Bhuiyan (also Bhuiya, Bhuyan, Bhuya) was a title for landowners in medieval

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 ...

and

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. It has been adopted as a surname by different communities in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Etymology

Bhuiyan was a title used to refer to a landlord or chieftain. It originates from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word, Bhumi, meaning 'land'.

History

Assam

The origin of this group is shrouded in mystery. This original group is often referred to as the ''Adi Bhuyan'', or the progenitor Bhuiyans. One of the earliest evidence of Bhuyans in

Mlechchha dynasty The Mlechchha dynasty (c. 650 - 900) ruled Kamarupa from their capital at Harruppesvar in present-day Tezpur, Assam, after the fall of the Varman dynasty. According to historical records, there were twenty one rulers in this dynasty, but t ...

during the 9th century reign of Balavarman III by using 'parcelization' of power. Historical record of Raut-Kuchi grant (1329 A.D.) shows that western Brahmaputra valley comes from Adi-Bhuiyan group's ''Purushottam Dasa'' grandfather Basudeva, who was a minister of Kamata king Indranarayan, who commanded a thousand men and war elephants. The grant also stated that, Basudeva obtainted glory of sovereignty with his wealth and valour. In the manuscript ''Adi-charita'' (Old- Character), which mentions about the Adi-Bhuyan group. The progenitor Bhuiyans (Adi-Bhuiyans) ensconced in Chutiya Kingdom when

Sukaphaa Sukaphaa (), also Siu-Ka-Pha, the first Ahom kingdom, Ahom Ahom Dynasty, king in medieval Assam, was the founder of the Ahom kingdom and the architect of Assam. A prince of the Su/Tsu (Tiger) clan of the Mao-Shan sub-tribe originally from prese ...

established the Ahom Kingdom in 1208. Adi- Bhuiyan group maintained status quo with most faith-based ideologies. Adi-Bhuiyan group's later foundation became known as

Baro-Bhuyan The ''Baro-Bhuyans'' (or ''Baro-Bhuyan Raj''; also ''Baro-Bhuians'' and ''Baro-Bhuiyans'') were confederacies of soldier-landowners in Assam and Bengal in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The confederacies consisted of loosel ...

chieftains.

Cachar

The Bengali Mirashdars living in the former

Kachari Kingdom The Dimasa Kingdom also known as Kachari kingdom was a late medieval/early modern kingdom in Assam, Northeast India ruled by Dimasa kings. The Dimasa kingdom and others ( Kamata, Chutiya) that developed in the wake of the Kamarupa kingdom we ...

were given titles by the Kachari Raja, which in modern-day acts as a surname for them.

Bengal

The Baro-Bhuyans of Bengal ruled and maintained an independent confederacy after the fall of the

Bengal Sultanate The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges- ...

's final

Karrani dynasty The Karrani dynasty (, ) was founded in 1564 by Taj Khan Karrani, an ethnic Afghan from the Karlani tribe, hailing from Bangash district. It was the last dynasty to rule the Sultanate of Bengal, before the region became a Subah of the Mugha ...

. Mughal histories, mainly the ''

Akbarnama The ''Akbarnama (; )'', is the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (), commissioned by Akbar himself and written by his court historian and biographer, Abul Fazl. It was written in Persian, which was the literary l ...

'', the ''

Ain-i-Akbari The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' (), or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document regarding the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl, in the Persian language. It forms ...

'' and the ''

Baharistan-i-Ghaibi The ''Baharistan-i-Ghaibi'' (), written by Mirza Nathan, is a 17th-century chronicle on the history of Bengal, Cooch Behar, Assam and Bihar under the reign of Mughal emperor Jahangir (1605–1627). Unlike other history books of the Mughal Empire, ...

'' refers to the low-lying regions of Bengal as ''Bhati''''.'' This region includes the Bhagirathi to the

Meghna River The Meghna () is one of the major rivers in Bangladesh, one of the three that form the Ganges Delta, the largest delta on earth, which fans out to the Bay of Bengal. A part of the Surma-Meghna River System, the Meghna is formed inside Banglade ...

is Bhati, while others include Hijli,

Jessore Jessore (, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District in Khulna Division. It lies in southwestern Bangladesh. It is home to the first flight training school of the Bangladeshi Air Force, established in 1971. Jessore city consists of 9 wa ...

, Chandradwip and Barisal Division in Bhati. Keeping in view the theatre of warfare between the Bara-Bhuiyans and the Mughals, the Baharistan-i-Ghaibi mentions the limits of the area bounded by the Ichamati River in the west, the

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

in the south, the

Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...

to the east; Alapsingh pargana (in present

Mymensingh District Mymensingh District () is a district in Mymensingh Division Bangladesh, and is bordered in the north by Meghalaya, India and the Garo Hills, in the south by Gazipur District, in the east by the districts of Netrokona and Kishoreganj and in ...

) and

Baniachong Baniachong (), is a village and upazila of Habiganj District in Sylhet Division, Bangladesh. History Baniachong constituted the grand estate (zamindari) of Anwar Khan, who was looked upon as a raja by the local people. Estate of Baniachong was ...

in the north. The Bara-Bhuiyans rose to power in this region and put up resistance to the Mughals, until

Islam Khan Chisti Shaikh Alauddin Chisti (1570–1613; popularly known as Islam Khan Chisti) was a Mughal general and the Subahdar of Bihar and later Bengal. He transferred the capital of Bengal from Rajmahal to Sonargaon and founded the city of Jahangirnagar. ...

made them submit in the reign of

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

Notes

References

External links

Bara-Bhuiyans
at ''

Banglapedia ''Banglapedia:'' ''the'' ''National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh'' is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises fourteen 500-page volumes. The ...

'' {{in lang, en, bn Medieval Bengal History of Assam