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Biswa Singha
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| Biswa Singha | |
|---|---|
| Reign | 1515–1540 |
| Coronation | 1515 |
| Predecessor | None |
| Successor | Nara Narayan |
| Issue | Nara Narayan, Chilarai |
| Dynasty | Koch dynasty |
| Father | Hariya Mandal |
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| History of Assam |
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Biswa Singha (1515—1540) was the progenitor king of the Koch dynasty of the Kamata kingdom. Bisu[1] was born to a Mech father and a Koch mother[2] in the present-day Kokrajhar district, Assam who after being Hinduised acquired the name Biswa Singha.[3] He was able to unify different Bodo-Kachari tribal groups[4] against the Baro-Bhuyans of Assam and establish a kingdom the remnant of which still exists today.
Establishment of the Koch dynasty[edit]
After break-up of the Kamarupa kingdom in the 12th century, its territories were divided among small kingdoms, local chiefs and landlords. To the very east emerged the Chutia, Ahom and the Kachari kingdoms.[5] To their west was the region of the Baro-Bhuyans that formed the buffer between the eastern kingdoms and the Kamata kingdom. In 1498, Alauddin Hussain Shah the Sultan of Bengal attacked Nilambar, the king of Kamata, and occupied it. He left the region in the hands of his son Daniyal, who was attacked and defeated by a confederation of Bhuyan landlords led by Harup Narayan. The Bhuyans succeeded in removing the conquerors, but they failed to create a kingdom and instead maintained their fiefdoms.
In that political vacuum, Biswa Singha managed to unify other tribal groups and establish the Koch dynasty in the seat of the erstwhile Kamata kingdom.
Origin of Biswa Singha[edit]
Biswa Singha's father was Hariya Mech alias Hariya Mandal. Hariya Mandal married Hira and Jira, the daughters of Koch Hajo, a Koch chief, and formed an alliance between the Koch tribe and other tribal groups. Bisu, as Biswa Singha was called earlier, was born to Hariya Mandal and Hira. Bisu is suspected to have participated in the Bhuyan campaigns against Daniyal,[6] when he acquired his military skills.
Campaign against the Bhuyans[edit]
Bisu began his campaign around 1509[7] from his seat at Chikana and successfully managed to unify the Mech, Koch, Garo and other tribal groups of Darrang, Karaibari, Atiabari, Kamtabari and Balrampur.[8] The Bhuyan chiefs he defeated during his campaign were the Bhuyans of Ouguri, Kusum Bhuyan, Dighala Bhuyan, Kalia Bhuyan, the Bhuyan of Jhargaon, Kabilash Bhuyan, the Bhuyans of Karnapur, Phulaguri, and Bijni and finally the Bhuyan of Pandunath (Pandu at Guwahati). His campaign against the Karnapur Bhuyan was particularly difficult, and he could defeat him only with a stratagem during Bihu.[9] His campaign caused problems for other adjoining Bhuyans, like those from Banduka and Sajalagram.
At Kamatapur[edit]
Having defeated the Bhuyans, Bisu now moved his seat of power from Chikhwna to Kamatapur, a few miles southeast of the present Cooch Behar town, and declared himself the ruler of Kamata kingdom. Brahman priest created a legend of Bisu being born as the son of Shiva to give legitimacy to his rule[10] and here he assumed the Hindu name Biswa Singha. This happened in 1515, which is taken as the beginning of the rule of the Koch dynasty in Kamata.[11] He began consolidating his power with a well thought out administrative system. He appointed his brother Sisu (Sisya Singha) as the yuvaraj, the descendants of who became the Raikut kings of Jalpaiguri. He created positions for twelve ministers called Karjis and recruited them from the twelve important families of his tribesmen.[12] Two of the most important Karjis and the yuvaraj (Raikot) formed a cabinet. A commander of a small standing army, the senapati, was created. After a census, he created a gradation of officers who controlled the population. Individual able-bodied males were called Paiks, with commanders Thakuria (over 20 Paiks), Saikia (over 100 Paiks), Hazari (over 1000 Paiks), Omra (over 3000 Paiks) and Nawab (over 66,000 Paiks).[13] The only Brahmin appointee was the royal priest (raj purohit).[14]
Biswa Singha formed alliances with various chiefs and kings around his kingdom via marriages. He had eighteen wives (from Nepal, Gaur, Kamarupa, Benaras, Mithila and Kashmir) who bore him eighteen sons. These sons were given state duties. Nara Singha (son of Ratnakanti of Nepal) was in charge of the territory conquered from the king of Bhutan. Malladev (later Nara Narayana, son of Hemaprabha of Gaur) was the heir apparent; Sukladhwaj (later Chilarai, son of Padmawati of Gaur), Gosain Kamal (son of Chandrakanti of Kamarupa) was in charge of public works, etc.
Buffer state[edit]
Even though the restructuring of the Kamata kingdom was done in all earnest, the new administration was still tenuous. The Gaur rulers still had ambitions to conquer the Brahmaputra valley which brought them into conflict with the newly expanded Ahom kingdom. One such invasion was by Turbak, who attacked the Ahoms in 1532–1533.,[15] most likely passing through the Kamata kingdom.[16] Turbak was summarily defeated, and the remnant of his army was pursued to the Karatoya river, the western boundary of the Kamata kingdom, by the Ahom general Tonkham Borgohain. At the end of this expedition, Tonkham Borgohain restored Biswa Singha at his seat of power at Kamata Kingdom to act as a buffer between the Ahom kingdom and the Gaur ambitions in Brahmaputra valley.
An ambitious person, Biswa Singha could not bear the status of vassalage to the Ahom kingdom, and made an abortive attempt to invade the Ahom kingdom in about 1537. Due to logistical shortcomings, he had to abandon his ambitions, and instead paid a visit to the Ahom court, where he agreed to pay an annual tribute.[17] This was unbearable to him, and his deathbed injunction to his successors were to remove this vassalage.
He invaded the kingdoms of Soumarpith, Bijni, Bidyagram and Bijaypur and was victorious. Next he attacked Bhutan and after victory made a treaty with Bhutan. Biswa Singha also acquired major portions of Gour, then ruled by Hossien Shah. On the request of his mother he shifted his capital from the Chikna Mountains to Hingulabas in the plains. During his reign Muslim invaders, including Turuk Khan and Nasrat Shah, the king of Gour attacked his kingdom numerous times but after facing defeat they were forced to retreat. His bravery and courage helped the Koch-Kamata Kingdom hold a strong base.
He sent his two son Nara Narayan & Sukladhaj to a Sankrist scholar named Brahmananda in Varanasi to introduce them to the ideals of higher caste Hindus.[18] He later brought several priests from places like Kanauj, Mithila, Benaras and Puri to perform Brahminical rites that led to the sankristisation of the Koch royal family from tribalism to Saivaism.[19]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ "The original name of Bishwa Singha was Bisu..(Nath 1989:16)
- ↑ "He [Hajo, a Koch leader] had two daughters, Hira and Jira of whom Hira was married to Hariya, a member of the "impure tribe" called Mech. Of them was born Bisu...it becomes clear that Biswa Singha's father was a Mech and mother was a Koch and both the tribes were "rude" and "impure", hence non-Aryan or non-Hinduised." (Nath 1989:17)
- ↑ "(T)he Koches were adapted to tribal ways of living at the time and Bisu's family members largely cultivated cottons on the hills. However when he acquired power to control the surrounding situation, the Brahmanas as pointed out by Gait, soon found him out and Hinduised him and his family, and called him Biswa Singha"(Gogoi 2002:18)
- ↑ "Bisu organised the different Bodo tribes of the region under his banner and launched a career of war and conquest and made the koches a power to be reckoned with.."(Nath 1989:16)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:19)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:22–23)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:28–29)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:23–24)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:25)
- ↑ "It is common to believe Biswa Singha's origin as son of Siva was nothing but creation of the Brahmans...The Brahmans needed royal patronage and the king wanted legitimacy which could be obtained through the universal religion to teach the people to be obedient, patient and submissive"(Sheikh 2012, p. 250)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:28)
- ↑ Nath 1989, p. 29.
- ↑ (Nath 1989:29–32)
- ↑ "One such Brahman was Swarbabhuma who was appointed as Rajapurahita or royal priest and also adviser to the king"(Sheikh 2012, p. 251)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:33)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:34–35)
- ↑ (Nath 1989:33–34)
- ↑ Sheikh 2012, p. 251.
- ↑ "He brought some learned Brahmanas from Mithila, Benaras, Kanauj, and Srikshetra (Puri) to his kingdom in order to perform the Brahminical rituals....all these factors went a long way in effecting a rapid transformation of Koch Behar royal family from tribalism to Saivaism and Vaisnavism"(Sheikh 2012, p. 251)
References[edit]
- Nath, D (1989). History of the Koch Kingdom: 1515–1615. Delhi: Mittal Publications.
- Gogoi, Jahnavi (2002). Agrarian System of Medieval Assam. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
- Sheikh, Amiruzzaman (2012). "The 16th century Koch kingdom: Evolving patterns of sanskritisation". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 73: 249–254. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44156212.
Biswa Singha
| ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by none |
Kamateshwar | Succeeded by Nara Narayan |