The Koch-Rajbanshis from Panchanan to Greater Cooch Behar Movement

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The Koch-Rajbanshis from Panchanan to Greater Cooch Behar Movement is the first book to have intensely explored the origin of the Koch-Rajbanshis, their identity, socio religious activities and political movements in the past and in the present. This book delineates in detail the origin and religion of the Koch-Rajbanshis and the philosophical views. as well as the activities of Ray Saheb Thakur Panchanan in historical perspectives of modern times. Accused by many as of being a revivalist and traditional thinker, Panchanan left behind a legacy of analyzing the society in the context of history and thereby building the projection of identity on a route leading to the remote past. Panchanan realized accurately that Identity of any community, race or ethnic group can never be established devoid of reference to Diaspora-changes from the past to the present; therefore, in search of the identity of the Rajbanshis (Koch), he too traced the social roots of the community in the past, though his claim to Kshatriyahood in the name. of 'Rajbanshi' for the people originally of Koch origin has now been challenged and criticised by Rajbanshi scholars and politicians: This book thus has interestingly brought the background and all the facts and facets together in discovering the thinker and activist in the man of Thakur Panchanan well in comparison with other progressive thinkers of India, namely Jyotirao Phule, B.R. Ambedkar, Narayan Guru and Periar Ramaswami Naikar, who straight-way fought for the establishment of social equality and Human Rights for the downtrodden and depressed classes of India. The book further explores the causes and the course of the Kamatapur Movement for the claim of a separate state of Kamatapur in North Bengal and westem part of Assam; and along with that gives highlights on the movement organized by the 'Greater Cooch Behar People's Association for a separate state of Cooch Behar, and how the twor movements merged together for a single state of Kamata-Koch Behar".

Dr. Sailen Debnath, Dept. of History, Alipurduar College, has been engrossed in studies in the history of ideas and intellectual history of India and Europe as well as in the history of Bengal and North Bengal for the last three decades. He has authored pioneering books namely "The Meanings of Hindu Gods. Goddesses and Myths', 'Secularism: Western and Indian', 'Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: His Philosophy, Political Thought and Contribution', 'Human Rights in the Context of Caste, Class and Gender in India', 'Essays on Cultural History of North Bengal', 'West Bengal in Doldrums', 'The Dooars in Historical Transition' and 'Kamatapur. An Unexplored History of Eastern India (650 1498) including an edited book, 'Social and Political Tensions in North Bengal Since 1947'.

Since the publication of Charu Chandra Sanyal's 'The Rajbanshis of North Bengal', writings on different aspects of the Koch-Rajbanshi community have not been rare anyway; but any composite and comprehensive work reflecting the critical aspects of identity covering the origin, social evolution and religio-cultural life in long durie has yet to come out. The present author has done it by dispelling all misgivings about the Koch people who for the sake of social dignity against the tendency of lop-siding them in the caste-ridden Indian society had to organize the Rajbanshi Kshatriya Andolan; and for that he has gone through almost all books on the community so far published; and he is enriched with his long experiences of living together as closest neighbour with the Koch Rajbanshis.

At present, by all accounts, the Koch Rajbanshis living in West Bengal represent the finest of the Bengalis in all discourses that are formed and evidenced in order to symbolize the presentation of a linguistic stock of people as the Bengalis are, though the scenes in Assam, Bangladesh and Nepal have been different. But in the abdomen of history, there are still things undigested; and these are the past misgivings about the community and the aspersions inflicted by the high-caste Hindu Bengalis, mainly Kolkata based, upon them from time to time. Even ignoring the historical facts, the Rajbanshi Kshatriya Andolan too was necessitated or rather improvised on the traditional way, however, off the path of progressivism by factors created by those who knew very little of the community or had the least of interest in knowing them; and that too was due to the colonial attitude of divide-et-imperia of the British Government. But history is created often on not-too-strong a-ground as well; and accidental or un-forethought-of outburst and over-activism time and again lead to the making of history. For an incident positive or negative, progressive or regressive always sufficient causes are not needed; mobilization of mass-psychology sometimes is more powerful than material and realistic causes. The will to do is more important; and that was done by Panchanan. Can anyone assert that there were sufficient causes for Hitler's Anti-Semiticism; or sufficient causes were there for the outbreak of the First World War? Perhaps not. In the same way it is futile to be in search of sufficient causes for the beginning and continuation of the Kashatriya Andolan organised by Panchanan Barma in the Koch community, and that he did in continuation of a movement that had begun in the 1890s. In this book analysis has been given of the causative and formative stages of the movement and the consequences thereof; of course, the present day criticism levelled against Panchanan by those who advocate for reinstitution of Koch identity of the Rajbanshis have been studied in reference to the contemporary movements and aspirations in the Koch Rajbanshi society.

Though written as a first hand book in some introductory configuration, I am not unaware of the dusts of storms that are supposed to be raised by some people soon after their partial perusal of the book. I request them to read the whole of it before they pass any comments. Positive criticism from any section of people is most welcome.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages