Koch invasion of the Ahom kingdom

01Naranarayan and Chilarai

Maharaja Naranarayan ruled the Koch kingdom from Cooch Behar; his younger brother Shukladhvaj, called Chilarai, the kite, for the speed of his marches, was his general. Naranarayan was a patron of Sanskrit learning and of Srimanta Sankardev. The Koch and the Ahoms had fought along their border for years. For the campaign of 1562 the Koch built a raised road up the north bank of the Brahmaputra, remembered as the Gohain Kamal Ali after the prince who made it.

02Garhgaon taken

Chilarai’s army and fleet beat the Ahoms in a series of fights and crossed to the south bank. The Ahom king Sukhaamphaa abandoned Garhgaon and withdrew into the Naga hills. The Koch occupied the capital. Peace was made on terms that the Buranjis remember with bitterness: the Ahoms gave sons of their nobles as hostages and accepted Koch supremacy. Within a few years they had won back their independence, and the Koch kingdom itself split into two after Naranarayan’s time.

Person · reigned 1540–1587 CENaranarayanSon of Vishwa Singha, Naranarayan made the Koch kingdom the strongest power of the north-east with his brother Chilarai as general, rebuilt the Kamakhya temple on Nilachal hill in 1565, and gave shelter to Srimanta Sankardev.Read →