SONITPUR, Assam

Main Attraction: Kaliabhumora Bridge

Kaliabhumora Bridge is the second major bridge ever constructed over the mighty river Brahmaputra. It connects Sonitpur on the north and Nagaon district on the south bank. The length of this bridge is 3,015 metres. The foundation stone for construction of this bridge was laid by the former Prime Minister Morarji Desai and was inaugurated by the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The construction of Kaliabhumora Bridge took place from 1981 to 1987. This bridge is named after the ahom general Kalia Bhumora Phukan. Kalia Bhumora was a prominent figure of the 11th century in the history of Assam. He was appointed as an autonomous Govornor called Bar Phukan in Guwahati during the Ahom rule. Kaliabhumora bridge has a tremendous signignificance in improving the transport and communication system in Assam. The bridge is a point of attraction of Sonitpur district.

Brief History

The name of Sonitpur is related to the bloody battle between King Bana and Lord Krishna. As the story goes, the love episode of Bana’s beautiful daughter Usha and Anirudha, the grandson of Lord Krishna dragged Bana into a bloody war with Lord Krishna of Dwaraka. In this battle Bana suffered a crushing defeat. The profusion of blood that spilled in this war is the reason for calling this place Sonitpur (Sonit means blood and pur means city). Subsequently it is believed that the name of town Tezpur is the Assamese translation of Sonitpur (Tez means blood and Pur means city).

The district of Sonitpur was originally included in the ancient Hindu kingdom of Kamarupa of the Mahabharatha fame. The history of the Kingdom, which went back to the twelveth century before Christ, is however of doubtful tradition fragmented here and there. The history of the district can be properly traced only from the beginning of the sixteenth century after Christ, when it was incorporated in the territories of the Koch Kings. In this period, whole the eastern portion of the district seemed to have been under the Ahom influence, the portion west of the Bharali river was under the Koch dominance.

The whole district of Sonitpur, once formed a part of the ancient Kamrupa, was ruled by three dynasties viz., the Varmans, the Salastambhas and the Palas. Pushyavatman, who was the first important ruler of Varman dynasty is quoted to be flourished in the middle of the fourth century A.D. and this dynasty ruled over Kamrupa for about three hundred years. Among the class of this dynasty Bhaskarvarman (594-650 A.D.) was the greatest monarch among the most remarkable rulers of ancient India. Hiuen-Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim who visited Kamrupa during the reign of Baskar Varman recorded that the king was found of learning and man of high talents.

The dynasty of Salastambha family is believed to have commenced after the end of Baskar Varman’s rule. This family was called as Bhaumas of Haruppesvara, which is identified with Tezpur. Salashtamba was powerful and described as a “tiger like king”. The remarks on the stone building excavated at Tezpur court compound is believed to belong to the place of Vanamala who ruled during 835-865 A.D. The kingdom of Kamrupa passed in to the hands of Brahmapala, the founder of the Pala family after the death of the last king of Salastambha dynasty towards the end of the 10th century and this line of Pala kings ruled for about one hundred fifty years. The last king of this dynasty was Jayapala who expired in 1138 A.D. Darkness descends on the history of Kamrupa after the fall of the Pala dynasty and next successors. However, the Tezpur grant of Vallabhdev (1185 A.D.) records the names of Rayarideva, Uday Karma and Vallabhadeva as successors in the Tezpur reign of Kamrupa.

According to the historical events, Biswa Sinha the first Koch King conquered Darrang including the present Sonitpur, which was part of the then Darrang district. Biswa Sinha rose to power in about 1515 A.D when the Bara Bhuyans were ruling the small principalities in several parts of the then Darrang district. The Koch expedition is believed to have taken place in 1546 A.D. The reign of Naranarayan, the eldest son of Biswa Sinha represents the zenith of Koch power. He died in 1584 A.D. After his death, quarrel began between the Lakshminarayan, the son of Naranarayan and Parikshit, the successor of Raghudev. Laxminarayan sought the help of Nawab of Dacca to subdue Parikshit, and the other side, Parikshit sought the help of Ahom king Pratap Sinha. In 1614 A.D., Mugals defeated Parikshit and he was taken to Delhi as a prisoner, and his kingdom was annexed to Mugal empire. In 1616, the Ahom king, Pratap Sinha inflicted a crushing defeat on the invading Muslims on the bank of Bharali. But in 1637 A.D., the Muslims who were advancing towards Kajali at the mouth of Kallong, again defeated Ahoms. In the counter offensive, the war ended with a treaty between Muslims and Ahoms. Under this treaty the Barnadi on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra and the Asurar Ali on the south bank were accepted as the boundary between them.

Mir Jumla, the governor of Bengal made an attack on Assam on 4th January 1662, and captured Gauhati. But in 1667 A.D., the Ahoms again captured Guahati from the Muhammadans and extended their territory up to the Manas river. On hearing this, Aurangazeb sent a big army against Ahom, which reached Rangamati in February 1669 A.D. and advanced up to Tezpur. However, in 1671, Ahom gained a decisive victory over Mughals at Saraighat and Mughals retreated to Rangamati. The zenith of Ahom power was reached during the reign of Rudra Sinha (1695-1714 A.D.)

During the period of Kamaleshwar Sinha, who succeeded to the Ahom throne in 1795, there was a series of insurrections in several parts of the Ahom territory. The Daflas and Moa-morias rose in rebellion. The darkness period of the history of Assam is from 1818-1824 A.D., when the Burmese invaded Assam and let loose a reign of terror. After conquering Assam, the Burmese intruded upon British territory, which led to British intervention. Soon after a war between British and Burmese, the treaty of Yandabo took place on February 24, 1826, which led to the eventual annexation of Assam to the East India Company. Sonitpur along with the rest of Assam took part in India’s Independence movement. Not much jurisdictional changes took place since its formation. A small part of Sonitpur was annexed with the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) of Udalguri during the last decade.