Emergence of the Koch, Visvasimha (1496-1533): (The Koch Kingdom Part 2)
In the last quarter of the fifteenth century the Koch tribe was slowly rising to power in the sub-Himalayan tracts of Bengal by suppressing the other tribal groups and became so powerful that they succeeded to establish a new kingdom named as Koch kingdom as the Koch tribe was the ruling authority. After a few hereditary rulers one Koch Chief Visvasimha rose to power in the Koch Kingdom. The original name of Visvasimha was Bisu though Akbarnama identified him as Bisan. His father Haria Mondol lived in Khuntaghat area. Other Koch kins residing in that area rallied behind him.
Koch Dynasty Lineage
Like his father Haria, Visvasimha also established his authority by gaining suzerainty over diverse tribes of the region and launched ambitious campaigns against the landed Bhuiyans. He extended his territory from the river Karatoya in the west, the Baranadi in the east and in the process he beat Bhuiyans one after another. He established his capital at Kamatanagara or Kamatapura.
After this he assumed the name Kamatesvara (Lord of Kamata) perhaps after the presiding deity of the kingdom. In the contemporary chronicles Visvasimha has been designated as the Lord of Kamata. After initial consolidation of his kingdom Visvasimha attacked Bhutan and concluded a treaty with them. Bhutan promised to pay tribute to him. After his victory he embarked upon an ambitious campaign against the Ahom kingdom but his attempt was unsuccessful though he registered some success in conquering some parts of the country of Gaur.
The root of Visvasimha is linked to mythical Aryan figures. The Brahmins were numerically not strong and so they had to depend on the royal support for livelihood. They did it by crafting stories alluding to their ancestry from Hindu Gods and Goddesses or allegorical figures. According to a fable referred to in Darrang Rajavamsavali Visvasimha was born out of the amalgamation of Lord Shiva and his mother Hira, a manifestation of Goddess Bhagavati. Visvasimha was fitted in the sovereignty according to ceremonial rites and during his incarnation the Brahmins offered him the name Visvasimha on being sworn as a king. It is obvious from the Rajopakhyana that Visvasimha became monarch on a divine doctrine and an umbrella, an insignia of divine origin being used at the ceremonial spot.
The story of heavenly source attributed by the Brahmins to the Koch family marks a fabricated linking of the Koch with certain mythical figures and thus the Kochs became Hindu. This kind of linking offered them a divine authority and assisted them to secure allegiance from the subjects. But Buchanan Hamilton has informed us a dissimilar explanation about the source of Visvasimha. According to him two brothers Chandana and Madana recognized a government at Moralabasa. They reigned only for eight years and soon the people particularly the Koch ‘who had a number of chiefs at first independent but who gradually united under the authority of one of themselves named ‘Hajo’occupied Rangpur and Kamarupa. He had two offspring Hira and Jira of whom Hira was wedded to Hariya of an associate admixed tribe named Mech. They gave birth to Bisu who inherited the entire fortunes of his grandfather.
Thus it is apparent that Visvasimha’s father was from a Koch tribe and mother was from a Mech tribe, hence non-Aryan and non-Hindu. Visvasimha worshipped Shiva and Durga and had introduced into the Shiva doctrines by a Brahmin named Kalicharan Bhattacharya. He is supposed to have revived the Kamakhya Pitha in the Nilachala close to Guwahati and created a shrine there. He selected Ballavacharya, the son of a Kanouj Brahmin called Vasudeva Acharyya, and bought a great number of Brahmins from Kanauj, Varanasi and other places of North India. The Brahmins were prevailed upon to settle in the Kingdom free of cost.
They imparted their knowledge of the Hindu scriptures among the common people. During his reign, Pitambara wrote Nala- Damayanti centering the tale of the Mahabharata and transformed the 10th Canta of Bhagabata Purana at the request of Sangram Simha. Markandeya Purana was translated by him into Bengali poetry. Mankara and Durgavara are supposed to have composed the Manasa-Mangala Kavya. It is thought that the Yogini Tantra, perhaps a sixteenth century work on Devi worship was composed during his time.
Nara Narayan (1533-1587):
At the time of Visvasimha’s demise his two sons Malladeva and Sukladhvaja were absent from the kingdom and they were at Banaras taking their higher education under a Brahmin.
Narasimha, another son of Visvasimha ascended the power, when the news reached Malladeva and Sukladhvaja they returned to the kingdom, immediately raised an army and overcome Narasimha who along with his family escaped to Morang, the sub-Himalayan area to the west of Koch kingdom. Subsequently after the removal of Narasimha, Malladeva became king and took the designation Nara Narayan. A Chap was prepared on this event with his name “Sri Sri Nara Narayan” carved thereon and coins were also minted bearing the name of the king. His coins are named Narayani Tanka and they had on one side the name of the God Siva and on the other the name of the king both in Devanagari calligraphy.
He selected his brother Sukladhaja his Commander-in-Chief, who also assumed a new name Sangram Simha. Sukladhvaja was so accomplished and swift in military maneuvers that he was designated as “Chilarai” or the “Kite king”.
With the accession of Nara Narayan on the throne of the Koch kingdom the history of the Koch entered into an excellent period of military brilliance. He recognized the Koch independence in the whole North East India. H.N. Chaudhuri opines that “his conquest comprised almost the whole of Northern Bengal, Bhutan and Assam as well as the modern states of Kacchar, Jayantia, Manipur and Tripura and extended up to the coast of Bay of Bengal”. But actually the land under his direct management was possibly much lesser than that. According to Akbarnamah on the east is the river Brahmaputra, on the north is lower Tibet and Assam and on the south Ghoraghatm on the west is Tirhut.
It is possibly owing to the fact that Nara Narayan allowed the conquered monarchs to enjoy their self-government by giving tribute. After the demise of Sukladhvaja there was no more war in the Koch Kingdom for some years and Nara Narayan became much dedicated to religion and works of community interests for which he came to be recognized as “the pious King”. But the splendor of the Koch Kingdom under Nara Narayan did not last long, degeneration soon set in subsequent to the death of Sukladhvaja.
Nara Narayan had no issue. Darrrang Raj Vamsavali mentions that as a result Raghudeva, son of Sukladhvaja had been chosen as his successor. But in his advanced age Nara Narayan adopted a son named Lakshmi Narayan. It appeared to him that being the son of a ruling sovereign he had higher claim to the throne customary at that time. In collusion with a few bureaucrats and councilors he advanced to Badanagar on the bank of river Manas and affirmed himself sovereign building a fort there.
The serene king Nara Narayan preferred splitting the kingdom to engaging in a conflict against his nephew. Nara Narayan handed over to Raghudeva the territories east of the Sankosa and the western part of the kingdom retained for himself and his descendant. Raghudeva decided to accept the suzerainty of his uncle to give him homage and strike coins in the name of his uncle. Raghudeva’s country was known as Hajo extended upto the river Bharadi in the east and included the localities of Kamarupa, Goalpara and Garo hills.
The Koch kingdom practically integrated present Cooch Behar and portions of the present districts of Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Rangpur with its capital at Kamatapura. Nara Narayan was chiefly a peace loving man and more fascinated in literary and artistic pursuits. He was an admirer of Shaiva faith and was supposed to have built the Shaiva temples. In this link mention may be made of the reconstruction of the holy place of Kamakhya in 1565. It is marked from a caption in the temple that Nara Narayan and Sukladhvaja had various qualities. Again the stone message of the Hayagriva Madhava temple states that “the wisest king Malla Deva subjugated all adversaries. He was of a great standing in influence, kindness, bravery and spiritual conduct.
Nara Narayan was a great patron of Art. The court of Nara Narayan was decorated with a large number of poets for which he was acknowledged as “Vikramaditya” of Kamarupa. He was famous to have issued orders to the intellectuals soliciting them to apply vernacular words when they translated the renowned Sanskrit classics into Bengali poetries. Thus Ramasaravati translated the entire Sanskrit Mahabharata into verses. The period of Nara Narayan was marked by the rise of Vaisnava literature to its peak, a new branch of Bengali literature. Sankaradeva the grand Neo-Vaisnavaite reformer and court writer of Nara Narayan interpreted the Uttarakanda of Ramayana, Srimadbhagvata and many works of Vaisnava doctrine. Ananta Kandali, Kalap Chandra Dvija also dedicated themselves in deliberations on diverse Sanskrit classics.
Sudip Narayan Ghosh
Will be continued.
