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Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal (A Sub-Himalayan Tract) Edited by Publish by Global Vision Publishing House Sukhbilas Barma Politico-Cultural Movements in North Bengal Girija Shankar Ray Changes in the geographical map and transfer of political power in the vast region between the Brahmaputra and the Ganges have taken place from time to time. It is found from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranic literatures that this area overtime was known as Prag-jyotish, Poundra, Kamrupa, etc. The reason for the name of Prag-jyotish was that astrology was first started in this area. The present Bangladesh and the entire area of North Bengal were within this region. Subsequently, a part of it was named as Poundra and the rest as Kamrup. River Korotoya flowing by the west of Jalpaiguri district was the border of these two regions. Spread along the western bank of Korotoya was Poundra-vardhana. Korotoya was not merely a river; it was a sacred river for the Hindus. One can find the mention of this river in the snan-mantra (mantra relating to the sacred bath/ablution) of “Tithi Tatwa” by Raghu Nandan Bhattacharyya, the greatest logician of Bengal. Poundra-vardhana was also a vast country and like Kamrup, mention of this country is found in Ramayana, Dr. Girija Shankar Ray: Retired Principal of Vivekananda College, Alipurduar, Dist. Jalpaiguri. 184 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal Mahabharata and other ancient Sanskrit literatures. It has been mentioned in Mahabharata that Poundra was born along with the four sons viz: Anga, Banga etc. of Sudeshna, the queen of king Bali, legally begotten by Rishi Dhirghatama. Five kingdoms in the eastern India were named after the names of the sons of King Bali. Historians think that Mahasthangarh near Bogra is actually the relic of the ancient city of Poundra-vardhana. In fact, the administrative divisions of Rajshahi, Presidency, Dacca, Chittagong etc. of Bengal were once part of this region. The region known as Varendra Mandal or Varendri was also under Poundra Vardhana. Some people think that this area used to produce sufficient amount of sugar cane and the word ‘Puda’ (pulp) has come from the word Poundra. The kingdom established on the river bank of Brahmaputra towards the end of 13th century was known as Kamtapur; another Kamtapur in the southern part of present Cooch Behar was established in the 14th century during the reign of Niladwaja Kamteswar and last of all, Cooch Behar state of Biswa Singh established towards the end of 15th century. The last representative of this dynasty was Maharaja Jagaddipendra Narayan. It is during his rule that Cooch Behar lost its existence as a State. Cooch Behar was merged with Indian Union on 1st of January 1950 by the special initiative of Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel, the iron-man of India and first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of newly created independent India. This endeavour started since 1949. Later on with the introduction of Indian Constitution, Cooch Behar was considered as a centrally administered state till 1950. Ultimately, at the utmost eagerness of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy and with active help of Umesh Chandra Mondal, the renowned National Congress leader of Dinhata within the state of Cooch Behar, the once sovereign state became a Politico-Cultural Movements in North Bengal 185 district of West Bengal province from the 1st of January 1950. In between, some parts of North Bengal were under the administration of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet for some time. Time takes its own complex course. Once North Bengal was within the vast empire of Cooch Behar which now became a district of West Bengal province like other 5 districts of North Bengal. Recently there has been an unnecessary controversy regarding the term “Uttar Banga”. Some intellectuals have raised objections to accept the name as an ancient one, although this name has been accepted long back. Historically, the name Uttar Banga was first located in the Copper plate by the name ‘Kamauli copper Plate’ , which was the copper plate of land - grant gifted by Kumar Pal (1120 – 1139) , the son of King Ram Pal of the Pal dynasty of 11th century to his Prime Minister General and beloved friend Baidyadeva in 1115. Akshay Kumar Maitreya, the founder Director of Varendra Research Samiti has quoted some parts of this copper plaque in his book “Gouda Lekha Mala”. Ramaprasad Chanda in “Gouda Raja Mala”, Rakhal Das Bandyopadhyaya, in ‘Bangalar Itihas’, Prabhas Chandra Sen in ‘Banglar Itihas’ and Dr. Nihar Ranjan Roy in ‘Bangalir Itihas’ have referred to “Anuttar Banga” for South Bengal. The meaning of the word “Anuttar” is ‘An-Uttar i.e. which is not Uttar (North). The term ‘Anuttar Banga’ could naturally be applicable only when there did exist some region somewhere under the name ‘Uttar Banga’ (North Bengal). Another intellectual also has opined that the name ‘North Bengal’ was given by the British Raj; this is however, not correct. Socio-political Legacy of Panchanan Barma Panchanan Barma was born on 14th April of 1866 in the village Khalisamari of Mathabhanga Sub-division of Cooch 186 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal Behar which was once a vast empire within the region known as North Bengal. Maharaja Nripendra Narayan was the king at that time. Panchanan obtained Law degree in 1899 after his Post graduate degree in Philosophy from the Calcutta University and leaving the princely state of Cooch Behar , he joined the legal profession in Rangpur under the British rule. A good number of biographers have mentioned that Calica Das Dutt was the Dewan of the Cooch Behar Kingdom in the rank of the then Prime Minister. It was because of his opposition that Panchanan, in spite of being the first Law degree-holder with a Post graduate degree, from amongst the Rajbanshi Khatriyas and other sons of the soil, who have been residing for decades in North eastern part of India, could not get employment of appropriate dignity befitting his qualification in his own land. Rangpur was a land of Zaminders belonging to Rajbanshi Khatriya community. So he must have tried to maintain contact primarily with the local Zaminders. This follows from the fact that he tried to give wider space to the movement which was already organized by Harmohan Khajanchi, the Zaminder of Shyampur of Rangpur through “Bratya Kshatriya Jatir Unnati Bidhayani Sabha” for establishing the Rajbanshis as Kshatriya. However, although overall development of the community by establishing the Khatriya Samiti was his principal objective, this was not his only contribution worth noting. In the field of political idealism, he adopted the mission of Indian National Congress. He also joined the conference of Bengal Provincial Congress which was held in the district of Mymensingh in 1905 as a leader of the delegation; but he was compelled to dissociate with the Bengal branch of the National Congress because of the antagonistic attitude of the so called caste-biased Congress leaders of the then Bengal and formed the new political organisation ‘Kshatriya Samiti’ Politico-Cultural Movements in North Bengal 187 with the objective of social, moral and educational i.e. overall improvement of the community. There are definite proofs to the fact that this remained an absolutely non-political organization till 1917. The first election of Bengal Council was held in 1920 when the Government of India Reforms Act was given effect to by the joint proposal of Chelmsford, the Viceroy of India and Montaegu, the Secretary of State in 1919. Kshatriya Samiti contested the election under the leadership of Panchanan Barma who won the election with thumping majority. Panchanan Barma and Nagendra Narayan Roy,the candidates of Kshatriya Samiti won the next election in 1923 also. It is worth mentioning here that the candidates of Swarajya Dal founded by Desh Bandhu Chitta Ranjan Das and helped by the National Congress had faced the defeat in this election. Formation of ‘Kshatriya Samiti’ by Panchanan Barma with the objective of all round development of Rajbanshi Kshatriya community is a memorable event. As soon as he came to the realization that the intended social uplift was not possible by keeping himself associated with the caste-biased leaders of the National Congress, he converted the Samiti into a political organization. The recommendations in the Memorandum sent by Panchanan Barma to the Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal on 5th November, 1917 in course of the collection of views of the local leaders regarding Indian administrative reforms reveal his actual attitude towards the interest of small groups and communities. It is therefore, easily understood why Panchanan had to give the political colour to Kshatriya Samiti, which was so far a non-political organization. Panchanan was born in a British tributary by the name ‘Cooch Behar’ which had the glorious past of a vast empire. That he had distinct independent thinking about the 188 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal geographical position of Cooch Behar and also about the actual identity of its inhabitants, is proved by his decision of settling in Rangpur permanently, leaving Cooch Behar in the beginning of the last century.This time period has been identified as a memorable period in the history of India and Bengal. Formation of the National Congress was planned by the retired civilian Alan Octavian Hume applying the theory of ‘Safety valve’, primarily with the objective of ensuring security to the British Empire in India. The party got divided into two groups-Extremists and Moderates. The undivided big district of Goalpara of Assam, largely populated by the Rajbanshis was severed from the Presidency Division of Bengal in 1884. Lord Curzon took initiative to divide Bengal again in 1905.

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