KAMRUP, Assam

Main Attraction: Weaving industry at Sualkuchi

Sualkuchi is a village in Kamrup district located on the north bank of the mighty river Brahmaputra. In the context of silk weaving, Sualkuchi is a name that stands apart. Sualkuchi is a weaving village that produces the best silk in the state. The Muga silk and Pat silk along with Eri silk from this region is famous for its quality not only in the state but also in most of the parts of India. The weaving tradition here can be traced to the 11th Century when king Dharma Pal dynasty sponsored the craft and bought 26 weaving families from Tantikuchi to Sualkuchi. The village took shape as a weaving village when the Shams occupied Sualkuchi defeating the Mughals in the mid of 17th Century. There are about 17,000 silk looms presently working in Sualkuchi. Most of the Sualkuchi’s silk is woven into mekhela-chadar and gamosas which have high demand throughout the country and abroad. Sualkuchi is known as the Manchester of the East.

Brief History

Kamrup named after Kamarupa, a name by which Assam was previously known in ancient times. The district was originally comprised with parts of present Kamrup (M), Barpeta, Nalbari and Baksa district which got subsequently bifurcated into different independent districts.The district is now a small area in the western part of Assam, with a distinctive native Kamrupi culture and dialect. The distinctive dialect etc. are however, shared with the present administrative districts of Nalbari and Barpeta, these districts being part of an un-divided Kamrup before the 1980s. Assam has been referred to as Kamrup in many of the ancient Indian literature. It was also known as Pragjyotishpur due to the astrology (Jyotish Shashtra) practices that prevailed in this part of the country during that time.

However, "Kamrup" became a more predominant name in the later part of the history. Today Kamrup is an administrative district of Assam with its headquarters located at Amingaon. The greater parts of the district consist of wide plains, through the lower portion of which the river Brahmaputra flow a steady course from east to west. The District is bounded by Udalguri and Baska District in the north, Meghalaya state in the south, Darrang District and Kamrup Metropolitan District in the east and Goalpara, Barpeta and Nalbari District in the west.

Kalika Purana and Yogini Tantra, two important Puranas believed to have been written in the tenth century, mention several kings of Assam. One of the most famous kings of Assam was Narakasur who founded the ancient city of “Eastern Astrology”. It is stated in Kalika Purana that the place where Brahma first had created all stars and planets is called Pragjyotishpur which was equal to Amorawati, the city of Indra. In medieval times or in puranic age Pragjyotish the old name of Assam was changed to Kamrupa. Narak established his capital at Pragjyotishpur, the Guwahati of to-day. He was a very powerful kind of that time. The interesting legend that associated with him says that he desired to marry the Goddess Kamakhya. The Goddess gave her consent lying on some conditions that he would have to construct a temple for her, a road and a tank in a single night. The king accepted the challenge and was about to complete his task. The goddess Kamakhya seeing the danger of her made a cock crow before usual hour. Narak killed the cock at a place about 10 kms. from Guwahati and since then that place is known as Kukurakata. 

Narak’s name is also remembered as one of the protectors of Kamakhya and the builder of the causeway up the southern face of the hill Nilachal on which the temple of Kamakhya stands. The name of the place Pragjyotishpur was changed to Kamrupa. There was also a legend. The story goes that the God of love was burnt to ashes by the fiery glance of lord Siva (Mahadev) and Kamdev has regained his life at the supplication of his wife Ratidevi. As a consequence, the place goes by the name Kamrupa. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-T-Sang in the 17th century had mentioned the name of this place as Ka-mo-lu-pa. According to him the area of the kingdom Kamrupa was 8375 li (1675 miles or 2650 kms.) and the amplitude for Kamrupa was 30 li (5 miles or 8 kms.). It required two months time for a traveler to make a jaunt from the capital to the end of the verge of the kingdom. Till the end of the rule of Koch king Naranarayana , the name of his kingdom was Kamrup. In the absence of valid and authentic records it is not easy to mention how long Pragjyotishpur or modern Guwahati has gone on to be the capital of the kingdom.

Probably, after the death of Bhaskar Varman, the capital of Kamrup was transferred to Harappeswar or Hatappeswar by Salastambha which is identified as modern Tezpur. Brahmapal had transferred the capital at the end of the tenth century again to the Pragjyotishpur or its nearby place. Ratnapal son of Brahamapal, after fortifying this city for favour of his dynasty has named the capital of his kingdom ‘Shri Durjaya”. Late K.L. Baruah in his book – “Early history of Kamrup” has pointed out to be this place in and around old Pragjyotishpur. At the end of the eleventh century, the capital of king Indrapal was Kamrupnagar at Kamata. Some are of the view that it might be either at Guwahati or near to North Guwahati. It is beyond doubt that the same place was called Pragjyotishpur in ancient time and Kamrup in medieval time and in most of the time, capital was at Guwahati or somewhere thereabout. From the past history or legend it is categorically said that old Pragjyotishpur is the present modern Guwahati city of Kamrup district.

The centuries did not leave much recorded history. Some copper plates of the eleventh century show that Narak was displaced by Salastambha, a Mecha or foreign conqueror whose line ended in the person of Sri Harsha. Sriharsha was succeeded by his son, Ratna pala who in turn was succeeded by his son, Indra pala. Since then, the history of the Pala kings remained in dark. After the end of Palas dynasty, the Koch dynasty started by the king Viswa Singha. He founded a beautiful city in Cooch Behar. He visited Nilachal where he was shown a mound. He offered prayers and he had the mound explored and thereafter the ruins of an old temple were discovered. A new temple was then constructed there. He was succeeded by his son Malla Deva in 1534 A.D. He assumed the name of Nara Narayan. He overpowered the Ahom king, the Kachari Raja and the Raja of Manipur. He turned the kings of Jaintia, Tripura and Sylhet. The Koch kings were later on defeated by the Muslim Subedar of Bengal and Guwahati became the capital of the Muslim Governor. 

In 1658, the Ahom Raja Joydhwaj Singh took advantage of the disputes amongst the claimants to the throne of Shah Jahan, marched down the valley of Brahmaputra and drove the Muslim and his former allies, the Kochs, alike before him. In 1662, Mirjumla the Subedar of Bengal drove away Ahoms from Kamrup and captured Guwahati. Mohammedan Fouzdar was posted there. After departure of the Muslims, Guwahati was occupied by Gadadhar Singh in 1681 A.D. From this time onward, Kamrup became part of the Ahom territories and was administered by a Viceroy stationed at Guwahati. The Ahoms were a Shan tribe from the kingdom of Pong in the upper valley of the Irrawaddly who at the beginning of the 13th century A.D., crossed the Patkai and settled in Sibsagar and Lakhimpur districts of Assam. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Ahom began to intervene in Lower Assam.

Gadadhar Singha was the first king to annex Kamrup to the Ahom territories. He was succeeded by Rudra Singha in 1695 A.D. when he died at Guwahati in 1714 A.D., his son constructed the Rudreswar Temple in the memory of his father. From the middle of the 18th century, the Ahom power began to decline. Lakshmi Singha’s reign from 1769-1780 was signalised by the out break of the Moamaria insurrection. He was then succeeded by Gauri Nath Singha in 1780 in whose reign the Moamaria insurrection broke out with increased violence. When Gauri Nath died in 1795, he was succeeded by his son, Kamaleswar Singha in whose reign the Daflas made an in road on the Ahom territories and put them in great disorder. He was succeeded by his brother, Chandra Kanta Singha in 1809. He was deposed in 1816 and Purandar Singha was appointed in his stead. He was reinstated by the Burmese whom he has appealed for help. They soon made it clear that they intend to retain their hold in Assam. 

Under the Burmese’s oppression and tyranny, Chandra Kanta Singha fled to Goalpara and he tried to recover his lost kingdom. In the mean time, however, causes of quarrel arose between the British and the Burmese and in 1824 war were declared by the British Government and a force was sent up the valley of Brahmaputra. The Burmese evacuated Guwahati without striking a blow under the Treaty of Yandaboo, 1826. Assam was finally brought under the East India Company. The next historical event with which Kamrup is connected was the Bhutan War of 1864 which resulted in the occupation of Dewangiri. The subsequent history of the district is uneventful.