Goalpara region | |
|---|---|
Region | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Assam |
| District | Kokrajhar,Bongaigaon,Dhubri andGoalpara |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Assamese |
| • Additional official | Boro |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
Goalpara region, largely congruous to the historicalundivided Goalpara district, is aregion that is associated with thepeople and culture of Goalpara.[1] It is bounded on the north byBhutan, on the east by theKamrup region, in the south byMeghalaya and in the west byCooch Behar andJalpaiguri inWest Bengal andRangpur inBangladesh.[2] The natural landmarks are:Sankosh andBrahmaputra rivers on the west, theManas River on the east in the north bank, and a corresponding region in the south bank; theGaro Hills in the south and Bhutan Hills in the north.
In ancient times, it was a part of a division of theKamarupa kingdom.[3] After the fall of the Kamarupa dynasties Sandhya, a later Kamarupa king, moved his capital from Kamarupanagara (present-dayGuwahati) to Kamatapur (nearCooch Behar town) in the middle of the 13th century, and established theKamata kingdom. This situation prevailed till the time of Naranarayana, when it became a part ofKoch Hajo. It was defined as an administrative unit for the first time in the 17th century when it was calledSarkar Dhekuri under theBengal Subah of theMughals.[4] After the transfer of the BengalDiwani to theEast India Company, the Goalpara region, minus the Assam Dooars, then underBhutan, came to be called Rangamatty, and after 1816, "Northeast Rangpur".[5] When the British constituted this as a district in 1833 it came to be known after its headquarters which was inGoalpara town.[6] A portion of the AssamDooars areas were added to this district after theBhutan war of 1865.
A majority of the people belong toKoch Rajbanshi speaking theGoalpariya dialect[7][8] who are converts fromMech,Rabha communities in earlier times.Goalpariya dialect spoken here is a part of Rajbongshi which is a constituent of theAssamese language.Assamese Brahmins andKayastha communities are small, and even theKalitas, who have a dominating presence in the adjoiningKamrup region, are not as significant.[9]
TheBodos form a strong presence in the region. Traditionally, they are called Kacharis in the south and in the rest ofAssam, but called Mech in the north bank of theBrahmaputra River and the whole ofNorth Bengal.[9] Their strongest presence is in the presentKokrajhar district in the north bank.[10] TheRabhas, who along with the Bodos, are a semi-Hinduized group concentrated in the south bank. TheGaros and theHajongs too are not insignificant in the south. The indigenousKeot (Kaibarta) people are present near the wetlands and riverine areas both in the North and South Bank.[11]
The Muslim population, which is not insignificant, a distinction is made between the local indigenous (deshi) communities that are descendants of ethnic groups convert, and non-local immigrant (bhatiya) who have immigrated in recent times from downstreamEast Bengal (Bangladesh).[12]
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