50 H. Blochmann — Koch Bihar and Asam. [No. 1, 
bank of the Brahmaputra being looked upon as a frontier town, and then 
along the Brahmaputra as far as the Parganah Bhetarhand, at the 
confluence of the Sankos and the Brahmaputra rivers. From Bhetarhand 
the frontier passed westward to PStg&nw and the northern portions of Sirkar 
Purniah. The Morang, Koch Bihar, and the districts at the angle of the 
Brahmaputra lay beyond the empire. 
The countries bordering on the Mughul empire in the N. E. of Bengal 
were Koch Bihar and Koch Hajo. The latter is called by old English 
travellers ‘ the kingdom of Azo.’ The position of Koch Bihar is sufficiently 
known; even in the reign of Jahangir it did not extend eastward as far as 
the Brahmaputra. Koch Hajo almost coincides with the modern district of 
Gwalpfira, Lower Asam, extending from above Hatsilah in the Karibari 
Hills and Parganah, on the left side of the Brahmaputra, along the bend of 
the river to Gwalpdra. On the right side, it commenced north of the Par- 
ganah of Bhetarhand and contained the districts along the angle of the river 
as far as Parganah K’liontliag'hat inclusively, with the towns of Dhobrf and 
Rangamiti. On the east Koch Hajo bordered on Kamrup, or that part of 
Asam which lies between Gwalpara, and Gauhatti to both sides of the 
Brahmaputra. 
The comparatively recent time of the advance of the Muhammadans in 
these districts explains the paucity of Muhammadan names of towns in Koch 
Hajo. The maps give a Parganah ‘ Mukrumpore,’ bordering on Bhetar- 
band, which, no doubt, is a corruption of Mukarrampur, so called after Mu- 
karram Khun, the conqueror of Hajo in the reign of Jahangir. The par- 
ganah Golah ’Alamganj with Rangimiti as chief town, where the Imperial 
Faujdar had his head quarters, reminds us of ’Alamgir ; and on the left side 
of the Brahmaputra, north of Karibari, lies the Parganah Aurangabad, which 
also reminds us of Aurangzib. But these few Muhammadan names refer all 
to localities in the immediate vicinity of the old frontier of Bengal. From 
the absence of Muhammadan names we may conclude that the invasions of 
Koch Bihir and Asam by several Bengal kings as Husain Shah and Su- 
laiman i Kararani, in the beginning and the middle of the 16th century, 
led to no permanent results. 
Kamrup also, for a short time under Shahjahan, was included in the 
Dihli empire, and had imperial Faujdlirs whose head quarters were Gauhatti. 
As in other parts of Bengal, the Muhammadans established settlements of 
Paiks, who are defined as a sort of militia, armed with spears and shields. 
But the Governors of Bengal soon found that they could not trust them 
as a border defence ; for in the Hajo and Asamesc wars they generally took 
the side of the Asam Rajahs. 
I now proceed to collect the notes given in the works of Muhammadan 
Historians on Koch Bihdr, Koch Hdjo, and Asam. The notes are chiefly 
taken from the Akbarndmuh, the Tuzu/c i Jah&ngiri , the Bd dish a It n dm ah , 
