Koch Rajbongshi Royal Family

Royal History of Cooch Behar:
The ancient territory of Kamrup played a role in the development of the present region of Cooch Behar district in West Bengal. The Allahabad Pillar Inscription of the famous Gupta Emperor Samudragupta mentions the existence of the Kamrup territory in the 4th century AD. During the 15th century AD, the western part of Kamrup came under the sway of the ‘Khen’ dynasty to usher a new kingdom there known as ‘Kamta’. The present Cooch Behar originates from this ‘Kamta’ land. The Khen dynasty is noted for the kings of Niladhvaja, the founder of the dynasty, his son Chakradhvaja and grandson Nilambar (1473-98/99 AD). The most widely accepted view holds that king Maharaja Viswa Singha son of Haridas Mandal was responsible for establishing an independent ‘Koch’ kingdom in 1510 AD or 1530 AD, but an alternative view is that the Koch dynasty followed the lineage of Nilambar.
Originally the capital of this kingdom was not fixed and became stable only when it was shifted to Cooch Behar. The territory of Cooch Behar was known as ‘Kamta’ even during the period of Maharaja Viswa Singha and his son Maharaja Nara-Narayan. The Mughal forces took certain parts of the ‘Kamta’ kingdom in the middle of the 17th century AD. Later on the accounts of Badshanama, Shah-Jaha-nama, Tarikh-I-Assam and the Alamgirnama ascribed this territory as Cooch Behar. It appears that the ‘Koch’ kingdom was known as ‘Kamta’ even during the middle of the 17the century AD when the Koch kings like Maharaja Viswa Singh, Maharaja Nara Narayan and Maharaja Pran Narayan used the title ‘Kamteswar’ for themselves. The valor of the ‘Koch’ kings is known best by the pride of Maharaja Nara Narayan. He has issued his own coins. The kings who ruled Cooch Behar till its union with Indian territory and its declaration as a district headquarter of the Province of West Bengal in 1950 are known as Maharaja Viswa Singha, Maharaja Nara Narayan, Maharaja Lakshmi Narayan, Maharaja Bir Narayan, Maharaja Pran Narayan, aharaja Basudev Narayan, Maharaja Mahindra Narayan, Maharaja Roop Narayan, Maharaja Upendra Narayan, Maharaja Devendra Narayan, Maharaja Dhairjendra Narayan, Maharaja Rajendra Narayan, Maharaja Dharendra Narayan, Maharaja Harendra Narayan, Maharaja Shivendra Narayan, Maharaja Narendra Narayan, Maharaja Nripendra Narayan, Maharaja Rajrajendra Narayan, Maharaja Jitendra Narayan and Maharaja Jagadipendra Narayan.
The history of Cooch Behar dates back to the period of the Pala-Senas (i.e., Circa 11th - 12th century AD) These include sculptures, coins of the Sultanate and the Mughal Periods, temples, mosques of the mediaeval and late mediaeval period. Ancient remains include the Rajpat of Gossanimari, Siva Temple of Baneswar and the Cooch Behar Palace. It is traditionally believed that the huge mound of Rajpat of the Gossanimari village at a distance of 13 kilometer to the west of Dinhata Police Station marks the site of the ancient capital of ‘Kamtapur’ of the ‘Khen’ kings.
The word Rajpat derives probably from the Bengali ‘Rajbari’ or ‘Rajbati’ or ‘Rajprasad’. The ‘Khen’ king Nilambar of this Kamtapur Kingdom was defeated in a battle by sultan Hussain Shah of Bengal in 1498 AD. The pomp and glory of Rajpat are now all in ruins under the huge deposit of earth flanked by bare greenaries all around. It is believed that the anicent palatial complex of Kamtapur including the early Kamteswari temple lie buried in this mound. This mound is at present protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Koch Rajbongshi people
Koch Rajbongshi community can be found in entire parts of Present Assam, West Bengal, Nepal, Meghalaya, Bangladesh. Koch Rajbongshi community is one of the primitive community of the Koch Rajbongshi Kingdom being ruled by the Koch Rajbongshi Kings like King Nara Narayan, King Chilaray. The Koch Rajbongshi Kingdom is being merged with present Assam, most of the parts of the North Bengal, Parts of Nepal and Bangladesh.People some time misunderstand and take Koch Rajbongshi as Assamese in Assam and Bengali as in West Bengal because as Koch Rajbongshis are shy by nature, they do not disclose their ancient language in public and their traditional worship patter towards nature is a very private affair, thereby the pattern of worship is not exposed to the public or researcher and scholar in most oftentimes with special request may be it is possible to observe such event, which is a rare golden opportunity to watch the traditional worship, they generally do not allow to do video recording or photography of such events, they believe that nature may get offended by the act.This behavior of Koch Rajbongshi premetive tribe is because of their shyness but it have also a negative effect because the world is unknown about their language and Tribal culture, only the Koch Rajbongshi have the knowledge about it and they do not share it with the rest of the world, It is personal and sacred communion which they share within their brotherhood.
Habitation
The homelands of Koch Rajbongshi people comprises their ancient Kingdom, Kamatapur, Koch Kingdom, Kamarupa Kingdom they inhibit in entire Assam, Total Parts of the present West Bengal, Nepal and Bangladesh. They are the majority in Assam and while comparing the North Bengal Koch Rajbongshi community have majority of the population. Koch Rajbongshi people stay very close to the nature.
Language
They speak rajbongshi language it is also known as desi bhasa, or bhuwia language, in Goalpara they call it goalparia bhasa, Goalpara is a part of Assam, and it was once ruled by Koch Rajbongshi kings. Rajbongshi community prefer to speak in their own language, although it is not being included in the eight scheduled of the Indian constitution, but it is widely being spoken by the majority of the people of Assam, Part of North Bengal, Nepal, Bihar certain parts of entire north east India and Bangladesh. It is one of the sweetest language and every word carries a rhythm and sweetness and meaning.They do not speak their language in public because of the shyness of this community however they speak among themselves and within the community. Due to geographical isolation of this community they intend to remain within their geographical area, they prefer not to share their primitive customs and traditions with foreign element and they want to keep it sacred. They believe in sacred hood where by foreign elements does not have access to observe the rituals and customs being practiced from ancient times.
Culture
Koch Rajbongshi wear their own traditional dress where by they wear it in their traditional events, community events and also in general day to day life. Women and Men of Koch Rajbongshi have sets of traditional dress and jewellery. Patani being wore by the women of this community and men wear gamsha/dhoti and a yellow color piece of cloth surrounded in the neck for men, They wear this yellow color cloth in their neck as a mark of respect for nature, elderly people also have a tradition to wear a turban or a lengthy cloth wrapped in their head.Women wear patani from the chest till below the knee but it does not touch the ankle, the cloth stays above ground of around 6 cms, the reason for wearing Patani not till the ground level or till the ankle because they believe that water is a sacred as it is a part of the nature so while crossing lake or river the cloth should not touch the water, it is a mark of respect to the nature and they believe that if cloth touch the water the purification of the water goes away and thus how they can not use it in their traditional ritual practice of worshiping nature, In-fact the men wear gamasha from the waist till the knee, it never touch the ankle because they believe that water is a sacred as it is a part of the nature so while crossing lake or river the cloth should not touch the water, it is a mark of respect to the nature and they believe that if cloth touch the water the purification of the water goes away and thus how they can not use it in their traditional ritual practice of worshiping nature.They wear a kind of Turban, in their head it is a long length cloth wrapped in the head of the elderly men or significant person in the community to symbolist or high priest, in modern days people can wear the turban who have comparatively higher status and respect in the society.
Tradition
Rajbongshi have their own tradition and culture, they celebrate the rajbongshi new year with their traditional culture, It have its own food habit and tradition, Rajbongshi respect elders and follow a rich cultured life, rajbongshi prefer to eat traditional food in their home and they welcome their guest with bittle nut and bittle leaves.
Dialects
The main dialects are Western Rajbanshi, Central Rajbanshi, Eastern Rajbanshi and the dialect of the Rajbanshi of the hills, also known as Kamta or Rajbanshi.
Religion and beliefs
Primirily Koch Rajbongshi were primitively animist and they worship nature. They worship Bamboo plant, earth, sun, moon, stone and nature. The different festival they celebrate is based on agriculture, Women plays a significant role in performing all the festivals. Folklore consists of legends, oral history, music, customs, etc., and these are the traditions of a culture. Different societies have different types of customs and beliefs that differentiate them from others. Koch Rajbongshis are indigenous tribe, it has got distinctive culture, shyness with the public at large, geographical isolation and social and economic backwardness. Koch Rajbongshi are the ethnic group living in India from 12th century. Koch Rajbongshis are the one of the most premitive and they are the original inhabitants of so-called present geography of India, however the part which is so called India as of now, the Koch dynasty came to merged with India after the independence of India, the Koch kingdom were never ruled by British and it was an independent state but British has used the capital of the kingdom (Cooch Behar or Koch Behar) as a business strategic point, for Britishers India was a SBU - Strategic Business Unit.

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