Cooch Behar royals back Himanta's Naranarayan, Chilarai statue plan

The royal family of Cooch Behar has welcomed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's plan to put up large statues of Maharaja Naranarayan and his brother Mahabir Chilarai along the Assam-West Bengal border, The Assam Tribune reported on Sunday.

The Cooch Behar Royal Family Succession Welfare Trust, which represents descendants of Maharaja Naranarayan, said it had emailed a letter of appreciation to the chief minister. The letter was issued by trust president Kumar Jitendra Narayan, secretary Kumar Brajendra Narayan and spokesperson Kumar Mridul Narayan, according to the report.

Announcement at Madhupur Satra

Sarma announced the statues during a recent visit to Cooch Behar district in West Bengal, where he went to the Madhupur Dham Satra. The Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankaradeva spent his last years at Madhupur.

In its letter, the trust recalled the role of the two 16th-century Koch rulers. Naranarayan's younger brother Chilarai was a celebrated military commander who defended the wider Assamese region against outside forces, and the two brothers are credited with rebuilding the Kamakhya temple after it was destroyed. They also supported Sankaradeva in spreading Vaishnavism and helped set up the satra at Madhupur. The trust said it hoped the Assam government would complete the statues on schedule.

A list of demands

During the chief minister's visit, a delegation led by Kumar Jitendra Narayan also handed over a memorandum on heritage issues, the report said. Its demands include:

• removing encroachments from land belonging to Madhupur Dham Satra and restoring it;
• developing Damodar Dham at Baikunthapur, with a boundary wall;
• naming the under-construction Brahmaputra bridge between Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya after Mahabir Chilarai;
• developing the Karmateertha building on the Assam-West Bengal border into a tourist attraction;
• rebuilding the historic Gohain Kamal Ali road, which once ran about 350 km between Assam and present-day West Bengal;
• improving Madhupur Satra and other satras and namghars in North Bengal linked to Sankaradeva.

The Assam government has not yet announced a site, design or budget for the statues. Chilarai's birth anniversary is observed as a state holiday in Assam, and a statue of the general already stands in Dhubri town. The Dhubri-Phulbari bridge, being built under the Union road transport ministry, will be the longest river bridge in India when finished.