EDITORIAL
On behalf of the Department of History, University of North Bengal, I have the privilege of presenting the
research journal Karatoya to the scholar~ and students who are interested in the study of history and
culture. Over a dozen of research papers covering varied aspects of Indian history stretching from the ancient
to the modem times are incorporated in the journal.
It is a gerieral practice in an academic exercise of this type to !J1ake a brief observation about the contents
of the articles. The publication thus opens with an academic endeaevor of Samir Kumar Manda! to draw a picture
of later Vedic society as reflected in the Kausika Sutra, which is a grhya text of the Atharvaveda. Exploiting
the materials of the Atharvaveda, the Kausika Sutra has applied them in many social and religious matters including
kingship, cattle-rearing, agriculture, charms for diseases, women rites, witchcraft, etc.
A study of some aspects of internal administrative set up of the monastic Order (Vihara) as well as the mechanism
of the monastic hierarchy system is the subject matter of Dr. Pranabananda Jash's essay. In every sphere of activities
of the monastery, a strong and well-organized management involvement was executed. Professor Jash convincingly
pointed out that the rules and regulations of the Order were neither drawn up in their entirety in Buddha's life
time, not were formulated in their entirety after his demise.
Dr. Gaur Chandra Ghosh has presented in his article the arts and crafts of early medieval Bengal in cultural
perspective. The feudal character of the society of Early Medieval Bengal could hardly preclude the possibility
of the growth of various industries. Agriculture, industry and commerce continued to be in symbiotic progress
during the period though agriculture preponderated over others. The flamboyance of the industries in Bengal was
marked by the demand of the industrial produc~s of Bengal .to different parts of India and abroad. The reason might
be the elevated status of the· labour class since the Gupta Age. The rise Buddhist Pala Dynasty in Bengal and the
eradication of the caste system in Bengal also acted one of the propelling factors to the growth of industries in
Bengal.
The Origin of Ancient Kamatapur is analytically unfolded before us by Dr. Sailen Debnath. Ancient Kamatapur emerged
as a political unit on the bifurcation ofKamrup after the death of heirless Bhaskar Yarman in the mid-seventh
century. The post-Bhaskar days witnessed a war for supremacy between Sangaldip, a feudatory(?) of the departed
king and Salastambha, a legitimate successor of Bhaskar (?). The conflict ended with Salastambha conceding to the
claim of Sangaldip over the land from the Sankosb to Karatoya. Sangaldip's reign was short-lived because of his
defeat in the hands of the Tibetan Imperial forces. Tibetan rule was also ephemeral. The geo-political unit that
once was formed by Sangaldip to the west of the kingdom of the Salstambhas, in course of time, came to be known as
Kamatapur ma inly circumscribed by the Himalayas in the north, the Karatoya in the west, the Sankosh and often by
the Brahmaputra in the east and by the Padma-Brahmaputra confluence in the south.
Dr. Sayamtara Jash in her paper on Srimanta Sankaradeva and the Concept of Neo-Vaishnavism in Assam has analyzed
that Sankaradeva had a mission to elevate the socio-religious life of Assam as well as other neighbouring regions
and to translate his ideas into reality irrespective of any caste-colour distinction; he took help of various
performing arts. The paper also incorporates a brief but critical exposition of the Mahapurusiya - dharma with
adequate emphasis on 'Eka-sarana' dharma, i.e. the religion of Supreme surrender to One, and that One is
Vishnu-Narayana.
In the article' A Political Biography of an Ujjainia Chief ofBhojpur: Raja Gajpati ',
Dr. Tahir Hussain Ansari has discussed in details about the power and position of Raja
Gajapati as well as their relations with the Mughal Emperors. Ujjainias were very powerful
chiefs ofBhojpur in Bihar. Raja Gajpati was having very good relation with the Afghans of
Bihar in general and Sher Shah in particular. The Ujjainia chief developed cordial relation
with the Afghans and probably helped Sher Shah in his struggle against Mughal Emperor,
Humayun. Hence, whenever the Afghans rebelled against the Mughals, Raja Gajpati also
rebelled against the Mughals. Although many times he was defeated and brought under the
Mughals's control so much as to make the payment of malguzari or peshkash and render
them his services, a cordial relation could not be established between Raja Gajpati and the
Mughals.
Gouri Dey draws our attention to the place of carpets in the lives of the Mughals.
The Mughals were conscious about the interiors of their palaces, which is seen through the
carpets used by them. Carpet was more or less a synonym for a variety of floor spreads. In
the M ughal court, each such covering had a distinctive term based on its individual usage or
function, being distinct in in its own kind, design, pattern or motif. Carpets of all shapes,
sizes, textures and grades gained important position in the life style of the Mughals. Carpetry,
introduced from Persia had its own distinctive aesthetic touch under the Mughals. After the
decline of the Mughal rule there was perceptible decrease in the gorgeousness of carpet
industry.
Dr. Bijoy Kumar Sarkar in his paper titled State, Power and Ethics of Governance:
A Kamala-Koch Experience makes an assessment of the nature and extent of ethics observed
in the governance of the Kamata-Koch Kingdom. Analysing different politico-administrative
activities of the Kamata-Koch kings, Dr. Sarkar goes to say that it is not always possible for
a weaker state to adhere to the ethics of governance due to lack of power. At the same time,
he also reminds us that the Kamata-Koch Kings used powers more or less for betterment of
the people and held the tradition of ethical standard in governance fairly high
The purpose of the paper titled Brahmaputra Valley in the Nineteenth century:
Colonial State, Embankments and Floods by Dr. Monisankar Misra is to discuss critically how the British, who succeeded tfieAhoms to the political authority, visualized and negotiated
floods in nineteenth century Brahmaputra valley particularly with regards to embankment
construction or renovation. This constitutes an important agenda, as the colonial state was
not organically linked to the soil of Assam unlike the Ah oms or their predecessors. Therefore,
interesting highlights can be obtained as to the nature of the functioning of an alien colonial
rule.
In her paper on 'Colonising Darjeeling Forest without Indigenous Resistance: An
Overview of Colonial Darjeeling' Tahiti Sarkar attempts to unravel the impact of the 19th
century colonial interventions in the forests of Darjeeling Hills. It has been traced to seek
how such interventions did affect her indigenous people and the resultant reactions, if any, to
such colonial inroads. The indigenous resistance to colonial forestry in Darjeeling hills has
been intended to be perceived from the broader frame of Environmental history. The study
explores whether the Colonial Powerscape of Darjeeling Hills provided for a strong
predicament to develop any subaltern consciousness of resistance.
The article "Migration, Urbanisation and Growth of Hill Town in Darjeeling: a
Historical Study" ( 1835-1950) by Chanchal Manda) and Dr. Dahlia Bhattacharya
systematically represents the background and process of urbanisation in Darjeeling hill town
by interpreting migration from Nepal and its adjacent areas which turned this region from
sparsely populated to bulk populated. Tea and Tourism including its natural geographical
beauty was utilised by the colonial Raj as a centre of relief from the heat of the plains.
Darjeeling hill town received spontaneous development of ultimate urbanising features by
the end of the twentieth century.
Dr. Sukanya Majumadar draws our attention to the 'Origin of labour movement in
the tea plantation ofDoars region from 1860 to 194 7. She initially analyses the rare occurrence
of this movement and the different view held by the British about such phenomenon. Then
she goes to show how the workers were becoming conscious about their rights and started
protesting against wrongs committed by the tea planters. Gradually this gave rise to the
different labour unions which aimed at unifying the workers for their development and selfsufficiency.
Historical Genesis of Bind Community in West Bengal is the theme of research
of Bhola Nath Mandal. Here he attempts to trace the origin of a marginalised community -
the Bind- which belongs to the scheduled caste group in West Bengal and maintains their
tribal tradition in spite of adopting Hinduism.
'Non-Co-operation Movement in Contai', Midnapore is the theme of academic
investigation by Sankar Kumar Das. This phase of the national movement in Contai was
very much striking for its varied contour and varying configuration. The three Parallel
Governments formed by the Contai people at Patashpur, Khejuri and Contai were ample
proofs of their revolutionary zeal and conviction.
Supam Biswas in his article 'Emergence of Non-Bengali entrepreneurship: A case
study of tea plantation industry in North Bengal since independence' shows how the Bengali
entrepreneurs who had no reserve fund to meet the challenge posed by Kenya, Shrilanka
etc. in world expert market, had to draw loan from the Marwaris, Biharis, etc and their
failure to repay the loan due to lack of enhancement of rate of production, led to change of
hands of the tea estates from these extravagant Bengali entrepreneurs to the non-Bengalis.
The frequent changes in the ownership have severely affected the tea industry in the form
of decline of quality.
Dr. Rup Kumar Barman in his essay 'The proxy citizens of North Bengal' analytically
talks about the people of Indian enclaves in Bangladesh in historical perspective. They are
defaclo stateless people from the perspective home country, though in the host country most
of the chhitmahal-dwellers have acquired citizenship of host country with the help of corruption
and falsehood. So they are proxy citizens of both ' home' and 'host' countries. In practice,
they are being deprived from the basic amenities and rights of citizens including civil, cultural
and political rights, rights of the children and women, right to citizenship, right to protection
from the persecution by any state or non-state actors, etc.
I do not like make any comment or remark on any paper incorporated in this volume;
on the contrary, I would like to mention that the responsibility for the facts stated, opinions
expressed and conclusions reached is entirely that of the authors conc~ms and the editor of
the journal accepts no responsibility for the same.
It is now my solemn duty to express my gratitude to our Honourable Vice-Chancellor
Professor Somnath Ghosh who is an always forceful inspiration in pursuing of any academic
works. in tbe Department. I am thankful to my colleagues of the Department of History,
Finance Officer, the Register, The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Commerce and Law for
their warm encouragement and necessary cooperation for publishing this journal.
I am greatly indebted to Pranabananda Jash for his constant help, advice and guidance
throughout the period I was engaged in editing this volume. His valuable suggestions have
always been consider as an inspiration and encouragement. I have no words to express my
gratitude to him.
I am also grateful to all the contributors for the enrichment of this publicaction by
providing valuable research papers.
Thanks are also due to the officials and the staff of North Bengal University Press
for their earnest cooperation in carefully printing the journal within a very short time.
Dr. Bijoy Kumar Sarkar
Editor-in-Chief