Cooch Behar district | |
|---|---|
 Interactive Map Outlining Cooch Behar District | |
.svg) Location of Cooch Behar district in West Bengal | |
| Coordinates:26°17′N89°21′E / 26.283°N 89.350°E /26.283; 89.350 | |
| Country | India |
| State | West Bengal |
| Division | Jalpaiguri |
| Headquarters | Cooch Behar |
| Government | |
| • Subdivisions | Cooch Behar Sadar,Dinhata,Mathabhanga,Tufanganj,Mekhliganj |
| • CD Blocks | Cooch Behar I,Cooch Behar II,Dinhata I,Dinhata II,Sitai,Mathabhanga I,Mathabhanga II,Sitalkuchi,Tufanganj I,Tufanganj II,Mekhliganj,Haldibari |
| • Lok Sabha constituencies | Cooch Behar |
| • Vidhan Sabha constituencies | Mathabhanga,Cooch Behar Uttar,Cooch Behar Dakshin,Sitalkuchi,Sitai,Dinhata,Natabari,Tufanganj |
| Area | |
• Total | 3,387 km2 (1,308 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 2,819,086 |
| • Density | 832.3/km2 (2,156/sq mi) |
| Demographics | |
| • Literacy | 74.78 per cent |
| • Sex ratio | 942♂/♀ |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Bengali[1][2] |
| • Additional official | English[1] |
| Time zone | UTC+05:30 (IST) |
| Website | coochbehar |
Cooch Behar district (Bengali pronunciation:[kot͡ʃbiɦard͡ʒela]), also known asKoch Bihar district, is one of the23 districts of the state ofWest Bengal inIndia. The district is the part ofJalpaiguri Division.[3]Cooch Behar city is the headquarters of the district. This district was aPrincely state until 1949 CE. The district consists of the flat plains ofNorth Bengal and has several rivers: the most notable being theTeesta,Jaldhaka andTorsa. The district has the highest proportion ofScheduled Castes in the country.[4]
The nameCooch Behar is derived from two words—Cooch, a corrupted form of the wordKoch, the name of theKoch tribes, and the wordbehar is derived fromvihara meaningland, Koch Behar meansland of the Koches.[5][6]
Cooch Behar formed part of theKamarupa Kingdom of Assam from the 4th to the 12th centuries. In the 12th century, the area became a part of theKamata Kingdom, first ruled by theKhen dynasty from their capital at Kamatapur. The Khens were an indigenous tribe, and they ruled till about 1498CE, when they fell toAlauddin Hussain Shah, the independent Pathan Sultan ofGour. The new invaders fought with the localBhuyan chieftains and theAhom kingSuhungmung and lost control of the region. During this time, the Koch tribe became very powerful and proclaimed itselfKamateshwar (Lord of Kamata) and established the Koch dynasty.
The first important Koch ruler wasBiswa Singha, who came to power in 1515.[7] Under his son,Nara Narayan, the Kamata Kingdom reached its zenith.[8] Nara Narayan's younger brother, Shukladhwaj (Chilarai), was a noted military general who undertook expeditions to expand the kingdom. He became governor of its eastern portion.
After Chilarai's death, his son Raghudev became governor of this portion. Since Nara Narayan did not have a son, Raghudev was seen as the heir apparent. However, a late child of Nara Narayan removed Raghudev's claim to the throne. To placate him, Nara Narayan had to anoint Raghudev as a vassal chief of the portion of the kingdom east of theSankosh River. This area came to be known asKoch Hajo. After the death of Nara Narayan in 1584, Raghudev declared independence. The kingdom ruled by the son of Nara Narayan,Lakshmi Narayan, came to be known as Cooch Behar. The division of the Kamata Kingdom into Koch Behar and Koch Hajo was permanent. Koch Behar aligned itself with theMughal Empire and finally joined the India as a part of the West Bengal, whereas remnants of the Koch Hajo rulers aligned themselves with the Ahom kingdom and the region became a part ofAssam.
As the early capital of the Koch Kingdom, Cooch Behar's location was not static and became stable only when shifted to Cooch Behar town. Maharaja Rup Narayan, on the advice of an unknown saint, transferred the capital from Attharokotha toGuriahati (now called Cooch Behar town) on the banks of theTorsa River between 1693 and 1714. The capital has always been in or near its present location since then.
In 1661 CE, Maharaja Pran Narayan planned to expand his kingdom. However,Mir Jumla, thesubedar ofBengal under the Mughal emperorAurangazeb, attacked Cooch Behar and conquered the territory, meeting almost no resistance.[9] The town of Cooch Behar was subsequently named Alamgirnagar.[10] Maharaja Pran Narayan regained his kingdom within a few days.
In 1772–1773, the king ofBhutan attacked and captured Cooch Behar. To expel the Bhutanese, the kingdom of Cooch Behar signed a defence treaty with theBritish East India Company on 5 April 1773. After expelling the Bhutanese, Cooch Behar became a princely kingdom under the protection of British East India company.[11]
TheVictor Jubilee Palace was based onBuckingham Palace and built in 1887, during the reign of MaharajaNripendra Narayan.[10] In 1878, the maharaja married the daughter ofBrahmo preacherKeshab Chandra Sen. This union led to a renaissance in Cooch Behar state.[12] Maharaja Nripendra Narayan is known as the architect of modern Cooch Behar town.[13]
Under an agreement between the kings of Cooch Behar and the Indian Government at the end of British rule, MaharajaJagaddipendra Narayan transferred full authority, jurisdiction and power of the state to the DominionGovernment of India, effective 12 September 1949.[14] Eventually, Cooch Bihar became part of the state of West Bengal on 19 January 1950, with Cooch Behar town as its headquarters.[14]
Cooch Behar is a district under theJalpaiguri Division of the state ofWest Bengal. Cooch Behar is located in the northeastern part of the state and bounded by the district ofJalpaiguri andAlipurduar in the north,Dhubri andKokrajhar district ofAssam in the east and byBangladesh in the west as well as in the south. The district forms part of the HimalayanTerai of West Bengal.
A geopolitical curiosity was that there were 92 Bangladeshiexclaves, with a total area of 47.7 km2 in Cooch-Behar. Similarly, there were 106 Indian exclaves inside Bangladesh, with a total area of 69.5 km2. These were part of the high stake card or chess games centuries ago between two regional kings, the Raja of Cooch Behar and the Maharaja of Rangpur.[15]
Twenty-one of the Bangladeshi exclaves were within Indian exclaves, and three of the Indian exclaves were within Bangladeshi exclaves. The largest Indian exclave was Balapara Khagrabari which surrounded a Bangladeshi exclave, Upanchowki Bhajni, which itself surrounded an Indian exclave calledDahala Khagrabari, of less than one hectare (link to external map here[1]). But all this has ended in the historic India-Bangladesh land agreement. SeeIndo-Bangladesh enclaves.
Cooch Behar is a flat region with a slight southeastern slope along which the main rivers of the district flow. Most of the highland areas are in the Sitalkuchi region and most of the low-lying lands lie in Dinhata region.
The rivers in the district of Cooch Behar generally flow from northwest to southeast. Seven rivers that cut through the district are theTeesta,Jaldhaka,Torsha,Kaljani,Raidak,Sankosh (Gadadhar) andGhargharia.
In 1976 Cooch Behar district became home to the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary (nowJaldapara National Park), which has an area of 217 km2 (83.8 sq mi).[16] It shares the park withAlipurduar district.[16]
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 565,116 | — |
| 1911 | 591,012 | +0.45% |
| 1921 | 590,599 | −0.01% |
| 1931 | 589,053 | −0.03% |
| 1941 | 638,703 | +0.81% |
| 1951 | 668,949 | +0.46% |
| 1961 | 1,019,806 | +4.31% |
| 1971 | 1,414,183 | +3.32% |
| 1981 | 1,771,643 | +2.28% |
| 1991 | 2,171,145 | +2.05% |
| 2001 | 2,479,155 | +1.34% |
| 2011 | 2,819,086 | +1.29% |
| source:[17] | ||
According to the2011 census Cooch Behar district has apopulation of 2,819,086,[18] roughly equal to the nation ofJamaica.[19] This gives it a ranking of 136th in India (out of a total of739).[18] The district has a population density of 833 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,160/sq mi).[18] Itspopulation growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 13.86%.[18] Koch Bihar has asex ratio of 942females for every 1000 males,[18] and aliteracy rate of 75.49%.[18] 10.27% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 1,414,336 (50.17%) and 18,125 (0.64%) of the population respectively. Cooch Behar is the only district in India where Scheduled Castes make up a majority of the population.[20]
| Religion | Percent | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinduism | 74.05% | |||
| Islam | 25.54% | |||
| Other or not stated | 0.41% | |||
| Religion | Population (1941)[22]: 104–105 | Percentage (1941) | Population (2011)[21] | Percentage (2011) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hinduism | 394,948 | 61.63% | 2,087,766 | 74.05% |
Islam | 242,684 | 37.87% | 720,033 | 25.54% |
| Others[a] | 3,210 | 0.5% | 11,287 | 0.41% |
| Total Population | 640,842 | 100% | 2,819,086 | 100% |
Hinduism is the majority religion. Islam is the minority religion, and is mainly rural. Muslims are a significant minority in Dinhata I (36.98%), Dinhata II (36.68%) and Sitalkuchi (35.31%) blocks.[21]
At the time of the 2011 census, 94.79% of the population spokeBengali, 1.31%Rajbongshi and 1.17%Hindi as their first language. 2.01% of the population recorded their language as 'Others' under Bengali.[23]
The district of Cooch Behar comprises five sub-divisions:
As per order of the 2008Delimitation Commission in respect of thedelimitation of constituencies in the West Bengal, the district is divided into 9 assembly constituencies:[24]
Mekliganj, Mathabhanga, Cooch Behar Uttar, Sitalkuchi and Sitai constituencies are reserved forScheduled Castes (SC) candidates. Mekhliganj constituency is part ofJalpaiguri (Lok Sabha constituency), which also contains six assembly segments fromJalpaiguri district. Mathabhanga, Cooch Behar Uttar, Cooch Behar Dakshin, Sitalkuchi, Sitai, Dinhata and Natabari constituencies form theCooch Behar (Lok Sabha constituency), which is reserved forScheduled Castes (SC). Tufanganj constituency is part ofAlipurduars (Lok Sabha constituency), which also contains six assembly segments fromAlipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts.
Kalonunia rice was awarded theGeographical Indication (GI) status tag from theGeographical Indications Registry under theUnion Government of India on 2 January 2024 (valid until 11 March 2034). It is a common and widely cultivated crop in districts of Cooch Behar,Jalpaiguri andAlipurduar along with some parts ofDarjeeling &Kalimpong districts of West Bengal.[26][27][28][29]
State Agricultural Management & Extension Training Institute (SAMETI) fromNarendrapur, proposed the GI registration of Kalonunia rice. After filing the application in March 2021, the rice was granted the GI tag in 2024 by the Geographical Indication Registry inChennai, making the name "Kalonunia rice" exclusive to the rice grown in the region.[30] It thus became the third rice variety from West Bengal afterTulaipanji rice and the 26th type of goods from West Bengal to earn the GI tag.
The GI tag protects the rice from illegal selling and marketing, and gives it legal protection and a unique identity.
Jamaica 2,868,380 July 2011 est
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Cities and towns inCooch Behar district | |||||||||||
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