Kamata Kingdom

Kamata Kingdom
c. 1257–1587
CapitalKamarupanagara (present-day North Guwahati)
Kamatapur (present-day Gosanimari)
Common languagesEarly Assamese (eastern part), Proto Kamta (western part)
Religion
Hinduism
Historical eraLate Medieval period
• Established by Sandhya
c. 1257
• Durlabh Narayan receives Candivara
1330
• Sasanka seizes power
1365
• Niladhwaj establishes Khen dynasty
1440
• Alauddin Hussain Shah defeats the last Khen ruler
1498
• Biswa Singha forms the Koch dynasty
1515
• Division of Koch dynasty into Koch Hajo and Koch Bihar
1587
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Pala dynasty (Kamarupa)
Koch Bihar
Koch Hajo
Today part ofIndia (North Bengal, Lower Assam)
Bangladesh

The Kamata Kingdom (pron: ˈkʌmətɑ) emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE.[4] Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, and since it covered most of the western parts of it, the kingdom is also sometimes called as Kamarupa-Kamata.

It covered a region corresponding to present-day undivided districts of Kamrup, Goalpara, Jalpaiguri, and Cooch Behar district in India and Rangpur and northern parts of Mymensingh in Bangladesh.[5] The rise of the Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the history of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The last rulers were the Khens, who were later displaced in 1498 by Alauddin Hussain Shah, the ruler of the Bengal Sultanate. Though Hussain Shah developed extensive administrative structures, he lost political control to a confederation of Baro-Bhuyan within a few years.[6]

Biswa Singha removed the Baro-Bhuyan confederacy and established the Koch dynasty soon, in 1515.[7] The Koches were the last to call themselves Kamateshwars (the rulers of Kamata), but their influence and expansions were so extensive and far-reaching that their kingdom is sometimes called the Koch Kingdom. In the same century the kingdom split in two: Koch Bihar and Koch Hajo. The eastern kingdom, Koch Hajo, was soon absorbed into the Ahom kingdom in the 17th century. The western portion of the Kamata kingdom, Koch Bihar continued to be ruled by a branch of the Koch dynasty and later merged with the Indian territory after the independence of India from the British domain.[8] The boundary between Koch Bihar and Koch Hajo is approximately the boundary between West Bengal and Assam today.

  1. ^ "639 Identifier Documentation: aho – ISO 639-3". SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics). SIL International. Retrieved 29 June 2019. Ahom [aho]
  2. ^ "Population by Religious Communities". Census India – 2001. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved 1 July 2019. Census Data Finder/C Series/Population by Religious Communities
  3. ^ "Population by religion community – 2011". Census of India, 2011. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. 2011census/C-01/DDW00C-01 MDDS.XLS
  4. ^ "Kamarupa was reorganized as a new state. 'Kamata' by name with Kamatapur as capital. The exact time when the change was made is uncertain. But possibly it had been made by Sandhya (c1250-1270) as a safeguard against mounting dangers from the east and the west. Its control on the eastern regions beyond the Manah (Manas river) was lax." (Sarkar 1992, pp. 40–41)
  5. ^ "Broadly speaking it included the districts of Kamrup, Goalpara, Koch Bihar, Rangpur, and some portions of Mymensingh." (Sarkar 1992, p. 39)
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference baruah-daniel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "The kingdom again passed on to the rule of the Bhuyans till the rise of the Koches in about 1515 AD." (Baruah 1986:181)
  8. ^ "Historical Acts/Statements of Cooch Behar". Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.