Balinarayan alias Dharmanarayan or Baldeo (1638) of

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

was the son of Koch King Raghudev and younger brother of King Parikshit who was established as the first king of ''Darrang Desa'' (present-day Darrang) as an tributary by Ahom king

Pratap Singha Susenghphaa or Pratap Singha ( – 1641), was the 17th and one of the most prominent kings of the Ahom kingdom. As he was advanced in years when he became king, he is also called the ''burha Raja'' (Old king). His reign saw an expansion of the ...

. He was the chief conductor of the operations conducted against the Mughals during their occupation of Kamrupa erstwhile fallen

Koch Hajo Koch Hajo (1581–1616) was the kingdom under Raghudev and his son Parikshit Narayan of the Koch dynasty that stretched from Sankosh River in the west to the Bhareli River in the east on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River. It was created by ...

which got annexed to Mughal domain after the defeat of the latter.

Career

Background

The Mughal governor of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

after subduing Koch Behar, invaded

. In the initial conflicts the King of Hajo, Parikshit got defeated and was captured, and taken to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

(1613). Balinarayan, Parikshit's younger brother went to Ahom Kingdom and took shelter there under then King

(1641) for protection. There he convinced

of his honesty by paying his full obeisances. In 1615,

launched their aggressions towards Ahom Kingdom, with some initial success but at last ultimately crushed and pushed back off to Barnadi . Balinarayan was established by the Pratap Singha in the Darrang region as a tributary King. Balinarayan was called Dharmanarayan by Pratap Singha due to his religious deposition.

Conflicts with Mughals

Mughal subjugation of

(Kamrupa) was incomplete and the latter could only effectively control the western part. Zealous, he was resolved to drive the Mughals out from Kamrupa and proved to be a noble tenacious fighter in both geographical divisions of Kamrup as Rana Pratap of Chittor. In 1616, utilizing the weakening of the imperial authority in Kamrup, Balinarayan along the hill-chieftains besieged

Pandu Pandu () was the king of Kuru kingdom, with capital at Hastinapur in the epic '' Mahabharata''. He was the foster-father of the five Pandavas, who are the central characters of the epic. Pandu was born pale, to Vichitravirya's second wife ...

but the Mughal defeat was prevented by a Bengal

zamindars A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is th ...

who came to rescue and the besiegers retreated. In a second attempt, Balinarayan occupied

without any contest due to an internal feud in the Mughal camp. He then called Ahom King for reinforcement for retention, who accordingly sent a large number of troops under his chief commanders, and a grand attack was launched upon

Hajo Hajo is a historic town set in the hills northwest of Guwahati, Assam, India. It is a meeting point of Buddhism, Buddhists, Hinduism, Hindus and Islam, Muslims due to the various pilgrimage sites on the different hills of Hajo. To the Hindus, ...

. With initial gains, Mughals were reduced but were eventually compelled to retreat with the Burhagohain dead. Balinarayan escaped capture and took shelter in Ahom Kingdom. In 1619, Balinarayan with Ahoms besieged Ranihat and captured it. Next year he made an attack on the Minari outpost but counter retaliation under Mirza Nathan, resulted in flight. Balinarayan (1626) seized Luki Duar and overrun the entirety of ''Dakhinkul'' (south bank of Brahmaputra ), attempts to subvert him proved abortive In 1636, Balinarayan captured the imperial strongholds of Nowmati. The

after being defeated on several engagements now made their last stand on

, now both Balinarayan and the Borphukan made a combined attack which eventually fell to them.

Death

The repeated news of reverse in Kamrup reached to Islam Khan II,

Subahdar Subahdar, also known as Nazim, was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty, Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the Mughal era who was alternately designated as Sahib- ...

of Bengal and he sent strong reinforcement under Mir Zainuddin along with Allah Yar Khan. The reinforced Mughals now recovered the lost tracts one by one and finally captured Balinarayan at Singri ; and killed.

Legacy

Historian Sudhindra Nath Bhattacharya notes about Balinarayan – A life-sized statue of Balinarayan alias Dharamanarayan was unveiled in Mangaldoi, Darrang district.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * {{S-end People from Assam Hindu monarchs 1638 deaths Ahom kingdom 16th-century Indian people 17th-century Indian people