The Khen dynasty of Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

 replaced the Pala dynasty

Pala dynasty (Kamarupa)

The Pala dynasty of Kamarupa ruled the kingdom from 900 CE to 1100 CE. Like the Pala dynasty of Bengal, the first ruler in this dynasty was elected, which probably explains the name of this dynasty "Pala". But unlike the Palas of Bengal, who were Buddhists, the Palas of Kamarupa were Vaishnava...

 in the 12th century. Their accession marks the end of the Kamarupa kingdom

Kamarupa (History)

Kamarupa, also called Pragjyotisha, was the first historical kingdom in Assam that existed between 350 and 1140 CE i.e for almost 800 years. Ruled by three dynasties from their capitals in present-day Guwahati and Tezpur, it covered the entire Brahmaputra river valley and, at times, North Bengal...

, and the beginning of the Kamata kingdom

Kamata Kingdom

The Kamata kingdom appeared in the western part of the older Kamarupa kingdom in the 13th century, after the fall of the Pala dynasty. The rise of the Kamata kingdom marked the end of the ancient period in the History of Assam and the beginning of the medieval period. The first rulers were the...

.

According to the Gosani Mangala (1823), the Khen rulers had a humble origin, implying that they were probably local non-Aryan chieftains that rose to power after the fall of the Palas. Ethnically, they are possibly related to the Kheng people of nearby Bhutan

Bhutan

Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

. They worshipped Kamatashwari (also called Chandi or Bhavani), thus providing a break from the earlier dynasties that drew their lineage from Narakasura

Narakasura

In Hindu beliefs, Narakasura or Naraka is the asura son of the earth goddess Bhudevi and Lord Vishnu in his Varaha Avatar . In other sources, he is the son of the asura Hiranyaksha. He is said to have established the kingdom of Pragjyotisha in Assam after overthrowing the last of the Danava king...

, the son of Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

. Along with the change in the deity, the Khen rulers moved the capital from Kamarupanagara to Kamatapura further west on the banks of the Dharla River

Dharla River

The Dharla River is one of Bangladesh's trans-boundary rivers. It originates in the Himalayas where it is known as the Jaldhaka River, and then it flows through the Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts of West Bengal, India, one of the seven main rivers to do so...

. Under the patronage of Kamata rulers (e.g Durlabh Narayan), some of the first examples of Assamese

Assamese language

Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...

 literature were composed.

The kingdom of Kamatapura finally fell to Alauddin Husain Shah in 1498. But Hussein Shah could not rule the kingdom— Bhuyan chiefs of the region, with the help of the Ahom

Ahom kingdom

The Ahom Kingdom was a medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India...

 king, Suhungmung

Suhungmung

Suhungmung , was one of the most important Ahom kings, who ruled at the cusp of Assam's medieval history. His reign broke from the early Ahom rule and established a multi-ethnic polity in his kingdom. Under him the Ahom Kingdom expanded greatly for the first time since Sukaphaa, at the cost of...

, defeated the invaders in 1505. Soon control of the Kamata kingdom passed into the hands of the Koch dynasty

Koch dynasty

The Koch dynasty of Assam and Bengal, named after the Koch tribe, emerged as the dominant ruling house in the Kamata kingdom in 1515 after the fall of the Khen dynasty in 1498...

.

Rule

The first king Prithu is known from the Kanai Varasiboa rock inscription in which a reference is made of the destruction of Bakhtiyar Khilji's army in 1205. This was followed by the defeat of Giasuddin in 1227, but in 1228, Prithu was defeated by Mahmud Shah

Mahmud Shah (Sultan of Bengal)

Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah was a Sultan of Bengal. He was a descendant of Sultan Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah of Bengal. Nasiruddin took the title of Nasiruddin Abul Muzaffar Mahmud Shah when he ascended the power in 1435 AD...

, the son of Iltutmish

Iltutmish

Shams-ud-din Iltutmish was the third ruler of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi of Turkic origin. He was a slave of Qutub-ud-din-Aybak and later became his son-in-law and close lieutenant. He was the Governor of Badaun when he deposed Qutub-ud-din's successor Aram Shah and acceeded to the throne of the...

, and the Turkic army reached the Nagaon area. After Nassiruddin's death, Prithu's successor, Sandhya, removed the Turkic influence.

Rulers

• Prithu (1185-1228)
• Sandhya (1228–1260)
• Sindhu Rai (1260–1285)
• Rup Narayan (1285–1300)
• Singhadhwaj (1300–1305)
• Pratapdhwaj (1305–1325)
• Dharma Narayan (1325–1330)
• Durlabh Narayan (1330–1350)
• Indra Narayan (1350–1365)
• Sasanka (Arimatta) (1365–1385)
• Gajanka (1385–1400)
• Sukranka (1400–1415)
• Mriganka (1415–1440)
• Niladhwaj (1440–1460)
• Chakradhwaj (1460–1480)
• Nilambar (1480–1498)