The
Khen dynasty of
AssamAssam ) is a northeastern state of India with its capital at Dispur located in the Guwahati city. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles...
replaced the
Pala dynastyThe Pala dynasty of Kamarupa ruled the kingdom from 900. Like the Pala dynasty of Bengal, the first ruler in this dynasty was elected, which probably explains the name of this dynasty "Pala". But unlike the Palas of Bengal, who were Buddhists, the Palas of Kamarupa were Vaishnava...
in the 12th century. Their accession marks the end of the
Kamarupa kingdomKamarupa, also called Pragjyotisha, was the first historical kingdom in Assam that existed between the 4th to the 12th century CE. Ruled by three dynasties from their capitals in present-day Guwahati and Tezpur, it covered the entire Brahmaputra river valley and, at times, North Bengal and parts...
, and the beginning of the
Kamata kingdomThe Kamata kingdom appeared in the western part of the older Kamarupa kingdom in the 13th century, after the fall of the Pala dynasty. The rise of the Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the History of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The first rulers were the...
.
According to the
Gosani mangala (1823), the Khen rulers had a humble origin, implying that they were probably local non-Aryan chieftains that rose to power after the fall of the Palas. Ethnically, they are possibly related to the
KhengThe Kheng are an ethnic group of Bhutan, found primarily in the Zhemgang, Trongsa and Mongar districts of south central Bhutan. They speak Khengkha, a member of the extended Tibetan language family; the closest related language appears to be Bumthangkha to the north...
people of nearby
BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby state of Nepal to the west by...
.
The
Khen dynasty of
AssamAssam ) is a northeastern state of India with its capital at Dispur located in the Guwahati city. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles...
replaced the
Pala dynastyThe Pala dynasty of Kamarupa ruled the kingdom from 900. Like the Pala dynasty of Bengal, the first ruler in this dynasty was elected, which probably explains the name of this dynasty "Pala". But unlike the Palas of Bengal, who were Buddhists, the Palas of Kamarupa were Vaishnava...
in the 12th century. Their accession marks the end of the
Kamarupa kingdomKamarupa, also called Pragjyotisha, was the first historical kingdom in Assam that existed between the 4th to the 12th century CE. Ruled by three dynasties from their capitals in present-day Guwahati and Tezpur, it covered the entire Brahmaputra river valley and, at times, North Bengal and parts...
, and the beginning of the
Kamata kingdomThe Kamata kingdom appeared in the western part of the older Kamarupa kingdom in the 13th century, after the fall of the Pala dynasty. The rise of the Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the History of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The first rulers were the...
.
According to the
Gosani mangala (1823), the Khen rulers had a humble origin, implying that they were probably local non-Aryan chieftains that rose to power after the fall of the Palas. Ethnically, they are possibly related to the
KhengThe Kheng are an ethnic group of Bhutan, found primarily in the Zhemgang, Trongsa and Mongar districts of south central Bhutan. They speak Khengkha, a member of the extended Tibetan language family; the closest related language appears to be Bumthangkha to the north...
people of nearby
BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby state of Nepal to the west by...
. They worshipped
Kamatashwari (also called
Chandi or
Bhavani), thus providing a break from the earlier dynasties that drew their lineage from
NarakasuraIn Hindu mythology, Narakasura or Naraka is the asura son of the earth goddess Bhudevi and Lord Vishnu in his Varaha avatar . In other sources, he is the son of the asura Hiranyaksha. He is said to have established the kingdom of Pragjyotisha in Assam after overthrowing the last of the Danava...
, the son of
VishnuVishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God...
. Along with the change in the deity, the Khen rulers moved the capital from Kamarupanagara to Kamatapura further west on the banks of the
Dharla RiverThe Dharla River is one of Bangladesh's trans-boundary rivers. It originates in the Himalayas where it is known as the Jaldhaka River, and then it flows through the Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts of West Bengal, India, one of the seven main rivers to do so...
.
Under the patronage of Kamata rulers (e.g Durlabh Narayan), some of the first examples of
AssameseAssamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in Bhutan...
literature were composed.
The kingdom of Kamatapura finally fell to Alauddin Hussein Shah in 1498. But Hussein Shah could not rule the kingdom—Bhuyan chiefs of the region, with the help of the
AhomThe Ahom Kingdom was a medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India...
king,
SuhungmungSuhungmung , was one of the most important Ahom kings, who ruled at the cusp of Assam's medieval history. His reign broke from the early Ahom rule and established a multi-ethnic polity in his kingdom. Under him the Ahom Kingdom expanded greatly for the first time since Sukaphaa, at the cost of...
, defeated the invaders in 1505. Soon control of the Kamata kingdom passed into the hands of the
Koch dynastyThe Koch dynasty of Assam and Bengal, named after the Koch tribe of Tibeto-Burmese affiliation, took control of the Kamata kingdom in 1515 after the fall of the Khen dynasty in 1498. The dynasty forked for the first time into two major branches that controlled Koch Bihar and Koch Hajo...
.
Rule
The first king Prithu is known from the Kanai Varasiboa rock inscription in which a reference is made of the destruction of Bakhtiyar's army in 1205. This was followed by the defeat of Giasuddin in 1227, but in 1228, Prithu was defeated by Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah, the son of
IltutmishShams-ud-din Iltutmish, or Altamash was the third Muslim Turkic sultan of the Sultanate of Delhi and the third ruler of the Mamluk dynasty . He was a slave of Qutub-ud-din-Aybak and later became his son-in-law and close lieutenant...
, and the Turkish army reached the Nagaon area. After Nassiruddin's death, Prithu's successor, Sandhya, removed the Turkish influence.
Rulers
- Prithu (c1185-1228)
- Sandhya (1228-1260)
- Sindhu Rai (1260-1285)
- Rup Narayan (1285-1300)
- Singhadhwaj (1300-1305)
- Pratapdhwaj (1305-1325)
- Dharma Narayan (1325-1330)
- Durlabh Narayan (1330-1350)
- Indra Narayan (1350-1365)
- Sasanka (Arimatta) (1365-1385)
- Gajanka (1385-1400)
- Sukranka (1400-1415)
- Mriganka (1415-1440)
- Niladhwaj (1440-1460)
- Chakradhwaj (1460-1480)
- Nilambar (1480-1498)