The Baro-Bhuyans were warrior chiefs and landlords (zamindars) of medieval Assam and Bengal who maintained a loose independent confederacy. In times of aggression by external powers, they generally cooperated in defending and expelling the aggressor. In times of peace, they maintained their respective sovereignty. In the presence of a strong king, they offered their allegiance. Baro denotes the number twelve, but in general there were more than twelve chiefs or landlords, and the word baro meant many.^[1]

In Assam, the Baro-Bhuyans occupied the region west of the Kachari kingdom in the south bank of the Brahmaputra river, and west of the Sutiya kingdom in the north bank. They were instrumental in defending against aggressors from Bengal, especially in defeating the remnant of Alauddin Husain Shah's administration after 1498. They also resisted the emergence of the Koch dynasty but failed. Subsequently, they were squeezed between the Kachari kingdom and the Kamata kingdom in the south bank and slowly overpowered by the expanding Ahom kingdom in the north.

These landlords did not belong to any particular ethnicity, religion or caste.

Baro-Bhuyans of Assam[link]

The Baro-Bhuyans of Assam can be divided into two major groups: the southern and the northern groups.

The Southern group[link]

The southern group of Baro-Bhuyans had ensconced themselves between the Kachari kingdom in the east and the Kamata kingdom in the west on the south bank of the Brahmaputra river. According to biographical literature of the Ekasarana Dharma, the group was formed when due to a treaty sometime in the middle of the 14th century between Dharmanarayana of Gauda and Durlabhnarayan of Kamarupa-Kamata, a group of seven Kayastha and seven Brahmin families were transferred to Langamaguri, a few miles north of present-day Guwahati. The leader, or shiromani, of this group was Candivara, who had settled in Gauda after his emigration from Kannauj in present-day Uttar Pradesh. Candivara and his group did not stay in Lengamaguri for long, and moved soon to Borduwa in present-day Nagaon district. Among the descendants of Candivara was Srimanta Sankardeva.

This group of Baro-Bhuyans were instrumental in ending the rule of Alauddin Husain Shah of Gauda who had displaced Nilambar the ruler of Kamata in 1498. But the very soon, the rise of Viswa Singha of the Koch dynasty in Kamata squeezed them against the Kacharis in the west. They had to relocate to the north bank of the Brahmaputra in the first quarter of the 16th century, to a region west of the Bor Baro-Bhuyan group. The increasing Koch and Ahom conflicts further ate away at their independence and sovereignty.

The Northern group[link]

The origin of the northern group is shrouded in mystery. The original group is often referred to as the Adi Bhuyan, or the progenitor Bhuyans. The Adi-Bhuyans are said to have been already ensconced in the region west of the Sutiya kingdom when Sukaphaa established the Ahom kingdom in 1228. According to legend two brothers, Santanu and Sumanta, had twelve sons each and they formed the original Bor Baro-Bhuyan and Saru Baro-Bhuyan. The Saru Baro-Bhuyans emigrated to the Nagaon district soon after. The Bar Baro-Bhuyans fought with and withstood the mights of the Sutiya as well as the Kachari kingdoms. They soon came into conflict with the Ahoms, and were forced to subjugate themselves. They joined the Ahom king Suhungmung's expeditions against the Sutiya and the Kachari kingdoms. Pleased with their help, the Baro-Bhuyans were established as tributary feudal landlords in the north bank.

The Saru Bhuyans trace the genealogy of Candivara to Kanvajara, the eldest son of Sumanta, but this is not given credence.

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Baro Bhuyans on Banglapedia

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