Koch Hajo

Origins

The Koch kingdom reached its height under Nara Narayan and his brother and general Chilarai in the mid 16th century. In 1581 Nara Narayan divided the realm, giving the lands east of the Sankosh river to Chilarai's son Raghudev, who ruled from Hajo on the north bank of the Brahmaputra. The western half became Koch Bihar.

Rule and society

Koch Hajo was a Hindu kingdom whose rulers patronised the Hayagriva Madhava temple at Hajo and the Kamakhya temple near Guwahati, which the Koch had rebuilt. Raghudev and his son Parikshit Narayan were rivals of their Koch Bihar cousins, who allied with the Mughal Empire, while Koch Hajo looked to the Ahom kingdom for support.

Decline and legacy

Mughal armies, aided by Koch Bihar, defeated Parikshit Narayan in 1613, and by 1616 Koch Hajo was annexed. The territory became a battleground between the Mughals and the Ahoms until the Ahoms secured it after the Battle of Itakhuli in 1682.