Barak Valley (; ) is the southernmost region and administrative division of the Indian state of Assam. It is named after the Barak River, whose watershed roughly forms its northern border. The Barak valley consists of three administrative districts of Assam: Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi. The main and largest city is Silchar, which seats the headquarter of Cachar district and also serves as administrative divisional office of Barak valley division. The valley is bordered by Mizoram and Tripura to the south, Bangladesh and Meghalaya to the west and Manipur to the east respectively. Once North Cachar Hills was a part of Cachar district which became a subdivision in 1951 and eventually a separate district. On 1 July 1983, Karimganj district was curved out from the eponymous subdivision of Cachar district. In 1989, the subdivision of Hailakandi was upgraded into Hailakandi district.
As this Bengali speaking region is situated in the northeastern corner of the greater Bengal, was once identified as "Ishan Bongo"(Northeastern Bengal) in local folklore.
Etymology
The name "Barak" is derived from the Dimasa words 'Bra' and 'Kro'. Bra means bifurcation and Kro upper means portion/stream. The river Barak is bifurcated near Haritikar in the Karimganj district in to Surma River and Kushiyara River, respectively. The upstream of this bifurcated river was called "Brakro" by the Barman Kacharis of Cachar plains.Ministry of Tribal Affairs https://repository.tribal.gov.in › ...PDF tribes of assam
Another origin of the name is that Veraka finds it's mention on the Harikela Coins. Which is identifiable to 'Barak' valley.
Barak valley excluding Karimganj was once part of the Kachari kingdom. Some have suggested the word "Kachar" in Bengali language means a stretch of land at the foot of a mountain and Cachar might have been the name given by Bengalis of Sylhet to the land surrounded by mountains from all the sides. Others have pointed out that the name "Kachari" is widely prevalent in the Brahmaputra Valley and that the Dimasa people were known as "Kachari" even before they came to rule the Cachar plains, suggesting that it was the Dimasa people that gave the name Cachar to the plains."An early history of Assam by Sir Edward Gait (1963 ) suggests that Cachar district might have got its name from a Sanskrit word meaning a 'broadening region' or from the main tribe of the region. He further argues that the Kacharis themselves could not have got their name from Cachar district, as they are known by the same name in many parts of Assam far from Cachar, and were thus known long before they settled there: the earliest known record being 'in a letter of appointment by Raja Kirti Chandra, dated 1658 Sak (1736 CE), in which "Kacharir Niyam", or the practices of the Kacharis, is referred to' (Gait 1963: 299–300)."
Districts Barak valley Division comprises three districts, namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi.
CodeISO 3166 District Headquarter Population (2011) Area (km2) Density (/km2) CA Cachar Silchar 1,736,319 3,786 460 HA Hailakandi Hailakandi 659,296 1,327 497 KR Karimganj Karimganj 1,228,686 1,809 680Total3—3,624,3016,922523.59
History
The Barak river today splits into the northern Surma and the southern Kushiara between the towns of Badarpur in the east and Karimganj in the west. Inscriptions suggest that in the 10th century the region around Surma and Kushiara formed frontier settlements called Srihatta and Khanda Kamarupa established by Kamarupa kings in the 7th century."In the tenth century, inscriptions suggest that land around the Kushiara was most densely populated by frontier communities formed under Kamarupa kings who granted large tracts to Brahmans and their supporters in areas called Srihatta and Khanda Kamarupa." Till 1787, when Brahmaputra changed its course to meet the Meghna a hundred miles farther south, the land between Netrokona in the west and Sylhet in the east was inundated for half of each year forming haors which made the higher plains of the upper Surma-Kushiara basin not as easily accessible from the west as it was from the Cachar plains in the east."Until the Brahmaputra shifted its course a hundred miles south, in 1787, it crossed Mymensingh and emptied into the Meghna at Bhairav Bazar, from which point a vast freshwater sea covered the land for half of every year, all across the haors spanning Netrokona in the west and Sylhet the east. This inland sea deterred settlers from the west. It made the higher plains in the upper Surma-Kushiara basin much more easily accessible from the Barak valley, in the east, where the earliest Hindu settlers originated."
The three districts of the Barak Valley have their own historical origins; nevertheless the region came to be defined not from a natural growth from political, historical or cultural lives of the vernacular groups present in these regions, but as a by-product of colonial empire building under the East India Company (EIC) and the British Raj. The pre-colonial kingdoms were not cartographically defined; they were rather defined according to heartlands and the defense of the margins were not important. Territories were not necessarily contiguous and communities living in different places owing loyalties to different royal lineages implied territories."The geopolitical boundaries of the kingdoms were not cartographically defined. Heartlands and places of particular significance were more important than defending borderlines at margins... Communities were decidedly loyal to a particular royal lineage and such loyalties had territorial implications."s The EIC interests led to drastically differently defined cartographic territories—for example, it was in the interest of the two contending parties, the Tripura and the Kachari kingdoms, to define a boundary running east to west across the Dalasuri to determine trade and transaction of goods along the river flowing south to north north and to determine whether Hailakandi was in the control of the Tripuri or the Kachari polity; whereas the EIC was more interested in defining a north–south border along the Dalasuri so it could be defended."One such conflict was played out between the kingdoms of Tripura and Cachar, and focussed on the market town of Hailakandi...At Hailakandi, for example, ...observed a north-south division across Dalasuri, and debated whether Hailakandi should end up one side or the other, the Company argued for an east-west division along the river. The Dalasuri connected people. It was a center of livelihoods, trade, and social life. But to the British, a river constituted an easily defended outer border, separating people by a line cutting through landscape by which order could be upheld."
Pre-colonial formations According to Bhatera Copper Plate of 1049A.D issued by Govinda-Keasavadeva ruler of the Gour Kingdom (Srihatta-Rajya) ruled parts of Barak Valley. Places like Kalain, Katakhal and Salchapra and Surma river found their mention on the copper plate.
In the 16th century, the Tripura kingdom was in control of the Cachar plains, when in 1562 the Koch general Chilarai annexed the Cachar region to the Koch kingdom and it came to be administered from Khaspur (or Kochpur) by his half-brother Kamalnarayan. After the death of the Koch ruler Nara Narayan, the region became independent and was ruled by the descendants of Kamalnarayan and his group, and they became known as the Dehans (after Dewan). Between 1745 and 1755, the last Koch ruler's daughter married the king of the Kachari kingdom, and the rule of Khaspur passed into the hands of the Kachari rulers who adopted the title Lord of Hedamba."An important change in the Dimasa political tradition occurred in the mideighteenth century, probably 1745, 1750 or 1755, when the centre of administration was moved from Maibong to Khaspur in the plains of Cachar. From this time onwards, the Dimasa rulers used the title 'the Lord of Heḍamba' in their own records."
The Kachari kings at Khaspur appointed Brahmins as rajpandits and rajgurus and provided land grants to Muslims from Sylhet for cultivation."Some brahmins were appointed as Rajgurus or Rajpandits in the court. Hariścandranārāyaṇa also made land grants to the Muslims of Sylhet to encourage their agricultural activities in the Cachar plains." Some people from Manipur and the Ahom kingdom too moved to the Cachar plains following disturbances in those lands."Besides the Bengalis, inhabitants of Manipur and Ahom came in Cachar in the wake of the Burmese disturbance in 1765 and the Moamaria uprising in 1767–70." In 1835, Pemberton reported that according to Captain Fisher the population of the Cachar plains was around 50,000 dominated by the Dimasa people, followed by Muslim immigrants from Sylhet and their descendants; a third group was Bengali and Assamese immigrants and their descendants and Naga, Kuki and Manipuris forming the smallest groups."According to Pemberton's report in 1835, the population of the Cachar plains was estimated at about 50,000, among which the Dimasa-Kacharis were the most dominant section; the second were Bengali Muslim immigrants and their descendants; the third were Bengali and Assamese Hindu immigrants and their descendants; and the last bulk of the population consists of Manipuris, Nagas and Kookis." "The population of Lower and Upper Cachar was estimated at around 60,000. In Upper Cachar Cacharis, Kookees, Aooloongs, and Nagas were recorded. The inhabitants of Lower Cachar was predominantly Cacharis and Bengali Muslims (descendants of immigrants). There were also Kookees, Manipuris, and Nagas there." On a survey to Cachar in 1832 pemberton also mentioned that people in Sylhet and Cachar are identical in every respect-appearance custom and language.
In 1837 British officer J.G. Burns reported that the population of Cachar plains was 50,000, and only a small portion of the population were Dimasa, majority were Bengali Hindus and Bengali Muslim and a few Manipuris, Nagas and Kukis.
In the census report of 1921, G.T. Lloyd stated that Bengali speakers in Cachar and Goalpara are Indigenous.
Hailakandi Hailakandi, claimed by both the Tripura and Kachari kingdoms, was a market town on the banks of the Dalasuri river which connected the resource-rich southern hills with the markets in the north along the Barak river."One such conflict was played out between the kingdoms of Tripura and Cachar, and focused on the market town of Hailakandi. The town was located on the banks of the Dalasuri, which connected the resource-rich southern hills and the markets along the Barak." In 1821-22 when Thomas Fischer surveyed the area, he found that Hailakandi was controlled by the Kacharis, though it was surrounded by villages of the Kuki Tanghum community that owed allegiance to the Tripura kingdom."Fisher observed that Cachar now possessed the place, but that it was surrounded by villages of the Kuki Tanghum community in the lower hills, who were loyal to the king of Tripura." In this region a past Tripura king received a princess from Manipur."On (the occasion of a wedding of the former raja of Tripura to the daughter of the raja of Manipur) the two rajas and their entourage met halfway between their kingdoms." It was uncertain which of the three kingdoms the communities paid their tributes to and it effectively formed a boundary zone, a concept that differed significantly from the idea of clearly defined borders between kingdoms."(It) was impossible to establish whether they paid tribute to Manipur, Trupura, or Cachar. The notion of a boundary zone, characterized by tributes and negotiations, rather than a boundary line did not occur to (Fisher)."
Karimganj