Kachari Kingdom

The Kachari Kingdom (called Dimasa Kingdom in medieval times) was a powerful kingdom in medieval Assam. The rulers belonged to the Dimasa people, part of the greater Kachari ethnic group. The Kachari Kingdom along with others kingdoms (Kamata, Sutiya), are examples of state formations among the Kachari ethnic groups that developed in medieval Assam in the wake of the ancient Kamarupa Kingdom. Remnants of the Kachari Kingdom existed till the advent of the British and gave its name to two present districts in Assam: Cachar and North Cachar Hills (which changed its name to Dima Hasao district in April 2010.

The origin of the Kachari Kingdom is clear. Some historians speculate that they were the remnants of the Mlechchha dynasty of Kamarupa Kingdom. According to tradition, the Kacharis Dimasas had to leave the Kamarupa Kingdom in the ancient period due to political turmoil. As they crossed the Brahmaputra river some of their compatriots were swept away down river and came to be called Dimasa Dima-basa, sons of the great river Dima, the Dhansiri river). It is conjectured that the initial state formation began in the Sadiya region (coterminous with the later Sutiya Kingdom) because the Dimasas and the Sutiyas have a common tradition of the worship of Kechai Khaiti, the goddess in Sadiya.

At Dimapur

By the 13th century the Kachari Kingdom extended along the southern banks of Brahmaputra river, from Dikhow river to Kallang river and included the valley of Dhansiri and present-day Dima Hasao district. According to the Buranjis, the Kachari settlements to the east of Dhansiri withdrew before the Ahom advance. The Sutiya Kingdom existed further east and the Kamata Kingdom to its west.

Hostilities with Ahoms

The Ahoms settled into the tract between the Sutiya and the Kachari Kingdoms that was inhabited by the Borahi and Matak peoples. The first clash with the Ahom Kingdom took place in 1490, in which the Ahoms were defeated. The Ahoms sued for peace, and an Ahom princess was offered to the Kachari king and the Kachari took control of the land beyond the Dhansiri. But the Ahoms were getting powerful and pushed the Kacharis back west. In 1526 the Kacharis defeated the Ahoms in a battle, but in the same year they were defeated in a second battle. In 1531 the Ahoms advanced up to Dimapur, the capital of the Kachari Kingdom or Hirmba Kingdom, removed Khunkhara, the Kachari king, and installed Detsung in his place. But in 1536 the Ahoms attacked the Kachari capital once again and sacked the city. The Kacharis abandoned Dimapur and retreated south to set up their new capital in Maibang. Maibang is Dima Kachari origin dialect. Mai means Paddy and bang means Plenty or aboundance. Then Maibang- a plenty of paddy.

At Maibang

At Maibang, the Kacharis kings came under Brahmin influence. The son of Dersongphaa took a Hindu name, Nirbhay Narayan, and established his Brahmin guru as the Dharmadhi that became an important institution of the state. The king's genealogy was drawn from Bhima of the Pandavas, and his son Ghatotkacha born to Hidimba.The kingdom then came to be known as Heramba, and the rulers Herambeswar.

The king was assisted in his state duties by a council of ministers (Patra and Bhandari), led by a chief called Barbhandari. These and other state offices were manned by people of the Dimasa group, who were not necessarily Hinduized. There were about 40 clans called Sengphong of the Dimasa people, each of which sent a representative to the royal assembly called Mel, a powerful institution that could elect a king. The representatives sat in the Mel mandap (Council hall) according to the status of the Sengphong and provided a counterfoil to royal powers.

Over time the Sengphongs developed a hierarchical structure with five royal Sengphongs though most of the kings belonged to the Hacengha clan. Some of the clans provided specialized services to the state ministers, ambassadors, store keepers, court writers, and other bureaucrats and ultimately developed into professional groups, e.g. Songyasa (king's cooks), Nyablasa (fishermen).

By the 17th century the Kachari rule extended into the plains of Cachar. The plains people did not participate in the courts of the Kachari king directly. They were organized according to khels, and the king provided justice and collected revenue via an official called the Uzir. Though the plains people did not participate in the Kachari royal court, the Dharmadhi guru and other Brahmins in the court cast a considerable influence, especially with the beginning of the 18th century.

Neighboring states

Chilarai attacked the Kachari Kingdom in 1562 during the reign of Durlabh Narayan and made it into a tributary of the Koch Kingdom. The size of the annual tribute—seventy thousand gold mohars and sixty elephants— testifies to the resourcefulness of the Kachari state. A small colony of Koch soldiers, who came to be known as Dehans, enjoyed special privileges in the Kachari Kingdom. A conflict with the Jaintia Kingdom over the region of Dimarua led to a battle and the defeat of the Jaintia king (Dhan Manik).

After the death of Dhan Manik, Satrudaman the Kachari king, installed Jasa Manik on the throne who is said to have manipulated events to bring the Kacharis into conflict with the Ahoms once again in 1618. Satrudaman, the most powerful Kachari king, ruled over Dimarua in Nagaon district, North Cachar, Dhansiri valley, plains of Cachar and parts of eastern Sylhet. After his conquest of Sylhet, he struck coins in his name.

At Khaspur

The region of Khaspur was originally a part of the Tripura Kingdom, which was taken over by Chilarai in the 16th century. The region was ruled by a tributary ruler, Kamalnarayana, the brother of Chilarai. After the decline of Koch power, Khaspur became independent. In the middle of the 18th century, the last of the Koch rulers died without an heir and the control of the kingdom went to the ruler of the Kachari Kingdom. After the merger, the capital of the Kachari Kingdom moved to Khaspur, near present-day Silchar.

British occupation

After Gobinda Chandra the British annexed the Kachari Kingdom under the doctrine of lapse. At the time of British annexation, the kingdom consisted of parts of Nagaon and Karbi Anglong; North Cachar, Cachar and the Jiri frontier of Manipur.

Rulers

Dimapur

• Virochana (835 - 885)
• Vorahi (885 - 925)
• Prasanto alias Prasadao (Chakradwaj alias Khamaoto) (925 - 1010)
• Uditya (1010 - 1040)
• Prabhakar (1040 - 1070)
• Korpoordhwaj (1070 - 1100)
• Giridhar (1100 - 1125)
• Beeradhwaj (1125 - 1155)
• Surajit (1155 - 1180)
• Ohak (1180 - 1210)
• Makardhwaj Narayan (Rana Pratap alias Raogena) (1210 - 1286)
• Bhopal (1286 - 1316)
• Purandar (1316 - 1336)
• Bicharpatipha alias Prakash (1336 - 1386)
• Vikramadityapha alias Vikaranto (1386 - 1411)
• Mahamanipha alias Prabal (1411 - 1436)
• Manipha (1436 - 1461)
• Ladapha (1461 - 1486)
• Khunkhora alias Khorapha (1486 - 1511)
• Det tsang alias Dersongpha (1511 - 1536)

Maibang

• Nirbhay Narayan (1540-c1550)
• Durlabh Narayan or Harmesvar (c1550-1576)
• Megha Narayana (1576–1583)
• Satrrudaman (Pratap Narayan, Jasa Narayan) (1583–1613)
• Nar Narayan (1613-)
• Bhimdarpa Narayan (Bhimbal Konwar) (-1637)
• Indraballabh Narayan (1637-)
• Birdarpa Narayan (-1681)
• Garurdhwaj Narayan
• Makardhwaj
• Udayaditya
• Tamradhwaj Narayan (1699–1708)
• Queen Chandraprabha
• Suradarpa Narayan (-1730)
• Dharmadhwaj Narayan (Harischandra Narayan)
• Kirichandra Narayan (1735–1745)
• Gopichandra Narayan (1745–1757)

Khaspur

• Harischandra II (1757–1772)
• Krishnachandra Narayan (1772–1813)
• Gobindchandra Narayan (1813–1830 till of 14 August)
• Tularam Hasnu (Till 1854 of 20 July)

References

• Gait, Edward A. (1906), A History of Assam, Calcutta 
• Barpujari, S. K. (1997), History of the Dimasas (from the earliest times to 1896 AD), Haflong 
• Bhattacharjee, J. B. (1992), "The Kachari (Dimasa) state formation", in Barpujari, H. K., The Comprehensive History of Assam, 2, Guwahati: Assam Publication Board, pp. 391–397 
• Gogoi, Padmeshwar (1968), The Tai and the Tai kingdoms, Gauhati University, Guwahati 
• Rhodes, Nicholas G.; Bose, Shankar K. (2006), A History of the Dimasa-Kacharis As Seen Through Coinage, Mira Bose, Library of Numismatic Studies, Kolkata and Guwahati 
• Dundas, W. C. M., An Outline Grammar And Dictionary Of The Kachari (Dimasa) Language  (based on Barman, Mani Charan, Kachari Grammar ).