Brief
about District
Legend
:
The name `Sonitpur’ as well as Tezpur literally
means "the city of blood".
It reminds of the romantic legend of Usha and Anirudha.
The legend revolves around Banasura, the great
Asura king of ancient Tezpur, his
beautiful daughter Usha
and her friend Chitralekha.
The princess saw a handsome prince in
her dreams and fell in love with him.
Chitralekha, a talented artist,
not only painted
his portrait from
Usha's description but recognised
him to be Aniruddha, the
grandson of Lord Krishna and ruler of Dwarka.
Using her magical powers, Chitralekha spirited
Aniruddha away to the princess' boudoir where
the two married each other according
to Gandharva rites, without the
knowledge of the king. When
Banasura learnt of
the clandestine romance, he imprisoned
Aniruddha, which led to
the arrival of Lord Krishna to rescue
his grandson. A fierce battle followed and the entire
city was drenched in human blood, hence the name Sonitpur or Tezpur,
i.e. ‘the city of blood’ .
The story of eternal love between Usha and Aniruddha
finds expression in many stories, novels, dramas,
dance-dramas, movies.
Pre-British Era :
Sir Edward A. Gait ( 1897) had made reference to
the nine line inscription of Harjjar Varma in
his ‘’A History of Assam.’’ The inscription
is the first recorded history of Assam and dates
back to 829 A.D. The inscription was found engraved
on a massive
stone some two kms away from Tezpur town situated
near a temple called Rudrapad.
Salastambha
dynasty ruled Kamrupa from seventh to Tenth century
A.D. The accurate boundary of their kingdom is debatable.
But the erstwhile Darrang was certainly a part of
the kingdom. They shifted their capital from Pragjyotishpur
to Haruppeswara, or Hatappeswara- the present day
Tezpur. The famous King of the dynasty Harjjar Varma,
besides other things had excavated a large pond
in 70 acres of land, later came to be known as Hajara
Pukhuri ( Harjjara Pukhuri ).Pal dynasty ruled Haruppeswara
till the 12th century. The most famous
ruler of the Pal dynasty was Brahmapal.
After
the Pal dynasty’’ the royal dominance of the Koch
Kings in the west and the Ahoms in the east started
growing. During the 14th and 15th
century a large part of the western bank of Brahmaputra
from Singri in the west and Sootea in the east was
ruled by the Bara-Bhuyans. The great saint poet
Sri Sri Shankardeva belonged to Bara-Bhuyan , who
settled at Rowta in Darrang District. The Ahom King
Suhungmung alias Dihingia Raja occupied the territories
of the Bara-Bhuyans on the north in 1505 A.D.The
Koch King Biswa Sinha rose to power in 1515 A.D.
King Naranarayana who ascended the thorne in about
1540 A. D. divided his Kingdom into two parts. He
had given the eastern part to the son of his brother
Chilarai and the western part of the kingdom to
his own son Lakshminarayana . But soon after their
ascension as kings, fatricidal war broke out and
Lakshminarayana sought refuge with the Mughals which
eventually led to invasion of Kamrup by the Mughals.
Balinarayana, one of the brothers of Pariksitnarayana
fled away to Gorgaon to seek the help of the Ahom
king Swargadew Pratapsingha. Pratapsingha christened
Balinarayana as Dharmanarayana, made him the king
of Darrang and declared war against the the Mughals
(1616-1637 A.D.). The Ahoms defeated the mighty
Mughals in the Bharali war and re-occupied Darrang
from the Mughals. King Dharmanarayana made supreme
sacrifice in Singari war in 1638. His son Sundarnarayana
ascended the throne and became the king of Darrang.(excluding
Tezpur). On the otherhand, the Ahoms ruled the eastern
part of Darrang ( present Sonitpur) through Kalia
Bhomora Borphukan, stationed at Kaliabor. The Ahom
Kings resettled many people in the southern part
of Brahmaputra.
British Period :
The British annexed the then Assam into the Indian
British Empire in 1826. After1826 the Lower Assam
and the Central Assam (Darrang, Nagaon and Raha)
were made one division which extended up to Biswanath.
The division was placed under one Administrative
Officer designated as the Principal Assistant to
the Commissioner. The Upper Assam portion was left
to the native rulers with supervisory control under
a British political agent with political headquarters
at Biswanath. Captain Neufville was the political
agent for Upper Assam. Darrang Division was administered
till 1833 from Guwahati.
Darrang
was converted into a district and Mangaldai was
made the district Headquarter in 1833. But due to
various reasons the British shifted the head quarter
to Tezpur in 1835. The district comprised of two
sub-divisions, Tezpur sadar sub-division and Mangaldoi
sub-division with head quarter at Mangaldoi.
The District of Darrang was divided in to six Revenue
Circles under one Sub-Deputy Collector in each Circle.
There was one Transferred area in the district at
Charduar. An Asstt. Political Officer was posted
at Charduar under the Deputy Commissioner who acted
as Political Officer.
Tezpur
was a small township then. The British developed
Tezpur as a small garrison township. Later, tea
gardens were set-up throughout the district. The
old steamarghat at Jahajghat, the Dak-Bungalow,
the then Chummery compound at present Don-Bosco
School campus, the Planters Club of Tezpur (Stations
Club) , the Jahajghat Railway Station, the Church
of Ephiphany etc and many tea gardens are some of
the examples of the contributions of the British.
Freedom Struggle :-
There
is no specific information about the alignment of
the people of the district in the earlier struggle
for liberation waged by the princely and upper class
people in Upper Assam from 1828 to 1857. But, with
the spread of western education during the last
part of the 19th century a new awakening
surcharged the patriots of the land.
Few
years before the birth of the Indian National Congress
in Bombay in 1885, the Tezpur Ryot Sabha was formed
by a group of enlightened people primarily to protest
against the enhancement of land revenue and to ventilate
other public grievances .
The
Tezpur Ryot Sabha sent Kali Krishna Barkakoti to
as its delegate to the National Congress in 1885.
It had played an active role in early period of
the freedom struggle.
The
All Assam Student Association formed in 1916 worked
in the district under the leadership of Chandra
Nath Sarma.
In
June, 1921, the Tezpur District Congress Committee
was formed under the presidentship of Chandra
Nath Sarma.
In
August 1921, Mahatma Gandhi visited Tezpur and recorded
his impression of the visit in Young India
in the article ``From the Bank of Brahmaputra ".
In
1934 Mahatma Gandhi visited Tezpur again during
the course of Civil Disobedience Movement.
In
the final phase of British Period the Quit India
Movement gained momentum with the slogan " Do or
Die" in places like Tezpur, Sootea, Gohpur, Dhekiajuli
and Jamuguri.
On 10th September 1942, at Gohpur a young
girl led a procession of unarmed villagers under
Congress flag. She was Kanaklata Barua
– a girl from Barangabari village. As
soon as Kanaklata unfurled the flag she and
her companion Mukunda Kakati were gunned down by
the armed
Police. The saga of her heroic
sacrifice is still remembered with pride.
On
the same day at Dhekiajuli Police Station eleven
unarmed villagers were gunned down by the armed
Police while trying to hoist the tri- color
at the Police Station - three of them were teen-aged
girls- Tileswari, Numali and Khahuli .
Finally,
the British era had come to an end on 15th
August "1947" when India gained her Independence
in the midnight of 14th August.
Post-Independence
:
|
The administration set up by the British continued
even after Independence. Darrang district with head
quarter at Tezpur continued as an impotant district
of Assam.
Towards
1961, Tezpur started to become a center of Trade
and Commerce. A year later, in 1962, war broke out
with China. The Chinese Army advanced up-to Sessa
near Bhalukpung. People started fleeing from their
homes. The war had left a bitter experience in the
minds of the people of the district.
