CHAPTER III THE STUDIED AREA, BARPETA TOWN AND THE HATIS AND ITS PEOPLE Barpeta Town Barpeta an erstwhile sub-division of Kamarupa district was elevated to a district in the year 1983 comprising entirely the earliest geographical boundary of the old Barpeta sub-division with the head quarter at Barpeta town (map). Barpeta has the unique destination of carrying traditional culture by its honourable possession of the kirtanghar (prayer house) of entire Assam. Barpeta though financially better off amongst the districts of Assam, lacks entrepreneurial skill for industries and enthusiasms. This is because of adherence to prove business like transport by the richer section of the town called the mahajans (merchant) who prefer ‘a bird in hand is better than two in the bush’. The whole geographical area of Barpeta district comprises of nine revenue circles, 12 community development blocks, 150 gaon (village) panchayat covering a total of 885 villages. The towns of the districts are – Barpeta, Barpeta Road, Sorbhog, Howly, Pathsala, Sarthebari, Kalgachia and Bahari. Barpeta town and Barpeta Road are under municipal Board and remaining towns except Bahari are under Town Committees. Bahari is a census town (Roy, 2012: 63). The district is bordered by the Bhutan Hills on the north, Kamarup and Goalpara district on the south, Nalbari district on the east and Bongaingaon and Kokrajhar district on the west (Roy, 2012: 63). The total geographical area of this district is 2282 sq. K.M (Census 2011) In the southern part of the district the river Brahmaputra has created a number chars (Tiny river islands). The total area of the chars is estimated to be around 13,000 hectares and total numbers of farm families there on are about 15,000 (Hossain, 2014-15: 2). Now the details are studied below- a) Physical features of Barpeta: The northern part of Barpeta district was originally, partially covered by natural forests and grassy land and the southern part by marshy land. The land of the district is gradually slopping from North to South and the differences in attitude between highest northern strips to the lowest southern are approximately 40 feet (Das, 1995: 5). Topographically the whole district is a vast 46 Map 4: Map of Barpeta Town Source- 2014 indiamapsonline.com 47 plain area expect for a small hillock over the southern part called Baghbar hill and there are another two hills named Phulora and Chatala. The distance from the foot hills of Bhutan to the bank of Brahmaputra on the south is about 100 K.M. (Das, 1995: 6). The whole district is a vast plot of agricultural plain. The climate of Barpeta remains mild and pleasant round the year. There are two distinct seasons- summer and winter which is provided by tropical monsoon climate. The summer season of March to May is followed by the Monsoons from June to September. This is followed by cool winter season from October to February. Humidity is higher at Barpeta (Raychoudhury, 2012: 8). The river Brahmaputra flows from east to west across the southern part of the district. Other rivers that flow through the district are Beki, Manah, Pohumara, Kaldia, Nakhanda, Choulkhowa and Bhelengi from North to South. Rivers Pohumara and Kaldia join near Barpeta town to form river Nakhanda whereas Palla and Beki join with Nakhanda to ultimately form Choulkhowa River (Raychoudhury, 2012: 9). The soil of Barpeta district may be classified as sandy-loamy and forest-soils. Barpeta town is the districts headquarter of Barpeta district. Barpeta town is situated 90 K.M. North West from Guwahati. Geographically the position of Barpeta town is 26° 19.01.62" North and 91° 00.19.74" East (Patra, 2012: 15). According to census of 2011, the total population of the district is 1,693,622 and the total population of Barpeta town (under municipal board) is 42649 of which 21241 are male and 21408 are female (District Statistical hand Book, 2012-13: 12). The total area of Barpeta town (under municipal board) is approximately 12.81 sq km. The town consists of 22 hatis. Of these, three hatis are thul (principal) hatis. These are – Uttar hati, Dakshin hati and Na-hati. The other hatis are – Da hati, Isswapur hati, Kewaliya hati, Galiya hati, Mukhi hati, Bilortari hati, Khataniyar hati, Joganiyar hati, Bar hati, Pathak hati, Rangpur hati, Major hati, Fata hati, Gayan hati, Palangdi hati, Kumar hati, Dola hati, Ghoramara hati, and Ambari hati (Pathak, 1959 reprint 2006: 72). At Barpeta, there are artisan industries like – bell-metal, ivory ornaments, pottery etc. and even special kind of fireworks where skilled artisans have shown expertise. For all practical purposes, Barpeta operates through Barpeta Road which has the dual advantages of Railway and National Highway. Barpeta Road is at a distance of 20 K.M. from Barpeta town. 48 Barpeta gradually developed as a centre of trade and commerce during the medieval period. Different handicrafts such as pottery, blacksmith, goldsmith etc. also developed side by side. The importance of Barpeta as a centre of business and commerce owed its origin to its location and topographical advantages. Barpeta was situated at the border of two medieval kingdoms viz- the Ahom kingdom and the Choch kingdom. Moreover being bounded by rivers on all sides, it facilitated trade and commerce through rivers. At a time when modern means of transport were unknown, rivers were the easiest route through which men and materials could move. Barpeta had easy access to different places though rivers and country boats were the chief mode of transport. Land routes were not safe because population was very thin and forests were infested with tigers, wild bears etc. After annexation of Assam with the British Empire in 1826, regular trade with Dhaka and other places of Bengal took place through the Brahmaputra River and this lasted till partition of the country (Baruah, 2009: 218) b) Historical Aspects of Barpeta: Barpeta has been known by various names like- Tantikuchi, Porabhitha, Mathura, Vrindavana, Choukhutisthan, Nabaratna-Sabha, Icehakuchi, Puspak Vimana, Kampur and Barpeta (Pathak, 1959: 3). Barpeta town is now the district head quarter of Barpeta district; it is difficult to say the point of time from which human settlements began in the Barpeta region. However, from mythological point of view, it can safely surmise that people settled here from the 5th or 6th century AD. The kings of the Barman dynasty ruled over the ancient Kamarupa of which Barpeta was a part. The most notable monarch of this dynasty was Bhaskar Barman. People of different tribes lived in ancient Kamarupa like the Austrians, the Mongoloid, and the Dravidian etc. King Bhaskar Barman himself belonged to the Mongoloid dynasty. Later on hordes of the Aryans began to penetrate this region through its western boundary and settled here. Thus population of ancient tribes and communities took place and a mixed race evolved in course of time. Caste rigidities were comparatively less in such society. A mixed language also developed incorporating liberally a vast array of words belonging to different non Aryan languages into the main lingua-franca which belong to the Indo Aryan group of language known as Assamese language in course of time. According to Hiuen Tsung,“Their language slightly differs from language of mid-India” (Goswami, 1970: 1). Names of places and rivers of Barpeta locality bear ample testimony of this fact, 49 such as Baradi, Sundaridiya, Bheraldi, Budarurtup, Bilartari etc. may derived from Bodo language (Goswami, 1991: 27). The monarch and tribal chieftains embraced the Hindu religion although the common people followed different animistic religious practices. Some of the tribal Gods and Goddesses were Aryanaised in course of time and accepted in the Hindu Pantheon. Goddess Kamakhya is such an Aryanaised deity (Kakati, 1989: 32-34). During the reign of Koch king Naranarayana, Barpeta was a part of the Koch Kingdom and was known as the Baosi Pargana. Due to various reasons people from Ganges valley migrated to Assam valley. One of the reasons for such migration might be population explosion. There were also other causes like social and political upheavals, epidemic, natural calamities etc. In the process of migration, population of Baosi Pargana which Barpeta was a part increased rapidly. As a result, the tribal population in the plains of Assam had gradually pushed to the foothills of Bhutan. A notable community which migrated to Assam was the Kayastha. They were peasants as well as administrators. They used to occupy large tracts of land and carried on agriculture with the help of servants. As administrators, they ruled over different part of Assam under the suzerainty of the Ahom king (Dutta Baruah, 1941: 33). According to Digambar Das, “Like other places of lower Assam, the Bhuyans had come from Kanouj, Gaura etc. and settled in Barpeta region”. By caste, they were Kayasthas. The area where they had first settled was known as Khetri Pargana. In course of time, the Khetri Pargana was broken up to form three mouzas like Sarukhetri, Barkhetri and Chenga. The Bhuyans were also appointed to hold important posts in both of Ahom and Koch regime. The Bhuyans are inhabitants in Barpeta town. The Bhuyans played an important role in the development of agricultural economy of Assam. They were also the patrons of education and learning. During the reign of the Koch king Barpeta came to prominence. During that period, Sankaradeva and his chief apostles Madhavadeva, Damodaradeva and Harideva along with other religious Gurus appointed by them preached the Mahapurushiya religion in different parts of Assam with their head quarters at Barpeta. Many satras had established in different parts of the district. People were attracted to the satras because of liberal socio political and economic ethos of prevailing in the satras (Das, 1995: 46).