A History of Assam c9.13

c9.13

There are various stories regarding the Bāro Bhuiyā, but it would be useless to try and reconcile them; they often refer to entirely different groups of chiefs, and they are, to a great extent, mere legends. The Bhuiyās who were ruling north of the Brahmaputra and east of the Chutiya kingdom at the time when the Ahoms entered Assam claimed to be the descendants of Samudra, the minister of Arimatta who, it is said, seized the throne on the expulsion of Arimatta's son Ratna Singh. Samudra was succeeded by his son Manohar, and the latter's daughter Lakshmi gained the love of the Sun God, by whom she had two sons Santanu and Sāmanta. The former became a Vaishnava by sect and the latter a Sākta; they accordingly separated, Santanu and his sons going to Rāmpur in Nowgong, while Sāmanta remained at Lakshmipur, the place from which the modern district of Lakhimpur takes its name. His sons succeeded him there, and maintained their independence against the Kachāri king who then ruled in Central Assam and the Chutiya king of Sadiya. They were eventually defeated by the Ahoms, as will be narrated further on. One of Santanu's descendants named Rājdhar settled at Bardowa in Nowgong; and his son Kusambar was the father of the great religious reformer Sankar Deb.