In news : Recently, the Prime Minister of India paid tribute to Bir Chilarai(Assam ‘Kite Prince’) on his 512th birth anniversary
Bir Chilarai(Shukladhwaja)
- He was Nara Narayan’s commander-in-chief and got his name Chilarai because, as a general, he executed troop movements that were as fast as a chila (kite/Eagle)
- The great General of Assam, Chilarai contributed a lot in building the Koch Kingdom strong
- He was also the younger brother of Nara Narayan, the king of the Kamata Kingdom in the 16th century.
- He along with his elder brother Malla Dev who later known as Naya Narayan attained knowledge about warfare and they were skilled in this art very well during their childhood.
- With his bravery and heroism, he played a crucial role in expanding the great empire of his elder brother, Maharaja Nara Narayan.
- He was the third son of Maharaja Biswa Singha (1523–1554 A.D.)
- The reign of Maharaja Viswa Singha marked a glorious episode in the history of Assam as he was the founder ruler of the Koch royal dynasty, who established his kingdom in 1515 AD. He had many sons but only four of them were remarkable.
- With his Royal Patronage Sankardeva was able to establish the Ek Saran Naam Dharma in Assam and bring about his cultural renaissance.
- Chilaray is said to have never committed brutalities on unarmed common people, and even those kings who surrendered were treated with respect.
- He also adopted guerrilla warfare successfully, even before Shivaji, the Maharaja of Maratha Empire did.
- Chilaray died in 1577 of smallpox on the bank of Ganges
Kamata Kingdom
- This kingdom emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE
- Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, and since it covered most of the western parts of it, the kingdom is also sometimes called Kamarupa-Kamata.
- It covered a region corresponding to present-day undivided districts of Kamrup, Goalpara, Jalpaiguri, and Koch Behar in India and Rangpur and northern parts of Mymensingh in Bangladesh.
- 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
Source: PIB
