Sonitpur district [ or ] is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters is located at Tezpur.
Etymology The name Sonitpur is associated with the legend of the battle between Banasura and Lord Krishna over Aniruddha, a story found in Hindu mythology and in the locally composed Kalika Purana According to legend, Banasura was the king of Sonitpur and a devotee of Lord Shiva; the city is traditionally associated with the story of his daughter Usha and Aniruddha. The Sanskrit word Śōṇita means "blood", and Sonitpur literally means "city of blood". Tezpur, the headquarters of Sonitpur district, is traditionally regarded as the Assamese equivalent of Sonitpur, meaning "city of blood".
History
Early Medieval period During the early medieval period, the area around present-day Tezpur formed an important part of the Kamarupa kingdom. Under the Mlechchha or Salastambha line, which ruled Kamarupa from the late 7th to the 10th century, Tezpur was known as Haruppesvara, Hadapesvara or Hatapesvara and served as an important political centre. The Tezpur rock inscription of King Harjjaravarman, dated to 510 Gupta Era, corresponding to 829–830 CE, is one of the important epigraphic records from this period. The early historic and early medieval importance of the region is also reflected in monuments such as the Da-Parbatia temple door-frame, regarded as one of the finest early examples of stone sculpture in Assam, and the masonry remains at Bamuni Hill, which have been dated to around the 9th–10th century CE and ascribed to the later Salastambha rulers.
Late Medieval period
After the fall of the Kamrupa kingdom, the lands of the current district were divided between the Baro-Bhuyans and the Chutia Kingdom rule. The border between the two territories was the Bharali River."..the Chutiya kingdom was bound by the Himalayas on the north, river Burhi Dihing on the south, Patkai ranges on the east and Bharali river in the west"
The Buranjis mention that after the conquest of the Chutia Kingdom in 1524 CE, the Ahom forces of Suhungmung crossed the Bharali River in 1527 and 1529 CE, suppressed the Bhuyans of Rauta-Temoni (modern-day Darrang-Nagaon region) and resettled them in the Uttarkula or North bank of Upper Assam (Lakhimpur-Biswanath region).According to Purani Assam Buranji, p.27. the twelve Bara Bhuyans of Rowta-Temani (mid-Assam, on either bank of the Brahmaputra), namely Utai, Tamai, Rai, Sakai, Kausika, Uzir, Laskar, Comdar, Sanatana, Keho, Rambhat and Bhakat with four sub-Bhuyans each, were transported and settled in various places of Uttara-kula (Biswanath, Lakhimpur districts). The Lacam Kalita Bhuyan family was placed at Bahbari(Lakhimpur), while one of them was settled on the river Sonari(Dhakuakhana), and another on the hills. As per Satsari Buranji, p.16, Suhungmung suppressed the Baro-Bhuyans in Rowta. The people of the region were placed under the leadership of the Baro-Bhuyans and re-settled at different places of the kingdom. In 1526 CE, Suhungmung first appointed Konsheng Dhanudharia Gohain as Bhatialia Gohain or Namoniyal Sandikoi to rule the north-bank region and later gave him the title of Barpatra Gohain (Chao-Sheng-lung) in imitation of the earlier Chutia Barpatra title, after which the Ahom forces crossed the Bharali and subjugated the Bhuyans in the years 1527 and 1529 CE.Barua, G.C.,"Ahom Buranji, p. 62, "The heavenly king proceeded to Shaola(Biswanath). He ordered Shenglung, Thaomung Shenba, and some others to go and remain at Teomani-Rowta. They did accordingly proceeded to the place and stopped there...The king passed the year Lakni Taomit (1528 AD) in peace. In Lakni Kaken (in 1529 AD), the king, with his son, the Dangarias and followers proceeded to Shaola(Sala). The heavenly king sent a messenger to Shenglung and others, directing them to return from Teomani-Rowta. The king then ordered Thaomung Katak and Thaomung Mungklang to cross the Bharali river and plunder the wide country on the other side. Both of them acted as desired and returned with some captives who were produced before the king. Thaomung Katak was placed at Narayanpur."Bhuyan, S.K, Deodhai Asam Buranji,p.21,"ৰজাদেৱে বিশ্বনাথ লৈ গৈ ত্যাওচুংলুং-কংচেং, থাওমুং-চেনব এই দুইক ৰেটাই-টেমনিত থাকিব দিলেগৈ। পাচে থাওমুং-কটকক উজিৰক ধৰিবলৈ পঠালে। উজিৰে এই কথা জানি ভাগি পৰাৰ...লাক্নি কাকেও শকত ৰজাদেৱৰ বাপেক-পুতেক ৰাজ্যে-সমন্বিতে বিশ্বনাথলৈ গৈ কলঙ্গেদি মানুহ পঠাই ৰেটাই-টেমনিৰ পৰা ত্যাওচুংলুং-কংচেঙক লোকজন সহিতে আহিব দিলে। পাচে ৰজাদেৱে থাওমুং-কটক, থাওমুং-মুংক্লাং, এই দুইক ভৰলীয়ে উজাই পঠালে, বোলে-"তহঁতে দুয়ে ভৰলু পাৰ হৈ গৈ যি মানুহ পাৱ ধৰি আনগৈ।" পাচে ইবোলাক দুয়ো গৈ যি মানুহ পালে আনি ৰজাদেৱৰ ঠাইত দিলেহি। পাচে থাওমুং-কটকক নাৰায়ণপুৰত ৰাজ দি তাতে থাকিব দিলে।"
The Bengal Sultanate forces under various commanders like Turbak Khan, Bor Ujir and Bit Malik attacked the Ahom kingdom between 1527 and 1532, and battles were fought at various places in the Biswanath, Nagaon and Sonitpur region. The Ahoms won the battles, and the Muslims were chased away from the region.
From the mid-16th century, the Darrang–Sonitpur region became a contested frontier between the Ahoms and the expanding Koch kingdom. During the first major Koch–Ahom campaign in 1546, Chilarai, the brother and commander-in-chief of Nara Narayan, advanced eastwards along the north bank of the Brahmaputra. The Koch army defeated an Ahom force at the Dikarai River, after which further engagements took place at Kaliabor and Sala, where the Ahoms were again forced to retreat. The Dikarai river system and the medieval Sala–Biswanath military complex lay in the present Sonitpur–Biswanath region. In the following year, the Koches fortified Narayanpur, but the Ahom king Suklenmung established a fortified position on the Pichala River and cut their communications. The Koch army suffered a severe defeat at Pichala in 1547 and withdrew from its eastern conquests.
Hostilities were renewed under Sukhaamphaa in 1562–63. During this second invasion, local Bhuyans and other chiefs of the north-bank region submitted to or joined the Koch forces; the Bhuyans of Rowta are specifically recorded as submitting to Nara Narayan in 1563. A fugitive prince of the former Chutia kingdom, accompanied by Chutia nobles, also approached Nara Narayan and sought his assistance in recovering his ancestral kingdom from the Ahoms. Chilarai's forces defeated the Ahoms, occupied Garhgaon, and compelled Sukhaamphaa to acknowledge Koch supremacy and cede a considerable tract on the north bank of the Brahmaputra. A Koch garrison was subsequently maintained at Narayanpur.
The eastern Koch gains, however, were not permanent. The Ahoms soon recovered the north-bank territory as far west as the Bharali. Sukhaamphaa then brought this recovered tract under direct Ahom administration and created the office of the Salal Gohain to administer it. The Salal Gohain's jurisdiction included the eastern part of the old Tezpur subdivision and the adjoining western portion of Lakhimpur, and one of his principal frontier duties was to guard the plains against incursions by the Akas and Daflas.
The Koch political sphere nevertheless continued to include much of the country farther west. In 1581, after the birth of Nara Narayan's son Lakshmi Narayan displaced Raghudev from the expected succession, Nara Narayan assigned Raghudev the eastern division of the kingdom. Nityananda Gogoi describes this territory as extending from the Sankosh River in the west to the Bharali in the east on the north bank. This eastern principality subsequently became known as Koch Hajo, while the western kingdom became Koch Bihar. Local Bhuyan chiefs, however, continued to exercise authority in parts of the Barnadi–Bharali tract beneath this wider political framework.
After Raghudev's death, his son Parikshit Narayan came into conflict with Lakshmi Narayan of Koch Bihar, who sought Mughal assistance. Mughal forces defeated Parikshit and conquered Koch Hajo in 1612–13, initially extending their authority eastwards to the Barnadi River. They subsequently advanced beyond the Barnadi into the tract towards the Bharali, bringing them into conflict with the Ahoms. Parikshit's relative Bali Narayan fled to the court of the Ahom king Pratap Singha, who refused Mughal demands for his surrender.
The resulting Ahom–Mughal conflicts began in 1615. In early 1616 the Ahoms defeated the advancing Mughal forces in the Bharali–Samdhara region, after which Pratap Singha established Bali Narayan, renamed Dharmanarayana, as tributary ruler of the tract between the Barnadi and Bharali. This formed the tributary kingdom of Darrang under Ahom suzerainty. Warfare over Kamrup continued intermittently. In 1636 the Ahoms and Bali Narayan temporarily occupied much of Mughal Kamrup, but a Mughal counter-offensive in 1637–38 drove them back and Bali Narayan was killed in 1638. The Treaty of Asurar Ali in 1639 finally fixed the Barnadi River as the Mughal–Ahom boundary on the north bank, leaving the Barnadi–Bharali tract and the tributary Darrang state within the Ahom political sphere.
During the political disorder following the illness and deposition of Shah Jahan in 1658, the Ahoms attempted to extend their western boundary to the Sankosh River, but were pushed back by Mir Jumla II, who captured Garhgaon. During the Mughal advance, a fort near Silghat was captured, while the Ahoms evacuated the Chandara fort near Tezpur. However, the monsoon rains and disease caused heavy losses to the Mughal army during its retreat, and the Ahoms soon recovered Guwahati and retained it.
The northern foothill belt of the wider Darrang-Sonitpur region included a series of hill–plain gateways known as the Darrang Duars. Buriguma and Killing were the principal Duars through which the Ahom state dealt with Bhutan, while Koriapar, farther east, had a distinct political position. Koriapar was held by Monpa chiefs known as the Sat Rajas, who were subordinate to the ruler of Tawang rather than directly to the Bhutanese government.
The Ahoms came into closer contact with the Bhutan frontier during the reign of Pratap Singha, especially after the Battle of Bharali in 1616, when Bali Narayan was installed in Darrang as a tributary ruler under the title Dharma Narayan. Ahom occupation of the Darrang plains did not result in exclusive control over the northern Duars. Bhutanese attempts to extend their authority over the fertile plains south of the hills up to the Gohain Kamal Ali were checked by the combined forces of the Ahoms and the Koches, and the Darrang Duars of Buriguma and Killing initially remained under Ahom administration. During the reign of Jayadhwaj Singha, however, Bhutan acquired a recognised position in these Duars under an agreement by which the Bhutias paid annual tribute to the Ahom king and surrendered the Duars to Ahom officials for four months each year, from Ashar to Aswin. The Raja of Darrang was made responsible for collecting the tribute and managing dealings with the Bhutias. Bhutan thus exercised substantial but seasonal authority in the western Duars, while the Ahom government retained limited revenue and policing rights during its allotted months.
The Darrang Duars were administered through officers called Duarias, while Katakis were appointed to supervise dealings in the Duars and ensure that taxes collected from the ryots did not exceed the fixed dues. Bhutias entering through one Duar were not allowed to pass into another without permission from the Katakis. From the reign of Gadadhar Singha, the jurisdiction of the Borphukan at Guwahati was extended over both Kamrup and Darrang, and Ahom revenue collectors and police officers administered the Darrang Duars during the four months when they were under Ahom control. To check Bhutanese incursions, Gadadhar Singha also constructed a series of forts on the Darrang frontier.