Cooch Behar district () is a district of Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. Formerly part of the Kamarupa kingdom, the area became the heart of the Kamata Kingdom in the 12th century. During the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, the district was known as

Cooch Behar state Cooch Behar, also known as Koch Bihar, was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The state was placed under the Bengal States Agency, part of the Eastern States Agency of the Bengal Presidency. It is located south of the Himal ...

ruled by the

Koch dynasty Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east ...

until 1947, when it became part of India. The district consists of the flat plains of

North Bengal North Bengal ( bn, উত্তরবঙ্গ/উত্তর বাংলা) is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. G ...

and has several rivers: the most notable being the

Teesta Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Rangpur, and enters the Bay of Bengal. It drains an area of . In India, it flows th ...

Jaldhaka Jaldhaka (also referred to as Jhalong) is a small town in the Gorubathan CD block in the Kalimpong Sadar subdivision of the Kalimpong district in the state of West Bengal, India. It lies on the bank of Jaldhaka River. Geography Locatio ...

and

Torsa Torsa (occasionally Torsay) is one of the Slate Islands in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Lying east of Luing and south of Seil, this tidal island was inhabited until the 1960s. There is now only one house there, which is used for holiday lets. The ...

. The district has the highest proportion of

Scheduled Castes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

in the country, where they form a majority.

Etymology

The name ''Cooch Behar'' is derived from the name of the Koch or '' Rajbanshi'' community indigenous to this region. The word ''behar'' is derived from sa, विहार '' vihara''.

History

Shri Sir Nripendra Narayan, Maharaja of Cooch Behar

Early period

Gosanimari Rajpat at Gosanimari village in Coochbihar district 31

Cooch Behar formed part of the

Kamarupa Kingdom Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam. Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...

of Assam from the 4th to the 12th centuries. In the 12th century, the area became a part of the Kamata Kingdom, first ruled by the

Khen dynasty The Khen dynasty (also Khyen dynasty) of Assam was a late medieval dynasty of erstwhile Kamata kingdom. After the fall of the Pala dynasty of Kamrupa, the western region was reorganized into Kamata kingdom, when Sandhya moved his capital from ...

from their capital at Kamatapur. The Khens were an indigenous tribe, and they ruled till about 1498 CE, when they fell to

Alauddin Hussain Shah Ala-ud-din Husain Shah ( bn, আলাউদ্দিন হোসেন শাহ (1494–1519)Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (2006). ''The Delhi Sultanate'', Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, pp.215-20 was an independent late medieval Sultan of Bengal, who ...

, the independent Pathan Sultan of Gour. The new invaders fought with the local

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

and the Ahom king

Suhungmung Suhungmung (), or Dihingia Roja I was one of the most prominent Ahom Kings who ruled at the cusp of Assam's medieval history. His reign broke from the early Ahom rule and established a multi-ethnic polity in his kingdom. Under him the Ahom K ...

and lost control of the region. During this time, the Koch tribe became very powerful and proclaimed itself ''Kamateshwar'' (Lord of Kamata) and established the Koch dynasty. The first important Koch ruler was

Biswa Singha Biswa Singha (1515–1540) was the progenitor king of the Koch dynasty of the Kamata kingdom. He was able to unify different Bodo-Kachari tribal groups, replace the Baro-Bhuyans of Kamata kingdom, and establish a dynasty the remnant of which ...

, who came to power in 1515. Under his son,

Nara Narayan Naranarayan (reign 1554–1587) was the last ruler of the undivided Koch dynasty of Kamata Kingdom. He succeeded his father, Biswa Singha. Under him the Koch kingdom reached its cultural and political zenith. Under his rule, and under the m ...

, the Kamata Kingdom reached its zenith. Nara Narayan's younger brother, Shukladhwaj (

Chilarai Shukladhwaja (Pron:ʃʊkləˈdwɑːdʒ) (1510-1577AD), or more popularly known as Bir Chilarai(Pron:/ʧɪləˌraɪ/), was the 3rd son of Biswa Singha, founder of the Koch Dynasty in Kamata Kingdom and younger brother of Nara Narayan, the 2nd kin ...

), was a noted military general who undertook expeditions to expand the kingdom. He became governor of its eastern portion. After Chilarai's death, his son Raghudev became governor of this portion. Since Nara Narayan did not have a son, Raghudev was seen as the heir apparent. However, a late child of Nara Narayan removed Raghudev's claim to the throne. To placate him, Nara Narayan had to anoint Raghudev as a vassal chief of the portion of the kingdom east of the Sankosh river. This area came to be known as

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 ...

. After the death of Nara Narayan in 1584, Raghudev declared independence. The kingdom ruled by the son of Nara Narayan,

Lakshmi Narayan Lakshmi Narayana or Lakshmi-Narayan ( sa, लक्ष्मी-नारायण, IAST: ) is the dual representation of the Hindu deities Vishnu, also known as Narayana, and his consort, Lakshmi, traditionally featured in their abode, Vaikunth ...

, came to be known as Cooch Behar. The division of the Kamata Kingdom into Koch Behar and Koch Hajo was permanent. Koch Behar aligned itself with the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

and finally joined the India as a part of the West Bengal, whereas remnants of the Koch Hajo rulers aligned themselves with the Ahom kingdom and the region became a part of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. As the early capital of the Koch Kingdom, Cooch Behar's location was not static and became stable only when shifted to Cooch Behar town. Maharaja Rup Narayan, on the advice of an unknown saint, transferred the capital from Attharokotha to

Guriahati Guriahati is a census town in the Cooch Behar I CD block in the Cooch Behar Sadar subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Location Guriahati is located at . Area overview The map alongside sh ...

(now called Cooch Behar town) on the banks of the Torsa river between 1693 and 1714. After this, the capital was always in or near its present location. In 1661 CE, Maharaja Pran Narayan planned to expand his kingdom. However, Mir Jumla, the

subedar Subedar is a rank of junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army; a senior non-commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army, and formerly a Viceroy's commissioned officer in the British Indian Army. History ''Subedar'' or ''subadar'' was t ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

under the Mughal emperor

Aurangazeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

, attacked Cooch Behar and conquered the territory, meeting almost no resistance. The town of Cooch Behar was subsequently named Alamgirnagar. Maharaja Pran Narayan regained his kingdom within a few days.

British Raj

In 1772–1773, the king of

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

attacked and captured Cooch Behar. To expel the Bhutanese, the kingdom of Cooch Behar signed a defence treaty with the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

on 5 April 1773. After expelling the Bhutanese, Cooch Behar became a princely kingdom under the protection of British East India company. The Victor Jubilee Palace was based on

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

and built in 1887, during the reign of Maharaja

Nripendra Narayan Maharaja Nripendra Narayan (4 October 1862 – 18 September 1911) was the Maharaja of the princely state of Cooch Bihar, India, from 1863 to 1911. Early life Nripendra Narayan was only ten months old when his father, Narendra Narayan, died i ...

. In 1878, the maharaja married the daughter of

Brahmo Bengali Brahmos are those who adhere to Brahmoism, the philosophy of Brahmo Samaj which was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy. A recent publication describes the disproportionate influence of Brahmos on India's development post-19th Century as unpa ...

preacher

Keshab Chandra Sen Keshub Chandra Sen ( bn, কেশবচন্দ্র সেন; also spelled Keshab Chunder Sen; 19 November 1838 – 8 January 1884) was a Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within ...

. This union led to a renaissance in Cooch Behar state. Maharaja Nripendra Narayan is known as the architect of modern Cooch Behar town.

Post Independence

Under an agreement between the kings of Cooch Behar and the Indian Government at the end of British rule, Maharaja Jagaddipendra Narayan transferred full authority, jurisdiction and power of the state to the Dominion

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

, effective 12 September 1949. Eventually, Cooch Bihar became part of the state of West Bengal on 19 January 1950, with Cooch Behar town as its headquarters. A geopolitical curiosity was that there were 92 Bangladeshi

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

s, with a total area of 47.7 km² in Cooch-Behar. Similarly, there were 106 Indian exclaves inside Bangladesh, with a total area of 69.5 km². These were part of the high stake card or chess games centuries ago between two regional kings, the Raja of Cooch Behar and the Maharaja of Rangpur. Twenty-one of the Bangladeshi exclaves were within Indian exclaves, and three of the Indian exclaves were within Bangladeshi exclaves. The largest Indian exclave was Balapara Khagrabari which surrounded a Bangladeshi exclave, Upanchowki Bhajni, which itself surrounded an Indian exclave called Dahala Khagrabari, of less than one hectare (link to external map her

. But all this has ended in the historic India-Bangladesh land agreement. See Indo-Bangladesh enclaves.

Geography

Cooch Behar is a district under the

Jalpaiguri Division Jalpaiguri Division is one of the 5 divisions in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost division of West Bengal. It is surrounded by Nepal on the western side, Bihar on South-Western side, Bhutan on the Northern side and Bangla ...

of the state of

. Cooch Behar is located in the northeastern part of the state and bounded by the district of

Jalpaiguri Jalpaiguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Jalpaiguri district as well as of the Jalpaiguri division of West Bengal, covering the jurisdiction of the five districts of North Bengal. The city is locat ...

and

Alipurduar Alipurduar is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Alipurduar district. Situated on the east bank of Kaljani River on the foothills of the Himalayas, the city is a gateway to Bhutan and ...

in the north,

Dhubri Dhubri (Pron: ˈdhubri) is an old town and headquarter of Dhubri district in Indian state of Assam. It is an old town on the bank of the Brahmaputra river, with historical significance. In 1883, the town was first constituted as a Municipal Bo ...

and

Kokrajhar Kokrajhar () is a town in the Bodoland Territorial Region, an autonomous territory in Assam, one of the North Eastern states of India. Kokrajhar town is located along the bank of the river Gaurang. The North East Indian Railways divides the ci ...

district of

in the east and by

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

in the west as well as in the south. The district forms part of the Himalayan

Terai , image =Terai nepal.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption =Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal , map = , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , biogeographic_realm = Indomalayan realm , global200 = Terai-Duar savanna a ...

of West Bengal. A geopolitical curiosity was that there were 92 Bangladeshi

Rivers and topography

Cooch Behar is a flat region with a slight southeastern slope along which the main rivers of the district flow. Most of the highland areas are in the Sitalkuchi region and most of the low-lying lands lie in Dinhata region. The rivers in the district of Cooch Behar generally flow from northwest to southeast. Six rivers that cut through the district are the Teesta River, Teesta,

, Torsha, Kaljani, Raidak, Gadadhar and Ghargharia.

Flora and fauna

In 1976 Cooch Behar district became home to the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary (now

Jaldapara National Park Jaldapara National Park (Pron: ˌʤʌldəˈpɑ:rə) is a national park situated at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas in Alipurduar, Alipurduar District of northern West Bengal, India, and on the banks of the Torsa River. Jaldapara is sit ...

), which has an area of . It shares the park with

district.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Cooch Behar district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 2,819,086, roughly equal to the nation of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

. This gives it a ranking of 136th in India (out of a total of

739 __NOTOC__ Year 739 ( DCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 739 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...

). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 13.86%. Koch Bihar has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species dev ...

of 942

females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 75.49%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 1,414,336 (50.17%) and 18,125 (0.64%) of the population respectively. Cooch Behar is the only district in India where Scheduled Castes make up a majority of the population.

Religion

Hinduism is the majority religion. Islam is the minority religion, and is mainly rural. Muslims are a significant minority in Dinhata I (36.98%), Dinhata II (36.68%) and Sitalkuchi (35.31%) blocks.

Language

At the time of the 2011 census, 94.79% of the population spoke

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, 1.31% Rajbongshi and 1.17%

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

as their first language.

Government and politics

Divisions

Sub-divisions

The district of Cooch Behar comprises five sub-divisions: *

Cooch Behar Sadar subdivision Cooch Behar Sadar subdivision is a subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. Subdivisions Cooch Behar district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Administrative units Cooch Behar S ...

Dinhata subdivision Dinhata subdivision is a subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. Subdivisions Cooch Behar district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Administrative units Dinhata subdivision has 2 ...

Mathabhanga subdivision Mathabhanga subdivision is a subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. Subdivisions Cooch Behar district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Administrative units Mathabhanga subdiv ...

Tufanganj subdivision Tufanganj subdivision is a subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. Subdivisions Cooch Behar district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Administrative units Tufanganj subdivision ...

Mekhliganj subdivision Mekhliganj subdivision is one of five subdivisions of the Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. It has an area of 459.78 km2 . As of 2011, it has a population of 282,750 of which 90.09% are rural and 9.91 are urban. Adminis ...

Assembly constituencies

As per order of the 2008

Delimitation Commission The Delimitation commission or Boundary commission of India is a commission established by the Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act. The main task of the commission is redrawing the boundaries of the vari ...

in respect of the

delimitation of constituencies Boundary delimitation (or simply delimitation) is the drawing of boundaries, particularly of electoral precincts, states, counties or other municipalities.Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates. Mekhliganj constituency is part of

Jalpaiguri (Lok Sabha constituency) Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. While six assembly segments of No. 3 Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha constituency are in Jalpaiguri district, ...

, which also contains six assembly segments from

Jalpaiguri district Jalpaiguri district () is a district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was established in 1869 during British Raj. The headquarters of the district are in the city of Jalpaiguri, which is also the divisional headquarters of No ...

. Mathabhanga, Cooch Behar Uttar, Cooch Behar Dakshin, Sitalkuchi, Sitai, Dinhata and Natabari constituencies will continue to form the

Cooch Behar (Lok Sabha constituency) Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Cooch Behar in West Bengal. All the seven assembly segments of No. 1 Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency are in Cooch Behar di ...

, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC). Tufanganj constituency is part of

Alipurduars (Lok Sabha constituency) Alipurduars Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Alipurduar in West Bengal. While six assembly segments of No. 2 Alipurduars Lok Sabha constituency are in Alipurduar district ...