rm t hat i t?) mm 1

(Vide Assam Govt . C ol. Darrang , no 9 , pt . 1 , leaf 5 a)

TH E BARO-BI‘IUIYA S IN A S S AM

the -Bhfiiyas of Kamarupa d id no t come toA ssam t ogether or at the same time . Had

these fou rteen men come a t the same time ,the Hindu King Durlabhanarayana w ou ldne ve r have conferred t he highest hono urp n a

Kayastha by making him the ‘S iromani

Bhdiya’ ignoring the Brahmanas . The account s

given in the “Purushinama” o f the principa l

Bhu iya l ines h int a t the fac t tha t the seven

Kayasthas w ho had come to the cou rt o f the

King Du rlabhanaravana and had rec eived

h onou rs there again w ent to Gauda,the

count ry o f thei r origin and came back there

from t o Kamata‘

. w i th thei r preceptors ,fam ily priests and w ives

,ch i ldren and other

rela t i ves . Under these ci rcumstances w e are

incl ined t o be l ieve that the sev en Brahmanas

w ho had come t o A ssam w ith the Kayasthas

at the t ime o f thei r com ing from Gau da fo r

the second t ime w ere t hei r preceptors or

priests . The seven Brahmanas whose names

occu r in the A ssam Bu ranj i seem t o have

been brought for the w orsh ip of the

fami ly gods o f the King and t he performance

o f“h is re ligi ou s ri tes . The other seven

Bramanas , go t grants o f land from t heir

Kayas tha Yuj anm nus w hen they rose t o pow e r

and came su bsequen tly to be know n as Bhu iyas

or Z am indars ,

A carefu l perusa l o f the geneologica l table s

col lected from various p laces in A ssam show s

t ha t the seven Kayasthas mentioned above had ,

at the time of the ir coming from Gauda fo r

the second t ime , brought w ith them five

fam i l ies of the ir re latives. These tw e lve

TH IS S OC IA L H I S TORY OF KAMA RU PA

pe rsons migh t have in after ages been know nas the tw e lve Bhu iyas . The i r names are given

be lo w

1 . C handiva ra the S iromani Bhfi iyz‘

i, son

of L am liu leva . K rishnat reya Go t ra .

2 . Haripala a lias Vishnukrin ta Bh i’

iiya, so n

o f K rishnakanta . (A lamyana G o t ra ) .3 . o

'

ripa t i a l ias Jayapala Bhfl iya (KasyapaGotra ) ,

4 .S ridhara Bh i

‘

i iya (Kau s ika G o t ra) .5 . o

'rihari a l ias o’

ripat iS arasva ti (Gau tama

Got ra ) .

6 . S adfmanda Bhu iya (A treya Gotra) .7 . C hidananda a l ias C h i rapa ti Bhu iya

(Kasyapa Got ra ) .8 . S ripati Datta (Maudgalya Gotra ) .9 . Gandharva Bhu iya(A lamyana Got ra) .1 0. Buds. Khan (Parasara Go tra) .

1 1 . L o havara (S andilya Gotra ) .

1 2 . C hanugiri (Maudgalya Gotra ) .A t fi rst the above Kayasthas l ived at

Kanauj apu r near the capi ta l o f Kama ta.

The great Va ishnava refo rmer S ankaradeva

w rites in one p lace tha t the King Du rlahha

narayana had conferred the t i t le o f Deviilasa

u pon C handivara .

5 There is a trad i t i on

cu rrent among the descendant o f the above

Bh fiiyas , tha t du ring the t ime o f Durlabha

narayana ,though the country w as no t w eak

in m il itary s t rength , ye t t here w as u t ter

absence of a good internal government and

t he cu ltivation of learning. The country

in th ose days w as special ly subj ec ted to t h e

(5 ) Vide Asamiya S ahitya Buranj i . by Debendra Nath

Be-Barua, pp-95 .

THE BARO-BHUIYA S IN A S S AM .

inroads of the Kochas , the Mechas and the

Bhotias . In order to ho ld them in check the

Bhu iyas had t o l ive at L engamaguri so

that there they m ight check the progress

of the Bhotias . S ir E . A . Ga it ca l ls this

p lace Pa imaguri . He says that here “they

earned the gratitude of the peop le by erectinga bund . S ubsequ ent ly the Bhu tias ra i ded

and carried o ff a number of people , inc lud ingthe son of C hand ibar , bu t the lat ter

,w i th

the o ther Bhu iyas ,fol low ed the ra iders and

rescu ed the captives . He su bsequ ent ly settled“

at Bardow a i n Now gong w here h is great

grand - son6 S ankar deb w as born .

”

I t seems probable that King Puruso ~

t tamadasa,an account

‘

of w hom has a lreadybeen given w as deprived o f h is k ingdom by th e

Bhfi iyas . i t a lso seems l ike ly that i t w as

thro’

hgh their assistance that king Du rlabha~

narayana w as able t o extend'

h is territories

u p t o the river Bara Nad i. The Bhfi iyasremained sem i - independent du ring the time of

Durlabhanarayana and asserted their indepeno

dence after his death . They ru led the country

tow ards the m idd le of the fou rteenth centu ry .

S ir E . A . Ga it says ,“O ne of the legends o f the Baro Bhuiya men

tions Du rlabhanarayan as a Raja ofKamata

and if i t can be re l ied on,he w ou ld seem to

have ru led at the end of the th irteenth centu ry

over the country betw een Bar Nad i and

the K arat oya. A bou t the same time mention

is made in the A hom B uranj z’

of a w ar

(6 ) This shou ld be great -great -grand son.

(7 ) Vide S irGaait’s HistoryofA ssam, p. 3 8

2

1 0 THE S OC IA L H IS TORY OF KAMA RU PA .

betw een the A homs and the Kamatz‘

i

“Hosti l i ties co nt inu ed fo r some year'

s w i th

heavy losses on both s ides. A t las t , the ir

adversary grew w eary o f the w ar,and

,o n

the advice o f h is m inisters,sent an envoy to

su e fo r peace . A treaty w as made , and h is

daughter Rajani w as given t o the A h om

King (S ukhz’

mgpha ) in marriage . S ukh z‘

ing

phad ied in 1 3 3 2, after a reign o f th irty -n ine

years . He left fou r sons, S ukhrangpha ,

S u tu pha ,Tyaokham ti and C hao Pu la i

S ukh rangpha, the e ldest o f the late K ing’s

fou r sons , ascended the vacant throne .

He soon became unpopu lar,and h is

' hal f

brother C hao -Pu lai , w hom he had appointed

to be S aring Raja,hatched a c on

'

sipiracyaga inst him . The p lo t being detected , C hao

Pu lai fled t o h is k insman,the Raja o f Kamata

,

w h o agreed to he lp h im and march ed t o

A thgaon and thence t o S aring. S ukh rangpha

then became a larmed and no t feel ing suffi

ciently certa in o f the loyalty of his troops ,Opened negotiations and became reconc i led

w ith C hao

Wi th the rise of the A homs the pow er of th e

Bhfi iyas in Upper A ssam came to an end .

They had been the righ t hand of the King o f

Kamata and had extended their possessions

up to th e d istricts of Darang and Nowgaon

beyond the river Brahmapu tra A bou t

this time the A homs occu pied the country

to the east of Maju l i w h ile the Bhfi iyas

ru led it up to the ri ver Karat oya in the w est .

(8 ) S ir E . A . Gait ’s HistoryofAssam , p. 4 1 .

(9) Do . p. 7 7 -7 8 .

THE BAR O -BHUIYA S IN A S SAM .

O n account of the exce l lence of the ir admini~

strat ion as w e l l as the oppressions practised in

Benga l by the Mu hammadan ru lers many

fam i l ies of the Brahmana and the Kayast ha

class m igrated to A ssam to l ive under the

peacefu l ru le of the Bhuiyas . F rom a stu dy

of the genealogy of the‘

descendants of

the Bhfi iyas w e learn that Bardow a in

Tembuanibandha w as the sea t '

of C handivara ,

Pandunath and Tapachamata o f the ancestors

of Pratapa Bhfi iya and Narayana respect i vely ,

L ohaguri of Sripati , Harakakuchi of S arasvati

Bhuiya and Phu lagu ri of the ancestors of

Raj endra Bhuiya. Besides these , Uguri and L u ki

under Brahmanas and Badanagar , Karnapu r,

Rej eni and Dighalpur w ere th e other centres o f

Kayastha ru le . E ven the fam i l ies o f thei rpriestsand preceptors w h o had m igrated to the

country w i th them became Bhuiyas or Z am in

dars in var iou s places .

A t fi rst the Bhuiyas came to the v i l lage

L engam i‘

gu ri. C handivara constru cted a big

bund there and thu s saved these parts from the

flood of the Brahmapu tra . A t th is the people

w ere greatly p leased and blessed C handivara .

A fter he had been here for a short time C handi

vara had a son of the name of Raj adhara .

Here the Bhfi iyas continu ed to l i ve sharing the

j oys and sorrow s oft he King. In the month of

A grahayana ,the Bhotias commenced their ra ids.

Gandharva Raya fled to the sou thern bank of

the Brahmapu tra . The Bhotias captu red Raja

dhara and many other men and carried themoff as prisoners. C handivara , how ever , pu rsued

and rescued all the captives. O n account of the

1 3 TH E S O C IAL H I STORY OF K AMA RUI‘A .

Bl16 tiya incu rsions the people go t offended w iththe Bhu iyas and gave o u t tha t none o f them

w ere aga inst the Bhotias . The Bh iiiyfi s

becam e grieved at th is. Theysa id tha t it w as

no longer pro per o f them t o stay on in a p lace

w here those , fo r w hose benefi t they w ere

a lw ays w orking w ere aga inst them . Then

they left the p lace and after a sho rt resid ence

at a place cal led S omai -bhalukaguri settled at

Ku tharadu ri,

Phonta and S imu latala in

Ut tarakfi la . O n account ofsome inconvenience

here they bu i lt fou r forts near S ingari . A fter

a sh ort w hile the Bhot ias invaded the country

again ; after a three days ’ battle they w ere

defeated . A t th is stage C handivara died and

his son Raj adhara became the S irom fm i Bhuiya.

Durlabhanarayana w as fi lled w ith despai r

t o see the increase of the pow er of those fear

ofw hom he had engaged the tw e lve Bhfi iyas in

the d istant parts of the country . G illnabh irama

speaks of C handivara’s residence near S ingari

w h i le from the version of Sankaradeva w e

lea rn that he settled at a place cal led

Batadrava(Bardow a) in Tembuanibandha .

From the Puru shavali ofPrasiddhanarayana ,

the Daranga -Rajavan savali and other genen

logica l tables of the Bhfi iyas w e learn that

the fol low ing tw elve p laces w ere the seats

o f Baro Bhfiiyas viz,Bardowa, Badanagara ,

K shetribhaga , Pandunath ,Karnapu r ,

Phu lagu ri , Bejni,

Dighalapura ,Uguri or

L ohaguri, L uki , Jhargaon, and Dimuria .

Moreover w e learn from the Purushanama

that the Bhfi iyas reside at Harkakuchi,

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TH E S O éA L H I S TORY O F KAMAR UPA .

Bhotiya incufi ons the people go t ofi ended w ith

the Bhu iyas nd gave ou t tha t none‘of th em

w ere aga ins the Bh otias . The Bhfi iyas

became grievd at th is. They sa id that it w as

no longer prper of them t o stay on in a p lace

w here th ose for w h ose benefi t they w ere.

a lw ay s w oring w ere against th em . Then

they left th eplace and after a short res id ence

at a p lace clled S omai-bhalukaguri settled at

K u tharadu ri Phonta and S imu latala in

Ut tarakfi la . O n account of some inconvenience

here they but fou r forts near S ingari . A fter

a sh ort w hil the Bh ot ias invaded the country

again ; aftera th ree days ’ batt le they w ere

defeated . A tth is stage C handivara d ied and

h is son Raj ahara becam e th e S irom r mi Bhfi iya.

Durlabhanarvana w as fi l led w ith despai r

t o see the icrease of the pow er of those fear

ofw h om he ad engaged the tw e l ve Bhfi iyi s in

the d istant prts of th e cou ntry . Gunfibh irama

speaks of C hndivara’

s residence near S ingari

w h i le from te versi on of Sankaradeva

lea rn that he settled at a p lace

Batadrava(E rdow fi ) in Tembuanibandlr

From th e uru shfwali ofPrasiddha i

the DarangaRi javansavali and o tt

logica l table of the Bhfi iy'

as w e 1

the follow irx tw e lve p laces w ere

of B i ro Bhiyas v iz,Bardow z

‘

i , B

K shetribhag. Pandunz‘

i th,

Phu lagu ri , 3ejni, Dighalapu ra ,

L ohaguri, Ii k i,Jhargaon,

and

More over w learn from the Fur

that the h fiiyas reside at F

TH E BA R O -BHUIYA S IN

and Naréyanpur in Nowgong Disfict , Kumi ra

kfinta, Go laghat, Gaj alz‘

tsu ti,

Bhabaladubi (in S ib riet and

then at K amali bi ri , C hu’

napar, Ganaka

kuch i,K umaraku chi

,Patabi ufi S u ndaradia

and Barape ta (in Kamru p d istri ct The thingis that at the beginning the t yi s had no

permanent seats . They had tb r camps in

variou s p laces to carryon the w d: o f admini

strat ion in an efiicient mannf . Now w e

proceed to give a sh ort accounfio f the Bi ro

Bhfiiyas .

C handivara.

C hanrlivara ,th e S irnm fm i r the C h ief

settled a t a p lace ca l led

bi nibandha in

the d istrict of Kamr' fecepto r and

Rama

to l i ve

1 4 T I“? SOC IA L H I S TORY OF KAMARU PA .

w ent up the Bramhapu tra rive r in a country

boa t . Then he fu rnished .h is ow n house a t

Batadravfi o n the c oast o f the Bramhapu tra

in Tcmbuanibandh .

l l A ccording t o the accountfu rnished by Ramacharana Thaku r in his

S ankara chari ta — There arose in the m ind o f

Rfij a Du rlabhanarayana some unreasonable sus

picion on account o f the gradual increase of his

influence and possession and the frequ ent

visits o fhis re lations from Gauda . The Raja

th ough t that C handivara w as conspiringaga inst h im w i th the king of Gauda for the

pu rpose o f invading his kingdom . The other

Bhfiiyz‘

is had al ready grow n d isobedient to h im .

In order t o punish the Bhfiiyi s Rfija Du rlabha

narayana now sent h is Genera l S asipi tra w ith

an army . A pprehending that i t w ou ld '

no t be

very easy t o defeat C handivara in open fight

S asipz‘

t tra,by u nfa irness , managed t o take

h im captive at Kajalimukh (modern Kolongmukh For abou t a year C handrvara w as in

prison . A Pand it named C handrakavi came

from Nadia before the Raja of Kamata

pur and offered to enter into d iscussi ons

o f the S hastras w i th the Pandits ofh is cou rt.

None among the latter accept the challange

th row n ou t by this S avant of Navadvipa .

Thereu pon the Raja issu ed orders u pon

the Genera l t o the efi'

ect,

‘You w i ll get into

(1 1 )“ss

'

s fix cake-

av stars I

swim t eam rim amt-3nmm Wm:Gift mmomi t -

am m atmi em a

was s'

tfl a?!anaWine n”S ankaracharita byBhusanananda.

TH E BARO -BHUIYA S IN A S SAM .

trouble ifyou fa i l to present a Pandit for this

pu rpose w i th in a'w eek .

” S asipatra knew fu l l

w e l l of the erudit i on of C handivara and

condu cted h im from the prison-hou se t o the

roya l cou rt . Then the Pandi t of Nad ia

entered into d iscussi ons o f the S hast ras w ith

C handivara . The latter how ever came o u t

successfu l . A t th is the Raj a became h igh ly

p leased w i th C handivara . Thinking h im t o

be a rea l b/mkm of the Devi,

the Raja.

conferred u pon h im the tit le of “Devidfi sa”

and “S iromani” o r ch ief among the Bhaiyas

and gave h im perm ission t o ru le indepen

dent ly. From that time C handivara and his

descendants became independent ru lers.

in

C entra l A ssam . With in a very sh ort time

the part of the count ry betw een Now gongand Tej pu r lying on both s ides o f th e

Brahmapu tra came u nder the sw ay of C handr

vara . He appointed Brahmanas and Kayasthas

connected w ith h im t o be Bhfi iyfis in every

v il lage in th is part of the country and exer

cised his ru le very v igorou sly . A w e l l

fu rnished h ou se w as set apart for him for

the performance of his royal du ties. I t w as

named “Karkhana.

” He appointed a genera l

named “Dalapati”

. Thus having appointed

competent officers to look after the d ifferent

department s of state and m ixing freely w i th

the other Bhniyas he began t o pass his days

happi ly . A s the progeny of the Bhu iyas increa

sed in number the peo ple on the eastern and

w estern banks of the Brahmapu tra evinced

a great desire for physica l and menta l cu ltu re

as there w as then no dirth o f food or cloth

1 5

1 0 TH E socu'

i. m sronv or KAMARUPA .

and as the people a lso w ere comparative ly

w e l l o ff. The Bhotias from the no rth and the

K achz‘

iri from the sou th made frequent incu r

sions into Kam ru p. To protec t thei r l ife and

pro perty from these incu rs i o ns every o ne learnt

the u se o f a rms regu larly and t ook s teps

to increase h is phys ica l strength .

C handivara had tw o sons,a j adhara and

Gadadhara , A fter h is deat h RJ j adhara became

the S iromani Bhu iya. S ankaradeva has des

cribed h im as‘h igh ly pious .

’ His younger

brother Gadadhara w as a bit haugh ty . A s

there w as no love lost betw een him and h is

brother,he left Bardowa, came t o a p lace ca l led

Namabarabhaga (modern Makhibaha and

l ived there as the Bhu iya o f the p lace . A s

h is father ’s priest had s ided w i th Raj adhara ,

he brought a Brahmana of the name o f A nanta

A charya from K anauj pura and made him

h is priest and preceptor and accepted h is Gotra .

S ince then the fam i ly o f Gadadhara came

to have the gotra of Kasyapa,that being

the gotra of the new fam i ly - preceptor . The

l ine of Raj adhara ,how ever sti l l reta ins thei r

origina l gotra ,the gotra of K rishnatreya .

Raj adhara h ad threesons— Snryavara , Jayanta

and Madhava Da lai . S uryavara became Bhu iyaor the lord of the land . He w as charitable and

self- respec ting and w as greatly esteemed by all.

S uryavara’s son w as the great Bhuiya

Kusuma. Ku suma’s son w as S ankaradeva

,w ho

w as regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu .

“2

WWWm am, We Wematsamiss?!ab are

?!n

TH E BA RO ~BHUIYA S IN A S S A M .

Bisu or V isvasinha rose t o pow er du ring the

t ime of Ku suma and Gadidhara’s grandson

Madhu sfidana . How he crushed the tw e lve

Bhu iyas w i l l hereafter be deal t w i th at some

l ength .

When Madhusfidana w as dep rived o f his

Bhu iyz’

iship,his son Pfirnanan

'

da t ook she l ter

w ith the A hom king. Pfirnananda’

s son

Vasudeva go t the ti t le of Ray-chaudhu ri from

the A hom k ing C hukleng Mung at Garhgaon

in 1 5 452

2 . Hari Bhu iy

I t has been mentioned be fo re that Krishna

kanta’

s son Vishnukanta a l ias Haripala came

to A ssam w ith C h andivara . He came t o be

know n a s Hari Bhu iya. A ccording t o some

he had h is seat a t Bal id ia and according t a

others a t Digha lpara . His so n w as Gayé pfi la ,

Gayapala’

s son w as Ramapala . Ramapala had

a son of the name of j ané rdana S arasva ti

w hose son w as ca l led Govinda Bhu iya. This

Govinda Bhu iya came t o be know n as

Dighalpu ria Giri . He had tw o sons,Kauai

ca?w tamass , Nifi afl mi ss25mg sins assign n

e ra ai ms mmmmh it an? nanfife? I

sit?!2ma "

gem ms rim win

at“E l?mu vfaé n

e raare grams cslfwW‘

s at?

affair? 335 mWWm Ish as fire

'

s-

ifs , i s!rm sf?

ffi fia rim 9 mmBhagavata, loth S kandha, byS ankaradcva.

it For Gadadhara and his descendants , see p. 2 3 .

3

1 7

TH E soc H ISTO RY O F KAMARUPA .

and as the pop le a lso w ere comparative ly

w e l l off. TheBh o t ias from the north and the

Kachari fron the sou th made frequ ent incu r

sions into Katru p . To protect thei r l ife and

property from hese incu rsi ons every one learnt

the u se o f arms regu lar ly and t ook steps

to increase h isghysical strength .

C handivara had tw o sons,Raj adhara and

Gadadhara . Alter h is deat h Raj adhara becam e

the S iromani 3hu iya. S ankaradeva has des

cribed h im a‘h igh ly pious .

’ His younger

brother Gadadara w as a bit haugh ty . A s

there w as no lo ve lost betw een h im and his

brother,he leftBardow a, came t o a p lace ca l led

Namabarabhaa (modern Makh ibaha ) and

l ived there as the Bhu iya of the p lace . A s

h is fa ther ’s li est had s ided w i th Raj adhara ,

he brought a E ahmana o f the nam e of A nanta

A charya fron K anauj pu ra and made him

h is priest and receptor and acce pted his G otra .

S ince then te fam ilv o f Gadadhara came

to have the { otra o f Kasyapa ,that being

the gotra o f he new fam i ly - preceptor . The

l ine o f Raj adara ,how eve r sti l l reta ins thei r

origina l go trz the gotra of K rishnatreya .

Raj adhara hati hree sons— S nryavara , Jayanta

and Madhava ) alai. S firyavara became Bhu iyaor the lord of te land . He w as chari table and

se lf- respec ting nd w as greatly esteemed by all

S uryavara’s ,on w as the great Bhui

Kusuma . K u sma’

s son w as S ankaradeva

w as regardedts an incarnation of Vic“

napalm 5m, at?) uses

mite“mfgW t

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TH E S OC IA L H I S TORY OF KAMA RU PA .

and Da lai . Kani i w as know n as Kanubarfi .

l le had tw o sons ,Daniodara and

'

l\1adhava ,

th e la t ter being the princ i pal desc iple o f fan

ka racleva . Du ring t he time o f Go vinda the

fam i ly l o s t it s Bhu iyash ip.

3 . S rihari.

S rrhari S arasva ti o f the Kasyapa gotra

came w i th C hamlivara . He came t o be know n

as S arasva t i Bhu iya. A t fi rs t he becam e the

Bhu iyi of Badanagara . His son w as Rama

p la a napz‘

tla’

s son w as Haripala . G o pala

w as the son o f Haripala . His son Jayapfila

remo ved'

t o a p lace ca l led Harkzikuchi in the

d ist ric t o f S ibsagar . Jayap -ala ’

s son w as

Ram adasa . The famous Ramacharana Th z‘

rku r

w as t he so n o f R tmadasa. The fam i ly l o st

its Bhu iyi ship d uring the time of Gopala .

4 . S ripati.

S ripati Bhu iya. a lso had the title ofS arasvati,

Origina l ly he l ived in the vi l lage ofBheragrama .

His so n w as named L akshmipati and the name

of h is grandson w as Jagannatha . Jagannatha

ru led in S aumara in Upper A ssam a s an

independent ru le r . His son Pranakrishwa left

this p lace in consequ ence o f the ra ids o f the

A homs and se tt led at a p lace ca l led Ugu ri

or L ohaguri. Here he exercised his Bhu iyash ipw i th great p ow er . His son Padman-E tha

fought w ith Visvasinha and was deprived

o fhis Bhu iyaship.

5 . S ridhara.

S ridhara Bhu iya be longed t o the Kasyapa

gotra. A t fi rst he settled at L engamaguri

TH E BARO-BHUIYA S IN A S SAM

and engaged h imselfin guard ing the front iers of

t he count ry . His son Govardhana me t w ith h is

death at the hands o f the Bhot ias w h o invaded

h is country . A t the time o f h is death h is w ife

w as in the seventh month o f her pregnancy . S he

managed t o save her l ife by concea l ing herse lf

in “pani” o r w ater . A nd thu s the son,she bore ,

came t o be known a Fania-Bara -Kayastha . He

got back one -fou rth o f h is ancestra l property

from the k ing of Kamata. A'

s'

d i rected by

his mother he removed to a p lace ca l led Gh i la

j hari in S arukhetri Pa rgana,w h e re he had a

fort bu i lt for h is residence . The k ing of Kam ata

presented h im w i th five fam i l ies pf learnedBrahmanas and 200 S eras o f rent -free land (one

seras being equ i va lent t o near ly 96 b igha s ) .

He a lso go t from th e king fou rteen fam i l ies

comprising Brahmanas , Kavasthas , A st rologers

, Va idyas , C handal s , Kochas and Mechal ived a t the aforesa id p lace in the capacity of aKshat riya - S amaj apa ti. His son Gadadhara he

came independent . The trac t o f land ru led ove r

by h im is now ca l led K shetribhaga pargana.

Gadadhara’

s son w as named Narayana Bh u iya.

By d int o fh is ow n prow ess , he becam e the fore

m o st o f the Bhu iyss . He fough t w i th Hosa inS hah o f Gau da . In Muhammadan h istory he i

s

be t ter know n as Narsyanapsla .

6 . S adananda .

S adananda Bhu iya o f the A treya gotra

l i ved a t K anaujpu r near the o f

the king o f Kamata. He had tw o sons ,A dirama and A niruddha . A niruddha m igrated

capi ta l

1 9

S ridhara’

s

ho u se— t he

m o s t illu s

t rions Pania

Bara-K ayas tha of S ri

clhara’

s line

exerc ises t he

fu nc t i o ns o f

S am aj apat i,h is son

Gadadhara

ru les as an

independent

ru ler.

Tm : SGiA L H ISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA .

and Ba lai . K auai .w as know n as Kanubara.

He had tw» sons,Damodara and Madhava ,

the la tter eing the principa l desciple o f S an

karadeva . ) u ring the time of Go vinda the

fam i ly lo s t t s Bhu iyash ip.

3 . S rihari.

S rrhari arasva t i of the Kasyapa gotra

cam e w i th di andivara . He came t o be know n

as S arasvai Bhu iya. A t fi rst he becam e the

Bhu iya of iadanagara . His son

“

w as Rama

pft-la ; Ram p-Ma ’

s son w as Haripala . Gopala

w as th e so of Haripala . His son Jayapala

removed t ca p lace ca l led Harkakuehi in th e

d istric t o f S ibsagar . Jayapala’

s son w as

Ramadfisa . The famou s Ramacharana Thaku r

w as t he so o f Ri mada‘

sa. The fam i ly lost

its Bhu iyi sip d uring the time of G op i ta .

4 . S ripati.

S ripati Hu iyaa lso had the title of S arasvati.

Origina l ly 13 l i ved in the vi l lage ofBherz‘

tgrama .

His so n w aaaamed L akshmipati and the name

o f h is gradson w as Jagannatha . Jagannatha

ru led in S umara in Upper A ssam a s an

independent ru ler. His son Pranakrishwa left

th is p lace 1 c onsequ ence o f the ra ids o f the

A homs and sett led a t a p lace ca l led Uguri

or L ohaguri Here he exercised his Bhu i

w i th grea p ow er . His son Padm

fought Win Visvasinha and

ofh is Bhu issh ip.

5 . S ridhara.

Sridhara Bhu iya be longed t

gotra . A t fi rst he sett led

TH E BARO-BHUIYA S IN A S S AI

and engaged himselfin guard ing the fo ntiers of

t he country . His son Govardhana me w i th h is

death at the hands of the Bhot ias w b invaded

h is country . A t the time o f h is death h is w ife

w as in the seventh month o f her pregancy. S he

managed to save her l ife by conceahg herse lf

in “pani” or w ater . A nd thu s the sonshe bore ,came t o be know n a Fania-Ba ra -s atha . He

got back one-fou rth of h is ancestraprO perty

from th e king of Kamat z‘

t . A s diect ed by

his m other he removed to a p lace cahd Ghi la

j hari in S arukhetri Pa rgana,w h e re 1 6 had a

fort bu i lt for h is residence . The k ing 0 K am at fi.

presented him w i th five fam i lies 0 learned

Brahmanas and 2 00 S eras o f rent - free and (one

seras being equ i va lent to near ly 96 b igh as ) .

He a lso go t from th e king fourtee fam il ies

comprising Brahmanas,Kavasthas As tro log

ers , Va i dyas , C handal s , Kochas ad Mech sl ived a t the aforesa i d p lace in the capcityo f aK sha Gadflhara he

cam e ove r

an histry

TH E S OC IA L H I S TORY OF K AMA RUI‘A

t o the land o f Bhatj . A dirima became the

Bh u ivz‘

t o f a p lace near K anau j pu r. His

son w as li ama laksn ta . Kama lz‘

tkz‘

m ta ’

s so n

w as ca l led K rislmakfinta . Krishnakz‘

tn ta had

tw o so ns,Kalgkanta and S a tfinanda . A t

the t ime o f Visvasinha’

s invas i ons both o f

them tied t o Benga l . Kalikfmta d id no t come

back . A fte r some time Sat -Zinanda h ow ever

re tu rned t o A ssam . He married Kanakapriyfi ,

the sis te r o f Damodara A ra.

7 . C hirananda or C hirapati Datta .

C hirapa t i Dat ta of Kasyapa gotra became

know n a s C h idrmanda or C hirananda Bhu iya.

in A ssam . His son Narapati became Bhu iya

o fj hargao n . He had tw o sons named Umapat i

andManapa t i. Um z

‘

tpati became Bhu iya. after

h is fa ther ’s dea th . Manapa t i w ent to Bal igaonand set tled there . Umi pat i

’

s son w as named

Ranaj it w ho again had a son of the name

of Parnachandra . Pfi rnachandra’s son w as

Madhu chandra . He w as defeated by Visvasinha

and w as deprived ofall that he w as w orth .

8 . Gadadhara .

Gadadhara belonged t o the go t ra ofKam ika .

He accompan ied C handivara w hen the lat ter

w as com ing t o A ssam fo r the second time .

The ru ler o f Kamata appointed h im as the

Gamatha o r representat ive o f the king a t

a p lace ca l led S ukeku ch i in the district o f

Kamru p . His descendants are"

know n as

the Gamatha. of S ukekuchi. His son w as

Bhagrratha . Bhagfratha’

s s on w as cal ledUdayagi ri . Udayagi r i had a son of the name

TH E BARO -BHUIYA S IN A S S AM

o f Ramachandra . Ramachandra ’

s son w as

Devananda and Devananda’

s son w as Haripala .

In consequence ofa fami ly d issension Haripfila

fled to L uki and lost his Bhu iya-sh ip .

9 . Buda Khan.

Bu da Khan of the gotra o f Parasara came

t o A ssam w i th h is preceptor Priyantana Saras

va ti. Priyantana w as a lso the priest and

preceptor of S ripat i Bhu iya. BudaKhan became

the Bhu iya of Karnapu r th rough the favou r

and inte rest of C handrvara . The names of

his son and grand- sons are no t legibly w ri tten

in the geneao logical table . Kalikanta and

Jadumani seem to be th e names of h is grand

sons . A ccord ing t o Prasiddhanarayana’

s

Vansavali,Kal ia w as defeated by Visva

sinha .

1 0. Gandharva Raya.

Gandharva Bhu iya belonged to the gotra of

A lamyana . A t first he l ived at K anauj pu r near

Kamata . Then,as desi red by C hamfivara

,he

w ent over t o a p lace cal led L engamagu ri in

order to guard t he front iers of the count ry .

When h is pow er inc reased su ffic ient ly,he came

t o be know n as Gandharva Raya . When the

Bhot ias invaded the cou ntry he moved t o a safe

p lace on the sou thern bank o f the Brahmapu tra .

Here his great-

grand -son L akshmana Bhu iyafought brave ly against the Mu salmans . Hehas been described as a pow erfu l chief in the

Muhammadan annals entitled Riyaz -u s-S alatin.

A s a resu lt of the invasio n of Hu sain S hah he

2 1

TH E S OC IA L H I S TORY O F KAMA RUPA

w a s deprived o f a ll he had and a lso me t w i th

h is dea th . His son C handra fled t o a sa fe

place and the rebv saved h is l ife . C hand ra

lihniva'

s descend ants now l ive a t a p lace ca l led

C hz‘

n‘

dba ri-sa t ra .

1 l . L ohabara .

L ohfibara be l o nged t o the S'

mdilya go tra .

He a lso became a Bhu iya d u ring the t ime o f

C handivara . A ccord ing to some he came t o

A ssam w i th C handiva ra and according to o thers

he w as a member of the Gh o sha fam i ly l ivingnear K i nna tapu r. He had tw o sons

,Rames

vara and Kamexvara . Ramesvara’

s son w as

Divz‘

tkara and Divi kara’

s son w as ca l led

K umfira . In the R iyaz -us - S a latin he has

been described as a pow erfu l chief u nder the

name o f Kumfira Ghosha . He w as

'

defeated

and s lain by Hu sa in S hah . Then his son fled to

a p lace ca l led Khat i . Here he became know n

as Thanu -bada Bhu iya. The C haudhu ri family

o f K hatabari cla im to be descendant s of

Thanu - bada Bhu iya .

1 2 . C hanu G iri.

In the Purush anama he h as been described

as a Kuhna Kaya stha l iving in Kasi . He

became a grea t favo u ri te o f the King ofKamata.

A ccord ing to som e w ri ters he a lso came t o

A ssam from Gau da w i th C ham livara and w a s

made a Bhu iya by t he King o fKamata . He had

tw o so ns , Harimanu and K rishnamanu . Ha ri

manu‘

s son w as S rihari . He w as know n t o bea resident o f Kanakpu r. His son w as named

Govinda and Govinda’

s son w as Rfipanarayana .

Rupa pu t up a long figh t against Hu sain S hah

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THE S OC IA L HI S TO RY O F KAMA RUPA

Dj i ni t rac ts and rese t tle in S ingari . l lcre

how ever,he fe lt keenly the w an t o f pries ts ,

and hence left t he p lace fo r Mskh ibshain Barabh i g in the eas tern part of the

cou n trv . There he brough t o ver a Brahm in o f

t he name o f A nantacharya from K anauj pu r

and made h im h is fam ilypriest and

spiri tu a l gu ide . Gad son Brihatbhadra

w as in charge o f a co u ple o f t rac ts lyingo n the bo rder l ines o f Bho tiin and Kamata.

These tw o t rac t s w ere t ermed Baska nor th

Tangni and Baskaw est Tangni . Brihatbhadra

possessed Hercu lean st rength in his a rms ;

o n a cer tain occasion being at tacked by

tw o w i ld bu ifalos he caugh t one by the

h o rn and d ro ve it aw ay wh i le he ki l led t he

o ther by dash ing it against the ear th . Thence

fo rward he w as nick named Ma tamohan,

- (o f

t he Ma ta denot ing o ne w h o is a t once bigand strong.) O f the descendants of this fami ly

one go t the hereditary appointment in the

Bhu iyaship o f the Namabarabhag,w hi le

o ther w as vested w i th the ch arge o fprotec t ingt he front ier provinces . A l though t he pow e r

o f the descendants o f Gadadhar w as cu rta i led

by the Koch and A hom kings ,yet their au thori

t v in Namabarabhag and Baska-Tangni

rema ined u naffected . Those tw o Baskas

have been t ermed C hamuya by ‘

the A hom

k ings and the descendants o f Gadadhara

are appointed in the post of ‘C hamuyadar’

.

E ven the British Government t oo kept the

Namdhar tract and the Baska-C hamuya

fo r a period o f abou t thrity years in

possession of the descendants of this family .

TH E BARO -BHUIYA S IN A S S AM .

But du ring theMauj adm-g/n

'

p of the L ate Garga

narayana C how dhu ri ‘Baska’ i tse lf w as tu rned

into a Mauja and a second Manjadar w as

appointed in charge of it . A branch

o f Gadadhar’

s fam i ly is sti l l l iving in the

v i l lage of Manga ldai in the d istrict o f

Darang. It is uncertain w hen they w ent

O ver and settled there,

a l th o ugh thei r

residence here can be traced up t o the reign o f

king Mahendranarayana of Darang.al t is

also found that the title ‘Patgiri’

h as been

attached t o their name since that t ime .

Puyaram Patgiri is the last “P5.tgiri”

o f th is

branch . His son A nandirain C hau dhu ri has

now been appointed a Manjadar by the

Government . They t o o belong to the Kasyapa

gotra bu t being the discip les of the A dh ikaras

o f Bardow a they have now embraced t he

Mahapu ru shiya Va ishnava re l igion .

A t the time of the arriva l o f Sri S ankara

deva the descendants ofGadadhar ofMakhibahaw ere ini tiated into the Va ishnava re l igi on by

Damodaradeva .

Besides the thirteen persons mentioned

above w e also come across the names,

of some

Brahm ana Bhu iyas . These w ere Haricharana,

t he“

ow ner of the vi l lage of Vyaghrapinda ,

Dam odaradeva’

s ancestor Brahmananda of

the gotra, ofGau tama,and A divara

,the Bhu iya

of Nayanagara . Gu nabhirama Barua sayst hat there w ere seven other Brahmana Bhu iyasa lso w ho had come to A ssam from Gauda.

Their names w ere Krishnapandit , Raghupat i,

Ramavara ,. L ohara , Vayana , Bharana, and

Mathu ra . We have , how ever , got no evidence

0 ) G TI I I'I S OC IAL H IS TORY OF KAMARUP'A .

ye t o f the aqu isitio n o f Bhu iyash ip ,

by" these

seven Brahmanas . A ll that is as ye t know n o f

these seven persons is that K rishnapandita

w a s the pries t of C handivara . Krishnapandita’

s

so n w as Ra tncw a ra and Ra tne svara'

s so n

w as Na ro t tama w hose son w as named

A l i-itvu /zj ava I lld Mrityu nj aya’

s son wa s

C hat u rbhu ia , w h o se son Raini arama Thaku raw as the teacher of S ankaradeva .

In the o ld A ssam Bu ranj i o f Governmen t

col lec tion w e find the nam e o f S ueharu

(h and , the descendant o f Durlabhanr’

i rayana .

He seems t o have been a con tem porary of

Hu sa in S hah .

I t is recorded in the A ssam B u ranj i

that the king o f Gauda w as an a l ly o f t he

k ing o f Kamata and had given h im h is

daughter S usuddhi in marriage . A s she w as

a very beau t ifu l damse l , the k ing o f Kamati

g ave her the fi rst p lace among h is princ ipa l

qu eens . He had another queen of the name

o fS ulochan i . Besides these he had as many

as e igh t m inor qu eens .

Nilambara,the priest of the k ing,

had‘

tw o

sons, Dinanfit ha and C handrasekhara . E very

day C h andrasekhara read ou t t o the qu een

S u suddh i a book cal led Hara-Generi- S am'nru lfc.

The king ofKamataw as h igh ly pleased w i th

h im . Very soon ,how ever

,he had reasons t o

su spect that C handrasekhara w as in i l l i cit

love w ith the qu een,there being an abatement

of the d iv ine pow er of the goddess , and a revo

lu tion break ing ou t in th e country . He w as en

raged to find that the son ofhis priest had fa l len

from virtue and his queen was tainted w i th sin ;

TH E BARO-BHUIYA S IN A S SAM .

C handrasekhara t oo w as seized w ith madness

and w as abou t t o comm i t su ic ide .

The princess ofGauda had no t been inactive

all t his w hi le . S he sent Dinanfi tha ,

" t he

younger son of the priest, t o her father w i th

the new s that she had been subj ec ted t o a

c rue l oppressi on by her hu sband the king on

a fa lse charge . S he ma intained t ha t th e son

o f'

the priest had been disgraced simp ly fo r

read ing o u t t o her the h igh ly interest ing book

c a l led ‘Il am - Gaw 'i- S anwccdw

’

,—adcli11g that she

h ad brought all th ese t rou bles on her head a s

she had C he”

dayobserved that su ch a book

o ught fi t tingly to have been w i th her father .

Receiving th is message from h is daughter , the

king ofGauda sent a man to the k ing ofKamata

requesting h im to send t o h im the Bo ok in

question as w e l l as the Brahmana w ho u sed

t o read i t t o the princess.

The king of Kamata had pu t C handra

sekhara in cha ins . He had empl oyed seven

Mechs to ki l l K esharama w h o u sed t o tak e

C handrasekhara to the harem of the k ing. He

w as k i l led and tw o brothers w ere made to eat

h is flesh wi th Pit/ta and Paramanna . Grieved a t

th is he inou s deed ,the ga te -keepers of the

k ing, %ad5 ,nanda Barug‘

i and Sach i Raya,w ent

ove r t o Gau cla w ith the priest a nd brought

t he w ho le ma t ter t o the no t ice of the

k ing, The Pad shah of Gau da sent Ha l lo ]Khan and Baj i t Khan aga inst the k ing of

Kama ta,w h o in h is d is tress sough t the

a ssistance o f the A hom king S vargadeva fi t

A treaty w as made, and h is daughter Raj an i w as

gi ven t o th e A hom king (S uklaampha) in m arriage .

”Gait

’

s

A ssam, p . 7 7 .

2 7

2 8 TH E SOC IA L HIS TORY OF K A N A KUI’A .

S ubsequently Dnrlabhendra (o fh is liiJ e.) became

the king o f Kama tz‘

r. I l is reign w as a longo ne . A member o f the roya l l ine

,Pingar

’

i by

name , u sed to p lay the games o fdice and chess

w i th the k ing. O ne day w hi le engaged in

p laying he stabbed the king t o death and

himself ascended the th rone . He spared th e

l ife o f th e late k ing’s son S uch z

‘

rru -chandfl nd

kept him as an attendant . Then the A h om kingsent C han-kham Ghar-sandikai the son o f

Pach im Gohain for the restoration of the kingo fKamat i t o pow er . In the year Saka Bra

(1 4 7 9 A .D. ) C ham -kham marched w i th his

army and placed S ucharu -chand o n the th rone

ofBehar.

l

The A ssam Bu ranj i of Gunabhirama Barua

gi ves the fol low ing account of Kamata

I t is said that there w as a certain city in the

modern d istrict of Rangpu r to the w est o f

Kamrup . A certa in Brahmana of th is place had

a boy servant w hose du ty was to tend the

cow s . This cow -boyw as very haughty andmis

chievo u s . O ne daythe Brahmana had to go to

the fields in search of him . There h e found the

boysleeping at the foot o fa tree . A poisonou s

snake w as h old ing i ts hood ove r h is head to

protect it from the sun . The Brahmanfii w as in

a frigh t t o see th is . When the serpent gl ided

aw av had approached h im,the Brahmana

exam ined the pa lms of h is hands and noticed

therein the fol low ing signs , - a lotu s w ith eight

pe ta ls,a trident and the padmaq ekh i (lotu s

(1 ) Vide A ssam Bu ranj i (A ssam Government co llection,

No . 7 8 , Gauhati) pp. 8 - 1 4 .

TH E BARO -BHUIYA S IN A S S AM .

l ine ) . The Brahmana took him h ome and from

t ha t dayforw ard took care no t t o emp loy h im

in any low ly work . He a lso made him p ledge

h is w ord to the effect that in case he became

king, he w ou ld make his master his m inister . In

course of time that cow -herd became k ingunder

the name of N iladhvaj a ,and the Brahmana

became h is m inister . He brought many learned

Brahmanas fromMithila fo r the introdu ction

o fVedic cu stoms among h is subj ects . I t w as

this king Niladhvaja w h o bu i l t the c ity of

Kamata and himse lf took the ti t le of Kamate

svara o r the lord ofKamats. A fte r Niladhvaj a

h is son C hakradhvaj a became king. Nila

mbara succeeded h im u He constru cted the

fort of Ghoraghat and a number of bunds .

The son of his m inister w as in l ove ”

w i th

h is queen . The king had th is man mu rdered

and served his father w ith a dish of the

son ’

s meat . L at er on he spoke to the minister

abou t the sinfu l deed o fh is son . In order to

expiate the sin o f his son,the m inister issued

ou t ofhis home on a pilgrimage to the h oly

river G anges . Bu t h is pi lgrimage w as only a

pret ext . Hav ing bathed in the Ganges he w entt o Gauda ,

the capi tal of Hu sa in S hah and

informed him of the w eakness o f the k ing of

Kamata. Hu ssa in S hah sent a large army

aga inst the king o f Kamata. The w ar tha t

ensu ed lasted fo r tw elve years,bu t neither

side cou ld w in the v ictory . A t last Husain

S hah sent w ord t hat he w ou ld no longer

continue the fight , bu t w ou ld go back to his

ow n p lace ; before how ever he did that the

ladies ofh is harem w ou ld be glad to see the

2 3

30 l‘l l li S O C I A L H I S TORY OF K A RIA RUI‘A .

queens o f the king. Niiambara compl ied w i t h

this respec t . The next (lily a numbe r o f a rmed

w a rrio rs entered the c i ty in p alanq uines , t o ok

po ssession o f it and a lso too k the king a

capt ive ,

2

That Durlabhani riyana w as a h istorica l

person appea rs from the acco unts given in

the w o rks o f S ankaradeva and other w ri te rs .

Bu t no su ch au thentic account of N iladhva j a

o r h is grandson N ilambara is t o hand . In the

Ms . o fA ssam Bu ranj i there is ind eed an account

of a d ish o f hum in flesh . G unri bh irfima’

s

w ork gi ves only an echo o f th is in connect i on

w i th the s tory o f Nilambarafiv Whi le there aremany books conta ining an account o f the

invasion of Kamata by Hu sa in S hah ,

none of them has go t a w ord t o sayabou t kingNilambara . The Muhammadan historians

w hile describing the conqu est ofKamarupa or

Kamata by Hussain S hah , have gi ven some

accounts of the ch iefs of the loca l ity bu t even

they are s i lent abou t Nilambara . The follow ingextract taken from the R iyaz-u s- S alatin w i l l

speak for i tse lf“A nd su bjugating the Raj as of the environs

and conquering u p t o Orissa he levied tribu te .

A fte r thi s he p lanned t o conquer A ssam ,w hich

is North - E ast o f Benga l . Wi th an o ver

w he lm ing army consist ing o f infan t ry and a

numerou s flee t,he marched tow a rds tha t

kingdom and conquered it . A nd conqueringt he w h ole of that coun try up t o Kamrfipa ,

(2 ) Gunabh irama Barna’

s Buranj i , 4 th edition, pp. 4 7 -4 9

This nam e is m entioned as a priest of the king in

ancient Buranp .

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TH E S O C IA L H I S T O RY O li K AMA R I’ I’A ,

by Durlabhanz‘

irz‘

iyana ,or o f thei r

'k insmen .

A descri p t io n o f them has been gi ven in the

pro per place . Under these c i rcums tances the

reaso nable conclusio n is that a ll the Bhuiyas

had asser ted their independance only afte r the

dea th of Durlabhanarayana .

The fol low ing account is gi ven by Raghu

pat i in his Gama tha-Vi nsavah

“A t o ne t ime the Bhniyfls w ere m igh t ily

exercis ing their au thori ty w i th the he lp of

the sw ord and the pen,enjoying the confidence

o f the k ing. A ll on a sudden theMuhammedanking took possession of K anauj anagara w ith a

vast army resembl ing a sw arm o f locu sts.

L oud w a il ings rose all over the country .

TheMu hammedans made havoc of the people .

The k ing and h is subj ec ts w ere a ll brough tt o the same leve l . The Mu salmans k i lled

hu ndreds of cow s and Brahmanas. The w icked

Muhammedan king, h o ld ing the banner of

re l igion ,commi tted horrible atroci ties in the

kingdom. The Bhniyfis became depressed ,

u nable to make their posi t ion better in anyw ay. They w ere now l ike serpents w i thou t

poi son. Unable t o bear it any longer , some

fled t o Gauda and some t o the m o u tains and

l i ved there w ith thei r fam ilies . Bu t the

Mu hamm edans pursu ed and p lundered Gauda .

A t last all the Bhuiyas assembled at Kamata

and ,by their u ni ted va lou r driving the enemies,

establ ished themse lves as ru lers of the land .

” 9

(6 ) w h en m, sea fists wars, are i nWe“

one

W3!an firm , Exists fantasia s inflffi sew 611613 a

G lynis ne t tle , w as 5:57am. tramWars I

everts?!WW, msm 31W, 311671 em inmam

THE BARO-BHUIYAS IN assam.

It has been noticed before that Hu sain S hah

took Kamarupa and Kamata‘

after a siege

lasting for tw elve years . In 1 498 A D . h e

completed the conquest of the country and

placing his son Nasarat S hah in charge ofthe

adm inistration of the conqu ered territory,

started fo r Gauda . The river Bara Nad i

separated the Muhammadan territory from

the regions of the A hom King w h ich layto the w est of the river . When after a short

time , the Muhammadan prince made an

attempt to conquer the land of the A homs,he

received no support from the people ofKama

rupa as he had already al ienated their sympathy by his mis—ru le ‘

and oppression . A nd the

resu lt therefore w as that the w hole Muhamma

dan army perished . It has been shown before

that the king of Kamata w as pu t in possessi on

of his father ’s lost throne by the A hom king,

But on account o fthe protractedMu hammadaninvasion ,

both Kamata [ and Kamarupa w ere

very soon shorn of their glory . The Bhu iyas

also h ad lost mu ch of thei r p ow er and in

fluence .With the change oftheir fortune , there

se as onas, w’tfi m v, t ram way-«av:

imamm 1; m u s l in , m m m m n u

ge l inmm, atWem m. mMattelfi lt’ i‘fl newI

W w i th,

at?!2m flfi sm. chem"!wfm am I

inarm m l ifts, { fixmfirrm , f'tt!fi rstu h Wtm ahem m , « m ammal, i n mm W 1

W WIW. « mailman-t, mi alm vtmtw i

mm m m ;Wit h s'

mflmfi m mw an!

W WW, amas “am , Manama alum”

GamathaVam‘

aivali byRaghupati.

33

TH E S O C IAL m s'

ronv o r ai rm an -A .

arose internal dissensi ons among them . A t

this stage , the w eak ru ler ofKamata appointed

Narayana as the ‘S iromani Bhu iya’and made

him his Gamatha or representative . Narayana

formed a league o f all the Bhu iyas and w ith

thei r u nited effort,tried t o recover their lost

pow er and prestige .

CHAPTER II.

Down-fall of the Baro- Bhu iyas and

Rise of the Mech Power.

TheMl echchha dynasty that had ru led Pragjyo tisha for fou r thousand years w as indeed

sho rn ofits royalty tow ards the end ofthe 1 1 th

centu ry . The pow er and influence,how ever w hich

its long ru le in the country had conferred on the

hou se w ere no t l ikely to go all at once . Though

they had been redu ced to poverty on account of

foreign invasi ons and civi l strifes yet the mane

ners and cu stoms introdu ced by them in the

country had a lready stru ck t o o deep roots .

It has already been observed that the society of

Kamarupa bears unm istakable te stim ony to theinflu ence of the Mlechchha ru le . Though the

pow er of the Mlechchha king came to an end

here,yet his kinsmen and relatives w ere no t

exterm inated . It does not appear probab le

that the descendant s of th ose w ho du ring the

Mlechchha supremacy w ielded pow er as chief

tains or generals in difl'

erent parts o

fithe coun

try cou ld all bc at once rem oved from he p ositionofho nou r occupied by their forefathers . S ome ofthem acknow ledged the au thority ofthe newcomers, w h i le others fled to dense forests andhilly tracts of diflieult success, and thus main

tained their national ity , fam i ly traditions and

fa ith far beyond the conqu eror ’s men,aw aiting

all the w hile the advent ofhappier days .

The close ofthe 1 5 th centu ry ofthe C hristianera marks the beginning of the ascendency of

THE S O C IA L ms'ronv or KKMA RUPA .

the Mechas . The fol low ing account‘

is given

in Daranga-Raja-Vafisavali o f S uryakhari

Daivaj fla“When S ahasrarj una w as killed by Parashu

rama tw elve princes ofhis l ine saved themselves

by taking refuge in C biknabari. Being afraid

o fParasu rama they ate fermented l iqu or and

rice and lost their caste on account o f their

connection w ith Mecha w omen . They begot

countless sons by these Mecha w omen . A fter

many years of peacefu l l ife anarchy prevailed .

A bou t this time tw elve fam il ies o fMechas of theHaihaya l ine rose into prominence . Thei r namesw ere — Panabar

, Bhedela, Guabat a ,Pheda

,

Phedo,Barihana,

Kathiya,Baihagu ,

Megha,Juddhabara , Gadakata, Jagai and Bhokhara.

1

Hariya Manda] became the chief over these

tw elve .”2

1 . m w m amaamt 2m fifi ‘ltafim fvmmat?arm I

WNews b uthm at? I wit h m fimBimini fi ve-

45 an

affi xram !fishW I m a? “W 33m “

aam aa fimmm l mm m m m mum "

em eff-

« nm i te firmm I m its!9mmM“ tame a

WarmWm we wfifl mu; m "

N Kw cm were lea

m lfifl m aw ffi fl tMa ilm an re mna nt!

W WW'

!W W“!rem it“N ew “

W neural an? eamu amamafaw as cm H

fi nme am“in at!1 m mem? ce tcvialwarn: naft mm cats em am i am fis’ffit cat efimwas I!”

Darang Bi ja-Vansavali, edited byHem C handra Goswami,

published bythe Govt. of A ssam, p. 9.

2 .W ant swung? am (Em? am m wit-1 am

mms fl mmcem avm « mmm mmwfi fism admitwM !were awnw e:wil l

BA Ro s UIYA‘

s A ND ME CH POWE R.

The origin of HariyaMandala has not been

traced to the Haihaya dynasty in books l ikethe “Raja-vafi sabali

’ofRajaHarendranarayana

or ofUpendra S inha . Indeed it is found after

w ards that S firyakhari, Raja Harendra

and others have all acknow ledged the above

t elve fam il ies ofMech -S ardars as descendedfrom the highestMech-family3 .

It is also found that Hariya Mandala has

been described as “HariyaMech ” in the aforesai d‘Raja-Vafi savali

’as also in all the anc ient histo

rical record of—Ku ch Behar . HariyaMandalamarried tw o sisters H ire] and J ira

,daughters of

aMech S ardar of the name of Haj o . E ach of

them bore a son— that of Hira being named

Bisu ,and that of J ira being named S isu .

They w ere born a few years before the invasi on

ofHusain S hah . TheMu hammadan invasion had

dispersed the Bhu iyas . When the pow er of

the Muhammadans w ere at an end, they esta

blished themselves as lords of vil lages. In th is

period of struggle for supremacy Bisu show ed

cou rage and ski l l and w as recognised as a

pow erfu l leader . The Mechas or Mlechehhas,

w ho had ru led the country of Kamarupa for

thou sands of years and been ecl ipsed only on

account of repeated invasions by the Pala and

3mw e emarcsmm nefwnsane 3m an ffifacs emu

sum « itsm N 31 elitism1 ca? fim «fixWe siw“

teen

rt? cs arm any asm that I”

Vide Raja-Vansavsli C ompiled under the auspices of R'

eija‘

.

Harendrz Narsyana Verses 485 -490 (A ssam Government C olleetion, Darrang No. 2 , 1st part, leaf29B.)

3.

“cuti e-tamfi tel ansmw I

”

m am—mud, p. 34

3 8 THE socu L Hxsronv o r KKMA RUM.

S ena kings o fBengal and the ru le o f the S oma

varisa and Kayastha dynasties , now raised

their heads again and gathered round the standard o f their leader Bisu . Though they hadbeen subiected to an al ien ru l e fo r fou r hundred

years , yet they had no t forgo tten their ancient

glory and the story o f thei r lost p ow er . They

w ere know n as devoted votaries of the god S iva

like the Mlechchha kings of old . S eeing that

th rough the grace o f the god S iva thei r

gloriou s days ofold w ere retu rning,they cal led

their leader the son of S iva and gave him thename of Visvasifi ha . They related w onderfu l

ta les relating t o th e b irth oftheir hero .

Haria Mandala had made an u nsu ccessfu lattemp t to su bdu e the Bhu iyas . He w as defeated

by the Bhu iyas of Phu lgu ri w ho took h im a

captive . He pu rchased his l iberty by agreeingt o paytribu te t o his vi ctors . Bisu w as h igh lyincensed t o hea r of his father ’s defeat and

hum i liation . He discontinu ed the payment

o f tribu te to the Bhu iya of Phulguri and

attacked him w ith the tw elve chiefs mentioned

before . But he too w as defeat ed and w as

forced t o retreat . He was convinced thatqan

Open w ar cou ld never be advantageou s t o

h im . He w as very cou rageou s and fear less and

left the battle fi eld w ithou t anycompanion . He

came t o a forest w here he go t no food to eat

for three days. A t length he found a Mechahouse w here he go t food and shelter . This took

p lace in the month o fFalgun. In the m onth o f

C ha itra ,the Bhu iya ofPhulguri disbanded his

troops . O ne dayin the month of Vaisakha ,at

dead of night , Bisu alone entered the capital

ofthe Bhu iya askinghis men to wai t outside.

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TH E S OC IAL HIS TORY OF KAMARUPA .

w hen the soldiers w ere , as u sual,resting in

the ir h omes , Bisu ava iled himselfo f th is oppo r

t unity and atta cked the Bhu iya ofBueni l ike at iger fa lling u pon a deer and kil led him w ith

h is a rmy . Thu s Bij eni was annexed to hist erritories . Then Bisu marched aga inst

f’ratapa Bhu iya,the foremost o fthe Bhu iya

-

i s

o f the time,w hen he w as in residence at

Pandunatha . Here also Bisu did not l ike open

w arfare , but adopted -a crooked po l icy . He

w as informed that Pratapa’s youngest brother

w ho w as very dear t o him u sed to bathe in the

Brahmapu tra every day. He lay in ambush

c lose by the bathing ghat and w hen Pratapa’s

brother was getting up after finishing his bath ,

he fel l u pon and slew him . Pratapa was greatly

agrieved and unnerved to hear of the suddendeath of his brother . He threw his belongingsinto a boat and w ent to A ssam on board the

same .

6 Now Bisu made a very easy conquest ofthe country up to Gauhati . Then he took Bhati

and defeated C haru Bhu iya and go t himselfinstal led as king at B ihar w hich p lace he sincemade his C apital .

6. emf-t { msamantam«r? vfi tfivMam aw nca 6773 1

firm«in cmanarmh arm as claim arefires ante um

resin «wasWe am N ewm (in? «that u

wit h am as “(Fe trust’

s m (afifma“

as fi rstwife um

mm eem mamm:cant-“

remna nts:m m arm1 !« final

-rm a tfirmum am amm fl mmm t

amq efi i fl m rfiml fl aw flam w wml

wh en:mm (W!affine thaws amhe as stat e um

nfi { v1 snfi canan 26m!munhim { fa fi e were {vana“

B'

djdvansavali, edited byRajaHarendrsnfirayam.

BARO-HHUIYA S A ND ME C H rowan.

Now B isu began to make preparationsfor the conquest O f the w hole of Kamarupa.

Narayana Bhu iya w as at that time the Gama

tha or representative of the k ing here and as

su ch w as regarded as the head of the Bhu iyas.

We learn from the Gamatha-Vafi sa’

vali thatGandharva Bhu iya O f Bajali, the Bhu iyas of

Bau si , Raj endra Bhu iya O fK shetri and many

other Bhuiyas w ere all assemb led at the

capital of Narayana . Thei r common Obj ectw as t o devise a means for saving their

terri tories from'

the hands O f B isu . It w as

decided at the meeting that they w ou ldnever subm it to the Mech ch ief even if i t

cost them their territories , w ealth and

l ife . They also signed a covenant to the

effect that none of them w ou ld desert the

leagu e . A fter th is,the Bhu iyas began to

guard their respective forts. Nara‘yana theninformed the other Bhu iyas that halfof their

elephants, horses, boats and w arriors shou ld

be kept fo r the protection oftheir ow n forts and

that they shou ld be present at his p lace w ith

the other half. It is recorded in Raghupati’s

Vansavali‘7 that after the Bhuiyas had gone

aw ay Narayana held a secret conference w ith

his younger brother Raj endra and h is eldestson Harendra .

He said to them ,— “Brother Raj endra and

my dear son Harendra ,th is p lace has been the

happy seat ofour fam i ly for tw o generations .

A ll the Mechas have now j oined hands w ith

Bisu who is abroad to ru in u s. He has also

7 . Quotations from the above work has been given in the

Kayastha Patrika, new series, vol X II. pp 5-6

6

4 1

BARB-Bunn i e A ND ME H POWE R .

C haru Bhu iya had alreadycome ver to his side .

Ni rayana w as now attacked simltaneouslyby

(3t and Visvasit'

iha from oppeite sides . B oth

sides lost heavily in men,bu t st ill the fight

cont inued . When three m onths hd rolled aw ay

in th is manner , Visvasifi ha hi upon a plan.

He go t a letter w ritten in the fobw ingw o rds“0 you Bhuiyas, pay go od} heed t o w hat

I say. Never tail to fu lfil yor prom ise byki lling Narayana . Narayana envzsyou for your

possession ofmen and money. h ave come t o

fight only according t o your i vitation . Bu t

you r conduct now pu zzles me. (he shou ld stick

t o one ’s reso lu tion . Bu t I w it ess the reverse

of i t in the present w ar. Howevr , w hen C haru

Bhu iya w ill commence his at tac from the east

I h0pe you w il l now have the godness to leave

the coast clear to him . I shall mrch my army

on the night of the New I o on . We all

shal l combine to make Nara):na a captive.

We shall ki ll his brother Rajenra . Thereafter

w e are to sacr ifi ce his son h rendra on the

fi eld ofbattle . We shal l exteriinate the very

l ine ofNarayana . A nd then I wil make o ver t o

you the kingdom ofBhati .”

Writingmanythings ofa sialat nature, the

king convened an assemb ly in t e morning. He

pu t the above letter inside apacket in the

presence of the persons assem led and havingnailed down the l i d o f i t mad it over t o a

messenger w ho lo oked stou t ad strong w i th

instructions to fly aw ay leaving :on the ground

in case he w as stopped by anybdy. In obedi

ence to the orders of the king, :he messenger

started w ith the packet . Whemhe sentinels ofthe other side caugh t sight of 1m theymade a

43

TH E S O C IA L HISTO RY OF KA I A BUPA .

under him men belonging to many other castes .

C haru Bhuiya is a deadly enemy of m ine . He

a lso has j oined B isu . Had C haru been o n

my side , I cou ld have easily driven aw ay

Bisu . We have lost o u r ancient pow er and

influence . Now tel l me the means of del iverance

from this danger .

"

Raj endra repl ied,— “Brother . think no m ore

of gett ing any help from C haru . He is an old

enemy and is su re to do m ischief. I , fo r one,

dec lare that I w i l l never give up fighting as l ongas l live . Narayana said ,

“Wel l said,mybrother

S tart w ith you r army and select a centra‘l posi~

tion for the fight . You may l ie encamped three

e roses down the river B rahmaputra . Harendra

w i ll guard the right w ing and Gandharva

Bhu iya w i ll protect the ho ly places on both

sides . I shal l myselfguard the fam ily-seats o fthe

Bhuiyas. Myuncle Haridasa w il l be in charge

ofthe fort w hi le L akhaiMajh i w il l take chargeofthe boats.

A ccord ing to th is programme , the Baro

Bhu iyas armed themselves w ith guns and other

w eapons and marched against Visvasifiha .

The fight lasted long, bu t neither side yielded

to the other . The fight continu ed day and

night . Visvasifi ha w ondered at the tactics of

the Bhu iyas. He had fought many a battle ;but he had never b een so hard pressed . He

knew that if he turned his back,the enemy

w ould pu rsu e him . Know ing how ever,that

force w ou ld no longer do , he made up his m ind

t o apply a crooked policy . False adherents

are to be met w ith everyw here . He now devised

a p lan to secure the death of Narayana bymakingfriendlyovertures to the o ther Bhuiyas.

BARB-enmvés A ND ME C H POWE R .

C haru Bhu iya had alreadycome over to his side .

Narayana w as now attacked s imultaneously byC hara andVisvasifi ha from opposite sides . Both

sides lost heavily in men,bu t still the fight

cont inued .When three m onths had rol led aw ay

in th is manner, Visvasifi ha hit upon a p lan.

He got a letter w ritten in the follow ingw ords“0 you Bhu iy

‘

as, pay go odlyheed to w hat

I say. Never fail to fulfil your prom ise bykill ingNarayana . Narayana enviesyou for your

possession ofmen and money . I have come to

fight only according to your invitation. But

yo u r conduct now puzzles me. O ne shou ld stick

to one ’s reso lu tion. Bu t I w itness the reverse

of it in the present w ar. How ever , w hen C haru

Bhu iya w ill commence h is attack from the east

I h0pe you w il l now have the goodness to leavethe coast clear to him . I shall march my army

on the night of the New Moon . We all

shal l comb ine to make Narayana a captive.

We shal l kil l his brother Raj endra . Thereafter

w e are to sacrifi ce his son Harendra on the

field ofbatt le . We shal l exterm inate the veryl ine ofNarayana . A nd then I w i ll make over t o

you the kingdom ofBhati .

”

Writingmany things ofa similar nature, theking convened an assembly in the morning. He

put the above letter inside a packet in the

presence of the persons assembled and havingnailed down the l id o f i t made it o ver t o a

messenger w ho looked stou t and strong w ith

instructions to fly aw ay leaving it on the ground

in case he w as stopped by anybody. In obedi

ence to the orders of the king, the messenger

started w ith the packet. When the sentinels ofthe other side caught sight ofhim theymade a

43

THE S O C IAL HIS TORY OF K AMARUPA .

dash at h im . Thereupon the messenger threw

the packet dow n o n the ground and fled away .

Then the sentinels picked up that nice packet

and saw ed it o pen in order to find o u t its con

tents . They had expected t o find moneyinside the

packet,bu t saw that i t c ontained only a let ter .

They took ou t that letter and hastened to their

chief. What has been orda ined by God is su ret o come to pass . Thus the letter reached the

hands ofNarayana . He w as inflamed w ith rage

to know its contents . He cou ld no t at all see

through the ru se ofB isu . His end being near ,the Gamatha w as demented and did no t care

t o show t h e Bhu iyas the letter in question .

Though the Bhu iyas w ere his staunch friends

he now regarded them as so many trai tors

and pu t them in chains . He instal led as Bhu iya

a man of the nam e ofJiudharama and began

a

\

terrible fight w ith Visvas ifiha . He marched

t o the fi eld w ith his brother and son. The

fight continued day and night . Noticing this

change in his attitude,the Bhu iyas began to

hatch a p lan for secu ring the deat h of

Narayana . Gandharva Bhu iya addressed the

others in these w ords“Friends

,see how ungratefu l th is w icked

Narayana is. We never thought of inju ring himeven in dream . Yet he has been insu lt ing u s in

this w ay before our enemy . There is no sin in

inju ring one w ho does m ischiefto his benefactor .

Therefore,0 brothers , let u s think how t o

effect h is captu re by Visvasifiha . A ll the

Bhu iya—i s approved of t he idea and a man w as

sent to Visvasifiha w ith a letter containing

the fol low ing news

“We shall remain inside the fo rt . The waters

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THE

dash at hit. Thereupon

the packetlow n on the gr away.

Then the mt inels p icked

and saw edt open in order to find ou t its con

tents . Theyhad expected to findmoney inside the

packet , hasaw that i t contained only a letter .

They took at that letter and hastened to their

chief. Wha has been o rda ined.

by God is sure

to come topass . Thu s the letter reached the

hands ofNrayana . He w as inflamed w ith '

rage

to know its ontent s . He cou ld no t at all see

through t l: ru se ofB isu . His end being near ,the Gamatn w as demented and did not care

to show te Bhu iyas the letter in question.

Though th Bhu iyas w ere his st

he now rearded them as

and pu t the) in chains . He instal led as Bhu iya

a man of he nam e o fJ iudharama and began

a terrible ght with Visvas ifi ha . He marched

to the fiel w ith his brother and son. The

fight cont iued day and night . Noticing this

change in is attitude , the Bhu iyas began to

hatch a pin for secu ring the deat h

Narayana . Gandharva Bhu iya addressv

others in t ls e w ord s“Friends see how u ngratefu l th

'

Narayana i. We never tho ught ofeven in drem . Yet he has been

this w ay bfo re ou r enemy .

inju ring on<w ho does m isch i

Therefore,

brothers , 1

effect his apture bv

Bhu iya-

Ls a

sent to V

We sha rema

BA Ri -BHUIYS S A ND ME C H rowan.

of the tw o tanks called S ua and Dual w il l

be poisoned to the great inconvnience of

Narayana . A n assassin w il l secretly rake aw ay

w ith Rajendra ,then Narayana

’s sonHarendra

w i l l be offered as sacrifi ce . Thu s shabe easily

effected the captu re ofcirppled Narzana .

”

Visvasinha w as in great glee to receive

th is letter . Narayana’s son an brother

w ere both secretly assassinated . Te soldiers

suffered excessively by drink ing of t l: poisoned

w ater . A t this junctu re Visvasina sent a

man t o Narayana asking him t t su rrender

as his brother and son w ere dead . Narayana

how ever flew into a rage getting thienew s . He

w orshipped the goddess Go shani andssued ou t

t o fight . Prior to th is he had sent hayoungest

son Bhagiratha to his maternal unle ’s house

fo r the preservat i on of the line . The battle

raged fu riou s l ife in

the battle-field. A ll th fam ily

w ere put t o the sw ord . E ven

.sons and children w ere no t

4 5

46c.

THE S OC IA L HIS TORY O F K AMARUPA .

the repeated invasions o f theMuhmmadans .

When their pow er decl ined they grew j ealous

of one another and began to quarre l amongthemselves . They lost thei r long enj oyed pow er

simp ly on account ofthei r w ant o f u nity andthei r internal feuds . Visvasinha w as no t able

to defea t them by force of a rms. He had to

adept w icked tricks from the very beginningto accomp l ish his object . The dow n-fal l o f the

Kayasthas came abou t C blefly as they

w ere too noble and too l ibera l-m inded to see

through the w icked designs of Visvasinha .

Though this victor had cru shed the pow er of

many of the Bhu iyas and kil led manyofthem

w i th their fam il ies , yet he had spared some of

them w hom he thought t o be his all ies.

C haru Bhu iya of Kanuj apura was the mostprominent among these .

9

B isu w as instal led king at .Kamata w ith

great pomp and assumed the name ofVisva

sinha . In contemporary records. he has

been described as the lord of Kamata.1 0 O n

account of the protracted siege by the Muhammadams and their repeated invasions, Kamata

had partly been in ru ins and had been total ly

shorn of its past sp lendou rs . To Visvasinha

belongs the cred it ofrebu ilding the city. The

Muhammadans did no t spare the temp les of

the goddess Kamatesvari . Visvasinha bu i lt a

new temple to the goddess w ith brick and

9. Mann Bay, the son of C haru Bhuiya, became the com

mander-ia -chief of C hila Bay, the son of V isvasinha He

subsequentlybecame the Baru’

a‘

. of Rangamati .

10.

“n ew “amWe mmW m WWI etami ?!I”

BA Ro-enmvfi s A ND mscn POWE R .

stone .1 1 He establ ished variou s images all

over Koch Behar and b rought learned Brah

manas from Mithila for condu cting their

w o rship . The chiefo fthese Brahmanas belonged to the gotra of Vasistha . Fo r this reason

Visvasinha h imselfto ok the gotra of Vasistha .

A bou t that time a staunch S akta ,Narahari

Dasa by name,and a descendant ofS ridhara

Thaku ra ,the m inister ofMithila,

w as l ivingincognito at Kamakhya. A s advised by theroval pr iest, Visvasinha appointed him to the

post of the prime-m inister .

The Panin chiefof S indhu - S auvira ,of w hom

mention is made in the S rimad Bhagavata ,

himself w orshipped the goddess and sacrifi ced

the victim w ith h is ow n handsfiyz Visvasinha

too did the sam e thing. Though learned

B rahmanas versed in the Vedas and the

Pu ranas, from i various p laces flocked to h iscou rt , yet this ancient custom continu ed

unchanged? The Brahmanas of Kamriipa ,

cou ld no t affect this pecu l iar cu stom o f the

Mecha and the Koch tribe . The peop le of the

country , how ever , hadgrow n favou rably incl ined

tow ards them w hen du ring the ascendancy of

the Bhu iya—i s the influence of the Brahmanas had

alredyspread in Kamrupa . Visvasinha too had

great regard for the Vrahmanic faith . But

stil l he clung to the time-honou red custom of

his race . That he w as influenced by Brahma

nism is shew n by the fact that he sent tw o of

his sons Naranarayana and S ukladhvaj a to

Benaras for studying the Hindu scriptu res

l l . Vide Daranga-Rajavansavali by S urya Khari-daivajna

Verses 208 - 2 15 ,

12 Vide V01. 1 . p» 23- 24.

4 7

4 8 THE S OC IAL HIS TORY o r KAMARURA .

w ritten by B rahmana teachers . A detailed

account o fth is w ill hereafter be gi ven.

Visvasinha appointed some men as C hand

huris and some as Patw aris and asked them to

make a revenu e- settlement of the country . Bu t

all these o flicers informed him that they w ere

unable to ca rry ou t his orders as they had go t

no records w it h them . The “Perakakata"o f

Kamaru pa had been in the possessi on o f

Narayana Bhu iya. A nd that w as not available

as he w as dead w ith his family . Hearing these

w ords the conqu eror grew penitent and gave

his offi cers to understand that if they m ight

bring to him the hei r of Narayana he w ou ldcerta inly confer h igh honou rs on him .

Bhagiratha’s maternal uncle w as present in

that assemb ly . He brough t Bhagiratha

before the king w ith th ree baskets of papers .

Then k ing was very glad to get the records .

He gave Bhagiratha the h ighest seat to sit on.

Then he appointed Bhagiratha to the post of

the Gamatha or representative of the k ing.

He also married him to his damsels . He

also gave him tw o thousand mati . Bhagirathabecame the “Vishayapat i

”ofthe land betw een

Buradia in the east and Kaladia in the w est .

Besides th is,he issued a copper-p late grant

giving unto him free of rent , the fou r mauzas

of Pani Khait i , S ati, C haulkhoa and Buradia

situated w ithin their boundaries . The rank

ofBhagiratha w as above all the offi cers of the

king including the Bara Baru‘

a. Visvasinha

fu rther d eclared that from that dayforward

Bhagiratha w as exempted from payment ofanyadditional tax. He became the head of the

eighteen C haudhuris. To speak the truth,

BARO -BHUIYAS A ND ME C H POWE R .

Bhagiratha was now the favou red child offor

tune .It was the kingVisvasinha alone to w homhe w as subordinate . He was no t inferior

to any one else . When com ing back after

having received high honou rs from the king,

Bhagiratha paid his respects to Harideva ,one

of the then Vaishnava teachers ofA ssam . Bhagiratha w as a Sakta . The Vaishnava teacher

ini tiated him into Vaishnavism . The patro

nage of th is new convert greatly facil itated thepreaching of the doctrines of Va ishnavism by

Harideva .

From a book , entitled Govinda-vafi savali

by Bhogadat ta , w e learn that Govinda , one

of the Bhu iyas of A ssam ,settled at Ba

‘ ligaon

w ith the perm ission of the king. He became

known as Dighalapuriya G iri . He had tw o

sons named Kauai and Balai . Kauai became

know n as Dekagiri. Very.

soon he rose to im

portance on account ofhis cou rage andheroism .

Bhagiratha tried to assert h is independence

w ith his help. In the above w ork , Bhagiratha

has been cal led the lord of Kamaru pa . Though

Dekagiri was at fi rst on friendly terms

w ith him,yet he became his deadly enemy in

the end. In consequ ence of his enm ity w ith

Bhagiratha,he had to flee from his fam i ly- seat

to Bhati .l.a It also seems probable that after

"

e'

asim sacfltfin aanm ge im n

fi amm Mrw am fl flfs fi naim :

at:W alt?!fl fimwm mfwmfl shil l

m fi sfifi fi w'ffimas »

im nm m mm asm m at n

WWm w emmmm m n

7

4 9

TH E S O C IAL msm nv on KAMARUPA .

this Bhag‘

iratha made an unsu ccessfu l attemptto become independent .

When the pow er o fthe Bhu iyas cam e to an

end in Kamrup,

t hey left the country t o

settle in the land of the A homs . But here t o othey cou ld no t l ive in peace . We learn from the

A ssam Bu ranj i w ritten under A hom patronage

that a l ittle before the year 1 4 6 3 of the S aka

era the Bhu iyas c rossed Bata-Temuni and

establ ished themselves near Kalang. In 1 4 6 5

S . E . the A hom king S vargadeva ascended the

throne . He put t o the sw ord all the Bhu iyas

and kept their b rothers and nephew s as his

attendants .

“

In the year 1 5 6 0(S . E . ) Buda‘

. Rajadeo w ent

to catch elephants in Ut tarakfila . The Bhu iyas

presented him w ith one hand i (C o oking pot) of

gold and one hand i ofsilver , Thereu pon the kingasked them whythey had never given him su ch

a rich present . They said in rep ly that year

aft er year , they had been sending such presents

to him th rough their superi or Tamu l i Gobain

bu t they w ere no t aw are w hether thei r presents

E ffieare tam denim:7mmsears alas I

vitaemil cafe sate en3am am once u

an i n cw tfflffi are I

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CHAPTER III.

Mech Rule and S oc ial Reform in Kamarupa.

Visvasinha had eighteen sons o fw hom three

w ere note-w orthy .

1 O f those Narasinha the

e ldest w as very piou s and learned . He w as

a Brahmachari .2 The second son w as cal ledMal la or Naranarayana and the youngest

S ukladhvaj a or C hila Raya . Visvasinha died

abou t 1 5 40 A D.

3. A t that time Naranarayana

and S ukladhvaj a w ere learning S anskrit at

Benares . A s Narasinha w as a B rahmachari

and had renounced the w orld , it w as settled

that Naranarayana w ou ld be king after his

father ’s death . Bu t as he w as aw ay from the

cap ital at the time ofhis father ’s death , Nara

sinha w as instal led on the th rone of Kamata.

When the new s ofthe death ofthe king reached

Mal la and S uk la ,they both hastened to

the capital . O n their arrival Narasinha

abdicated the throne in favou r of his brother

and w ent to the land of the Bhutiyas . It is"

recorded in Raj avafi savali compiled under the

supervision of Raja Harendra-narayana that

he became the king of this country and came

to be known as Dharmaraj a . The peop le sti ll

remember his name . I t is said that he received

the boOn of immortal ity from the god S iva . It

is further said that he l i ved for one hundred and

l . Vide (KE EN-3mm byDurgavara.

2 . Vide Harendranar‘a’yan’s Bt ibat Rajavaiisavali.

3 . A detailed account ofVisvasinha is not given here as it

is to be found in Gait’s Historyof Assam andHarendra Narayan

C haudhuri’

e“The C ooch Biker S tate.

”

ME C H RIlL E A ND sociA L RE FORM.

tw enty years w hen he died to be born again ,

that in th is second b irth he had fu ll memories of

all the incidents of his previous existence and

that he again became king through the favou r

of S ivas Naranarayana became the k ing of

Kamata after his abdication and S ukladhvaja

the commander-in-ch ief. S oon after his

accessi on ,Narana

'

rayanahad to engage in a w ar

w ith the A homs . S ir E . A . Gai t gives thefol low ing description ofthe struggle

“A petty chief conspired,i t is said, against

Naranarayana and on detection , fled to

S uklengmung, w ho gave him shelter andmade

an unsuccessfu l attack on the Ko ch king. How

ever that maybe , in 1 5 4 6 , (A . D. ) an expedition

u nder S ukladhvaj a ascended the north bank

ofthe Brahmapu tra as far as the Dikrai river,

w here a battle took place . The K o ches, w ho

w ere armed w ith bow s and arrow s,

’

succeeded

in kil l ing some of the A hom leaders , w hereuponthe common soldiers fled and w ere pu rsued w ith

great slaughter .

” 5

A fter this , C hila Raya issued out on a conquer :

ing expedition accompanied by Kavindra Patraand Rajendra Patra . In the book called

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5 4 THE S OC IAL HISTORY OF KAMARUPA .

‘Daranga-Raja-Vansavali

’a detai led account

o fhis conqu ests has been given . The conqu ests

extended t o the distant land o fManipu r in thecast and Tippera in t he sou th . A t last he

invaded Gauda w here the Padshah o f the

country defeated and took him a captive . I t is

recorded in the above book that the Padsah

bu ilt anew ja i l fo r t he imprisonm ent of C hilaRaya . There h is sufferings knew no bounds .

Though he w as aw fu l ly Opp ressed w i th thirst

yet no body gave him w ater t o drink fo r fear

of incu rring the disp leasu re o f the Padshah .

The priest of Prat‘

apa Bhu iva happened

then to be present at Gauda . He managed to

see C hila Raya in the prison w i th a pot of

copper fu l l of w ater and giv ing i t t o him to

drink saved his l ife . C bila Raya becam e h igh ly

p leased w ith the Brahmana and prom ised to

d o a good tu rn to him if he cou ld bu t come

back to his ow n country .6 A bou t this time

the m other of the Padshah w as b itten bya

stew Ne wsite Zeta-

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ME C H RULE A ND S OC IAL RE FORM.

snake . No one cou ld cu re her and her l ife

was despa ired of C hila Raya heard ofthis from

his‘

prison and gave the Padsha‘ h to under

stand that he knew h ow t o cu re snakeb ites .

The mother of the Padshah w as now p lacedunder h is treatment and w as perfectly cu red .

A t this the Pad shah w as h igh ly p leased w ith his

captive , set him free and offered him a numberof presents . It is recorded in Harendra -nara

yana ’s Brihat Raja-vafi savali, that he refused

every offer praying for‘to be provided w ith

tw o learned Brahmanas only . Th e Padshah

said that he had no ho ld on the Brahmanas .

But C hila Raya w as a l low ed to take w ith

him any Brahmana if on ly the latter w as

w ill ing t o go w ith h im .7 In comp l iance w ith

the earnest requ est of C hi la'

Raya tw o Brah

manas,one cal led the

‘S iddhantava

‘

gisa’and

the other cal led the ‘Vidyavagisa’w ent t o

Kam'

ata w ith him . They settled in the country

and w ere each given a grant o fn ine vi llages .8

By the example and influence of these tw o

great Brahmana scholars the soc ial and rel igious

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5 6 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F KRMA RUPA .

l ife of the then Mech society w as th o r ough l ychanged. The fo l l ow i ng ex trac t from fi rst

vo lume of th is w ork may be interest ing in

th is connect ion“It has been previ ously not iced that in

ancient A ssyria Melchidezek w as both the

king and the h igh priest . In the same w ay,

as found o n many occasions,the Mlechchha

kings o f Kamarupa also offi ciated as h igh

priests . This cu stom seems t o have come

dow n even t o t he days ofRaja Visvasinha o f

theMech fam i ly , w ho fou nded the royal hou se

ofK och Bihar. (p . 1 2 8

In Raj avafi savali there is a detailed account

ofthe w orsh ip ofthe goddess Durga by Visya

sinha on one of his marches against the Baro

Bhuiyas. The foll ow ing l ines from Daranga

Raj avansavali may bear qu otat ion here“Then the hero Bisu w ent on leisurely th ink

ing of the feet o f Durga. He came t o the

vicinity ofa mou ntain and saw an image lying

(on the ground ) . The great king t ook it in

his hand and saw that it w as the ten-handed

goddess Bhagavat i . He w as in an ecstasy

and t ook it on his head and show ed much of

devot i on . He w ent t o his hou se, insta l led it in

the temple of Go sani and w orsh ipped it w ith

sacrifices .

”9

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ME C H RUL E A ND S O C IA L RE FO RM.

S ome scholars are incl ined t o th ink that the

quotat ion given above does no t prove that

the Mech kings had the right t o offer

w orsh ip to the goddess S akt i . They explain

it aw ay saying that before march ing against

the Baro Bhu iyas Visvasinha simply follow ed the

pract ice of the robbers to w orsh ip the goddessKali ju st before sett ing ou t on their maraud

ing expedit ions . But the l ines qu oted above

show that he w orshipped the goddess Durgaaccord ing t o ancient cu stoms . There is also

no lack ofevidence t o show that subsequent lyt o his com ing t o the throne he h imself offered

Pfija to Durg‘

a‘

.

A s w e have seen before,Naranarayana and

S ukladhvaja w ere brought up at Benares after

the ideal ofh igh -caste Hindu s. Therefore a deep

sympathy for'

Hindu manners , cu st oms and

ideals w as rooted in their hearts . This is

why they made an attempt t o introdu ce

those ideas and cust oms among their people

after their accession to pow er.

A t that t ime most ofthe people ofKamarfipa

foll ow ed the rel igion of the Mlechchha,

sadacbé ra and brahm acbaryya being unknow n

there . Though the ru le of the Kayasthas had

lasted in the country for a l ong t ime before the

rise oftheMechas and though‘

the Bhuiyas had

fol low ed to a considerable extent the manners

and customs prevail ing in Gauda ,yet they never

dared interfere w ith the manners and cu st oms

and rel igious bel iefs of the people . We have

said before that theMech C h ief Bisu foll ow ed

the trad it ions ofhis fami ly before h is occupyingthe throne of Kamaru pa. When he became

the king ofthe countryhe came to be known to

8

5 7

THE S O C IAL msroxv or Kl um um .

the Brahmanas as the son of the god S iva .

From that t ime forw ard he came t o have greatregard fo r the Brahmanas and their religion.

He a lso brought from Mithila a Brahmana

o f the name o f S arvabhauma bel onging tothe Go tra o f Vasishtha fo r the w orship o f

his tu telary deit ies . I t is ment i oned in RajaHarendra marfiyana

's Brihat Rajavafi savali

that S iddhantavagisa and Vidyavagisa

first came to Kamarupa on pilgrimage, that

the king Naranarayana received them cord ial ly

and made t o each of them a grant of nine

vi l lages and that thereafter both ofthem sett led

in the country. They became the advisers

o fthe yal bro orthers and set about the w ork

of socia l reform . Ju st as in Bengal Raghu

nandana compiled 2 8 codes on Smrit i for the

gu idance of the Hindu s of the province, so

t o o in A ssam S iddhantavagisa acqu ired fame

for h imselfas the w riter of 1 8 books on the same

subject all known by the name of Kaumudi .

The names ofthese w orks are

(1 ) Danda Kaumudi

(2 ) Preta Kaumudi

(3 ) Vrisho tsarga K aumudi

(4 ) Pramana Kaumudi

(5 ) S raddha Kaumudi

(6 ) Durgo tsava Kaumudi

(7 ) E kadasi Kaumudi

(8 ) S uddhi Ka

'

umudi

(9) Pratishtha Kaumudi

(10) S afikalpa Kaumudi

(1 1 ) Prayaschit ta Kaumudi

(1 2 ) Tirtha Kaumudi

(1 3 ) Kala Kaumudi

(1 4 ) DikshaKaumudi

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60 THE S O C IA L m sroxv O F KAMA RUPA .

the l ow est stratum o fthe S ociety . S i'

ddhantavagisa now became the social d ictator. He~

prescribed the rites and ceremonies t o be

observed by the variou s c lasses of the people

and h is voice w as supreme in matters relat ingt o the socia l p osit ion of each class . In those

days if anybody had the audacity to violate

the ru le promu lgated by Vidyavagisa he w as

punished by the king and in seri ou s cases even

banished w ith h is fam ily) :2 In th is way the

Brahmana au thority w as established in the

whole ofKamarupa . A ccord ingto their respect ive

trad it ions the k ings or tribal ch iefs of the Kochand Mech tribes w ou ld fi rst

‘

w orsh ip their

deities in all religiou s cermonies .Now ,however,

w ith the ascendancy of the Brahmanas this

ancient custom w as abol ished. In S iddhanta

vagisa’s Smritikaumudi Brahmanas a l one

have been a ll owed the right of w orshippingS akt i . To prevent the Mecha kings from

breaking this new injunct ion it was laid downthat neither the k ing nor a vile S udra

shou ld have a look at the goddess Kamakhya.

E ven Brahmana w idows w ere debarred from

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1 75 1— 1794. (Vide A ssam Govt. C ollection, Darang, NO 2 , letpart, leaves 83

ME C H RUL E A ND S O C IA L RE FO RM.

seeing the Devi. Women in general , especial ly

young lad ies, were declared unfit to t ouch the

image ofthe goddess.1 3

I t is doubtul w hether all persons now fol lowthe injunct ions laid dow n by S iddhantavagisa

in as much as many Rajas and Maharajasare now found t o visit the shrine of Kama

khya. The Raja fam il ies of Koch Bihar, Bijniand Darang,

how ever,have been scrupu l ously

follow ing these ru les from the t ime of Naranara

yana and S ukladhvaja and no member ofthesefam il ies ever undertake any pilgrimage to

the shrine of Kamakhya or Gosh'

a‘

ni ofKamat’

a.

The tw o brothersMal la and S ukla consecrated

the present temple ofKamakhya at an enormons

cost and put up stone-tablets on the w allsrecording their own deeds . O f course theyWeredeprived ofthe right .ofseeing the goddess butthey managed t o immortal ise themselves byestablish ing their statues at the door of the

temple .

But though in the t ime ofMal la-S ukla the an

cient cu stoms w ere fast changing in Kamarupa

yet outside its border the ancient customsst il l held sway . Surya Khari-Daivaj fia gives the

follow ing account in his Rajavafi savali“The k ing proclaimed to all w ith a vow

that it w as his royal command that in all

temples lying to the north of Goshain Kamala ’s

A li w hich w as the l ine of demarcat i on between

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THE S O C IA L m sroxv on K ASMRUPA .

w estern and eastern A ssam the Kochas and the

Mechas w ou ld cont inue t o perform the w orship ,wh ile in the south the Brahmanas w ou ldo fliciatc . This law w as t o hold good in all

places . The Bho tas and the Kachharis w ou ldeat fermented l iquor and rice.

They shal l havet o give me gold and horse for the enjoyment

of their lands” 1 4 .

From the above account it appears that

the supremacy of the Brahmanas w as esta

blished in m odern K och Bihar and in the

modern d istricts of Goalpara ,Kamrup

,

Nowgaon and Darang, w hile in the north of

Goshain K amal ’s A li1 5 i e . in E astern A ssam

comprising the d istricts ofLakh impur, S ibsagar,and Naga Hills and the adj oining places, the ancient customs cont inued t o be in vogue . The

spread ofS anskrit learning w as necessary in

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Daranga-Rajavansavali byS firyakhari.

1 5 , S ir E . A . Gait thu s writes about the Gosain Kamal’s A li

“Nara-narayan soon came into conflict with the A homs in

1 5 46 an expedition under S ukladhvaj ascended the north bank

of the Brahmapu tra as far as the l P8 river, where a battle

took tho course of these oparatisn. the Koches

constructed an embanked road the whole wayfrom their capital

in Koch Bihar to Narayanpur, in the south-west of what is new

tke North Lakhimpur S ubdivision, a distance of some 3 50miles.

The work was carried ou t under the supervision of Gos'

aiin

Kamal, the K ing’s brother ; parts of it are still in existence

and are known to this dayas“Gosain Kamal’s road.

” Historyof

A ssam, p. 49- 5 0. Vide also Dzrsnga-Rfijavsnsavali, verses 319-322 .

ME C H RUL E A ND S O C IA L RE FO RM.

order to introduce among all classes ofmen

the manners and customs ofthe Brahmanas .

It w as also necessary t o w rite books on Hindu

rel igion in the language of the people . For

this purpose the king brought learned Brah .

mamas from. Gauda and Kamarupa and made

arrangements for the publicat i on of rel igiou s

books in the popu lar d ialect . S uryakhari says

tha t at the command ofthe king Naranarayana

Rama S arasvati composed padas (verse)simplifying the Mahabharata ,

the Ramayana

and the eighteen’

Puranas . In obedience t o his

royal behest S afikaradeva to o w rote the padasof the Bhagavata consist ing of tw elve S kan

dhas in the language ofthe people in order t ospread the cu lt ofHari . S o also S ridhara w rote

his book on A stronomy and Baku la Kayastha

his L ilavati in the popu lar languageJ 6 In Raja

Harendranarayana’s Brihat Raja-Vafi savali

it is recorded that Bhanumat i the queen of

Naranarayana made the foll ow ing request t o

Vidyavag‘i‘sa

“O precepter, w ou ld you please w rite a book

on S anskrit Grammar follow ing up Panini and

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6 3

THO S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMARUPA .

Mahesvara ’s Kalapa and call it Ratnamala

after me .

” Vidyavagisa cou ld no t disregard such

a request and w rote Ratnamala.1 7 A famou s

w ork on Grammar cal led Prayoga-Ratnamala

is st il l taught in manv t ols in K och Billar and

A ssam .

From the above fac t it may be inferred that

in those days the ladies o fthe ro val harem w ere

versed in S anskrit . They even evinced great in

terest in the publ icat ion ofrel igious books . Just

asMalladeva came t o be know n as Naranara

yana at the t ime ofhis coronat i on, so Bhanu

mati to o got the name ofRatnamala w hen she

became the ch ief queen .

It has been said before that all the Bhu iyas

on being defeated and deprived of all their

possessions by Visvasinha fled t o Upper A ssam

in order to save themselves . But here t o o they

were not qu ite safe . Upper A ssam w as then

under A hom ru le. A s l ong as the Bhu iyas w ere

united , all the attempts of the A homs to

injure them proved fru it less . But now hearingofthe defeat of the Bhuiyas at the hands of

Visvasifiha ,they commenced host il it ies afresh .

We learn from the old A ssam Buranj i that

the sons ofthe Bhu iyas w ere taken in chains t o

S ad ia and w ere sacrifi ced before the goddess.

Under such oppression some of them sacrificed

the gl ory oftheir birth and saved themselves

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Raja Harandra Nar'

aiyana’s Bt ibat Rajavansavali, padas

1825—182 7.

ME C H RUL E A ND S O C IA L RE FO RM.

by becoming the attendants ofthe A hom kings.

Many ofthem , how ever, preferred to maintain

their l iberty and honour by taking refuge in

mountain caves or dense forest s . A n account

of those w ho submitted t o the A homs has

already been given . But those w ho d id not yield

t o them hadto m ove from place to place and

pass their l ife in misery . Pratapa Bhu iya was

the foremost among them . They w ere draggingon a miserable ex istence w hen his priest w ho

had saved the l ife of C h i la Rayin Gauda came

t o them and informed them of the prom ise

made by him . Then they all waited on C h ila

Ray w ith the priest and w ere accorded a very

k ind recept i on. It is recorded in Durgadasa’s

Kocha-Raia . Vafisavali that on the l t

dayofVaisakha ,in 5 3 Raj asaka , the fourteen

Bhuiyas viz (1 ) I Bhavananda, (2 ) Bibhu

Bisvasa. (3 ) Bisarada , (4 ) Hari C haudhu ri , (5 )Gauripati, (6 ) Bh imasena , (7 ) S ubhankara , (8 )Divakara, (9)Meghanatha, (10) Narahari, (1 1 )Tantresvara

, (1 2 ) Bhabesvara , (1 3 ) Dhanesvaraand (1 4 ) Pratapa Raypresented themselves at

the court ofthe king. They had w ith them some

devout Brahmanas. They all knew that the

king Naranarayana was a pions andpopu larru ler. He appreciated merit w herever it w as

found . His brother C h ila Ray w as his righthand . He w as not only a great hero and a man

of profound learning, but also a j ust prince .

He knew how to show respect t o those w hobel onged t o the upper

,classes. S eeing those

respectable guests at the court ofthe king hereceived them cord ial ly . The follow ing accountofthe recept ion accorded t o them is taken fromthe book ofDurgadasa ment ioned above

a

6 5

THC S O C IA L HI STO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

“In obedience t o the order ofthe king,his

younger brother then said to all the Brah

manas,— ‘Ifyo u go w ith me you w i ll get gran ts

of land ; but if yo u do no t go , you w i l l fal l

int o danger.

’ Hearing the w ords of C h ila

Ray all of them agreed t o accompany h im .

Now the brother ofthe king asked the fourteen

Kayastha Bhu iyas t o foll ow h im . Bu t they

said ‘O

,younger brother of the king,

w e the

Kayastha Bhu iynas have come t o you r door

leaving our county through thefear ofthe kingofA ssam . S eeking your protect ion for fear of

l ife w hy shou ld we go elsewhere leaving the

king“The king, how ever, made no reply and having

d ism issed his court iers w ent inside the palace .

Then,one day, desiring t o bathe in the river

Brahmapu tra he asked h is brother t o go ahead

t o A svakranta w ith the fourteen (Bhuiyas)and t o bu i ld a city there. Upon th is prince

S ukladhvaj a w ent there w ith the fourteen

Bhu iyas. He bu ilt there a c ity like the city

ofthe gods . The sight o fit w as enough to d ispel

sorrow from the m ind of the affl icted .

S ukladhvaj a then stepped dow n int o the river

and w hen the w ater had reached u pto his navel

he had the Kayastha Bhu iyas brought

there . Now he asked them to go w ith him again ,

giving them t o understand that hew ou ld solemulypledge his w ord ofprotecttion t o them . O n

th is they gave their consent saying that they

w ou ld accompany him if a solemn assurance

w as given . Then these fifteen men bu i lt the city

and coming t o the king bow ed unt o him . They

spoke t o him ofevery th ing about the city . His

Majestywas h ighly pleased to hearall th is . Then

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6 8 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA

and asked them to go t o him saying,qu ickly .

‘The king is bath ing and makinggifts at A sva

kranta ; you fourteen have t o hu rry up. Upon

th is order o f the king all the Kayasthas

arrived at A svakranta w ith expectant hearts .

They salu ted h im covering their right -hands

w ith the left and stood before him w ith foldedhands . The king said

,

‘O ch iefKayasthas , hear

me . You shou ld go w ith my brother w ithout

hesitat i on . He w i l l th ink w el l o f the matter

and give you st ipends and grants of land . Go

there obeying my order and you w il l

flou rish . I shal l go there after some days ’ .

S o saying, the son of the great Visva held

his t ongue . Hearing everythingfi the Kayasthas

dropped the ir hands and bowed unto him

w ith thess w ords,‘0 king, w e are ready

t o go w herever you may be pleased to

order u s ; but w e have only one prayer

t o make . We shall leave th is kingdom

0 king, ifw e are given a solemn pledge .

’ Hear

ing th is the k ing promised t o give them a

solemn pledge . The fourteen men then

respectfu l ly b ow ed t o the king. He had freedthem from poverty by bestow inggifts on them .

The k ingwas then glad to partake of payasa ,

sw eets and pancbamrifaw h ich w as delic iou s

t o taste. The fourteen men also had the

same fare. The king then proceeded to his

ow n home. The cryofthe elephants, the neigh

ing of the horses and the sound of various

m usical instrument s fi l led the air. The kingNarnnarayana came back to lfils palace after

finish ing his bath and gifts. Then one dayS ukladhvaja bow ed his head before the king and

said ,‘The fourteenmen that are to go w ith me

macs? hum. A ND S O C IA L RE FO RM.

do no t agree t o go unless they are furnished

w ith a document containing the pledge .

’ The

king then ordered that a document conta iningthe solemnn pledge shou ld be given t o them .

O n receipt of this command , S ukladhvaja

got the solemn prom ise inscribed on a copper

plate and made it over to the king. The kinghaving immersed his body up t o the navel in the

waters of the river Brahmaputra reads it out

and thus makes th is prom ise

You maytake possession ofas much land of

mydom ini on asyou can du ring one dayleavingout eigh t dandas oft ime. Whether the plots

you thus occupy are Devottara or Pirapala ,

under cu lt ivat i on or no t,and no matter who

evermaybe the land l ord , you are sure t o have

them . O nly you w il l have t o pay that homage

wh ichyou do t o -day‘

from generat ion t o genera

t ion, andyou are t o tel l me on oath that your

lines w il l never desert m ine . If in the l ine of

anyone ofyou there is a son, w ho maybe bl ind ,lame , hauneh-backed or dumb or mad,

even

such a son w il l enj oy the land granted: There

w il l be no d ifference even ifhe be) blind of one

eye or ofboth the eyes. In autumn, the wor

sh ip ofthe Goddess Durga w il l take place . Ifyou

can, you shou ld present yourself at my placeon the occasion’

. The fourteen Bhu iyas took thefoll ow ing vow ,

‘We shal l take food in yourhouse on all the days.We prom ise that w e shall

not leave your kingdom.

”and the promises of

both the part iesw ere embod ied in a document ) , 8

is.“mmmfem!Mlwe(gain I manmyfantfimswmu

can:a s sit?!m afiegfaand l mywifewas enfi rst?!slim

was amsfaaimwas I marfirstmmlm inmy:a

69

70 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

From the above account w e learn that

through the efforts of C hila Ray, the kingNaranarayana had established fourteen

Bhu iyas in his kingdom by making grants of

land t o them . The land that they go t w as

situat ed by the side ofthe river Brahmaputra .

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ME CHRULE A ND S O C IA L RE FO RM. 7 1

It is recorded in Raja'

Harendra Narayana’s

‘Brihat Raja Vafi savali

’

that the king Nara

narayana had married Bhanumat i , the daugh

ter of the Bhuiya Pratapa Ray and that his

brother C hila Ray had married C handrao

prabha the daughter o f Pratapa’s youngest

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7 2 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY or xZMA RUn .

brother. The learned lady Bhanumat i becamethe principal queen ofNaranarayana 1 9

While giving an account of C handlvara and

o thers , it has been shown that the Kayasthas

o f the t ime w ere erudite sanskrit scho

lars . Their lad ies also w ere high ly educa

ted. The queen Bhanumat i w as a brilliant

produ ct of female educat ion among them .

From the Raj avafl savali w e learn that she

w as wel l versed in Panini and Kalapa

Vyakaranas l It was under her order that

wire statute as m at!I am «am am$15? i fim: I

cant-

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Bajavansavali compiled under Rajfi Harendranarayans (VideA ssam Govt. C ol. DarrangNo 2 . let part, leaf 66

N E C K RUL E A ND S O C IA L RE FO RM.

Purushottama Vidyavagisa w rote the sanskrit

grammar cal led Ratnamala.20

With in a short t ime Naranarayana came

to have a h igh regard for Bhanumat i’s father

Pratapa Raya . He d id not forget the defeat of

the roya l army at the hands of the A homs.

Now C h i la Raya led an exped it ion int o their

country w ith a large army under the leader

sh ip of Pratapa Raya . The A hom king fled

from his capital for fear of defeat and capture

by the enemy. Pratapa Raya w as now appo in

ted Governor ofthe conquered territ ory . Under

Pratapa Raya the Bhuiya ru le revived in Upper

A ssam. But fate w as against the Bhuiyas .

S ome ofPratapa’

s kinsmen grew j ealous ofhim

and began t o hold secret conference w ith the

A hom king t o secure his dow nfal l . The A hom

king attacked Pratapa Raya in order t o feed

fat his ancient grudge . But the A hom Buranj i

gives a sl ight ly difi'

erent versi on . A ccord ingto this w ork it w as Pratapa Raya ’

s grandson

who attacked the A hom king w ith the other

Bhu iyas.“

2 0. i’ irfl faw nWm I

W amw m mfi n m e

Wfiaaim am01 mfim I

m are w as in SWI

m vim Cate CW“

41mmI

aim am m fifima” m e

Brihat s avafisaveli.

2 1 .

“In 15 60 a C hiefwho is described as the grandson ofa’

Bhuiya named Pratap Rai, rose against the A homs and/ {was

joined bysome local chiefs, but he was defeated andWin in a

battle fought near the mouth ofDikhn river.”

Geit'sHistoryoffiam, p.97.

7 3

74 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

With the fal l of Pratapa Raya f'

ell the lasthope o f the Bhu iyas . Thereafter there is no

evidence o fthe act ivit ies o fthe Bhu iyas in the

sphere ofpo litics . Pratapa Rayl ived at Badanagara . 8 0 his descendan ts came t o be

know n as Badanagaria Bhu iya. A son of

Pratapa w as know n as Bada Bhuiya. Heremoved to the vil lage ofManiari in Darangin order t o make himself safe against the

attacks of the A homs. When Raghudeva’s

son Parikshitanz‘

irfi'

yana C hila Raya ’s grand

son ) w as captu red by the Mughals and taken

t o Dacca ,h is younger brother Balinarayana

fled t o the east leaving the capital . It is

recorded in Daranga-Rajavafi savali that he

w ent t o the vil lage ofManiari in Darang w ith1 20 queens ofthe late kingRaghudeva as w el l

as his ow n w ife and ch ildren and l ived there

fo r one year in the house ofBada Bhu iya“

.

2 2

This t ook p lace abou t 1 6 1 6 A D. A fter th is

Balinarayana t ook shelter w ith the A hom

ceft ffl mwmta fim fi l

mm fim mawfi n

atiw m mm fi l

m m mrfismfi n

mflm ta rffima flm l

N ewmmmm m u

W 7I1WWC‘IW I

W ’I bfis tm stfimmm

m m m vfm fimvei nmewsm fim a

ss sfivfiwvw m u”

Daranga-Rajaveneaval

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m s S O C IA L ms'ro

'

nv or m useum .

have somehow managed to keep the body and

sou l t ogether. We again pray for the document

conta ining the solemn pledge . 0 king,be

graciou s enough to pass orders for its speedyexecu t ion .

“TheMaharaja Rupanarayana again gave inthe year 2 01 Raja-S aka a document containingthe solemn pledge t o the eleven men

,—Bhavani

natha Khasnabis , Narahari Tasanabis , Hari

nanda Bhandara-Kayastha ,Devidasa Ukila ,

S ri Krishna Khas-Dew ania, Jagatpati Daptaria,

Prananatha Mazumdar, S ivadasa Mazumdar,L ambodara Bara Kayastha,

Dharmadeva Bara

Kayastha and S ivanatha Baksi .“In obed ience t o the order of the king Nara

hari Dasa w rote o u t the sanad and makingit over t o th em w ent home . The eleven men

w ere glad t o get the sanad and w ent away

t o attend to their respect ive dut ies .” 3

2 3.‘czflfis { is aasm m l

sat ia tffi m ewfi m u

wm qam fw afl '

fi am fi fi WWW I

w asWWW“{ fi mfimm flfiWW I

awnamm emww m n

w etne s s fiwm o

mi arfi i i‘mm cfiwm I

w imm ztmtiamm n

smalls imm saazm I

QWn r’fiW a

15?n fi am sfiraWai l

W“ (WW fi falfi 316 3!I

a W { 111 3 sQWWWWW I

E flfi wfw efi vfifl m I

risen RUL E A im soeu r, RE FO RM.

The kingRupanarayana ascended the throne

ofKoch Bihar in 1 6 93 A . D . He was put t o

t roubles on account of repeatedMughal invasion and removed his capitel from A thara

koth‘

a t o a place cal led Guriahati on the eastern

bank ofthe river To rsha. The descendants of

the Bhuiyas came to K och -Bih‘

ar in 201 Raja

S aka i . e . 1 7 1 0 A . D. and placed themselves

u nder the protect ion ofthe king Rupanara'

yana .

It is strange that though these e leven persons

fi l led several p osts under the state yet their

descendants have now go t no influence in the

court of K och Behar. The greater port ion of

the land granted t o them by Riipanarayana

has now been either confiscated or transferred .

O nly a fam i ly o r tw o are now in enj oyment of

the said property .

cams afi a tamasst-Ias Isaw aflifi mm I

qctcsWe ate th e 311 561 I

amWe ft1m mafiafi rm? Im tg - swans sIf

‘

r era-

ans I

ml sfi w fgn i tfl swmWE Hm Q 7!efim59

‘

s? I

mist s fi lmWM esa I

WWE I i i sf!fl irt s Im fifteenasWWI ll

am am 9rcaan fiwta I

WWW!lienem f-Te sla Inewat?“<2? sum as I

m aft W1? cats in fi rst!“ I

W Wmafi a e R afi swam e {fwvmam e

mm W s an m afia eaqnfis mm s e mu13 1 1 11 9 611 518 m u m W !e Guam 3

Wen fiwafe swam mmm m am iss ad m

m mm mmm m .

(Koche

‘nojsvu u w’

li byDl r'ldu'

l )

THE S O C IA L HlSTO RY O F KAMA RUPA .

The w hole o fA ssam stil l bears testimony to

the pow er and gl ory ofthe Bhu iyas w ho ru led

the country fo r upw o rds of a centu ry in t he

capacity of independent monarchs. Theseancient Bhu iyas had no connect ion w hat

ever w ith the later tw el ve principal Bhuiyas

and forty -eigh t m inor Bhu iyas created by the

A hom K ing. Visvasinha dea l t the death blowto the pow er of the older Bhuiyas l iving in

w estern and centra l A ssam , w h i le those in

Upper and E astern A ssam w ere crushed by

the A hom K ings . Many of these Bhuiya

l ines have became ext inct . S ome ofthem how

ever subsequent ly took service under theMechK ings of K och Behar and the A hom K ings of

A ssam and thus preserved their ex istence . The

geneao logy of some o f these famil ies are now

to hand.

2 4.

It is said that they had a h istory of their

fami lies,‘the Perakakata’ and many copper

plate grants issued by the different k ings at

different t imes . But on account ot the invasi ons of the Muhammadans and t heMans as

w el l as out -break of fire and the removal of

the family from one place to another due to

vicissitudes of fortune,'

the greater port ion

of these records have been destroyed . The

few that w ere left w ere fi led in the E ngl ish

C ourts t ow ards the beginning of the Brit ish

rule in the country for the establishment of

their t it le t o their landed propert ies . It is to

be regretted that the maj ority of th ose records

w ere not returned . Hence we had t o depend

on

’

a very meagre evidence t o w rite an account

01 therise and fal l ofthe Bhuiyas.

l‘orthnirGmeplpgtcal Tablet Vide

'

Appmdix—I.

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80 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

rites prescribed in the Vedas . E ven when travel

ling from one country to another they perform

their cerem onies w ithou t caringto bathe in holy

w aters . They a lso perform the Ved ic ceremonies

l ike pumsavana and others and are attent ive

to their t ime-honoured cust oms . They have

taken t o agricu lture and partake of fish , and

flesh and chew betel leaves:

In Kamarupa

Brahmacharyya has no t t o be pract ised

through l ife and no vow o f E kadasi has t o be

observed . They gain as mu ch rel igi ous merit

by observing the single vow of S uklash tami as

by observing a crore ofE kadasi vow s .

”1

From the above account we mayvery easily

form an idea ofthe cond it i on o f the society of

the t ime. The ved ic Brahmanas had become

staunch S aktas and Brahmacharya had be

come a th ing of the past . Th is being the con

dit ion of the rel igiou s l ife and fa ith ofthe Brah

manas, the t opmost c lass in Hindu S ociety and

cu stod ian ofHindu faith , the rel igiou s l ife of

of the other c lasses may be bet ter imaginedthan described .

It is remarkable that the great social and rel i

gi ons reformer S afikaradeva was born in the

fam ily ofC handivara who was h imselfa devout

Sakta and w as known in polit ica l c ircles as

x. 1mm fifl 1 m 0fl©fl I cm WWW m u

fm ain't-imm asfamam m am afixm fimu

mu m s i m mm I w alnu ts mm fim II

M Wfims am I flsmmznm v c‘stmm n

mm mm alfi m 't l swan s“? fi re m an

ml? estimate I!Wam «at smi th are new m II"

8a Harendranarcyana’s Bt ibat Rii javsnsavali, pads.

130- 132 (Vide A ssam Govt. C ol. Dnrang, No

RIS E O F VA ISHNAVISMIN A S S AM.

‘Devidasa’

and ‘S iromani Bhu iya’. In Prasiddha

narayana’s Purushanama, i t is said thatKusumavara

was one of the Bhu iyas that were defeated by/

Vi3vasifiha. This Kusuma was the father of

S afikaradeva. A ll the other Bhuiyas were reduced

to poverty in consequence of their defeat at thehands of Visvasinha. Kusuma, however, saved

himselffrom the c lutches of poverty by leavingthe territories of the conqueror, and settling down

in the modern district of Nowgaon. We learn

from the several biographies of Sankara that

many e lephants and horses were kept tethered

at his gate, that hundreds of men were fed by

him,that he had no want ofmen and money and

that he was regarded as the first man in society by

virtue ofhis personal charms, the qualities of his

head and heart, his character and the respectability

ofhis fami ly. It canno t 'but strike one as curious

that ou t ofall persons the great Vaishnava teacher

Sankara who was a thorough vegetarian, shou ld

come ofwealthy Sakta parents fond of fish and

flesh . During the time we are Speaking of,

even the higher-caste widows of A ssam cou ld

not observe Brakmac/zaryya. A ll the people of

the country, male and female . young and old

alike had taken to eating fish and flesh ofnot only

goats, but also of a variety of other animals and

birds. The birth of a reformer l ike S afikaradeva

in a country where the manners and customs of

Mlechchhas had taken deep root and spread far

and wide was real ly a very wonderfu l thing. His

teaching ushered in a new era in the social historv

ofthe A ryans and Non-A ryans of the country .

He is sti l l beingworshipped as the fu l l incarnation

ofGod by twelve lakhs of men in A ssam from

exalted Brahmanas down to the lowly h i l l tribes.

I I

THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA .

He was really a great man o f extra-ord inary

personal ity . His timely appearance saved the

fallen Kayastha Bhuiyas from the grip of impend

ing ruin. We think it wi l l no t be ou t of place to

give here an account ofthis great hero.

S ankaradeva.

A ccording to Daity’

ari Thakura, the [ st

biographer of the reformer, Kusumavara Bhu iya

is said to have been a devoted votary of the god

S iva. He had long worshipped the god with the

object of being blessed with a male chi ld.

Through the favour of S iva he at length got a

son who was named Sankara and was believed

to be an incarnation ofKrishna himself.

Kafi thabhfishana, the other biographer, says that

the God was so much pleased with Kusuma for

his devotion that he incarnated h imselfas h is son.

The chi ld grew dayby dayand fil led with joy

the .house of his father. The parents gave him

great indu lgence with the resu lt that the boy was

no t sent to school up to the age of ten or twelve

years. Daityari Thakur says that he lost his

mother and afterwards his father in his infancy

and that his .paternal grand-mother Buri Gosain

Kherasati'had since brought him up. He was so

very fond of Sports that he forgot to eat and sleep

when engaged in them. He wou ld often be missingat dinner time and it was no t very easy to find

him ou t.

There was no boy in the locality who cou ld

beat him in swimming and running. He used to

catch the young ones of birds and beasts for the

fun ofit ; but he treated them very kindly and

tenderly.

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84 THE S O C IA L msroxv or KAMARUPA .

Dekfigiri. Ramarama Guru , his family priest,and fel low-student was h is constant companion.

Both of them passed their time happily in study

and learned discourses. A fter a short time

S afikaradeva took to practisingyoga. He brought

under control the five kinds of air that constitute

l ife viz,Prana, A pana, S amana, Udana and Vyana

and learnt Dhyana,Dharana, S amadhi

,A sana

and Pranayama. It is said that he had attained

so much success inyoga that he cou ld hold his

breath continuously for three or four days. He

cou ld remain under water for a long time. He

cou ld stand long resting the whole weight ofhis

body on the great toe ofhis left leg. His strength

and the beau ty ofhis frame increased on account

of the practice ofyoga. The playfu lness of his

younger days d id not,however

,leave him. O ne

day while bath ing in the Brahmaputra with

Ramarama Guru and others he proposed that they

wou ld swim across the river. A tonce a boat

was got ready and they all started swimming. The

boat followed them. O ne by one all his com

panions except Ramarama Guru became tired and

got into the boat. Sankara and Ramarama alone

got to the other side without the help of the boat.

Ramarama,however, felt too tired for the

return journey and came back by boat. Sankara

alone swam back to the place whence they had

started.

S eeing that he was arrived at manhood his

grand-mother arranged a su itable match for him.

The marriage was safely over and Sankara began

to feel himselfhappy in his married l ife.

Sankara now grew very popu lar. When he

went out dressed in silk and with his body

besmeared with sweet sandal-paste and his head

S ANKA RADE VA .

decked with a wreath of malaz'z'

flowers people

approached him wi th reverence and saluted

him by touching his feet. E ven the learned

Brahmanas held him in awe for his vast learningand his influence over the people . But S ankara

was not vain. He showed due respect to the

Brahmanas and met all people with kind words

and a smi ling face .

Sankara was noted not only for his vast learn

ing bu t also for his wonderfu l physical strength .

His mind and body were equally strong. The

following anecdote shows how strong and courage

ous he was

O ne dayhe was going along a certain path

with his servant beh ind him, carrying his Imwon

dalu and blanket. A fter they had got to some dis

tance he took to a short-cu t. The servant

objected to it saying that it was infested by a

terrible bull who attacked whomever he met on

his way. Dekagiri, however, knew no fear.

Nothing daunted, he went on and soon saw the

animal fiercely rush ing towards him. He braced

hisnerves and muscles and seized the beast by

the horn. He then wrang its neck so violently

that it dropped on the ground in extreme

pain. The bu l l had thus learnt the lesson of its

l ife and from that day forward ceased troublingpassers-by.

Thus Safikara had a very happy time of it for

some years. Then when his grand-mother d ied , it

gave him the first great shock of his life and told

very heavily Upon him. Though he was wise and

had a very calm disposition yet he cou ld not help

giving himself up to sorrow. A fter he had per

formed the funeral obsequ ies of his grand-mother

in a befittingmanner, he began to brood over the

86 ru e S O C IA L HISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA .

vanity ofhuman l ife. The world now appeared

to him to be only the abode ofmisery. It seemedto him to be a stage where each man had a partto play and was finished as soon as he had playedhis part. Thus phi losophising, it was very like lythat he would leave his home and become a

S annyasi. He had, however, one tie stil l to

hold him back. His devoted and faithfu l wife wasstil l l iving and her loving tenderness did no t allowhim to renounce the world. He now began topass his days in study and in the performance of

the religious du ties prescribed in the S astras . A fter

some time a daughter was born to h im . Whenshe came to be O f marriageable age he married

her to a su itable Kayastha bride-groom O f the

name ofHari .

Safikaradeva had no t now to remain long tied

to the world. A fter a few years his wife died and

he made up his mind to take to the life of a

S annyasi'. A fter performing the S r’

addha cere

mony of his wife he disposed O f all his worldly

possessions. He gave away his three hundred

milch-cows to the cowherds who u sed to tend them

and his sixty teams ofoxen were also given away.

He bestowed all other properties on Jayanta and

Madhava who were the brothers ofhis paternal

grand-father.

safikaradeva was now as free as air and set out

to visit holy places. His pilgrimage lasted for

twelve years.

The Vaishnavas of the Mahapurushi’ya sect

believe that during this time he visited the prin

cipal holy places of India such as Navadvi'

pa.

Puri, celebrated shrines of the Deccan

,Gaya,

Benares, Prayaga, Brindavana, Haridvara and

others. O rissa and the Deccan were then under the

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88 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA .

d ifference of O pinion with the preceptor, Sankara

and some other principal d isciples left S ai ntipur,went to E ast Bengal and other distant places and

preached their doctrines there. S ome of the

writers go so far as to say that a disciple of

A dvaita cal led Sankara went to A ssam and there

preached the doctrine of Sri Gauranga. But all

these accounts do no t seem to biz true. The bio

graphers ofSafikaradeva never make mention of

his stay at Santipur nor of his learning the

tenets of Vaishnavism from A dvaitacharyya.

From this it appears that A dvaita’s disciple

Sankara was a d ifferent person from Safikaradeva

O fA ssam.

It has already been said that Sankaradeva

passed twelve years in the holy places of India.

A t the end of this period he returned home . His

younger brotherBanagayaGiri was besides himself

with joyto hear ofhis return. With Hari he came

ou t ofthe house to welcome Saiikaradeva. The

brothers ofhis grandfather also came to see him.

When he was going to salute them by touchingtheir feet they did not al low him to do so for they

thought that hisafisit to the holy places had made

him worth ier than thr‘

nselves. He now distribu ted

among the people that had gathered to see him,

theprosaa'a that he had brought from Puri. They

gave loud cheers for him as they partook ofthis

praszi a’a and listeiIed to the glory ofLord Jagannathf.

from his l ips. Indeed,his majestic appearance

glowing all the more with the light o f virtue and

wisdom commanded the respect and admiration

ofall.

BanagayaG iri had so long passed his l ife under

the roof of Hari, his brother’s son- in-law. A s

we have seen before when Sankaradeva left

S A NKA RA D E VA .

home he had given away all that he had

possessed. O n his return home Banagaya G irithought ofstarting a new house for themse lves

and began to collec t domestic u tensils and o ther

household necessaries and also take back someO f the cows previously given away by his brother.The cowherds O pposed him and this enraged

him so much that in a fit of passion he put

one o f them to death . For this heinous deed he

was seriously reprimanded by Safi karadeva.

When his father’s uncles came to know of th is,free ly and gladly they presented the brothers

with many such things as they stood in need of.

A nd they also requested S ankara to marry a

second time. He complied with their request,married again and got vast wealth as dowry .

Sankara’

s father’

s unc le Jayanta had a grand

son of the name ofJagadananda. He was younger

than S ankara. Himselfan erudite scholar, he took

de light in learned discussions. O ne dayhe pro

posed to S afikara that he wou ld bu i ld a holy

temple inside the compound of his house where

they might pass their time in study and in holdingreligious discourses. S ankara hearti ly approved

ofthe idea which was soon material ised. Here

they were jo ined by Ramarama and all the

three passed their time very happily in rel igious

conversation.

The nex t convert was Madhava, the greatest

of the disciples of S ankara and the founder of

Mahapurushiya Vaishnava sect of A ssam. He

was the son of G ovindagiri o f Banduka, who

inherited the Bhu iyaship o fthe place , but came to

and settled in Tembuanibandha where he married

a second time and lived with Rama Ray, Ketara

Khan and other relatives. O n account of the

THE S O C IA L II ISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA .

persecution by the A homs he had to leaveTembua

nibandha with his wife . O n the wayhe was robbed

ofall his wealth and had for some time to be a

dependant on Harasifiha Barri. at L etupukhuri

near Narayanapur. Here a son was born to him

(in Saka This child wasMadhava. S ubse

quently he had a daughter also . When She grew

up she was given in marriage to Gayapani whose

account has been given before. Govinda left his

wife with his son- in-law,tookMai dhava with him

and went back to his ancestral home Banduka.

The boyMadhava had so long found no O ppor

tunityof receiving any education. A t Banduka

Govindagiri h imselftaught him all that a Kayastha

was required to learn in those days. ThusMadhavawas now made to study S anskrit works on rhetoric ,poetry

'

and Hindu re ligious rituals and also

ph ilosophy and poli tics. Govinda was himself

a staunch fol lower of the Tantras and the son

also natural ly imbibed the re ligious ideas and belief

of the father. A fter his father’s death Madhava

came back“

to Tembuanibandha to l ive with his

mother and sister. S ome time after this, unable

to bear the oppression O fthe A homs. the people

of Tembuanibandha had to flee to Belaguri and

Madhava fol lowed su it with his brother-in- law.

O nce he went to Banduka in the hO pe of recover

ing his paternal property. It was during his

absence that Gayapani became converted to

Vaishnavism by Sankaiad eva. O n his way back

from Banduka Madhava heard that his mother

was dangerously ill . He prayed to goddess Kama

khya for his mother’s recovery and offered in re

turn to sacrifice to her a pair ofhe-goats when she

was all right. When he reached home he saw his

mother comparativelywell . S O he began to make;

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THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA .

Gayi pfini—Why, all these are in the scriptures.

Mi dhava— But I have studied the scriptures.

D O you venture to throw a new light

on them

Gay-.i pzi ni

— NO , that I can’t. Bu t ifyou wou ld

l ike , I might take you to one who

is competent to do so .

S o sayingGayapani tookMadhava to Safikaraso that he might discuss these things with the

great Vaishnava reformer. Now a heated and

lengthy discussion took place between these two

learned men. This was the first contest between

Saktism and Vaishnavism in A ssam. Madhavaalsowas a great scholar, we l l versed in the scriptures.

The combat raged longand furiously, Safikara suc

ceeding at length in refuting all the arguments put

forward by his adversary in favour O fS aktism.

Though he was able to establish the S uperiority of

the Bhagavata yet he had to acknowledge that

Madhava was not second to him in point of learn

ing. It is said that whenMadhava had admitted

the superiority O f the Bhagavata, Sankara read out

to him a couplet from it an E nglish rendering O f

which is given below‘Just as all the branches of a tree are served

when water is poured at the foot ofit,just as all

the senses are gratified at the gratification of l ife,

so all the gods are worshipped when Lord Krishna

isworshipped’ .arA seeker O f the truth Madhava was not the

man to persist in error or superstition. A s soon

as he felt the force ofSankara’

s reasoninghe madeup his mind to accept and follow his rel igious

views. S O he dismissed the thought ofsacrificing“fena naa

’

fimvm sun’

s esw cstmnnz Iswam sawmill en 5 awsswim : II

SA NKA RADE VA . OS

goats before the goddess as nonsense and started

worshipping Lord Krishna in his house instead.

When Safikaradeva came to know of the change

that had came UponMadhava, he fe lt he had scoreda great victory and asked Ramarama and some

others to accept Vaishnavism. They now promptlyand eagerly responded and very soon the initiation

took place and Madhava, Hari and many othersbecame Vaishnavas. The initiation ceremony over,

Sankara gave Madhava the following valuable

advice“Devotion 15 not possible without association

with the good. It requ ires special cu ltivation and

you shou ld be mindfu l of what is said here . A t

first you are to wait upon the Great. Whenyouhave attained purity of heart

, you wil l enjoy

Lord Krishna’s favour. Your main talk shou ld be

religion and you must be of pure mind. You

shou ld feel a strong inclination for hearing about

Hari . Your love towards Hari shou ld be broad

based on deep devotion. Know him as sou l and

d ifferent from the body. He who can do all th is

in’

t he good grace O f the Lord being endowed

for the present with omnisc ience and such other

«mists « Ins menas ET? Is afesmenmayface at? Iw e fi esta9

1Wam I

mayE lba art as finas IIam was anal fl a wIasW« aGMs?”faint“; IIsfise as vfineWWIfirst ?“was safes sfe II

we 2m cent if? efcwto Iarem ysnarlatfsslarm

‘s II

seam s?“ten ets £ s

HE Q GIWilliW1 f‘lfélfi 51?!l Il”

(DaityariThakur)

94 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA .

The news ofthe discomfiture ofMadhava and

his subsequent conversion spread on all sides

l ike wild fire. The S aktas of Kamarupa fe lt

themselves greatly shaken and ou t of fear for

their future the leaders S ridhara Bhattacharyya,Kaviraja Misra, Vfimanfichfiryya and Ratnakara

Kandali cal led a conference of the Saktas with

a view to devise effective means and ways for

preserving the integrity oftheir creed. A ll present

were unanimous in holding that they wou ld have

to take prompt steps to prevent Vaisnavism

from spreading further and striking deeper root

in th is stronghold of S aktism. S'

ridhara Bhatta

charyya who was a student ofNyaya, pr0po sed that

he wou ld hold a debate with S ankara, defeat him

in argument and thus nip his movement in the

bud. Brahmananda Bhattacharya, who was

present said that it wou ld be unwise to enter

into a debate with Sankara as that wou ld only

bringhim into undue prominence and importance.

He therefore proposed that they had rather let

Sankara alone so that his movement might in due

course die a natural death . Kaviraja Misra who

knew Sankara more than any one present said

that they must not trifle with S ankara. Ratnakara

Kandali suggested that the best course to adept

wou ld be to subject the Vaishnavas to ridicu le. He

assured them that ifthey could do this theVaishna

vaswou ld only be too glad to bid good bye to their

new faith and return to their old fold. A nd it was

the preposition which was u ltimately accepted by

the Sakta conference.

Vaishnavism began to make rapid progress in/

A ssam after the conversion ofMadhava. The

Saktas also started their campaign of tauntingpersecution in right earnest. Whenever the

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THE S O C I A L HISTO RY O F KAMA RU PA .

O fall the Brahmanas present there Ratnakara

Kandali was the haughtiest and most intolerant.

He was real ly the leader of the campaign of

persecu tion. S ankara approached him and

most politely said,

“S ir,wil l you please explain

what appears to be a puzzle to me i” The

courteous and humble way in which the chal lenge

was offered high ly pleased the man. A s he was a

little vain he thought S ankara had surely regarded

him as the most learned of the assembly and

so had addressed him first. Therefore he replied

that he wou ld be too glad to solve his problem

for him. S ankara now asked,“Is a sinfu l man

entitled to perform anysacred ceremony prescrib

ed in the scriptures Kandali replied,“No

,

certainly not.”Sankara then cast a significant

look on the other Brahmanas of the assembly.

They all nodded their approval ofwhat Ratnakara

had said. Sankara asked again,“Is a sinner

entitled to take the name of Hari ? Does not

u ttering, rec iting and contemplating the name

ofHari purify a sinner Ratnakara repl ied that

anyand every sinner wou ld be purified by takingthe name of Hari . This also had the approval

of the assembled Brahmanas. Then S ankara

pu t his th ird question ,

‘May a man take

w ith impun i ty the food given by a sinfu l

man ?’

The Brahmana repl ied and the assembly

agreed that the man who took su ch food, w ou ld

be tainted w ith sin. Thereupon Sankara ca l led

Budha Khan before them and asked him whe ther

he w as righteous or sinfu l. Now this oldman was

a Hindu oforthodox view s. Lest it shou ld take

away from his hard earned merits he wou ld never

say that he was virtuous. S o he m odest ly

repl ied that he was not at all righteous.

.wNOW-S ar

‘

ikaira addressed the Brahmanas thus.

admits that he is a sinner,and

thus acco rd ing toyou , has no r ight to offer oblaItiflO US to his ancest ors:But you all have partakenof the food offered by him ,

S o according to

again,"

you . must have become taint edw ith sin . .Now I see

,as you yourselves have

admitted. that u tteringt he name of‘Hari’ only

can save ;you . S o please cal l out the name of

Hari, and get yourselves}, purified .

” He ended

a~~loud shou t of‘Hari , Hari.

’ His followersjoined him andrent th s kywithfthegsacred name

of‘Hari'

. The gl ory o tgL ordgxrishna was thus

estai Shcdfin A ssam .

A fter t heir discomfiture -at the hou se

ofBudhaKhan , the S aktas were convinced that

the, opponent they had to deal w ith w as no

ordinary man, . They now real ised more than

ever that t heir religi ous ritesand pract ices w ou ld

sooncease to beo bserved unless prompt measures

were adopted fo r the suppression ofVaishnavism,

They now went , in a,body t o the A hom King

S uklen-mung and complained to h im that

S ankara w as doing immense m isch ief to the

kingdom by preachingheresy among theh

subjects.

Though A hom Kings ofthe t time had not as yet

accepted Hindu manners and cu stoms, yet they

acknowledged the su periority .o i Brahmranas. S o

the A hom King ordered S ankara t o .be brought

before him . When the reformerw as produced

the complainant s were asked to state t heir case

against him . They said that ;S afi kara w as asking

men no t t o perform the S raddha ceremony . The

king cou ld no t understand the .meaning

.of the w ord “8 raddha”and so he d ischarged

S ankaradeva.

n"

THE S O C IAL HISTO RY QF K AMARUPA .

O n account oftheir repeated defeats at: the

hands ofS ankara , S aktas began t o relax their

hatred for Vishnavism . S ankara a lso devised a

means o fw inning the Brahmanas over to his side.

He askedRama Bayto have an image of the god

Jagannatha made fo r him . Then he made it

known that at the t ime offthe anointment of

the idol he w ou ld make rich gifts to Brahmanas

Th is offer at tracted many a Brahmana to the

ceremony . S ankara showed the idol t o the

Brahmanas and asked them ifthat was no t an

image o fGod, They all repl ied that it was,

having been set up by a S adhu Mahanta.He

t hen asked them what was their definit i on ofa

S adhu and the Brahmanas unhesitat ingly

replied th at those w ho w ere devoted t o Hari

w ere S adhus. N OWS afikaraiasked them whythen

they w ere so host ile t o the devotees of Hari .

Havingnow no answ er to give t o this point-blank

quest ion they all felt so non-plussed that they

cou ld no t now help singing the glory of Hari .Nay, they w ent to the length ofrecit ing the holy

name ofHari before they left for their respective

places .

Though the Brahmanas were thus made to

accep t: the name oi Hari yet they had no sincere

devot ion for Him . Sankara now began t o th ink

how he cou ld turn them into staunch dev o tees of

Hari , O ne day he met Brahmananda Bhat ta

eharyya and requested him to read ou t the G ita

t o the Va ishnavas. The Brahman as agreed

S ankara then asked his disciples t o collect a sum

ofmoney to remunerate Brahmananda. Th is wasdone andBrahmananda read o ut I re sacred book

to the Vaishnavas. O ther Bramhar 1

. also came

there t o hold discou rses on the G ita and the

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100 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O FoK AMA RUPA ,

propagat ion ofthe doc trine of » Bhaktih in the

count ry..

S ankara passed some t ime at Barapeta and

the neighbouring places. .It was duringhis stayin t hese parts ofKamrup that this doct rines madea rap id progress among the -people.

He ialso

l ived for some t ime in Upper A ssam preaching »

h is rel igion there. But he cou ld not l ive I there '

in peace.

’ He had to ~face a number of) dangersand d iffi cu lt ies for the sake ofhis faith .

The Saktas w ere not the onlyfi enemies t hat

S ankara and. his followers h ad to ' take 'int o

account . The A hom kingsgofthe place also were

no t friendly t owards them .Indeed : on . one.

occasion Sankara h imse lfnarrowly escaped death

only by jumping over :a ad itch "

fourteen .cubits

w ide , his fol low ers Madhava and Harir 'being

captured “ by“ their‘ pursuers.. Thenl hcbmmset .

Madhava at liberty but put .Hari to death. I t is .

said that the head of’

Hari w hen { severed wfrom

the trunk u ttered the w ord ‘Rama':A lmost all the ’

biographers ofS ankaradeva'

saythat he had seen S ri-C haitanyadeva v -the great ,

Vaishnava refo rmer of Bengal. S ome-u of: the

later w rite‘

rs ho ld that a conversat i on t ookv

place e

between . the"

tw o teachers.. Kanghaibhushaga ,

Daityari, and Rama Raya who w ere the principal

bi ographers ofS ankara are however-

u nanimous

on the foll owing point s

1 .That S afikaradeva met S ri C haitanya

2 , That no conversat ion , t ook place between

them

3 . That"

; .S ankaradeva d id snot -.receive .any.

direct teach ing j rom S ri C haitanya

A ccording“.t o the narrat ive o f. A tfi ‘bhalkta

S ambad Sankara met s . C haitanya at Nad ia

S A NKA RA DE VA

before his is no -proofhowever

of .his . taking lessons in . Bhakt i from» S ri*

C haitanya. E ven'

the'

writers ofBengal have never”

asserted .that S riochaitanya taught S ankara the

doctrine of. Bhakt i ;

Daityafri' Thaku'

ra x says tha t S ankarade‘

va'

w as so devoted (“

la Bhakta that on many

occasions he w ou ld be“beside himself with

”

devot i on . The rel igious son-gs intro duced

by him w rought a miracle : in the count ry;

E ven the i ll iterate peasant s came“ t o ' feel'

their holy influence; It was gratifying‘

t o

S e-fikara z to ilearn' that even theTC hap dalasu and

cowboys ofsA ssa'

rn sangs ongs of Sri‘Krish na.

It has been ment i oned before that S ankaradeva had t ot ieave

‘

Dhtréiro la on account of the

persecut i on iofthe A homs,Hewent t o Barapeta

w ith some ofsihisfdisciples: S ubsequent ly manyofhisxfo llow ers left their homes andw ent o vert ci

h im .

"Madhava at’ first l ived in the house ofBudha

~

Dallai= in the village'

o fBaradi‘

and then ! sett led

at‘

Barapara.- »S afikaradeva changed his residence

tw ice or thrice and at length set up his residence

at aplac e called Patab‘

ausi, Here: he‘

became .

very ‘

:w idely . know n and the number . o i his

followers”

increased day1 by “day. E veryrdafiy

lots of’ people came t o : him and“

accepted “h is

religion. Ramarama Guru and many‘

an old

associate ofS ankara also came to j oin him here ,

A nd here he made some neW' converts, the

most importantl‘being Narayanad

‘

asa . The

original name of th is Bhakta w as Bhavananda

and he' lived in the vil lage of Badanagaras He

heard of the name‘

of Sankara from Bhaskara .oi»

Palandi who 'had a lreadyb een converted‘t o

'

Vaishnavism.He“was so movedhwhen introduced

102 Tm; socru , HISTO RY op K AMARUPA .

into the presence o f the great reformerthat he l i teral ly p rostrated himself before him .

S ankara treated h im verykindly,!initiated himint o Vaishnavism and gave him the {name o f

Namyapadasa . In theMahapu rusiya l i terature hehas been described as an incarnat ion ofPrahlada,

the great Bhakta of Lord Krishga,

‘

S ankara

owed a large number of converts to the influence

and exerti ons of Narayauadasa. Through the

med ium of Narayanadasa many people w ere

converted by S ankara , the ch ief among them

being Madhava of Jayant i , Paramananda.

S rirama ofS imu l ia, Balarama, Mukunda and

Gopala . A nother important conversion that

took place abou t th is t ime was that of C hakra

pani. Th is Brahmaga w as the fami ly -priest of

Narayanadasa ,O nce his infant son

“

Rama

became very il l, S o he t ookgthe‘

boy w ith his

w ife to the house ofNarayanadasa fo r treatment .

Here the lady heard about Lord Krishna . Whenshe came back home she asked her husband

‘

whyhe did

‘

no t §take the name of Hari . I t w as a

pity she said that a'

Brahmana shou ld no t singthe gl ory ofHari , wh i le that w as being done

by“

others; He ireplied that if he became a

votary ofHarijmen w ou ld no longer’

employhim

as their priest’and3he w ou ldgbe left w ithou t any

means ofmaintaining his fami ly . A t jone timeghe

even made up his m ind t o defeat Sankaradeve in

a rel igiou s debate .But Narayanadasa persuaded

him t o becomezalVaishnava‘

and he was at length

init iated into Vaishnavism by ‘

Ramarama Guru .

During S ankaradeva’

s stay at Patabausi tw o

other men became'

h is disciples ,They w ere

Damodara and Harideva, The former latterly

founded the Damo clariyazsect ofthe Vaishnavas

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104 w e S O C IA L “HIS TORY or m nanom .

Thu s S ankara had t ime to h ide h imself.

Unable t o find ou t the‘Vaishnava leader the

king’

s men arrested tw o ofhis followers Narayana.

dasa and Gokulachand in the hope of gett ingfrom them information as t o S ankara's w hereabou ts. When taken before the king, the tw o

Bh aktas began t o sing the name o f Hari , The

king asked them where S ankara w as. The kingasked the same question aga in and again but

in vain,Now Naranarayana was convinced

that t hey were conceal ingthe truth and orderedhis men to put them to t he severest torture.

Fou rmen w ith swords in their hands held ou t

severe threats to them and t ortured them in very

many ways andyet no informat ionabout Sankara

cou ld be had from *them,

= Then these m en w ere

convinced that ‘theyreal ly knew noth ing abou t

their leader and informed the king accord ingly .

The king’

s anger was now a l itt le abated and he

ordered them t o be brought before him He

then pu t t o them a number of quest ions abou t

S ankara and his rel igion . When he came to

know that theyd id no t w orsh ip Durga he w as

inflamedgw ith’

jrage and ordered them harsh ly to

bow t o t he Goddess.

”The Bhakt as however

remained obdurat e. nay, they spoke to the king's

face that th ey worsh ipped Krishnaand"Krishna

al one and wou ld never bend their knees before

anyother d ivinity . The king w as now beside

himself w i th rage and ordered hism en to give

them sound t hrash ing. His orders were l iteral ly

carried out - and the ‘tw o innocent Vaishnavas

w ere mercilessly belab oured. Narayanadasa

was so severely b eaten that one ‘

ofhis arms was

fractured , st i l l the'

Bhaktas behaved themsel ves

in a dignified manner. Unw indiul o f the physical

S A NK A RA DE VA

t orture they w ere pu t t o , they cont inued

smging the name ofHari. A st onishedat th is the

king now ordered hismen t o cease t orturing and

t o sel l them t o the Bhu tias instead.

Both Narayanadasa and Gokulach’

and w ere

very strong and stout . S o the Bhutias bought

them gladly . The tw o Bhaktas followed the

Bhutias singing the song of Hari. The latter

w ere so mu ch impressed w ith the religi ou s

ardour of the Vaishnavas that they fel t that the

tw o men had someth ing m ore than human in

them . They aIso not iced many omens on the

w ay. Therefore they returned them t o the K ing’s

m en and w ent aw ay. Tw o guardsMadhu and

Hari w ere in charge of“

them. They had t o pass

the night w ith their charge at a Bazar. A t dead

of nigh t the shackles fel l off from the feet of

Narayanadasa.He then awakedHari and asked

him,to bind him again. The guard was deeply

impressed by the honesty ofthe prisoner.During

his sleep he dreamt that Lord Krishna w it h the

conch , the discu s , the mace and the l otus flow er

in his four hands had come there to rescue his

votaries. Madhu the other guard also dreamt a

sim i lar dream that night . The next morningboth the guards t ook off the chains of the

Va ishnavas, fel l at their feet and begged to be

excu sed for what they had done

S afikaradeva had no t so long appeared in

public fo r fear of the king.Bu t how l ong co u ld

he pass in th is w ay S o he left his fam i ly in

a safe place and h imselfappeared before C h i la

Raya. C hi la Raya t old him that he w ou ld tryto pacify the king ifS ankara cou ld only manage

106 THE S O C IA L msm av or x amfanm .

to check the Brahmanas. S ankara submi ttedthat he w ou ld see to it al though he did no t at

all fear the Brahmanas. He only feared the Kingas he m ight unjust ly punish him .

Verysoon it reached the ears ofthe King thatS ankara had been secret ly putt ingup w i th C h i laRaya. He then asked C h ila Raya to produce thereformer before h im. Raja Naranarayana was

no t on ly a m igh ty king bu t also a learned scho

lar. He w as a patron of learning and showed

great respect t o the learned.When the Vaishnava

reformer was brought t o the court . he w as so

much stru ck by h is calm and peacefu l appear

ance that he go t down from his throne and

entered a specia l chamber desiring Sankara t o

be conducted there so that they m igh t have a

talk betw een t hem,Now th is chamber had a

very h igh plinth and there was a great stair

lead ing to it . S ankara recited a sl oka describingthe gl ory o f the king as he ascended each step

o f the stair, and when he st ood in the presence

of the king, he recited in a most charming waya hymn in praise o f the A lmighty . The kingw as h igh ly p leased , talked w ith him for some

t ime and then dism issed him w ith kind w ords ,

Next day the Brahmanas w ere summoned to

hold a debate w ith S ankara.No rel iable account

ofth is debate is available . It is on ly said in one

ofthe Vaishnava books ofA ssam that S ankara

deva was able to defeat his adversaries in the

debate.The king now h ighly adm ired his

learning and asked him to compose as many

verses as he cou ld using certain w ords selected

by h im . S ankara composed seven different

sl okas w ith the w ords so selected and explained

them t o the sat isfact i on ofthe king.

A fter some days, a learned man from the

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to l check the Brahmanas. S at

that , he w ou ld see to it althou

all. fear the Brahmanas.He on1

as he m ight unjust ly punish h

Verysoon it reached the ea

S ankara had been secret ly pr

Raya. He then asked C h ila F

reformer before him. Raj”

not only a m igh ty king bu‘

lar. He w as a patron of

great respect t o the learne'

reformer was brought t

much stru ck by his cal

ance that he go t dow

entered a specia l char

be conducted there so

talk between t hem

very h igh p linth anc

lead ing to it . S ankara

the glory of the kir

o f the stair, and w

of the king, he rec it

a hymn in pra ise

w as h igh ly p lease

t ime and then di~

Next day the B'

hold a debate w i

of th is debate is

ofthe Vaishnav

deva was able

debate .The

learning and

verses as he 0

by h im . S a

sl okas w ith

them t o the

A fter 8 (

i sha grass at the

ofVishnu . Ifyou

.u ,then I shal l take

1g he t ook leave of

(11125 . The king then

) rkers in bel l-metal

age of Hari ca l led

form the ceremony

he invited Pand its

be king made up his

h ony on the Uttara

ionth ofMaghaw h ichdayof the fu l l moon .

w h o forthw ith came

re him a seat t o sit o n

the ceremony . Hearing

ikara sa id sl ow lyand

ahmana of the name of

igh ly learned . 0 king,

armed by your priest

w at ch his w ork .

”

hat both Naranarayana

h ipped the Goddess Devi

stas Both came to have

1 through the influence of

:d the idol ofVishnu . The

vas h igh ly p leased at th is

rom Kai lasa to present a

he king. Virabhadra came

b ofa S annyasi and gave

wh i ch is st i l l being w o r

me ofL akshminarayana.

nKoch Behar for tw o years

yhe u sed to go t o the court

)ved t o hear from him rel i

men ofKoch Behar from the

108 ran S O C IAL m sro or K AMARUPA

Vaishnavism by him. But the learned reformer

did no t agree to th is as he had made in rule not to

A Me“acoqot as Iliadisciple a HagarBrahmana, or a w oman .

o

fm“for

The c oast w as now all clear for Vaishnavism

3:22:2n in A ssam and the doctrine ofBhakt i now rapidly

Rajaspread throughou t the country . It 1 8 said that

embraces it .

Herambaraj a (Kachari Rain) sent a messenger to

S ankara int imat ing his w i ll ingness to accept

Va ishnavism , Madhavadeva and Narayanadasa

w ere sent fo r his conversi on . A nd the king was

A notherinitiated into Vaishnavism and the doctrine of

humiliation Bhak t i spread in his kingdom also.

ofthe The Brahmanas go t alarmed at the influence of

Brahmanas S ankaradeva in the court o fthe king Na ranaraat the hand yana and t ried their best to do h im harm .But all

S wi m .

their efforts proved abort ive . O ne daythe kingcal led an assembly ofthe Pandits and asked them

w hether they cou ld prepare a summary ofthe

Bhagavata in the course ofa dayand explain it

t o him . They how ever gave him t o understand

that they m igh t do it if they w ere a l l ow ed eight

t o t en days' t ime. Then the king put the same

quest i on t o S ankara w hose answer w as that he

w ou ld t ryhis best to carry ou t the royal behest .

Then the reformer came home and rested for

some t ime after taking his meal . A fter this he

began t o w rite a synopsis ofthe Bhagavata.

The w ork w as finished a few hours before day.

break. Th is book w as cal led ‘Gugamala.

The fol low ing day he du ly performed his

devot ional du t ies and presented h imselfin the

royal court at the proper t ime.There he read the

book ‘Gugamala’w ith the perm ission ofthe king.

E very one present there w as charmed at the

simplicity and e egance o f his style and t he

sonorousmusicofhis c omposition. Their w onder

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1 10 TH E S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

knta. Thence forward this vi llage came to be

regarded as a holy place.

O ne day the S aktas who w ere his avowed

enemies informed the kingthat he used to eat the

flesh o fmany animals w ithou t sacrificing them

before the deities. Hearing th is the king became

angry and sent his men to bring him to the

royal court,These men brought him t o the king

together w ith the vessels containing flesh .The

king then said t o S ankara“You are a devoted votary ofHari. Whydo

you then eat goat’

s flesh and thus fal l offfrom

righteou snessIn reply Sankara said that he never ate goat

’s

flesh . Thereupon the king ordered his men to

show him the flesh in the vessels brought by them.

A s ordered by the king they w ent to the p lace

where the vessels w ere , bu t t o their great asto

nishment they found in them sugar, honey and

ripe plantain. S ome ofthem contained rice, milk

and other th ings o fthe l ike nature. They then put

their cl oth round their necks and said to the kingthat they had themselves pu t flesh into the ves

sels. They also asserted that Sankara w as no t a

man but a god,’

as w hatever he 'had said turned

ou t to be true. Hearing;these}wo rds of his men,

the king gave a seat t o S ankara t o sit on,S an

kara sat on it and held a debate w ith the Brah

manas in S anskrit . In this debate hejdefeated hisopponents. The king gave him rich presents in

considerationgofg'

his vast scholarsh ip ,

The above descript ion ofthe superhuman'

pow er

of S ankara is taken from the book ofDurgav

prasada. Th is Roya l bal lad-w riter further saysi“S ankara said ’ “0 king, I see that you have no

temple of the god Vishnu . I"!do not even drink

S ANKARADE VA

Water with the end ofthe Kusha grass at the

place where there is no temple ofVishnu . Ifyou

consecrate an image of Vishnu ,then I shal l take

food and reside here" . S o saying he t ook leave of

the king and w ent to Kagaj aku ta. The king then

engaged goldsm iths and w orkers in bel l-metal

and got made a metal image of Bari cal ledVafi sidhara . In order to perform the ceremony

of infusing l ife int o the idol he invited Pand its

l iving in d ifferent places. The king made up his

m ind to perform th is ceremony on the Uttara'

yana S afikranti dayofthemonth ofMaghaw h ich ‘

also happened t o be the day'

of the fu l l moon .

He also sent for S ankara w ho forthw ith came

t o the king. The kinggave him a seat t o sit on

and asked him to perform the ceremony. Hearingthe w ords ofthe king,

‘

Safi kara sa id sl ow lyand

sw eet ly‘I have w ith me a Brahmana of the name of

A nanta Kandal i who is h igh ly learned. 0 king,

get th is ceremony performed by your priest

engaging th is Pandit t o wat ch his w ork .

”

Durgaprasada'

says that both Naranarayana

and Sukladhvaja w orsh ipped the Goddess Devi

and were staunch S aktas , Both cameto haveregard for Vaishnavism through the influence of

S ankara and established the idol ofVishnu . The

godd ess Katyayani w as h igh ly p leased at th is

and sent Virabhadra from Kai lasa to present a

S alagrama st one t o the king. Virabhadra came

t o the king in the garb ofa S annyasi and gave

him the holy st one wh ich is st il l being w o r

sh ipped under the name ofL akshminarayana.

S afikaradeva l ived inKoch Behar for tw o years

and a half, E veryday he u sed to go t o the court

o fthe king w ho l oved t o hear from him rel i

gious talks. Now all men ofKoch Behar from the

THE S O C IA L HIS TO RY O F K Ud L RUPA

h ighest Brahmana to the l owest C handala came

to regard h im as an incarnat ion o fGod and

fol l ow ed his doctrine. The Yuvaraj a C hilaRayand his daughterBhuvanesvari had been devo ted

fol low ers o fS ankara from before. Now the kingNaranarayaua also came t o have great regard

for him . O ne dayhe t old S ankara that he w ou ldtake ‘Sarana-mantm ’

from h im .'

The reformer had

previously told the king that he cou ld no t initi

ate the Brahmauas and the king into his religion

as they w ere obliged t o be polytheists . Th is

t ime to o he informed the king that those w ho

did no t bel ieve in the uni ty ofthe godhead and

w orsh ippeda number ofdeit ies w ere no t ent it led

to get‘S amna mantra’ But the king w as resol

ved t o be his follow er. He said in reply that he

w ould w orshi p no o ther god o r goddess thanHari. He w as even ready t o abdicate h is throne

to‘

satisfy his rel igious hankering. S o he most

earnestly entreated the reformer to give him the

‘Samnamantra'. S ankara cou ld no l onger hel p

complying w ith the request of the king, He said

t o h im,“0 king. ifyo u are bent on taking the

Sarana mantra, please observe the requ isit e vow s

and fast ing to -morrow .I shal l giveyo u the man .

tm dayafter tomorrow ifHeaven does no t w il l

it otherw ise ,

”

S o saying he returned to Kagaj aku ta w ith a

heavy heart ,Hearing that S ankara w ou ld become

the ‘Guru’ofthe king,the j oy o fC h i la Raykenw

no bounds. His fol lowers t o o ha iled the welcome

new s w ith l ouddemonstrat i ons ofj oy. The fo llo w

ing daythe king observed fast ing and perfo rmed

the necessarycerem onies. He also bu ilt a nice house

for the purpose. O n the appointed dayhe observed

Samyama and sent for the reformer. Bu t w hen the

royal messenger came t o S ankara he found him

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1 1 4 THE S O C IA L msroav or K AM'

ARUPk.

Here w e propose to give a brief account o f the

w ayin w h ich S ankara propagated his doctrine

ofBhakt i.

S ome scholars are inclined to hold that the

doc trinepreached by S ankara w as real ly Buddh

ism in disgu ise. Raiavamsavali and G urucharitra

how ever go to show that S ankara combated

Buddh ism in the court o fkingNaranarayana and

established the superiori ty of the doctrine of

Bhakt i . The consequence o f th is w as that the

Buddh ist s w ere compel led t o leave the royal

cou rt ,is Under these circumstances it cannot

be said that S ankara's rel igion w as bu t ano ther

form of Buddh ism . The Buddhists callitheir

rel igi on‘S addharma

’and at the t ime ofinit iat ion

into it the formu lau sed runs thus

‘i fi!‘Bl‘ftmafia«an“RN swarm 31W elemmtfi ’

‘I seek the protect ion of the Buddha, the

Dharma and the S angha.

’

S ankara’s disciples also cal l the religi on

preached by himMahadharma or Mahapu rusha~

dharma. f' In it iat i on into th is re l igi on is cal led

w ent; mam 2113 l a imw as N 52 a

s o: fastfawn imamwas : a(stainarm cm i ai f“ 5mm I

o n“sfintwas l 3w twh env ice

firs t):Wt «at l s fvfisw!am n

s he!« a{ fa I sum4 an fi rst a

fl awalbum I wh im“

) minim n

cwfs amines I 9mmet!In a"

Vide Gurueharitra (A ssam Govt . C ol. Gauhati No . 7)

t“was:Wi ts!we eiafsfi lamt sh (31WWm?!em I m

“MW!Ww as «femI31q ? all ma!swift E li ? “ (Guruoharitra

S A NK A RA DE VV

‘S arana

'and the

°

convert is cal led a‘S arapia.

’

The mantra that IS given to the convert is this“am cwwassag f

rames-w i . 6 , Lord Krishna,

the bestio i allpuma/fa. and l ord of the w orld,is

myfS helter’

. Just as. C haitanyadeva is regarded as

‘Mahaprabhu ’Great L ord bythe Vaishnavas

ofBengal , so the Va ishnavas of A ssam l ookupon‘ S ankara as aMahapuru sha (Great personage) and an incarnat i on ofGod.

S ome modern w riters are incl ined to holdthat the teach ings ofMahaprabhu C haitanyadeva influenced the rel igi on of S ankara . S ome

“

o f

them even go so far as t o saythat C haitanyadevaw ent t o Kamarupa t o preach his rel igi on there.

A s a mat ter offact the Great Bengal reformernever w ent to Kamarupa. None of his disciplesin Bengal ever al lude t o his ever havingbeen therein their w rit ings. Most of the fol l ow ers of C hai

tanyadeva adopt the four modes of w orsh ipDasya . S akhya , Vatsalya andMadhurya w h i chhave no prom inent place in the religi on preached

by S ankara . The mantra preached by the

former zconsist ed of sixteen let ters, w hereas

that ofthe latter consisted ofthe four names,

Rama. Narayana , Krishna and Hari

Mahaprabhu was the preacher of the doctrine

of Prema and Bhakt i , S afikaradeva , on the

other hand preached the doctrine of Nishk'

ama

Bhakt i , The songs composed by h im are

saturated w ith Bhakt i t ow ards God. He

w orsh ipped Lord Krishna as Purga Brahma,He

forbade the w orsh ip o f any other deity than

Lord Krishna. He used t o say,“God is one,w orship

1 1 6 TH E S O C IA L msroav o r K AMA RUPA ,

Him al one . There is no o ther god bu t Him.

”1»

The rel igi on o f the G reat Bengal 1 reformer

recommends the w orsh ip of R'

adha‘and Krishna .

Bu t Radha has no place in the S arana-dharma

o fS ankara. He w as an advocate of the w orsh ip

o f Pum a-Brahma S risKrishna of the S rimad

bhagavata.

However,as a resu lt of the preaching of

Va ishnavism by Sankara and his fol low ers. the

influence of the Saktas great ly d iminished in

Kamarupa. Safikara’s rel igion came t o be res

pected by all c lasses of men from the throned

monarch down tothepoorest beggar. Duringhis l onglife the people ofA ssam honoured him as

a great re l igi ous reformer. There was no sch ism

among his follow ers. Madhava. Damodara,Harideva and o ther princ1pal disciples ofS anka1 a

regarded him as an incarnat ion of God. S evenMahantas

,viz.Madhava.Damodara

,Ramarama

Guru,Harideva

,Manuhari

,Hara and Narayana

w ere given ch iefship o fSatms and were also

appointed as A charyyas by S ankara. O f these

seven BhaktasMadhava was t he foremost .

From a book ca l led ‘E ta-Bhak

‘

ta- sambada'

the fol l ow ing record is gathered abou t the

d ifferent places S ankaradeva had visited and

the period ofhis soj ourn in each,

i s CE W are: 1115 3 ten,‘01’mam am 1

5 321 an !hear. first saw:an? anWWWmm 1'

“refs:Hem .

0mm emu-1, qfls 3mWWI

w as anwas mmactivi s ts“ 1

sf: amat:mfw 'mflm-S twe ta fi ctl an

W13 amrm camsat?w:amen 1“

Namaghosha, bySankara

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1 18 THE S O C I A L HIS TO RY or K AMARUPA

the l ife ofa house-holder.Madhava w as aBrahma

chari from his boyhood. Th is is whyS ankaradeva

had given him preference and had nom inated

him as hisown successor.

Though Damodara w as h ighly erudi te and a

great S adhu , yet he cou ld no t help beingj eal ous .

This jeal ousy led t o d issensions among the

follow ers of the tw o Va ishnava leaders ,. 1This

mat ter w il l be fu l ly dealt w ith in a subsequent

chapter in connect i on w ith the descript i on of

the Damodariya sec t. During the ilife

Damodara his foll ow ers cou ld no t do anygreat

harm to Madhava . A fter~hisf

death his Brahmana

fol low ers stra ined every nerve to drive him

away from Kamarupa. Matters then came,t o

a head and C h ila jRaya’

s son Raghudeva, w ho

was then ru ler of Kamarupa , as w el l as his

ofl ieers,began to persecute the Vaishnava preacher

in very many ways . Madhava found the place

to o hot fo r him and t ook refuge under kingL akshminarayana ofKoch Behar.

Here he l ived

for some t ime and then passed aw ay as his

Guru had done.

Before his death , he had given A charyyashipt o tw elve ofhis princ ipal d isciples. A mong thesetw elve persons- Mathuradasa E ta o f Barpeta

satra,Vishnu E ta ofMadhupur, Badua E ta of

Kamalabari satra in Ujani , Resava E ta ofBhato

Kachh i satra,Bada Vishnu E ta of C hamariya

sat ra , Narayanadeva Thakura of Jania,Rama

charanai’

l‘

hakura of Dalagoma, Paria Madhava '

E ta ofBaqa Heramada and L akhmikanta A tai of

DhO pargudi in Hajo hadgo t-chiefsh ip of satras .

SpreadofVaishnavisminAssam.

The follow ing account of the spread of the

doctrine of S afikaradéva and Damodaradeva and

of the establ ishment of S atras or rel igious monasteries all over A ssam w as taken from a bookofGo vindada sa called ‘S anta S ampradaya

There w as a certain Brahmana calledHarivaraw ho was Bhu iya o r landl ord of the vi l lage o f

Vyaghrapinda . He had three sons named Karmai ,Dharmai and ParamaifWhen a great w ar broke

o u t betw een the A homs and Kochas, the peopleofTembuani a l l ied w i th the Bhu iyas ofBaradoa

and fough t w ith the king S varga Narayana .

C ount less men died in that w ar. A t that t im e

K armai Guru w ent t o Man ipur. S ankara l ived

for some t ime in the v i l lages of Dhu aro la .and

Belguri . Here he had to suffer great hardsh ips.

During th is t ime of danger, the daughter of

Karma i Guru t ook shelter w ith him . He married

her t o a Brahmana w h o l ived hard by . O n an

auspiciou s dayiand at a luckyimoment Yamuna

devi gave birth to a son. The sooth-sayer made

calcu lat ions from his horoscope and gave h im

t he name ofGopala.The boybegan t o grow dayby dayl ike themoon. S hort ly after t h 1s Karmai

Guru shuffled off the mortal coil . His w ife,t o o

,

fol lowed h im through the funera l pyre . Now,his

sister brought up the infant Gopala .Hew as in due

t ime invested w ith the S acred- thread and was also

given a l i tt le schooling. Ihen his brothero in-law

made up hism ind t o marry him and sent him to a

merchant w i th the obj ect ofgett ingmoney ,G opala

go t on board a boat w ith themerchants and went

t o Daksh inakula taking w ith him pepper, cl oth

Govinda.

Dasa’s S anta

S ampradays

on S ankara

and

Damodara’c

doc trine and

120 THE S O C IA L aist oav o r K AMA RUP A

and o ther commodi ties He landed a t a place

cal led Dhuaro la. the seat o f. the egrea tn reformer

o f A ssam . There he saw, the i l lustrious S ankara.

His complexi on was fair.and his ; face resembledthe moon. His like l o tus and .1his

hands reached down to his knees. He was s ittingin a nposture called .Padmasana in the temple

o fHari,having w rapped h imselfup in pure.

wh iteand holding the

| prayergbeads .in his l o tu s-l ike

hand . Gopala wa s in . an ecstasy. of. joy. to.see

su ch a holy man and bowed to ,him al ong w ith .the

merchant . ln .adeep voice the i l lustrious Sankara

said to Gopala. ‘Who are . you Who is your

father Where do you l ive and whom have you

to cal l your - own .Hearing the .sweet w ords

ofS ankara, .Gopalaabecame very,glad and . gave .an

account of .h imself .making a reference . o f. his

grandfather Harihara. S ankara requested .him t o

stay w ith ih im ; bu t he t o ld. . him of. ms . 1n

ability to comply for the sake 'of, his compani on.

S ankara said that he w o uld h ecome a noble

Mahanta, that he hereu au spicious signs on his

person and that he had never seen such a Brah

mana. Gopala to o .found it hardt o leave S ankara.

He w as d istressed at heart -and remained silent ,

S ankara thenw —said ' to i lhim flfiMyn boy, y.ou .may

go now .But come t o me aga

fin, ifyou I canu no t

on anyaccount vremember me- cand hold firm ly

to the path of' devotiou to .G od.

”nA s d Gopala

was unable t o take ' h imself him,/ he

burst into t ears . The m erchant took 1 h im aw ay

from the place .

A fter th is 'Madhava heard -

of' Sankara from

C hagakina and came to‘

h im to hold ai discou rse.

A fter this he bec 1m'

e a'

fol-low er‘o f‘S ankara

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TH E S O C IA L HI STO RY o r K AMARUPA

to h is brother-in-law 's house and told him all

abou t the Vaishnava teacher. His bro ther-ln-law

no w set his heart u pon ge t ting G opala married.

O ne nigh t G opala dream t that God Hari had come

to him in the gu ise o f a Brahmana and w as

exhort ing him no t t o marrv. He advised h im t o

take to the path o fS ankara as that w ou ld do h im

good. Gopala then became a Brahmachari . He

t ook one mea l a day, consist ing of boi led sun

dried rice. He gave up allthe vani t ies o fex istence

and a lw ays sang t he name ofHari. O ne day he

go t o nboard a boat sail ingto the w est and came t o

Madhava . Madhava received’

him hospi tably

and asked him wh o he was . In reply G o pala.said

that he w as the grand-so n o fVipra Harivara and

that his name was Vafi sigO pala ,He stayed there

fo r some days and passed his t ime in ta lking ofthe

gl ory ofHari and t hen, w ith t he perm ission o f

Madhava. he w ent t o Dam odara. Damodara saw

Gopala and asked him quest i ons regarding his

part icu lars. Gopalafpassed some days here . O ne

dayhe bow ed unt o Damodara and sa id,

" Venera

ble sir.he graciou s enough t o t el l me how t o at tain

S arafi a. Bhajana and Bhakt i and h ow t o de l iver

myselffrom the bondage ofbirth . Hearing these

w ords o fGopala, Dam odara advised h im t o follow

t he foot steps o f S afi karadeva and take t o S arana

and Kirtana according t o the t eachings of that

reformer,S o saying, the venerable Va ishnavagave

h im instru ct ions regarding S arafi a, Bhaj ana and

Bhakt i . He also gave him mala-man tra. Gopa la

then acknow ledged Dam odara as his Gum and

bow ed unt o him and respectfu l ly walked roundhim . A fter a few days

'stay there. he w ent back

t o Madhava . He l ived w ith th is sage for seven

S PR E AD O F VA IS E I 'NA VISMIN A S S AM.

years. O ne dayMadhava t old him that it w as a

.

Gopala goes

special command'

ofLord S ankaradeva t o spread

Va ishnavism in the land ofh is nat ivity. Hearingth is Gopala said

,

‘O Madhava,m that country I

w as grossly insu l ted, In that land there is no

back to

A ssam to

propagate

Vaishnavism “

piety, there is no scruple about t akingfo od and

having sexual intercourse . The people w orsh ipstrange deit ies. There is no dist inct i on betweenmen o fh igher castesand low er

‘ca

'

stes , Theyebegetf

ch ildren on w idow s. Bastards born O fw idow s are

swel ling in number”

there. Why sha l l 1 go t o

su ch a land o f fa llen men O n a subsequ ent

date Gopala saw Damodaradeva . His

master made it clear t o him that there w as no

diflerencé betw een him and Madhava. . Hearingthis Gopala came back to Madhaya and said t o him ,

“0 E taMadhava ,

ifyo u giye me a Va ishnava,

I mayg o t o A ssam t o carry°

ou t the sacred behest

ofS afikaradeva .

” Hearing these w ordsMadhayahad Jadumagi brought ahere and saidfit o him

,

“You are t o accompany themaster . The venerable

Gopala has renounced the w orld. Yo u are a h ou se

h older. The Gu ru'

w illget yo u married.

” Then’

be

m ade Gopala the A dh ikari and J’

adumafi i the

Medh i . Th is Jadum ani w as a descendant of t he

K ay astha ch ief Ritai Manda la ofMallabichhi.The son ofBi tai w as A nanta. A nanta

’

s son w as

J anardana. Jadumani w as the son of Jan a rdana .

Gopala andJadumani cam e t o upper A ssam and

established a S atra there. Then they spread the

doctrine ofKrishna Bhakt i am ong the people .

Foll ow ing the direct i on o f Madhava, Jadumapi

marriedHari A i. Then Tamu l i Dalai,Be~ja Dalai and

t he o ther Bhu iyas established a S atra at Kalabari

for them . Here also these Vaishnavas spread the

Gopala

helps the

cause of

Vaisnavism°

1 2 4 Tim seenu . msronvn p K AMA RUPA .

doctrine vo l Hari , Then they. t ook leave ofthe

Bhu iyas and, keeping Harideva in charge o f the

S at ra,w en t to the w est.First,thcyenteredthe satra

at Barapeta .

~S ankaradeva'sgrand-son Puruso t

tama A tawas resid ingat th is place.Madhavadeva

had given him Dharma and had made h im Ve rna

srami o r house-holder. Both Purush o t tama and

L akshmiDevi received G opala w ith due ho spitali

ty. A fter th is Gopala sent Hari Bapu t o O rissa

and through h im brought the image ofGovinda

from the seat o fJagannatha and w orsh ipped the

divinity . In the v il lage ofDhuaro l there w as an

idol ofMadana-G opala established by , Sankara

deva; Gopa la placed Govinda on the same seat

w ithMadana Gopala and w orsh ipped both the

gods; A fter th is Purusho tt oma Thaku ra .appo in

ted C haturbhuja Thaku ra as the head ofthe

S atra at Baradoa. . He also appointed th irteen

Medhis w ho w ere t o be w ith him . The names-of

these t h irteenMedhis w ere as fol low s

Kugelu i C hufigia Keshava E ta, Bara Sanatana

E ta, Haladibaria BaraMukunda E ta, BihinpuriaMadhava E ta, t ekeratuliya G opinatha E ta ,

Benagaya .Madhava E ta,Raghupat i E ta, Karai

maria' Govinda E ta , Nalatalia Rama E ta,

Gharakat ia . J ayakrishna E ta, Bal i- kat iya Jaya

Kanai E ta, Haraichhia S rihari E ta.

These holy men came t o Upper A ssam t o

spread the ~rel igion of Sankara. S ubsequent ly .

G opala established a S atra at Ku ruabari and

gave unto Niranj ana Deva the charge o fit . Niran

jana kept the S atra going. The A hom King Jaya

dhvaja establ ished a satra at E uniati for their

u se. Here the king bro ught L akshminarayaga

Gosain, a devo ted fo l l ower of the Bhagavata ,

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FirsgDamo

dara’s andsecond

,

A ndharaGosain

’

s

“h as.

THE S O C IA L HIS TO RY O F KAMARUPA

Dam o dara is given bel ow

Balarama,a Brahman l iving in the village 0 1

Beheruag o t disgu sted w i th a h o u se -holder’ s l ife

and came to t he S at ra of Damodars t o .hear the

Bhagavata. Deva Damodara gave u nto h im the

ch iefdom o f the S atra and shuffled O FFt he mortal

coil . Balarama's grandson w as L akshmideva

w hose disciple w as J aehatkal Banda Bapu,His

disciple again w as Jadu of Kalabaria His son

Bana'

m‘al i establ ished a S atra at Dakshinapata.

The'

A h om‘

king C hakradhvaia w as his disciple,

from h im the S atra o fDeva Dem odara is know n0 u s.

S atananda,the e ldest son o fJ adumani, became

the head of the S atra atMahari . The second son

established a S atra at Pagiari.- The th ird

brother Ramananda established a S atra at

Dikhumukh ,w hile the you ngest son had his S at ra

at 'Kamalabari, In this Way the S atra o fA ndhara

Gosain spread in the count ry . He appointed

fourteenMedhis . Their names were as fol l ow s:

Haricharana at Naparidia, Kam alalo chana

at Kokala, Rat ikanta at Pubiala, Narayana at

Mayarapur, Madhu Misra at Tipama,Kamala

l ochana at Kopili, Naro ttama a t J alaku ria.

A rjuna at Bhatia, Pathaka C handra at Gumbhiri,

Mu rari at Dvarika, Ratu lacharana at Pakaria,Padma Pathaka at Jisaiwala and Kanu A ta. at

A n account of the spread o f th is rel igion is

given bel ow

Ramakanta, who is known as Kagat ia A ta, had

fou r sons. Their names w ere Ramacharana,

A bhayacharana, Krishnacharana, and Hari

charana. Kanu chandra A ta took A bhayacharana

S PRE A D or vu’

s‘

aifluwsm m assan'

as his son andhearing t o h im the S atra breathed

h is last . A bhayacharana had ten sons . Their

names w ere A chyu ta,A mbarisha, A nanta, A ra

vinda ,A ru na - charana, A j ita,

A bh imanyu ,Puru

sho t tama,Padmanabha and Vaikuntha . They

established S atras in diflerent places.

Gopa‘

la had told Jayarama that of his four

sons , Krishnacharaga ,Haricharana ,

Ratu lacha

rana and Vijayacharana, Krishnacharana w ou ld

hold TfiaZa bats, o r h is fami ly seat , Haricharana

w ou ld set t le at Nafoinagrama,Ratu lacharana

w ou ld be given his rel igion and that Vij aya

charana w ou ld become a good preacher of the

Bhagavata . S ubsequent ly Jayarama established

a S atra at Jiamara.

The son o f Kesavapriya’

s co -w ife w as

Nirafijana E ta. His sons w ere named C hakra

panifi arangapani and P'

admapan i. C hakrap‘

ani’

s

sat ra w as at C hamaguri, and S arangapani’

s at

Dighal i . Kesavapriya had no male issu e . The1r

satra w as ca l led Gabharugiri S atra.

A s ordered by Madhava Deva S ri-Gopala of

Bhani pu ra establ ished a sat ra at Kalj har ,He

ordered J adumani, the Bhu iya of Hengalig t o

establish a S at ra at Bahabari. The son of J ada

mani w as cal led S anatan Thaku ra . He had a

S atra at Matikuya ,S im i larly Ramadeva had

h is S atra atMairamo ra, Bara (elder) Krishna at

C hhamuka,S aru (younger) Krishna at E katani,

para.Maharia on the bank ofthe Gohru Kahara.

and S udarsana at S alguri. His son S rimanta had

h is S at ra at S apakh oa ,Vijayananda atMudbari

and Ram adeva at S arela . S anatana Thakura’

s

S atra w as at S ilikhatala,The names ofh is other.

128 TH: S O C IA L HISTO RY or K AHA RUPA

S ut tas:were Rabara, S onariparia, Thalabaria,and'Khakarapu ra;

The fol low ing S u tras w ere established at the

command of Jadu Th skur- Ratigaya,‘ S auna ,

Kaiania , Baliparia, Ko rekhania, L hatagu ria ,

Kadaiguria and Badago lia. S ri Gopal's grandson

had establ ished a Satra at the mou th ofthe Kala

kaga. Those w ho,fo llow ing the order ofMadhava

deva, had establ ished S atra atMadhu pur, came

t o be known as Madhupuriyas. These

w ere Bhu iya Ballabha Raya andHaladhara Dasa.

Madhavadeva breathed his last '

giving his

part ing injunct i on t o Padma‘- E ta and Kesha

charanail ta . Padma E ta set t led at Badala and

Kesacharana at Bhat okuchi. A s ordered by

Padma E ta. Niranjana A ta, Jayarama A ta ,

Krishna A ta , [adu A ta, Kanu A ta and Nat abari

Dasa estab lished satras at Ulutali. Then Krishna

hari A ta and then Vijaya A t a establ ished S atras.

Nat abari A t a’s satra w as at Ujani , Gopal A t a’s

at Maukho a, his grandson S arvansnda’s at

Deverapar and Padma A t a's at Babunga. A t

his command G ovinda A ta and Rama A ta had

established a S atra at Tipama‘

. S ubsequent ly, at

t he command of Kesacharana A ta, other S atrae

w ere est ablished by J aya A t a,

Dandapani

S atananda A t a,Manaj ayA ta, Bhabananda A ta,

Goku l ' A ta and Dam odara'

A ta . A ll these

Satras w ere establ ished at the command of

Deva.G0pal.

A t K‘och Behar there is the satra of Dharma~

devaMahanta,atMadhupura ofJ ayaramaMahanta,at Paskaltiya o i HaridasaMahanta

,at Barapeta

ofKrishnaMisra ,at Locha o f A rjunaMahanta,

at Patabau si o i Bhat tadeva, at Bhogapura o i

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Satrasl wen Rabara, S onarip‘

aria’

; Th alabafifi.

and"Khakamura.

The fo llwing S a tras w ere established at the

command 0 J adu Th skur—Ratigaya,’ Sauna,

Kaiania, miparia, Ko rekhania, Khata‘

gu iiia,

Kadaiguriamd Badago lia. S ri Gopal'sgrandson

had establised a Satra at the mouth ofthe Kala

kata. Tho sevho,fo llow ing the order ofMadhaya

deva, had erablished S atra at Madhu pur, camet o be knwn as Madhupuriyas. These

wereBhu iyfl allabha Raya andHaladhara Dasa.

Madhavadea breathed his last giving his

part ing iniuc t ion t o Padma A ta and Kesh'

a

charana'

.Kte Padma E ta set t led at Badala and

Kesacharana at Bhat oku chi. A s ordered by

Padma A ta Niranisna A ta, Jayarama A ta.

Krishna A te [adu A t a, Kanu A ta and Narahari

Dasa estab liaed S utras at Ulutali. Then Krishna

hari A ta and hen Vijaya A t a establ ished satras.

Nat abari A ta satra w as at Ujani , Go pal A ta’s

at Maukho, his grandson S arvansnda’

s at

Deverapar ad Padma A t a’s at Babunga. A t

his commad G ov inda A ta and Rama A t a had

established £S at ra at T ipama. S ubsequent ly, at

the commamof Kesacharana A t a,other S atras

were est abshed by J aya A t a,

Dandapani

S atananda A t,Manaj ayA ta , Bhabananda A ta

,

G oku l A ta and Damodara A ta . A ll these

Satras wereestablished at t he command of

Deva Gopal .

A t Koch that there is the satra of Dharma

(levaMahantntMadhu pura ofJ ayarama

at Paskalt iyml HaridasaMahanta, at

SPRE A D O F VA ISNA VISMIN A SAM.

Santadeva, at Ulubari of A dhara Gosi in, at

Khelti ofJayadhara Gossin, at BarargaraofJajna

pat i Bhuiyaand at S t ivati ofRfipanarvana.

The following account is takenfrom N11:

kanthaDasa’sDamodara-charita 3

‘There was a we l l-to -do Kayaha of the

name ofVenkatagiri . He became tb govern r of Ni aga

ra

Phulguri Bejani at the commad of KingNaranariyana. He had both men and moneyand was endowed with all necessary qual ities. He

was a favourite of the king and u s wise and

exceed inglyhandsome. He performe a Putreshti

with the object of getting a ma: child. A s

a resu lt of this he was blessed wit a son of

the name ofManohara.Manohara beune gowmor

after the death ofVenkatagiri . A t fit he was a

Sakta. A man cal led Bhagavan becme aBhakta

in the district under his possession. le brought in

formation to Damodara that there wa interruption

in the observance ofVaishn .va ritesas the perse

cution ofManohara was intolerabl Damodara

sent a stringofprayer-beads through im. See ingthis stringthe memory of the past flashed into

Manchara’s mind. He went to E modaradeva

130 Ti msocuu . msroavor xam nvu

established a big Satra {at Kapotakhana. He no

longer served as the governor. He devoted his timeto the work ofspreading the doctrine ofBhakti.Balarama Dvija in his Brahma-Vaivarta-Purana

while giving an account of himself towards theend of the book says that Parasurama withthe object of establ ishing Brahmanas in Brahmakunda had brought Brahmanas of seven Gotras

to a place cal led Habunga in Uttaraknla.

Then he built houses for these Brahmanas in

Brahmakunda and came to Habufig in orderto take them to that place . But to his great asto

nishment he could not find them there. E nraged at

their conduct , he cursed them all and went to the

west . The Brahmanas began to live there under

the curse of the Brahmanawarrior. In a later

age Deva Gopala, anxious to bring about their

emancipation, established a Satra at Debera-para

andmade Hari Bharati theMahanta ofit .The followingamount is taken from Padma

panideva’s Kesavadeva C harita

Misradeva was the disciple ofDeva Gopala.

A fter he had gone up to Vaikuntha Jayaharideva

began to spread his religion. In obedience to

his orders Nirafijanadeva maintained the Satra

w ith great care . Who is able to describe his

greatness adequately i' The king J ayadhvaja him

se lfsanghis glory. It was through his kindness

that the people were freed from the customs of the

Mlechchhas and the doctrine ofBhakti was preach

ed throughout the length and breadth of the

country.

A devout Brahmana was born in the Gotta of

Kasyapa. When the San (A hom ) king was

returningaftermakinga conquest he went to the

king in order to bless him holding Kantaka or

thorn in bia hand. The kin addressed him as

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l32 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA

not enjoy anything himself. He appl ied the

whole of the gift to the maintenance of the

Vaisnavas attached to the satra. Subsequently

he establ ished another satra in the vil lage of

Kanti in the north .

A fraid of the Muhammadans, Kesavadeva

removed to Govindapur and established a satra

there. In this way he had established satras in

several places. His mode ofpreachingthe religion

was so very good that with in a short t ime he came

to have a large number offol lowers. SubsequentlyGadadhara S inha ascended the throne of the

A homs. He brought Kesavadeva to his place

with great respect and made two ofhis sons his

disciples. Then he sent away the Vaishnava

teacher with rich presents. Banamalideva went

up to Vaikuntha. A greeably to his last wish,Kesavadeva came to the satra at Dakshinapata.

Thereafter he effected the improvement of the

satra at A uniati.Deva GOpala

’s grandson L akshminarayana bui lt

the satra at Gadamura. A fter his demise Kesava

devamade D.ekaBalarama the head ofthat satra.

A fter this, the king Gadadhara got demented.

He sent his men to the satras at Dakshinapata,

A uniati , Govindapurand otherplaces and began to

harass the Bhaktas. A s a resu lt of this great

consternation prevailed. The prince Rudrasinha

secret ly sent a messenger to Kesavadeva and

thus saved his l ife . But asmanyas eight of the

principal Bhaktas were taken to the temple of

the goddess at Sadia where they were sacrificed.

A fter some days Kesavadeva too came to Sadia.

A few days after his arrival at th is place the water

ofthe river began to swel l unusual ly as happens

at the time ofthe deluge. E lephants, rhinoceroses,

SPRE A D O F VA I SHNA V I SMIN A S SAM

buffaloes andmany such biganimals were carried

away by the current and countless men found a

watery grave . But'

the place where Kesavadeva

was l iving was not under water. E very bodywas struck with wonder at this. Gradual ly the

matter came to the notice ofthe kingwho honour

ed him with rich presents. He also sent a

messenger to Sadiarequesting the Vaishnava to

come over to his place. The king Rudrasinha

personal ly went to the satra at Koamara and took

Kesavadeva to A pabaria. He then took him to

Bisvanath and instal led him as the A charya of

the C ourt . Then he went over to a place cal led

Bayabali with his Bhaktas. A s ordered by the kingthe Bara Phukan made a satra there. In obedience

to the orders of theKing Gandhis .Barua dedi

cated this satra. Thereafter Dihifigia Bara

Barua made another satra to the west of the

old one . In persuance of a royal order Duari

Barua dedicated this satra. Kesava lived for

some time in this satra and preached the doctrine

ofBhakti there . A fter this some more satras were

established under the patronage of S ivasifiha, the

son ofRudrasifiha.

Besides those mentioned above a number of

satras were establ ished bythe descendants of the

great-

grand daughter ofSafikaradeva.

Sankaradeva’s grandson PurushottamaThakura

had a daughter ofthe name ofL ilavat‘

i . Her sons

C hakrapani, Gadapani and Sarangapani established

safras known as C hamaguri satra, Dighalisatra

and Samantari satra respectively . Damodara the

son of Govindapriya, the grand daughter of

S ankara and the daughter ofHaricharanar

I‘hakura

established a satra cal led Baradoa-naroa-satra. A

satra cal led the Ghilajari satra was established at

Vishnupur \ . sh pati Thakura, the son .oi

S umitra A i 'ho was the daughter ofC haturbhuja

Thakura, a grandson ofSankaradeva.

Their descendants are stil l the heads ofthese

satras. The descendants ofthe great grand daughter

of Sankara are sti l l Mahantas in the satras at

Vishnupur, Ujani , Salyaguri, A irbhiti and many

other places.

The present head of the satra at Barpeta is

a descendant of Raya Barua, the son of the

paternal uncle of Sankaradeva. A descendant of

Banagayagiri, the younger brother Sankara is now

the head ofthe satraat Patabausi. The descendants

of Ramacharana Thakura, a scion of Sarasvati

Bhuiya’s family, established Satras at Sundaradia,

Bamuna, Guagachha, Kaddaiguri, Bamagata, (in

Tejpur district ), Debechharia, Dalagoma, Jama

ls, Dipala and many other places. Rama

charana had three sons, the oldest of them beingDaityariThakura,the authorofSankara

’s biography.

He founded a Satra in the vil lage of Bamuna.

The second son Tripurari Thakura founded the

Satra called Guagachha. The . third son’s

name was Natabari Thakura. He was the

founder of the Satra of Malacha on the right

bank of the Brahmaputra and situated in the

district of Goalpara. Ramacharana Thakura had

established VikramaThakura the son ofTripurari

in his own Satra at Sundaradia. A gain Tripurari

made Vikrama Thakura’s second son Bhogadatta

the head ofthe Satra ofGuagacha.

We also learn that Manohara Deva had in

the year 1 5 90 ofthe S aka E ra brought Jayahari

andMi dhava Da ta from the vil lage of Dhengfi

in Bafl si Pargani and had established them in

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136 rm: acerar. nrsronv or ru m ou r

monthly Srcdh oftheir Guru should be performed

in a befitting manner and d irected them to issue

invitations on a wide scale. In response to his

invitation a large number of men, Brahmatlaso

K iyasthas and others attended the ceremony, only

Damodaradeva being conspicuous by his absence.

O n the occasion ofhis Guru’s S raddha he had sent

a boat-fol of the necessary artic les.MidhavadeyaSent a man to Damodara to know the reason whyhe had no t attended the ceremony. Damodara

sent word t o the eflect that as Sankaradeva had

conferred upon Madhava religious headship in

supersession of his Superior claims he could not

respond to the invitation in question.

Rammanda Thakura was beside himselfwith

anger to hear this reply. He could not bear that

the Brihmana Damodara would make anydis

tinction between the departed reformer and

Midhava. S o he throw away all the things sent

by him into the river. From this time began the

quarrel between these two great Vaishnava

teachers.

DaityiriThskura gives the fo l lowing account

ofa conversation between them

Madhava z—Well, Dimodara, whydo you giveshelter to aman whom I drive away1

Damodara Do I ever forsake any one 1

None is a stranger to me I

Madhava z—You are the I chiryya ofa Satra.

Wi l l it not reflect discredit onyou ifyou do not

take steps for the eradication ofheresy.

Dimodaraz— E very bodyis answerable for his

fault . I need not trouble myhead about it.

Midhava z— Sankara Devamade you a guar

dian ofrel igion.I t is your dutv to correc t others.

THE DAMO DA RIA S E C T 1 37

Damodara z— S ankara Deva did not trust

anysuch duty to me .

Madhaya Deva then made a reference to the

story of king Satadhanu . Damodara explained

it away as an anecdote in the Purana. Then the

former quoted an extract from Sr‘

idhara-S vamin’s

commentary. Damodara said that he could not

accept the commentary as authoritative, the onlybook for which he had any respect be ing the

Bhagavata. Theav Madhava quoted S lokas fromthe book Ratnakara, a work of S ankara Deva.

Damodara, ho wever, was bent upon not to be

convinced. He said that he wou ld not payanyheed to such th ings even ifthey were spoken byGod himself. Hearing h im saysoMadhava stood

stock-stil l. He forced Da‘

modara to take his food

there and then sent him away with kind words.From that day he go t h ighly dissatisfied with

Damodara.

1

all? safes Zen an em,s csl efm ls e lm

t itansw e answersafe afess sin n“

affixare { awrite ra can firstat? altalra l

recs cslnla? s tain rafts m e carts can:as u

alarm carafe ans fax

—aimnew] and a?

first? Ci filsl fetal calfrafv co ralswasa? u(s ci:

“

grinas faas w e e tafatalwarns

e ta raffles arm alas feral tagoffsets u

carafe seam s s wears eta caalsl cwfarrv

crises fro“

git fa ne e affairs emf(affirm u

e nsue “restart s ell at? are as at?“mm

fi lfilfl mit ts (also crfsm alfewe affirm: 9

arts es sayis t valfiffl mamaaft er1

arms 2:l inh ours an era shuffle u

1 8

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r38 THE S O C IA L nisroav or K AMA RUPA

C haturbhuj aThfikura, the grandson ofS ankaraD eva, was alarmed at the boundless influence of

Mdi bava D eva and grew hostile towards him.

I t is written in Vidy-I manda t a’s‘I

’

hfikura A taC barita’ that he said to the Bhaktas that thosewho were the disciples of S ankara Deva should

,

on no account,regard Madhava as their Guru.

He is also said to have given them to understandthat he would have no connection with those menwho would not obey his mandate. What withthe enmi ty ofDamodara and what w ith the hos

tile attitu de of this youngman the task before

Madhava proved a very hard one . But nothingdaunted, he went on preaching the doctrine of

Bhakti upto the last moment of his godly l ife .

A s a matter offact his Brahmacharyya, l iberal ity,erudition and the charm created by his songs

overflowing wi th devotion enabled h im to over

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Q’

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safes use as aster:attest fit at Inf-R t n

efi were es { sine eeri eare cars l

Wife e ase Wi‘ifi w e at uraci l en’s:can II

whenstarts as as { in sits fan; at { fi sh I

festansera can?!cans first e mitsfirmfirst Itcares term s um stf

‘

asl starvat «aft -gem l

i ts? si teas which esteraffair!awnsire n

(S ankara-C rarit t b ; D . i tya i The"

, ura )

THE DAMO DA RIA S E C T

”come all oppositions. None cou ld pul l him down

from the lofty statu s given unto h im by his Guru.

In fact his achievements were greater than those

ofS afikara Deva in as much as he had been able

to spread the doctrine of Bhakti throughout‘

the length and bre adth ofthe land of A ssam.

But soon after the death of Sankara the

Brahmana Vaishnavas of A ssam grew very in

‘

liuential. The king L akshmi narayana, son of

Naranarayana” was initiated into V aishnavism

byDamodljra. The A hom kings ofS ankara’

s time

were not favourably disposed towards the“

Vaishnavas, but their descendants were initiated

th is rel igion by Gopaladeva and other

mana d isciples ofDemodara. The Brahmanas

became—Gurus ofthe kings ru l ingthe c ountry

from the eastern border of A ssam to the further

/end of K och-Behar and as such the ir power

became very great. Though Daznodara and'G 0paladeva were staunch followers of S ankara

and looked upon him as an incarnation ofGod,

get his Brahmana followers were not disposed

to show him so much honour and respect.

Though all the Vaisbn'

tva sects o fA ssam regarded‘

S ankara, Midhava and Demodara as equal

nay, as the manifestation of the same personal ity

in three distinct forms— yet Damodara’s fol lowers

have given him the highest place among the

Vaishnava teachers of A ssam. O ne of them,

Krishnacharyya, the author ofS anta-C haritra, has

gone so far as to maintain in th is work that

Danodara was one of the 64 disciples of S ri

C hai tanya 2and that he was the incarnation of

“withwe fear“

caret teem l

was ?!crmas? ten imamu”

A scendancyofBrahmana

Vaisnavas.

D amodara

extolled to

S econd C haitanyaship.

S anta C haritra byKrishna

charyya

1 40 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F RAMA RURA

Puspadanta in the face o f the unanimo us testi

mo ny ofRamacharan '

t Thakurafi aityari Ti nke ra.

Ki ntha Bhnsham and other contemporary writers

to the eflect that he Wi S one of the princ ipal

disciples o f S ehkara Deva wh ich is amply corro

berated by the writings of Ni lakantha D5 39. and

other biographers of D5, nodara. In S anta

C laritra we find the followingaccount

KingMalladeva’ s agent,'

Sankara. was the son

ofKusuma and the grandson of C handivara. Beingdisgusted with the king

’s servic

‘

é S ifi kara sent

h is bro ther RamaRz‘

tya to the k ing nd h imse lf

w ent to Mount Manikfi t t,leav ing h is w ife and

son behind. Th ere he heard a recital of the

Bhagavata from RatnaPathaka and enquired

h im as to whence did he learn theV

Thereupon the Brahmin Ratnesvhara to ld birthslow ly and gently,

“Listen §afikara t I heard one

this S astra from the great C haitanya who taught3

me the Bhagavata in a cave situated on the

Varz‘

t‘ia Kunda. He is now o bserving a vow of

s ilence in a mat/m in the c ity ofO rissa.

” “6 Hear;

theirs sitarfacetafar:fess

HiramWWI fe cal te at w e re a”at

(S anta- C haritra by Krishnacharyya)as S lokas 93

-

96 ofKrishnacharyya’s S anta- C haritra saythat

C haitanyadeva went to Behar after revealing h imself as a

four- handed being to the Badshah . O n his arrival there

h e was worsh ipped byall the learned men there . There

upon he went to Kamarupa and lived for som e t ime in a cave

situated on the Varaba-kunda in Mount Mamku ta. Here

h e gave Saranafmantra. to Ratna Pathaka and taught

h i ll ] the Bhagavata. Thereupon he distribu ted the name to

Kanthabhushana, Kanthahara, Kandali, Katevindra and

K avishekhara in the village ofMagu ri. Thus at th e great

festival ofhis go ing toManikuta he spread the doctrine of

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1 42 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA

intention from Brahma Haridasa C haitanyadeva

to ld them through Haridasa, —“You should hear:

the Bhagavata from Kanthabhusana and rec ite

the padas. You shou ld pO pularlse the seven

hundred S lokas composed by Gajapat- iraja. I tell.

you of this that pride and love of God cannot

dwel l side by side. Yo u have received amantra

offour words. S tick to it and recite it always.

Damodaradeva isla the grandson of Satar.anda, ,

the spiritual guide ofKusuma. You should im‘

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THE DAMO DA RIA seer 143

part to him the mantra. He is a fo l lower of

L ord Krishna ; the Puranas bear testimonyto this. This book ‘

Sarana Patala’ is composedofthirtytwo s

'okes and it contains a description

of the face of L crd Rama. You shou ld hand

over this book to him and learn therefrom the

deep secrets of Sastra.

”S o saying he passed.

over the“Kamama‘e” to him. Be ing beside

themselves w i th joy, Rama and Sankara c ircled

round the marlin twice and afterwards falling on

the ir l imbs worshipped the Lord. (A fter leavingO rissa) they took a bath in the Ganges and:

entered Kamarupa, where they to ld everythingto the king with j oyfu l heart. A fterwards theysettled in the village of Patabausi, brought

Kanthabt fi sham there and began to hear the

Bhagavata from him; Then they brought up'

Damodaradeva there and handed over the“S arana-Patala” to him. Demodara looked at

the book and btwed to C haitanya again and

again. Demodara turned, as it were , a second

C haitanya and converted many people after

wards as h is fol lowers.4

4.

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elm anaffixsfnawlwfsel‘s l u s

new fistfacetesW l

e lmarmi stice? vitami nfilm fi ts at: Halal

se alfm cert Timan” m

144 THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F KAMA RUPA

The above account given by Krishnz‘

icharya

is no t to be found in the works of ancient

b iographers. Damodara Deva himself had no

where p reached the doctrine ofS ri C haitanya.

I t has already been said that when S afikt ra

Deva came to Navadwipa in the course of his

pilgrimage , C haitanya Deva was a mere boy.

A t that time he was no t a S annyasi. Hence all

of the anc ient biographers saythat S ankara Deva

saw Sri C hai tanya but had no conversation w ith

him. Hence it is proved that the account given

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s II” we.

S anta C haritra by Krishnacharyya, (1 84 5 S aka

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1 46 THE socrat. msronv or xamanura

Later biographers, however, saythat Damodaraa.

had got the book “Namamalika” from Sri o

C haitanya. But none ofthem assert that he was .

one ofhis 64 disciples and that the great Bengal.

reformer had infused his energy into him. It has.

already been said that Sri C haitanya had not .

become a sannyzi si at the time of Sankara’

s .

pilgrimage to Navadvipa and Puri . Under these“

c ircumstances it cannot be said that the Bengal ;

reformer exercised anyinfluence over the rel igion:

of S ankara or that it was in accordance with

h is directions that Damodaradeva preached

Vaishnavism in A ssam. Damodaradeva was

highly learned in the doctrine ofBhakti . He was

not a bit inferior to Safikaradeva or Madhavadevain point of intel ligence , knowledge and scholar

ship. His disciple , Bhattadeva, has recorded in

his books the doctrine ofBhakti and the rel igion

of the Bhagavata as taught by him. The

Vaishnavas of A ssam following his religion are

known as the Damodariya or Bamuniya sect .L

A

book cal led Ghosharatna gives the followingaccount ofthe early A charyas ofthis sect

“WWTE WWW?Wm fi fifl t

an: critics are:err-

e sfirae I m .

9m CW 5 33!an met I

535 75 1a?fi rstart!can? when

W“it“Weanatoms a

wise 91‘s? artist (statsarts um

infi rmW:am W ?

awnit? state areas I”

(Damodara-C haritabyNilalrantha

THE BAMUNI A -S E C T

Gurudeva Damodara looked l ike the golden

Meru . In the east Vafi sideva is his S evaka or

follower. In the south Santadeva serves him

always. In the west Baladeva is ever faithful to

him . In the north there is Bhagavan who

resemble sMount Suparsva. O n thisside S r'

imanta

Paramananda is cutting asunder the bondage

ofbirth.

6

The Ba'

muni-S ect.

Harideva‘

Harideva was one ofthe prmcrpal disciples of a pr

c

'

l

omi

t

Sankara l ike Damodara. He was vastly learned. {l

e

en

of

1

5

5

3?

His father’s name was A janabha. He belonged kara likefDamodara

,

to the gotm of Kasyapa. A ccording to tradition entrustedhe was born at Narayanapur near Patabausi in g

i

s

t

}

?

O f

t

sl

rza

.

the year 1 4 1 5 Saka E ra i f . 1 491 A D . on the sth pagating

dayofthe moon in the dark halfofthe month of Xa‘Shr

fififgBhadra. During Sankar

’s stay at Patabausi he kingdom;

u sed to come to him to hear the recitation ofthe

Bhagavata and his exposition of rel igious matters.

In course oftime he became a staunch Bhakta of

Sankara. In a very short time he was able

to meditate upon Hari as Nirguna Brahma . He

used to enjoy Brahmananda when engaged in

Sankirtana. Sankara wa s charmed to see his

uncommon intel ligence and profound learningand

w arm es t swam WU

m a tter“ 31171 l can

Wfir‘ttsHem l wfm Wm u

2mmWe I arthas!wate r

wefafss vim s ame mamGMh as I m were u

assW e l a’

tm are as I

(Ghosha-ratna)

1 48 THE so cr« L msronv o rP K AMA RUPA

gave him the charge of propagating Vaishnavism

in the A hom kingdom . A large number O f the

people ofA ssam gave up Karli e/ai m and accepted

S adi e/ram and S add/m rma from him . When thisnews reached the ears ofthe A hom king, he sent

his men to bring Harideva to him in chains. In

order to escape persecution, the Vaishnava

teacher had to go w ithout food for 1 2 days. He,

however, managed to cross the Brahmaputra in a

raft made ofplantain trees and came to Kamarupa.

Here he saw HayagrivaMadhava at Manikfi taand then partook ofthe leavings ofthe God. Here

he converted a large number ofthe people . A bout

this time Bhagiratha, the son ofNarayana Bhuiya,

was appointed the Gamtha or Viceroy ofKama‘

rapa by Visva S inha. He was returning home

when he saw Harideva on the way. The bright

appearance of the Vaishnava teaC her and his

impressive rel igious instruction produced great

influence on his mind and he was initiated into

Vaishnavism by him. He rendered valuable help to

Harideva in the work ofpreach ingVaishnavism in

Kamart‘

ipa. Harideva passed a very longt ime in

wanderingover many parts of the land with the

object ofpropagatinghis rel igion andat last settled

in the vil lage ofBahari near Barapeta. Here he

established a S atra. Sankaradeva andMadhavadeva attended this ceremony w ith their Bhaktas

and played rel igious dramas for seven days.

Th is S atra got he name ofManeri Satra as it

brought mi nd or honour to Harideva. This

was the first and the greatest S atra of Hari

deva. A fter this a large number of Satras were

established by him and l ie disciples at Mahan,Kaihatikulla, Bila Napatipara, Khanapata, Beja

«kuchiaand other places. He used to practise

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1 50 THE S O C I A L HI STO RYO F R \MA RUP .\

w ith it by any means. He told a world of l ies

in order to keep this book to himself and at last

went away from the place , Sankara was

grieved at his conduct and sent a man to bringh im to his place. But A niruddha could by no

means be persuaded to come back . Then the

great Vaishnava-guru assembled his ‘Bhaktas '

and referring to the unseemly conduct of

A niruddha said ,“A niruddha has left me in order to avoid

returning to me the book Kalpataru written upon

copper-plates. Hence he who w il l mix w ith him

shal l be expel led from the comprunity,He shal l

never have mygrace. I tell it for certain that whoever wi l l follow his behest , whoever w i l l hear the

doctrine of Bhakti from him ,whoever w ill take

the mantra from him,shal l not be regarded by me

as a friend etc . He has left us havingstolen a holy

book , and he shou ld be cal led ‘Mataka’ by all. A ll

connexions of our families w ith that ofA niruddha

should be cut off.

” 7

7 . W ‘lldstfi akas tates 1

efaartsWain elf—sits aim in8

whim fi is nits?WWat t hei r ican Sufi siestacat catsan? in

when vitafart!sit-dietW t

wife‘

s? Zest fi rstcan? at t ime I 8 0 >

e tawa is t? teafact!cams

e rasafre fazttstrainwas it

fact?!etaartfste tat t it—E tas tate I

farmeraeta “

stat E fe aferw n s c i

“

eta Flt‘ifemwfi s takeanti

‘

s I

isfan cats e tafire its { 31 11m fi acamfi mamafi fi fw s i

acc tm iWat eatmegawa tt t h e

are §fssf? are mam are:

farmsaerate rfacrare“

u"

A di-charitra by Sadananda.

MO YAMA RI A O RMO AMA RIA I S I

Sankara’s words could never fal l upon deafears.

A ll the Vaishnavas of the Mahapurushiya sect

« ceased to have anyconnection with A niruddha.

A niruddha at first converted a number of

Kaivartas who were struck w ith wonder witness

ing his wonderfu l deeds. With their help he

soon came to Rampur and told his friends and

relatives ofthe success achieved by him . Here

some men who were hostile to Sankara sided w ith

him. O ne night’

he stealthily left this place w ith

his bags and baggages and accompanied by his

own folk , started for Saurnara (upper A s = am) . He“

went to a place called Holangaguri between the‘

rivers Brahmaputra .and Tengapani and built a

~ very big S at ra there . He cou ld perform wonderful deeds through the possession of the book ,Kalpataru . S o the people in the neighbourhood

thought him to be endowed with divine power

and became his Bhaktas.

The A hom king heard ofall this and came to

his house to test his power. He placed a jar‘

before him and asked him to say what it con

tained, givinghim to understand that in the event

aofhis giving a wrong answer a te rrible punish

ment would be infl icted upon him . A niruddha.

u ttered the Bij ammu‘m and said that it contained

Qa deadly snake called Fez‘zlgoflm . S trangely enough ,when the king

’

s men took away the lid ofthe jar,a snake ofthe above name was found in it . A t

‘

the sight ofthis snake everybody got terrified.

The kinghimselfwas se ized w ith panic and fel l

into a swoon. A niruddha took away the snake

from the jar and put it to death . From that daythe A hom king and his subjects came to have

the highest regard for him . That S atra got the

name ofMayamaratas A niruddha had killed the

1 5 2 THE S O C IA L m sro rev o n

Mays snake before the. king. S o on after this,A niruddha became a vei v influ m tizil man w ith

a large follow ing and vast wealth . The Harlis,the

Domas and other lowclass men living in S ibsagarand Lakhimpur have all along been recognisinghim and his descendants as their Guru . Hisdescendants were separated from the s zfij a of

the ir ancestors and came to be known as KolitaThey are still known by that name and have

nuptial relationsh ip w i th he Kolitafamilies.

This conmunitygrew w rypow erful in E astern

A ssam . The later A hom k ings made an attempt

to crush them and the resu lt of this was a friction.

between the two parties. A t last the Matakasgot highly exasperated and took up arms against .

the A hom king in 1 776 A . D . A t that time the

A homs were being initiated into the new ly intro

duced Sakta religion. S o they attempted to convert

the ir O pponents into their own religion. But all‘

their attempts ended in smoke . The rebels.

defeated the army o f the Ahom king again and

again and forced him to flee for his l ife to Gauhati .

In the history of A ssam there is mention m ade of

three such rebellions ofthe Moamariyas. The last

ofthese rebellions took place in the year 1 787 . The

A hom king in his distress sought the help of the

E ast India C ompany. Lord C ornwallis, the then

Governor Gene ral of India , sent an army for his

assistance under the command of C aptain W'

e lsh .

It is w ith the help o fthis army that the A hom

kingGaurinath was able to defeat the rebels and

to restore his own kingdom .

‘N

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THE S O C IA L HIS TO RY O F K AMARUPA .

was an inhabitant of Radha country and

that the fam i ly of w h ich he was a representa

t ive was w idely known. His favourite son

Tankapani was compel led , on account of

the intrigues of the Brahmanas , t o leave his

paternal home and came t o Fataliputra , the

capital of Gauda. Dharmapala ,the king

of Gauda, welcomed him to his court and

employed him as his C h ief S ecretary ,He

rose to be a great favou rite of the king.

In his old age he renounced the w orld and

embraced ascet icism . Thenceforth he w as

cal ledMahasiddhacharya. He was the author

ofseveral commentaries on the Tantras and

of some original Tantric w orks in S anskrit .

A fter him,

accord ing t o the same T ibetan

authority , viz. the Tdanj ur, his son C hakra

pani succeeded to his father’

s post at the

C ourt of Dharmapala and also rose t o be

a great favourite of the king. Indeed . it is a

notew orthy point that th is il lustrious fam ily

was a rec ip ient ofroya l patron age for several

generat i ons . C hakrapani Dasa had also the

repu tat ion of a great poet ,His tw o sons.

Sara Dasa and Dh ira Dasa also enj oyed

the sunsh ine of royal patronage.They left

Pataliputra for the Varendra country in North

Bengal . Rajyadhara, the great grandson

of Sara Dasa, set t led in Kuvacha o r Koch

Behar. His S on , E rya S ridhara,known as

L akshmikara ,accepted service under the

king.

of Kamarupa and on defeat ing an

army of the Karnatas was rewarded w ith

the feudatory Gove rnment of Koch Behar.

A BRIE F ms'ronv on THE ommpua RAJ .

The son ofL rya L akshmikara w as Sulapani,

alias Vanai Dasa , w ho again had tw o sons

named Pinakapani and C hakradhara, alias

S nryadhara respect ively. S nryadhara is said

to have even defied Yaduvira.

2 Who the

lat ter was is not known t o us from the

family geneal ogies of the country . He w as

probably ident ical w ith Jatavarmafiof the

Yadava fam ily- father of S amalavarma or

Harivarmaf

Tankapani, the son of Pinakapani, w as

a great warrior,He acqu ired great fame}; by

helping the king of Gauda in w ar for w h ich

reason . the Minister of the latter conferred

the hands of his daugh ter on the powerfu l

2 .

~m zmsram m enmm m aam rw nu

mm 9th} ,WWW erfifie M a

in

waterm a ernv vfimefefi em nfin emflm é a flalfi el flrem ceh ewmfi m m n

mmm fi m em afim fi w afi i

Wmnfi em ‘tmmefie mrfi sfii w fi u

me tamm ra fmm mmm m a munm am m , m e eaam w mnanm u

W é em ne awm fn m angwm l

ge i anwfi fl fi afwfi , mnm finwn

m aam e csfiwfimm amm rcaaeeammWW watermm m rrfmairman-6 m m ”

m annane amegm mmm am i

w a samm s’m flwfl e m m n

m ammarnrfeafvnwn nwm w wm u

mm wufi . fam w mnn. maemam r

Bhakur or the genealogical ballads, byKasi Dasa.

3 . Vide Banger J atiya Itihasa, RajanyaKanda. or the

Royal Dynasties ofBengal, p. 280-81 .

1 5 5

fluryadhm

1 5 6 TH E S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

ally o fh is master. Kari Dasa says that this

uni on inaugurated for the fi rs t time inter

marriage betw een the Deva and Dasa famil ies

and w as the first bond o funi on betw een the

Kayastha communities of the North and the

S ou th . From the account of Kiwi Dasa, it

appears that the Minister of the Gauda kingbel onged to:a Kayastha fam i ly:designated as

the Deva .

‘

From the Belabo inscript ion r”of Bhoja

varman, w e learn that his grandfather,

Jatavarman of the Yadava dynasty ,had

invaded Kamarupa,

°

Ramacharita by S andhyakara supplies

u s w ith u seful informat i on that Vigraha

pala I II. after having defeated Karnadeva,

the king of C hed i , married his _daughter.

4 .

Wnnw .m flmfi , m m m n

m , m aarrasfi im‘amh si fiie l

fi m mwfi aasam fw mama n'

Dhakar or Genealogical Ballads, byKasi Dasa .

A lso c ompare w ith the plates ofVaidya.Deva

‘m a’

sm fi sfi at mfi fim l

Msh m egt éfi osfimmn”

Kamauli c opper-plates of Vaid-yadeva, 3rd S lokaVide also Royal Dynasties ofBengal, p. 2 2 5 -22 7 .

5 .

‘wmami aai ais’rmsiarsam l

maa’

w afirsrmfi m qm n

thesis;Marriessft q r‘

err asmsrl‘

mi l”

(Belabo oapparplrtas of B'

n j r Varmra,S b kt 8 )

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1 5 8 THE S O C IAL HI STO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

Narasinha Dasa, the so n ofPrince Ratnapanibears the t it le of Thaku r in the geneal ogica lrecords of the Varendra Kayasthas. In the

published edit ion of the w ork cal led “VarendraDhakur

”by Jadunandana, he is styled as

the ru ler o f the Kuvachas o r Kochas. ’ The

t it le Thakur w h ich Narasinha Dasa held w as

in accordance w ith the u sual pract i ce amongthe descendants of the feudatory princes to

style themselves as Thakurs.

A fter having l ost his principal ity ThakurNara Dasa mu st have most probably leftKoch Behar and l ived in the North Bengal

w ith h is maternal grandfather” the fame of

w hose val our and h igh posit ion resoundedthroughout the country and on whose deaththe successi on t o his vast property devolvedon Thakur Nara Dasa.

The Pala king Ramapala had taken no

smal l pains t o makeMahasthana the foremost

sacred place in Bengal . Here came Narasiuha

Dasa and spent a few days. O n the upper

port ion of the framew ork of the gate of the

fort erected by S hah S u ltan is inscribed the

name“S ri Narasinha

” l 1 w h ich common people

take it t o be Raja Narasinha and th is is m ost

probably due t o the fact that Narasinha Dasa

w as'°

the son of a Raja w ho had l ost his

kingdom .

9.

“fl mm ma wm:m.W W W I

"

10“

was? what, j fitfltsmM, am t? aimcam!u”

(Dhakur, by J aduuandana, published by K rishna

oharanMazumdar,S aka 1 8 12 )

1 1. HistoryofBog'u , part I I , P. 7 1 .

A BRIE F HISTO RY or THE GAURIPUR RA ] .

A s the old Nara Dasa Thakur t oo k the

side of the Pale. kings of Bengal , he did

not acknow ledge the suzera inty of Ballala

S ena, and so great was his l oyalty t o the

losing side that o fhis three sons, Batudasa ,

Patudasa ,and Bhuvana ,

he disinherited the

first for having j oined Raja Bailala, S ena. But

though disavow ed by his father the S ena K ingconferred on Batudasa the Viceroya lty of

E astern S ridhara, the youngest son

of Batudasa acqu ired fame by compi ling an

anthology ent i tled “S uktikarnamrfta

”w h ich

besides giving some ofhis own excellent versescontained m any precious poems of the mostcelebrated S anskrit poet s and of the membersof the Royal S ena fam ily .

Devadhara alias S ridh'

ara Thakur w as the

son ofC hakrapani S uryadhara, the vanqu isherof the Yadavas. The rise of S amanta S ena

w ho bel onged to t he branch of K arnaga

Kshatriyas, the great grandfa ther of Ballala

S ena, however belongs t o a period earl ier t han

that ofS ridhara. The Karnata Kshatriyas w ere

the most powerfu l supporters of the emperor

Karnadeva ofthe C hedi dyna sty ,A t the t ime

w hen the emperor, having conquered Gauqa, ad

vanced t o spread his power in the country, the

“s has safest, aims W?) ass,We am t hanwhen

atm afi yfiaw mmu

w fieWard, mm stasis. 32 asWe 9mI

WWWWWWWWW WWWH

at arewarts cs? cafirm my 216mm5561mesa I

(WM”(atWWMW{361asw we deal u

”

Dhakar byKasidaea.

1 5 9

THE S O C IA L .HIS I‘O RY O P K AML RGPA .‘

Karnata Kshatriyas had been established as

feudatory ch iefs -o n the banks o f the sacred

Ganges in Radha o r 'West Bengal , A fter the

emperor had left Bengal , they began t o u surpthe pow er o f the Pala and Varma kings. Wit ha view to open a p rosperous career fo r h imselfS nryadhara was determ ined to sai l in the sameboat w i th t he rebel l ious Karnata Kshatriyas .

He iprobably t ook part in their wars w ith theYadava kings, and be it said t o h is cou rage .

that he did no t quai l before the great powerof the lat ter. His fav ourite son S ridhara

Thakur had not iced from his boyhood the

rising power o f t he Karnata Kshatriyas and

he t o o like his father s tood from his youthin the forefront o f t he ir vi cto rious banner.Gradually Vijaya S ena t he grandson of

S amanta S ena spread h is authority over the

w hole of Radha country ou st ing that of the

Pala and Varma kings. A bout th is t imehis kinsman Karnataka Nanyadeva trying t o

found an independent p rincipal ity w as defeated

and taken prisoner by Vijaya S ena w ho , on

his acknow ledging his al legiance gave him an

army w ith t he help o f w h ich he occupied

the t erri tory ofMith ila.” He w as aecom

panied t o his new kingdom by the brave

w arri or S ridhara Thakura d t In the h istory

ofMithila Nanyadeva figures as the founder

of the Karnataka house and Sridhara Thakur

13. Vide fl aw s or the Royal Dynasties ofBengal,P. 304 .

1 4. W m , as anms .m maffini am I

m ummfinwm qW.Wmlm moms r

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1 6 2 TH E S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

possession o f their new ly acqu ired kingdom.

The Palas o fMagadhn w ere making strenuou s

efforts to recover their l os t prov ince . I t w as

then that Ballala S ena the son o f Vij aya

S ena marched a t the head o f an army t o the

hel p of h is kinsmen in Mith ila. A ccordingt o the t radit i on cu rrent in Benga l tw o c ir

cumstances of great importance t ook place

du ring the expedi t ion v iz , the rumou r of h is

dea th w h ich w as spread in the country and

the birth of h is son L akshmana S ena in

Vikramapur. I t is obvi ous that L akshmana

E ra w as inaugurated in Mithilfi. t o com

memorate the second event .

I t w as no t only in th e re ign o f Nanyadeva

bu t a lso that o fhis su ccessor and du ring the

l ongm inistry of S ridhara that many Kayastha

from Benga l , e i ther on offi cia l bu siness orinduced by the t ies of re lat ionsh i p sett led in

Mithila. In the loca l chronicles they are said

t o have come from Karnata 1 and occu pied

l ike the descendants of S ridhara a very h igh

posit i on in the Kayastha C ommunity of that

country . Bodh i Rao o r Bodh i Dasa ,the son

of $ridhara ,acqu ired the fame of being the

greatest poe t in Mithila at h is t ime .

“ His

son A nanda -kara w as the ch ief m in ister t o

the king and one of the best pol it icians of his

t ime . S firya-kara Thaku r, his son ,is know n to

all the students of the socia l h istory ofMithila.

He w as the chief m inister of Raja Hari

1 7 . This Karunta was no other than the Kamata

S ettlement in the Rarha on the bank of the sacred Ganges.

1 8 . VideMithilaDarpana, pt I, p. 1 82 .

~

|A BR I E F HISTO RY on TH E G A URIPUR RA ] . 1 6 3

sinhadev'

h ,

j I t was he w ho through h is great

influen troduced the cu stom among the

Brahm and Kayasthas of preserving the ir

fami ly genea l ogy .

1 9 I t is stated in the fam il y

rds of the Brahmanas ofMithila that in

he 8 2 nd year of the reign of Raja Hari

sinhadeva in 1 2 4 6 S . E . (1 8 2 4: A . D .)2 0

the cu stom o f recording the genea logica l

accounts and measu res t o preserve t hem in

the fam ily,w as

'institu ted. The task of keepingthe records o f the Brahmana fam i l ies and those

o f the Kayasthas w as entrusted t o scholarly

Brahmanas and Kayasthas respect ive ly . The ir

descendant s are st ill fa i thfu lly dischargingtheir du t ies . InMithila they are honoured as

Pa 'nj iar.

In the fam i ly h istory w h ich w as composed

in the re ign o fRaja Harisinhadeva the l ine

of S uryakara Thaku r o f Balain had the fi rs t

place and w as es teemed as the leader of the

Kayastha community .

I t w as becau se he w as a Kayastha holdingthe fam i ly surname Dasa the name became a

dist inct i on and he and all h is relat i ves w ho

ow ned it became“K u l inas” among the

Kayastha community ”

of Mithila. S ome of

them obta ined the t i t le of “Ma l l ika A fter

the Dasas come the Devas and after them come

1 9. V ideMiihila Daipana, pt . I . p. 1 84 .

2 0. mmfast isefmama fi rhea fafaw fi l

m i aqfi gfi‘

sfifs‘

té s’

f {it"

saffluent} firfiq fla: l”

The ~Maith ilPanfiars .

1 6 4 TH E S O C IA L H ISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

the Kanthas and Dat tas in point t kihonou r

amoung Kayasthas o f Mithila .

“ a.

t is a

curious phenomenon tha t the social he‘lrarchy

w i th its carefu l ly regu lated marks of h onou r

apport i oned t o each fam i ly preva i ls inMithilij ust as it existed in the t ime of S urya-karatThakur.

Pritikara L akshmidasa ,the son of S firya

kara,neglected the affa irs of the w orld and

devoted h imse lf exclusive ly t o the study o f

scriptu res and the observance o f re l igiou s

ceremonies. His favourite son ,the famou s

A mrita-kara Thakur w as the ch ief m inister

of the ce lebrated Raja S ivasinha ofMith ilaand w as a great pat ron of pious and learned

men . O f h is tw o sons , V ij aya -kara and

Nitya-kara,

the grandson of the former

K rishna-kara Thaku r w as the m inister o f

king K ansanarayana ofMithila. O f the tw o

sons ofNityakara ,Ve lu and Narahari Dasa ,

the lat ter w as a S akta o f the h ighest type

and u sed off and on t o come over t oKamakhya.

A t the t ime w hen theMech ch iefVisvasinhaflourished Nat abari Dasa w as passing a

secluded l ife in a solitary cot tage at Kamakhya

w orsh ipping the goddess Mahasakti there .

A ccording t o the Brihat Rajavansavali

of Raja Harendranarayana of Koch Behar

Visvasinha at the t ime of his accessi on to the

throne brough t over a few scholarly Brahmanas

from Mithila among w hom the name of

S arvabhauma is famous in the o ld chroni cles

2 1 . Mithila Darpana, Vol. II. p. 2 7 .

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100

Payonidhi .

THE S O C IA L H IS TO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

in the state service o f Mith ili . Two sons

w ere born to Payonidh i after h is arriva l

a t Kamarupa . O f these tw o the e lder w as

K avikarnapu ra and the younger Vaninatha

K avindra Pfi tra . S ome say, Vaninatha w as

e lder a nd Kavikarnapu r his younger son . These

tw o brothers go t acquainted w ith many As‘as tras

from their grand- fath er and S Arvabhauma

Pandi t . S truck by the poet ic facu l ty o f

these tw o scho lars the socie ty o f the learnedcon

ferred u pon them the t i t les o f K avilcarna

pu ra and K avindra respec ti ve ly . Now K avi

ka rnapu ra w as a great favou ri te o f

Na rahari w hose spiritua l ity produ ced a deep

influence u pon h is m ind. From h is very

ch i ldhood he a lw ays lived by t he s ide

o f his grand-father and not iced carefu l ly the

da i ly religiou s funct ions performed by h im .

Hence w ith the grow th of h is know ledge he

t o o became very re l igi ou s , so mu ch so

that after the death of h is grand-fa ther he

embraced S annyasa .

A fter the dem ise o f Narahari the learned

S arvabhauma Thakur as the priest o fPayonidh i

performed the S radh ceremony of h is father.

Narahari be longed t o the Kasyapa go tra ,

w hereas S arvabhauma w as of the Vasistha

gotra . Now the gotra of the K shatriyas

w as ascerta ined by the gotra o f their

priest s and as su ch Payonidhi according t o

the advi ce of S arvabhauma accepted the

Vasishtha gotra at the t ime of the S radh

ceremony of h is father. A nd from that time

the descendants of K avindra Patra the son

A BR I E F H IS TO RY O F TH E GA URIPU R RA J .

o f Payonidhi, have been know n as bel ongingto the Vasiszha gotra .

2 2

Be ing great ly impressed w i th his intel l igence

and h is proficiency in scri ptu res , the kingVisva sinha appointed Payonidh i to the

o f h is C ou rt Pandi t and m inister.

h is influ ence , t he king became a’

great

o f S iva - S akt i,and exerted h im se lf

spread o f the w orsh i p o f Kamakhya De

A t the t ime’

ofVisvasinha’

s dea th ,t tw o

sons Ma l la and S ulrla w ere absent in enaras

w ith K avindra .

Ma l la o r Naranarayana ru led er K och

Behar'

from 1 5 5 4 A . D . to 1 5 8 7 . a long h is

longre ign K avindra Patra acted as h is m inis ter.

From] t he genea logica l h istory of the Daranga

Raj we learn tha t the prince S ukladhvaj a

accompanied by Kavindra Patra‘

reduced

t o su bm ission ,the w ho le of Kamaru pa , Mani

pu r , Jayanta ,T ipperah

,Heramba

,Haj o and

S y lhet . His reign is remembered as the goldenage in K och Behar w h ich at ta ined great fame

in re ligion, l i tera tu re , indu st ry and socia l

mat ters. Visva S inha tried t o en large his

kingdom and so came‘fiin confl ict w i th the

pow erfu l Kayastha Bhuiyas w ho he ld sw ay

over the su rrounding countries . He a t lastsu cceeded in overthrow ing their pow er. Whentheir influence w as t ota l ly destroyed Kavindra

Pat ra cau sed fourteen Kayastha‘

families t o

be brough t from Mithila ,Jessore and other

2 2 . A ccording to A svalayana S rauta- su tra (1 2 . 1 5 . 5 )“

writ s exam mm" 12. e. the Kshatriya should have a

gotra pravara ofhis priest.

1 6 7

T i l l} S o c iA L H IS TO RY 01° K AMA RUl'A .

places of Bengal t o supplant them and thus

to bu i ld anew the power and pres t ige o f t he

Kayasthas in this part o f the C ou ntry . I t

w as abou t this t ime that S ankara Dev a,the

great Kayas tha saint,w h o is be l ieved t o

be an incarna t ion o f Vishnu w as born and

preatzhed h is re l igi on.

Pat ra, (l ike his forefa ther w ho

by g the custom o f keeping genealo

gical\

\yegisters had kep t an au thorised record o f

the status ofthe Kayasthas o fMith ilfi.) recons

t rac ted ba l ines s imi lar t o'tho se o f h iszancces

to r,the Is‘yas tha communityo fKamarupa . A s

in Mithilap‘ so in K imarupa the Dasas are

regarded as“Ku linas”

,then come the Devas

and Dat tas in point of honou r in the socia l

h ierarchy . Th is order even now o tains

among the Kayasthas o fKainarupa .

Maharaja Naranarayana part i t i oned h is

extensive dominion into tw o parts assigningthe terri tory w h ich lay t o t he east

l

of the

river S anko sh t o his bro ther S ukladhvaj a

and reta ining tha t on the w est for h imself,

Thu s the river S ankos w as regarded as the

boundary betw een t il; two kingdoms.

In 1 5 8 7 A . D . the k ing Naranarayana died

and h is only son L akhm inarayana ascended

the throne of his father. He w as a w eak

m inded and vaci l lat ing prince and havingbeen m isled by the counse l of designingpeople

,be dism issed K avindra Patra , bu t

Raghudevanarayana w h o had su cceeded

S ukladhvaja t o th e throne of Kamaru pa

w elcomed him t o his C ourt and appointed

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THE S O C IA L HIS TO RY O I? K AMA RUPA .

t ime, that for the first t ime , th is port i on o f

Kamaru pa came under the Mah omedans .

Rangamat i became the headquarters of the

Kanungo and K avindra Patra began to

acqu ire by di verse means , landed estates ,and

thu s became a pow erfu l Z em indar.

The fou r S ircars o f w h i ch K avindra Patra

became a K anungo w ere the S ircar Kamarupa,the S ircar Daksh inakala

, S ircar Dhekri

and S ircar Bangal -bhum . These comprised

the ex tensi ve terri tory betw een Rangpu r

and Gauha ti over wh ich Kavindra

Patra go t the righ t of exercising h is

pow er. The S sm adszw h ich he and h is descen

dants recei ved from the E mperor conferred

on them the righ t of exercising ext raordinary

jurisdict ion in crim ina l , civi l as w e l l as revenue

mat ters of the prov ince. In 1 606 , Kavindra

Patra started for De lhi and it is probable that

next year he came back invested w ith the office

ofK anungo of the fou r S ircars . I t w as through

h is efforts that Maharaja L akshminarayana

w as forced to acknow ledge the suzera inty

of the Delh i E mperor.

In 1 6 2 1,Raja L akshminarayana died

harbou ring t o the last dayof h is l ife i l l -feel ingt ow ards KaVindra Patra . His successor

Raja Viranarayana began slow ly t o l ose

many of his possessi ons ow ing t o internal

d isturbances in the S tate.

K avindra had six sons namely Raghunath ,

Kavivallabha ,Vishnudeva , Mahadeva ,

N iranjan and Nityanand. Raghunath for

A BRI E F HISTO RY O F THE GA URIPUR RA J . 1 7 1

his w ide educat ion and scholarsh ip,obtained

the t it le ofK avi - sekhara .

The name of the second is no t express ly

me nt ioned in the genea l ogy bu t from the

t it le ofK aviva llabha by w h ich he w as known

it is clear that he t o o was famous as a

sch olar and a poet . In the t ime of Viranarayana , the king of K och Behar

,K avi

shekhar w as s l ow ly rising int o prominence .

The S anad w h ich he rece i ved from the

E mperor Jahangir in 1029 11 (1 6 20 A D .)after the death ofhis father is st i l l preserved

among'the arch i ves of the Gau ri pu r E state .

It maybe inferred from th is document that

K avindra died sometime before 1 6 1 9. O ne of

the many S cmads ofwh ich K avisekhar w as

a recipient a t the hands ofJahangir reconfers

o n h im those revenue- free lands w h ich w ere

bestow ed on his predecessor by the previ ous

E mperor. Great ly pleased w i th his adm inistra

t ive ski ll the E mperor Jahangir further

grantee} h im 8. S amuel in 1 04 5 H. (1 6 3 5 A D .)by w h ich extensive revenue-free estates w ere

added t ris a lready considerable possessions .

In some of the S anads recei ved by him,he

is even ment ioned as the K anungo (if the

S ubafi/ Koch Behar from w h ich it maybe

infgz’

red that he go t h imself connected w ith

K och Behar . Th is view rece ives support

from the S tate-papers of K och Behar

from w h ich w e learn that during the reign

of Raja Prananarayana ,K avisekhara w as

associated w ith the administrat ion of his

k ingdom . A ccord ing to the au thor of A ss am

Kavi

vallabha.

Kavisekhar.

1 72

Jayananda.

THE S O C IAL nxsronv or II A n A RImA .

Buranj i Kavisekhara was a cou rt Pand i tofRajaPrananarayana .

O fthe three sons of K aviselchara, S rinath ,

Ku sanath and Harinandana, the e ldest w as

known by his t i t le “Kaviratna Barua Herece ived from the E mperor S hahjahan and

A u rangzeb S anacl wh ich confirmed him in the

Kanungoship of the aforesaid four S ircars.

Besides th is he was the reci pien t of vari ou so ther S anads in recogni tion ofhis good servicesand from one ofw h ich w e learn that Kaviratna

(the son ofKav i - sekhara ) w ho was appointedt o the post of the Kanungo , hav ing disobeyed

the orders of the E mperor in conjunc ti on

w ith Prananfirayana and thereby commi tted

the crime of treason is deposed in favour

of Jayananda the son o f his brother

Kavivallabha . Thus the tw o most pow erfu l

men of the North Benga l viz,

Raja

Prananarayana and K aviratna acted inKaviratna. cl ose agreement even against the E mperor.

L

l

The t it le ofRaja by wh ich Kavisekhara w as

decorated by the Imperial S anad is st il l

u sed by h is successors. Devaraj" t

he son

of Kaviratna was able to restore h imself to

the favours of the E mperor and refleive from

him a S anad in 1 6 6 5 A D .i

Q

Kaviratna had three sons ndf’ i ed

respect ive ly Devaraja,

Goku lchand and

G 'fl fulcband Harihara ,A fter the death of Devaraja

Gokulchand h e ld the post of the Kanungo

for some years . During h is t ime he endeared

h imse lf to the people of the province by many

a meritorious acts. He made endowmentsat his

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TI I E S O C IA L I I I STO RY O F K AMA RUI’ A .

Barua. We further know from the circu lar

o f the C a lcu tta Board of the Hon’

ble the

E ast India C ompany that ow ing to the

fai lu re o f Ba laram C haudhuri and subsequent

Z emindars to submi t their revenue at the

proper t ime, some arrangements w ere made

abou t the ir estates w i th Bu l C handra Barua.

From th is it mav be inferred that he come

into possessi on o f severa l new properties .

In the t ime of h is son Vira C handra Barua

the decennia l set t lement w as made by the

E ast India C ompany . A bou t th is t ime ,Balitanarayana ,

the Raja ofBijni w as subj ected

t o considerable i ll-t reatment a t t he hands of

the offi cers O f t he E ast India C ompany .

Through the e lfo rts o f Vira C handra Barua,

the oppressi ons from w h ich the Raja of Bijni

was suffering, w ere pu t a st op t o by the

then G overnor Genera l in C ounci l . In

recognit i on of the services of Vira C handra,the

Rajagranted him many rent -free lands .

I t has been previ ously ment ioned that

Rangamati w as the seat o f th is fam i ly from

the t ime ofKavindra Barua. In the documents

during the Mahommedan t ime and the ru le of

the E ast India C ompany,the head of the

fami ly w as styled as the Raja or Barua of

Rangamati . In the beginning of the C ompany’s

ru le in Bengal , the Z emindar o fRangamati had

t o send in t o the C ol lector at Rangpu r 2 1

e lephants as his port i on of the revenu e . Bu t

the expenses of mainta ining these animals

w ere so great , that the C ompany did no t

derive any profit by sel l ing them.I t w as

A BRIE F HISTO RY O F THE s A URIPUR RM.1 7 5

for th is reason that in 1 7 84 the C ompany’

st

annu a l revenue from t he Z em indars w as C handra,

assessed at a cash sum ofRupees 8 101 wh ichBam a ‘

w as subsequ ent ly ra ised to 4 2 2 1 . O n the

death of Vira C handra h is w idow Jay-Durga

adopted Dhiraehandra , son o fGun

7 th in descent from K avi - vallabha brother o f

K avisekhar. He w as fond of l iving in princely

pomp and splendou r. He O pened a S adavram.

His w ife the late Tarinipriya Baru ani w as

a piou s lady . To encou rage S anskrit learningshe O pened a C ’lzatuspafhi at Gau ripur.

Dhir’

achandra w as succeeded by his son pm tap

Pratap C handra . He S h ifted h is residence from C handra“

Rangfimat i t o Gau ripu r in 1 8 5 0. Here he opened

free Middle E ngl ish S chool and a charitable

Dispensary . He w as a grea t patron of learning.

The co st o fpubl ish ing an edit ion of Yogavasis

tha Ramayana w as ent ire ly borne by him . In

1 8 6 9 ,h e made a free -gift O f Dhubri t o the

Government fo r the headquarters of the district Free gift ofw hen it w as transferred fromGoa l para . Bu t the

Dhubri'

most em inent o fh is publ ic services w as the hel p

w h ich he rendered to the Government du ringthe Bhu tan w ar Probably it w as in

recognit i on of th is service that the t it le O fRai

Bahadur w as conferred on h im . I t w as

apparent that the representat ive of the

Rangamat i Baru as w ho enj oyed the dist inc t ion

O f the t it le o f Raj a from the t ime ofJahangir

> cou ld hardly look u pon a Rai Bahadurship

w ith any th ing l ike a mark of honour befit tingthe tradit ions ofhis fam i ly . Fo r this

,he did not

attend the Darbar he ld to confer honours, bu t

TH E S O C IA L H ISO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

Barua. We frther know from the c ircu lar

of the C a lcuta Board of the Hon’ble the

E ast India Zompany that ow ing to the

fa i lu re of Baa ram C haudhuri and subsequent

Z emindars t c submi t the ir revenue at the

proper t ime,ome arrangement s w ere made

abou t the ir etates w i th Bu l C handra Barua.

From th is itmay be inferred that he come

into po ssessin o f severa l new propert ies .

In the t ime 0 his son Vira C handra Barn-3

the deeennialset t lement w as mad; by the

E ast India Iompany. A bou t th is t ime,

Balitanarayan ,the Raja ofBijni w as subj ected

t o considerab i ll- t reatment a t t he hands of

the O ffi cers f t he E ast India C ompany .

Through the [forts o f V ira C handra Barua,

the O ppressi on from w h ich the Raj -3. of Bijni

w as su ffering w ere pu t a st op t o by the

then G overnr Genera l in C ou nci l . In

recogn it i on o fhe services o f Vira C handra,the

Rajagranted lm many rent -free land s .

I t has bcn previou slv ment ioned that

Rangamati w s the seat o f th is fam i ly from

the t ime ofK aindra Barua. In the documents

during the Mhommedan t ime and the ru le of

t he E ast Inta C ompany,the head of the

fam i ly w as syled as the Raj -3 o r Barua of

Range—

Imati . Irthe beginning o f the C ompany ’s

ru le in Benga the Z emindar O fRangamati had

t o send in t rthe C ol lec tor at Rangpu r 2 1

e lephants as is port i on o f the revenu e . Bu t

the expenses of mainta ining the

w ere so gret , that the C omp

deri ve any psfit by se l l i

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1 70 Tu t; soo t -u , m sromr o p K AMARUPA .

w hen Mr C ampbel l the Depu ty C omm iss ionercame t o Gau ri pu r to personal ly present the

S anad to h im he had to accep t it,t o avo id

be ing misrepresented as disl oya l and

discou rteou s. I t is a w e l l -know n fac t tha tMrC ampbe ll w as no friend o f the Z em indarsand th is is amply borne ou t by Government

reco rds as w e ll as severa l measu res that he

i ni ti ated w h ich ran against the inte rests o f th e

Z eminclarydu ring h is administra t ion . Th is l edt oanu nfo rtu nate m isu nderstanding betw eenMrC ampbe l l and Pratfip C handra . He had a lw aysfe l t that Mr C ampbe l l had hardly been fai r in

h is deal ings w i th h im and th is w el lmeant act ion o f the Government Viz z— the

bestow a l of Rai Bahadu rship w as takenrather as an affront under w h ich he smarted

t o the last day of h is l ife . He died Wi thou theirs in 1 8 80 and K umar Prabhat C handra

Barua, w as adopted by h is w idow,Rani Bhabz

’

m i

Priya.

Rani Bhabani-priya w as a lady of piou s

and benevolent d isposit ion . The most notable

o f her many beneficient publ ic acts w as the

opening of a S atra at Benares Gangamahalla.

Here 2 5 Brahm ins are fed dai ly free o f cost .

S he died in Benares in 1909 at the ripe,

old age of7 7 .

Raja Prabhat C handra Barua at tained

his maj ori ty in 1 8 96 and received the t it le

of ma as a personal dist inct i on in 1901 . He'

raised theMiddle E ngl ish S choo l founded by

his father t o the status of a High E ngl ish

S chool in 1899. He founded a publ ic l ibrary

A BRI E F HISTO RY O F THE ew mpvn RAJ.

at Dhubri and named it after the Hon’ble S ir

H. I . 8 . C ot ton,C . C . of A ssam.

His numerou s public act ivit ies and the

improvements effected in h is own'

E state are

t o o w e l l-known in A ssam . He w as married

t o Ran i S aroj -Bala Barnani'

in 1 896 . The

Ran i comes from the w el l -know nMaliapuru sliiyafam i ly ,

of S ankaradeva and is herse lf a

w e l l - educated lady o f remarkably piou s and

chari table dispos it i on and h as a lso fu l ly kept

up the orthodox re l igi ous tradit ion of the

Gau ripur fam i ly . Her unt imely death is‘

m ourned by all. The ma has 3 sons and

2 daugh ters

Kumar Pramathesh C handra Barua,

B .S c . born in 1908 and graduated

in S cience from the C alcu tta Pre

sidency C ol lege in 192 4 . Marriedt o BadhfiraniMadhu rfl ata, daughterof Babu Birendra Nath Mitra of

the w e l lknown Kayastha fam i ly

of S im la , C a l cu t ta .

Rajkumari N iharm aborn in 1905 and

married t o S rij u t Mu kunda Nara

yana Barua , B. A . in 1 9 17 .

Rajkumari N i l ima. S undari born in

1 91 0 and married t o S rij u t S antosh

Kumar Baru a,B. A . in 1 92 2 .

r Kumar Prakrit ish C handra Barua born

in 19 14 and is edu cated at home .

Kumar Pranabesh C handra Barua born

in 1918 .

1 77

m s socu x. met oav or xsnaaupi .

Pedigree ofGauripur Raj .

1 . Mankha Dasa (inhabitant ofRé rha)2 . Tankapani (came to Dharmapala

's

C ou rt at Patalipu tra . )

3 . C hakrapani

4\ S ara Dasa

(left Pi taliputra for North Benga l . )I

5 . S ridhara.

1Bhudhara 6 . Gadfidhara

(S ettled inRarha)Q

7 . Rajyadhara (set t led in Koch Behar).

8 . L rjya S ridharaal ias L aksmikara

9. sulapsni ailias Vansidasa

1 0. Pinékapani

1 1 . Tankapani

1 2 . Ratnapani

1 3 . Narasinha Dasa

I I l1 4 . Batu Dian Patn Dasa Bhuvana

lS ridhara Dasa

‘

(author of S uktikarnimtitag

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THE S O C IA L HISTO RY O F K AMA RUPA .

R avindra Patra (Vide A ppendix I I , p. 6 6

K aviselthar 1 Vishnudeva Mahadeva Niranjan

K aviratna 4 Harinandan Bli oj adeva S ankar 2 Madhu sudan SDevaraj 5 Nanda Prithi 9 K unjabhu san

Ramgopal

Deviprasad 6 Goku l

S u rya C hand 1 Gopal Balchand 1 1

V ishnu chand 8 Bu lchand 1 2

Rah iu s t an i,1 038 Hij ree . He was a. favo u rite o f the E mpero r and

had been a llow ed the Das tu r and Naukar charges for h is loyaltyand fo r c rrrying ou t the o rde rs o f the offi c ers .

(2 ) sa nka r— was made Kanoongo from th e beginn ing of the

Rab i season o f 1063 Perganat i. He was a lso allow ed the Dastur.

(3 ) Madhu sudan - Who was a. Kanoongo ,was mu rdered by Dilj i t

C haudhu ry. His son Kanjwan rece ived a gran t from A lamgirBads hah on the 5 th S afa r 43 C O t t O S pO Ddlng wi t h 1 108 Bengali, and

was made C haudhu ryin place o f Di lj it , the mu rderer o f h is father.

(4 ) K abra tan— (I OS Q H) he ld th e po s t o f Kanoongo for a long t ime .

(5 ) Deh rai — S on o f Kabratan received a gran t from Nawab

Baho rima l on the 9th Pha lgo on ,1 205 B. S . He was an able young man

and a grea t favo u rite o f the tenan ts . He was made Kanoongo after

h is fa ther's death .

(6 ) De vipra sad— received a Sanad from the E mperor on the 6 th

Pha lgoon ,1 205 B. S . w h ich con fi rmed him in the post o f the Kanoongo

alreadyh eld byh im .

(7 ) S u i-ad C hand - received a S anad from th e E mperor on th e 2 5 th

Ramzan,39th year o fHisMaj es ty’s re ign wh ich conferred upon h im

th e po s t o f Kanoongo t ha t was formerly h eld by Deviprasad.

(8 ) Bisan C ha nd — reccived a. S anad from th e E mperor on the 13thA sw in 1 144 B. S . wh ich conferred upon him the post o f Naib (agent )t o th e Kanoongo .

(9 ) Prithi Da s— received a S anad from the E mperor on the 9th

Phalgo on 1 206 B. S . which con ferred upon h im the po s t o f C howdhu ryo f Fe rganas J amra

,S arkar Dekhri be longing to the Thane. Rangama t i.

(1 0) Du rgaprnaad— received a S anad from E mpero r S hah A lam

(11 81 H) on the 1 7 th Jamadiu h awwal 1 2 th Ja lo o s , wh ich conferred

upon h im the pos t o f Kanoongo . O n th e 17 th Rabial awwa l, 6 th yearo f the reign o f His Imperial Maj esty, h e received a S anad wh ich ,

conferred u pon h im the post o f O hdedar o f th e Pe rgana A u rangabad.

(1 1 ) Be l C hand ~ received a S anad from Mahammu d Fu rrakh

S iyar on the 2nd Rabial awwa 17 th year o f His Maj es ty’s reign ,wh i ch

conferred upon h im the pos t o f C haudhu ry o f the Fergana Ghorla.S arkar Bekh ri

,appe rtaining to th Thana Rangamat i.

(1 2 ) Bu l C hand— re ceived the po s t o f Kano ongo (6 th Phalgun ,1205'

B . S . ) and that o f C howdhuryo f 1 erganas Ghorla , Jamra etc.

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Fam ily of S ubhadra A i, the great grand daghtcr of

S ankaradeva .

Ri mdeva Gabharu -

gi ri (Kasyapa gotra )

9 . (Married S u bhadra. daugh ter o f C ha tu rbh uj a Thaku r1nd grea t grand daugh ter o f S a uka radc va )

1 0. A nanta Raya

I-Ia ri K c sh . « a Jadav Madhava VishnuRay Ray Ray

‘r

1 3 . ] agadish C h itra Khuman Kan-ZnPrabodh Mani1 4 . S arikanta

1 5 . Navakfinta

1 6 . Jadu Madhu‘ Dharma Padma Bhava 1 6 . Pu rna

1 7 . Mah i Rudra Narendra

C handra Kanta

1 7 . Bhaba 1 Jada DevK anta C handra

1 6 . Madhu Jr 1 1 . Vishnu Ray

1 7 . Ba l i Phani Bam Ra t i S hyéma K ama ladhar dev Kanta Ray Kanta

1 8 .Makardhvaj a Dharma Giridhar A na th

K anta

1 3 . R aghu nath Trahinath Ramnath Bho lanath

1 4 . Damodarl

1 5 . Ghanakanta

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Family ofHaripala Bhu iya.

(Z illa K amarup— Village Bakoa .)

1 . K rishnakanta (Gotra A lamyana .)

2 . Vishnukanta a l ias Haripala

3 Gayapala

4 . Ramapala

5°

Janardana S arasva t i

6 . Govinda (Dighalapuriya G iri)

Madhavadeva 7 . Damodara (Unknow n)

8 . Ramarudra

9 . A nirulddha

1 0. Bhavasindhu

1 1 . S ivasindhu

1 2 . j agatbandhu

1 3 . Pat itapavana

Banamal i

1 5 . Rama Pat oari A chyu tananda Bhu iya

1 6 . Gh anasyama Kamadeva Mohana Raya Devaraja.

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Family ofS ridhara Bhuiya

Pargfina S aruksheti— V i l lage Ghilfij i ri

I . S ridhara Bhu i ya G o t ra Kai syapa )

2 . Gadi dhara Bhu iyfi.

3 . G obardhana Bhu iyz‘

v.

8 . Fan ia a l ias Pfimindra Bara Kayastha(wan t ing 3 gene rat io n )

1 2 . A niruddha

I 3 , Pitimbara

I 4 . j anfirdana al ias Di napatiMazumdfir

1 5 . Khagesvara C haudhu r i

1 6 . A bhimanyu Talukdz‘

u G iridhara

I 7 . Dharanidhara C haudhuxi

1 8. Ranidhara C haudhur i

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46

Family of C hirannnda Bhu iya Bfillgaon

l . C hin‘

manda or C hirapati go tta)

.z. Narapat i Bi ligixon

3. Um fipati 3. .Manapati

4 . Ranj i t Ray 4 . Ramapati

Purnachandra 5 . G irishchandra

6. N irmalachandra

6 . Kalikama Madhu chandlaK irtichandra

Padma RiyBalikarifi. )8 . Maheschandra

9. hf

‘

Ianikachandra

10 . Hridayachandra

I l . G o vindachandra

1 2 . Jaga tchandra A jayachandca

I 3. Jayachandra

1 4 . Bahu chandra

1 5 . Harada lchandra

1 6 . Uttamaehandra

r7 . L akshaDhanirdma Dat ta Pand i t Jagesvara Mahidha ra

Dat ta Dat ta Pand i t

1 3 . Prabhata ch. Nabi n C handra S urachandraDana Dat ta Da t ta

Fam ily ofS ridhara Bhu iya6 . larihar

ITapodhan (Pakoa) budhana Talukdfi r

8 . Dasarath L aksman

9 . l ndra J ivadhan Pa toa r i

I o . A nurfigi K r i shna

l l . Pu rnanand Ram i pati

1 2 . D amodarDhanapati

1 3 . G ovardhanC h i l a Kahapani

1 4 Vishnu ram Pato i ri

Ramsing lx5 . Maya ram Kakat i G 0pa S abha

‘

.

Bholanath il

G erapati Puma

S ama tan

7 . S udhana Ta l ukda r Makhibaha)8 . Jayanarayana h i s son 9. Bhavananda

l o . Dhanesvar Bama Da t ta Raghunath

l l . A rtarim I A mbarish

(Bara A m i n) Syfimané rfiyana HaraDat taDhanapai i

L akshman Padmapani

Kenarim L filmani

K r ishna Rama

Dattanarayana S abhfi.

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The Family ofHarivallabh Bhu iya (Dwz‘

u a Barua)

(o r ig i na l home Kuyfinbhfigl de scendan t o fL o hfibara

9. Harivallabh (Dw a’

i r Barua)

l o . Va l labh Rfiy(DwarB aru i )

RaghuR i ya

Kalyé n Rfiya I I . Bhagava ta S undara Binanda

Raya

(Bujhar Barua ) (Bujhar Ba rua.)

1 2 . V ijaya

1 3 . G aja Ray

14w Vafi siriya I4 . Raghav Raye} Rud ra Raya Du rjana

1 5 . L akshm i Raya

1 6 . Paramananda

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Gauripur Raj a Fam ily

5 . Ku sfinz‘

xtha (Um fis u ndara o r Umi nanda Baru i )

6 . Jagajj ivana 6 . Ramaj ivana

(Righavendra) w ife A halyi

7 . S ri pat i (Nandakiso ra) 7 . Nandali la

w ife C handram sli w ife S atyabhi m i

A

o . G au rinandana Bhavi minandana Raghunandana

(left no issu e) (w ife L akshm ipriyfi) (le ft no issu e )

9 . Hemani riyana Bhairavachandra Nam e u nknow n

(w ife Kamalesvari) (Wife Vidyfil) (daughter married to

Rudrapati Barua)

m . Bhé ratachandra daugh ter) Bima li

(w ife Ratnesvari) (married to Tilakchandra Baru i )

l daughter Rambhi vati

(married toS uklachandra Barua.)

G au ripur Rzijn Family

8 , R i macham lra (Haralflla)Tw o Wives

1 s t S rima ti2 nd Ri sesvari

9 . Harakisoxa Barua, Krishnakisora Barua daughter Jhfipuri(married to

l I D inanatha Barui

l o . A mandali iso ra daughter

A nandamayi

l I . G indhara (Kisorikisora) Bafi sidhara (L alitakisora)

Gau ripur Raj a Fam ily

6 . R imaj ivana Barua.

7 . Krishnajivana Visl'nuprasi da G au riprasz‘

ida

(le ft no issu e )G afigfiprasfida

8 . L akshm ipraséda Kamakhyfiprasfida

(left no issu e) (w ife Sy'

alndri)

9 , I—lemani rayana Brajendrané ré-yanaBaru i Barua

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[ 7 3 ]

G auripur Rfij n Fam ily

5 . Harinandana Barufi 1

6 . Brajamohan Baru i Nandanandana C handrakanta Barua

(left no issu e) Barua. (left no issu e )

7 . Ri magopz‘

i la S C handragopi la Nandagopala

(Tw o w ives the name (left no issu e) (left no issue)o f o ne w as Padmapriyfi,the name o f the o theris no t know n)

8 . HaragO pr‘

i la Du rgaprasada daugh ter

(left no issue ) i (left no issue) (name unknown)

f The re is a sanad dated i 4th Falguna B. S . 1 1 1 2 granted to

Harinandan Kanungo i byRani S atyabat t Debfi l giving him free of rent

certain K ismats in the Parganas of Bi hirband and dhitarband.

He got a sanad from Ram S atyabati on the n th Falgoon

1 133 B. S . for building a dwelling house. He was also given rent

free land in Yabakpur.

3; O n the 5th A grahayana of 1 2 15 B. S . Durgé prasada Barau

made a gift ofhis ancestral tanks of Syampur, Putimari and Baniarkuti

as well as some Khamar land to Dhirachandra Barua the grandso of

Bulchandra Barua bymeans of a Hebanama. O ne o f the wit esse s

a ttesting this Hebanama was Gangaprasi d Datta the the great-

grand

father ofS atis C handra l arva.

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llhnvanan’

tla 05 20l 2 5

llhavaninzttha 5

Bhnvaninatha K hasnabis 76

llhe tl iln 3 6

Bheragrama 1 8

l -lhimasuna

Bho javarman 1 5 6

Bho khara 3 6

Bho ta 6 2

B ho tan 2 4

Bho t iya 1 2 , 19,Bhuiyas 3 2

,6 4

Bhu t ias 105

Bhuvan 1 5 9

Bh uvanesvari 1 12,1 49

B ili iupuria Madhava A ta 1 2 4

B i la Napatipara 1 48

Birnpaksha Pandit 1 69

Bodh i Dasa 1 6 2

Bodh i Rao 1 6 23

Brahmaknnda 1 30

Brahma Haridasa 1 4 2

Brahmananda 5

Brahmananda Bhatta

charya 70

Brahmaputra 2 4,98

Brihatbhadra 2 4

Brihat Rajavansavali 1 6 1

Buda K han 8 2 1 95 , 96

Buda Raya D 90 5 0

Bul C handra Barua 1 73 , 1 74

Baradia 4 8

C ampbel l 1 7 6

C hagokina 1 20

C hakadasa 1 5 3

C hakradhvaja 2 9

C hakrapaniDasa 1 5 3 ,1 33

C hamaguri 1 2 7,1 33

C hamariya S atra 1 18

C hamuya 2 4

C hand S hah 109

C handra 2 2

C handraprabha 7 1

C handra S ekhar 26 , 2 7

C han K ham Gharsandikai 2 8

C hanugiri 8 , 2 2

C lmo lmlui 10

C han t Bhuiya 2 3,40,

C lmtan 1 2 5

C hatu rbhuja Bapu 2 5

C hatu rbhu ja Thakura 1 114 , 3 8

(Thml lkhoa

C hedi

C hhamnka

C hh ekera tu liyaGo liinatllA ta

C h itlananrla

C hikrallari

C h i la Raya 2 3 , 5 3 , 6 5 ,

C hirabari S atra

C h irananda

C hirapati Datta 20

C hirapati Bh u iya 8

C h uklungm ung 1 7

Daityari Thakura 8 2 .

Dakshina K nla 5 1 . 10

Dalagoma

Damodara 1 8 , 102 , 1 16 , 1 18 ,

1 2 1 , 1 2 6 , 1 33, 1 43 , 1 4 5

Damodara A ta 2 0 1 2 8

Damodara C hari ta 5

Damodara Deva 5,2 5 , 109 ,

Damodariya sec t 102 , 1 46

Dandapani 1 2 8

Daranga-Rajavansavali

5 4

2

6 4

1 34

49,83

1 5 6 1 63

1 5 9

Devidasa

l levidasa UkilD eviprasad

D hanesvara 6 5

D hapargudi 1 1 8

D harmai 1 19

DharmadevaBaraK ayastha 76D harmadevaMahanta 1 2 8

Dharmanarayana 2

Dharmapala 1 5 4

D harmaraja 5 2

Dhavako ta 1 2 5

D hokri 1 80

D henga

DhimajiDh ira C handra

Dasa

D huaro la

Dhubri

D ic haiD ighali S atra 1 33

D ighalpur 1 1

] ) 1g11 3 11 $1) 1 2 7

D ighalpurin , giri . 1 7

Dill ingia Bara Baru a 1 3 3

D ikh aimukh b 1 2 5

D inanath 2 6 , 2 7

D ipala 1 34

D ivakara 2 2 , 6 5

D uari Barua 1 33

D ulijan 1 2 5

Durga 5 6 , 69, 104

D urga Dasa 6 5 , 7 5

D urga Prasad 109

D uria-bha Naranarayan 4,5 ,

7 , 8 , 1 2 , 14 , 30

Du rlabhendra 2 8

Dvaraka A ta 1 2 5

E katanipara 1 2 7

Fangna 2 8

Gadadhara 16 19,20

Gadadhara A ta 1 2 5

G ada K ata 36 , 2 3 , 1 32

Gadapani 1 33

Gamatha 44 , 109

Gamatha Vansavali 32 , 4 1

Gandharva Bhu iya 8 , 2 1 , 4 1

Gandharva RayaGandhia Barua 133

Gangman 95

Garga Narayana C haudhary 2 5Garhgaon 23

Ganda 7 , 5 4

Gauhati 40

Gauri -kanta 5

Gaurinath

G auripati

GauripurGayapalaGayapaniGhurla

Gho raghata

Gh ilajhariGh os

‘na

Ghosharatna

\G0k11 1 fh‘ia

G oku l C handG o le A lamganjG opala 1 8 , 1 1 9, 1 2 1 , 1 2 2 , 1 2 7

Gopal A ta 1 2 8

G opaladeva 1 39

Gopinath 1 3 1

G oshain Kamala 6 1

G ovardhan 19

G ovenda 49, 1 24

G ovinda A ta 1 2 5 , 1 2 8

G ovinda Bh u iya 1 7,1 8 , 2 2

Govinda Das 1 19

GovindaMisra 5

GovindapriyaGovindapurGovinda Vansavali

Guabara

G uagachha

Gumbh iri

Gunamala

Guru - charitra

HahangaHajoHaladhara DasaHaladibaria BaraMukunda

A ta

Hal lal K hanflara

IIarai O bb ia Brilmri A ta 12 4

l lara-

gauri- samvada 2 6

Hara- ka- knch i 1 8

Narendra 4 1 , 4 5

Harendranarayana 1 6 4

Harl 6

Hari Bapu 1 24

Hari Bhagavati 1 2 5

Hari Bharati 1 30

Hari - charana 2 5,12 1 , 1 2 6 , 1 2 7

I laricharan A ta 1 2 5

I laricharan Thakur 1 33

I Iari C haudhuri 6 5

Haridasa 4 2 , 109, 1 4 1

Harideva 2 , 49, 102 ,

Hari-hara 1 72

Hari K o ti 2

Harimanu 2 2

HariMlsra 1 2 5

Harinanda Bhandara Kayastha7 6

Harinandana 1 7 2

Haripala 8, 1 7 , 1 8 , 2 1

Harisinhadeva 1 63

Harivarma 1 5 5

IIarivara 1 19, 1 2 2

HariyaMandal 36,3 7 , 38

HariyaMech 37

Hayagriva-Madhava 148

Hengalia 1 2 7

B aramba 1 6 7

Heramba Rays 108

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