Bengmara

Bengmara, earlier known as Changmai Pathar, became the capital of the Matak polity in upper Assam. Its rise followed the Moamoria rebellions against Ahom rule in the late eighteenth century. Sarbananda Singha, a leader of the Moamorias, established his seat here in the country of rivers and forests east of the Ahom heartland.

In 1805 an agreement with the Ahom minister Purnananda Burhagohain recognised the autonomous Matak territory under Sarbananda, who undertook to pay annual tribute. He held the title of Barsenapati, or great general, within the new arrangement. Bengmara became the centre of this political order. Tanks excavated under its ruler formed part of the settlement’s landscape, while the agreement marked an accommodation after decades of upheaval in the upper Brahmaputra valley.