Biswa Singha of Kamata
| Biswa Singha | |
|---|---|
| Reign | 1515–1540 |
| Coronation | 1515 |
| Predecessor | none |
| Successor | Nara Narayan |
| House | Koch dynasty |
| Father | Hariya Mandal |
Biswa Singha (1515—1540) was the progenitor king of the Koch dynasty of the Kamata kingdom. His ethnicity was the Koch tribe, a successor state of the ancient Kamarupa kingdom. A grandson of a Koch hero, he was able to unify different tribal groups against the Baro-Bhuyans of Assam and establish a kingdom the remnant of which still exists today.
After break-up of the Kamarupa kingdom in the 12th century, its territories were divided among small kingdoms, local chiefs and landlords. To the very east emerged the Sutia, Ahom and the Kachari kingdoms. To their west was the region of the Baro-Bhuyans that formed the buffer between the eastern kingdoms and the Kamata kingdom. In 1498, Alauddin Hussain Shah of Gaur attacked Nilambar, the king of Kamata, and occupied it. He left the region in the hands of his son Daniyal, who was attacked and defeated by a conglomeration of Bhuyan landlords led by Harup Narayan. The Bhuyans succeeded in removing the conquerors, but they failed to create a kingdom and instead maintained their fiefdoms.
In that political vacuum, Biswa Singha managed to unify other tribal groups and establish the Koch dynasty in the seat of the erstwhile Kamata kingdom.
Biswa Singha's father was Haria Mandal. Haria Mandal married Hira and Jira, the daughters of Koch Hajo, a Koch chief, and formed an alliance between the Koch tribe and other tibal groups. Bisu, as Biswa Singha was called earlier, was born to Hariya Mandal and Hira. Bisu is suspected to have participated in the Bhuyan campaigns against Daniyal, when he acquired his military skills.
Bisu began his campaign to unify the tribal chiefs around 1509 from his seat at Chikana, and he managed to unify other tribal groups. Some of the tribal chiefdoms that allied with him were Darrang, Karaibari, Atiabari, Kamtabari and Balrampur. Some of the Bhuyan chiefs he defeated during his campaign were the Bhuyans of Ouguri, Kusum Bhuyan, Dighala Bhuyan, Kalia Bhuyan, the Bhuyan of Jhargaon, Kabilash Bhuyan, the Bhuyans of Karnapur, Phulaguri, and Bijni and finally the Bhuyan of Pandunath (Pandu at Guwahati). His campaign against the Karnapur Bhuyan was particularly difficult, and he could defeat him only with a stratagem during Bihu. His campaign caused problems for other adjoining Bhuyans, like those from Banduka and Sajalagram.
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