12 History of Cooch Behdr. [J AN* 



and bestowed on the son of his aunt Jira that of Siva Sjngho; arid 

 this prince also claimed for his mother, the honor of the most intimate 

 favor of the god, whose name he bore. 



Although the Yoglni Tontro calls the father of Hira a barbarian 

 (Mlechchko) ; yet it has been discovered, that the Koch were not in 

 fact an impure tribe, as had been in general supposed ; but were descended 

 from some Khyotriyos, who had fled into Kamrup, and the adjacent 

 country of Chin, in order to escape from the violence of Porosuram, 

 when that deity pursued the kings of the earth, and gave their territories 

 to the brahmans. In the exile the descendants of the Khyotriyos had 

 departed from many parts of the Hindu law ; and on this account were 

 considered impure. This seems to be exactly the same story, which Sir 

 William Jones quotes (A. R. II. page 3G8), from the Institutes of 

 Menu, and on the authority of which he deduced the origin of the Chi- 

 nese from the Hindus. The features both of Chinese and Koch seem 

 to me insuperable objections against that theory ; and I have no doubt, 

 that both the passage of Menu and the fable of the Koch are equally- 

 founded on national vanity r which, however unbecoming in a lawyer or 

 philosopher like Menu, is excusable enough in the Koch, who among 

 the people with whom it is their fortune to live, are naturally desirous of 

 procuring some means of being raised from the dregs of impurity. On 

 this pretended descent the Koch, or at least all of them that have adopted 

 the Hindu religion and have relinquished their impure practices, assume 

 the title of JRajbongsis, or descendants of princes ; and the other rude 

 tribes of Kamrup and Chin, such as Mech and Hajong, who have fol- 

 lowed their example m religion, have assumed the same title. All the 

 descendants of Hira, still farther elated by their supposed divine origin, 

 assume the title of Deo or Lord, and all the reigning princes of the 

 family claim the title of Narayon ; which among the Hindus is one of 

 the names of the supreme deity. 



Vis wo Sing ho was so weak as to divide his dominions between two 

 sons Naro Narayon and Sukladhwoy. The former obtained the 

 country west from the Chhannokosh, the latter obtained the country 

 east from that river, together with both sides of the Brohmopittro. I 

 shall now proceed to give an account of this branch of the family which 

 was the most considerable. 



Suklodhwoy seems to have governed without any remarkable event, 



and left his dominions to his son Roghu Dev Narayon. He had two 



sons Porikhyit N. and another*, who as an appanage obtained Dorong 



which his descendants still retain under the kings of Assam. Porikhyzt 



* Bollit Narayon. 



