01The swift general
The name Chilarai is said to come from chila, the kite, for the speed with which he moved his troops. In 1562 he led the Koch army up the Brahmaputra and occupied the Ahom capital Garhgaon, and the Ahom king had to make terms. He then turned to the Kachari kingdom, Manipur, the Jaintia hills, Tripura and Sylhet, and their rulers accepted Koch overlordship. The Darrang Raj Vamsavali, the chronicle of his own descendants, tells these campaigns in detail. He was captured in a war with Sulaiman Karrani, the Afghan Sultan of Bengal, and later released.
02Devotee of Sankardev
Chilarai shared in the rebuilding of the Kamakhya temple, and his name stands with the king’s in its inscription of 1565. He was married to Kamalapriya, a kinswoman of Srimanta Sankardev, and became the saint’s protector at the Koch court, giving land for satras and namghars. Several old satras still keep gifts said to be his, among them a copper ratha at Satrasal. He died of smallpox in 1571 on the bank of the Ganga while on campaign. His descendants ruled Darrang. Assam keeps his birth anniversary as Bir Chilarai Divas.
