Khen dynasty
The Khen dynasty replaced the weak rulers of Kamata kingdom following Arimatta in the middle of the 15th century. Niladhvaj Khen, the first king, united several Baro-Bhuyan chieftains of the area and removed the last of Arimatta's successors—Mriganka.[1] There were only three Khen rulers. The last king, Nilambar expanded the kingdom to include the present Koch Bihar districts of West Bengal and the undivided Kamrup and Darrang districts of Assam and northern Mymensing in Bangladesh as well as eastern parts of Dinajpur district,[2] though he was removed by Alauddin Husain Shah in 1498.
Khen dynasty Khen dynasty | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c1440–1498 | |||||||||
| Capital | Kamatapura (Gosanimari) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Kamrupi Prakrit (Kamtapuri, Assamese) | ||||||||
| Religion | Hinduism | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Maharaja | |||||||||
• c.1440–c.1460 | Niladhwaj | ||||||||
• c.1460–c.1480 | Chakradhwaj | ||||||||
• c.1480–c.1498 | Nilambar | ||||||||
| Historical era | Classical India | ||||||||
• Established | c1440 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1498 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
According to the Gosani Mangala (1823), the Khen rulers had a humble origin, implying that they were local indigenous chieftains. They worshiped Kamatashwari (also called Chandi or Bhavani), thus providing a break from the earlier dynasties that drew their lineage from Narakasura, the son of Vishnu i.e Bhauma dynasty which can be explained by Kachari(Bara) folklore.[3] The Khen rulers were of Kheng-Bhutanese stock from the mountains. Possibly non-Aryan in origin, it was only the decline of the Kamarupa kings which allowed them to blossom into a powerful entity in their own right from their former position as local chieftains.[4]
The Khen dynasty finally fell to Alauddin Husain Shah in 1498. But Hussein Shah could not rule the kingdom—Bhuyan chiefs of the region, with the help of the Ahom king, Suhungmung, defeated the invaders in 1505. Soon the control of the Kamata kingdom passed into the hands of the Koch dynasty.
Rulers
- Niladhwaj (1440–1460)
- Chakradhwaj (1460–1480)
- Nilambar (1480–1498)
Notes
- (Baruah 1986:179)
- (Sarkar 1992:44)
- Sidney Endle (1911). The Kacharis. Universal Digital Library. Macmillan And Co.
- "Kingdoms of South Asia - Indian Kingdoms of Assam". www.historyfiles.co.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
References
- Acharyya, N. N. (1966), The History of Medieval Assam (From the 13th to the 17th century), Guwahati
- Baruah, S L (1986), A Comprehensive History of Assam, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
- Sarkar, J. N. (1992), "Chapter II The Turko-Afghan Invasions", in Barpujari, H. K. (ed.), The Comprehensive History of Assam, 2, Guwahati: Assam Publication Board, pp. 35–48