The Koch-Rajbongshis:

Koch-Rajbongshis are one of the indigenous groups of people of Asian continent belonging to the Mongolian stock, who traversed in different places of Asia from the pre-Vedic and pre-historic period to the present century. During the Vedic and epic age they were frequently referred as Asurs, Mlechachas, Kiratas, Non-Aryan, Pani-Koches and Kuvacha in Purans and Tantras.The people of this community are now spread over three countries i.e. India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Kamatapur is the ancient Koch Kingdom and the present divided Kamatapur included entire North-Bengal, most of the parts of present Assam and adjoining parts of Bihar, Nepal, Bhutan and the present parts of ancient Rangpur of Bangladesh.
The establishment of Koch-Rajbongshi power gave a strong impetus to the sanskritization process of Koch-Rajbongshis while Biswasingha became a patron of Hinduism and later his son Naranarayan. It’s seen that the golden tradition of Koch-Kingdom started from Biswasingha (1515).
The Koch-Rajbongshis have ruled in the respective region for several hundred of years and they were gradually known as Rajbongshis. The Rajbongshi language flourished during this period. However after the fall of Koch king Naranarayana and his brother Chila Ray their successors could not retain such a dominant status.
This historically glorious community is very rich in cultural heritage. In every field of social and cultural aspect they cherish individual traits which represent their identity in the postmodern context. They do have an individual language, a composite behavior pattern, social life, traditional dress, food habit, folk song, dances and occasional festivals. The culture of Koch-Rajbongshi community in its indigenous form represents the tribal ancestry of the community

Folk Culture of Koch-Rajbongshis

Folk Culture is indigenous in nature and the vast treasures of folk culture have been the pride of a civilization as well as the nation. The western part of Assam, large parts of North Bengal, some parts of Bihar, Meghalaya, the adjacent areas of Bangladesh and Nepal inherit a common cultural heritage. It is the culture of the son of the soil, the culture of indigenous ethnic group Koch-Rajbongshis glorified by the elevated history of Koch-Kingdom and in different geographical background; it is popularly known as Rajbongshi Culture, Goalparia Culture, Rangpuria Culture, Vaoaiya Culture etc. It is the tune of Bena, Dotora, Sarinda that unite the people across the country sometimes irrespective of their religion.

Our humble presentations:
Kushan Gan/Nritya

Kushan Gan is a kind of vibrant Folk drama, a dramatic presentation which involves singing, recitation of dialogue, acting and dancing in the accompaniment of Folk Music. It is one of the folk traditions of the indigenous Koch-Rajbongshi people of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Meghalaya of India , Nepal and Bangladesh. The theme of Kushan Gan is especially religious in nature and revolves around portion of the Ramayana particularly Ram’s sons Lob and Kush and derives its name from Ram’s son Kush .
One of the earliest translations of Valmiki Ramayan is Madhava Kandali’s “Saptakanda Ramayana” in 14th century in Kamatapur during the reign of Koch Kings. There was a vibrant and popular folk tradition associated with Rama story in the region. As a result, Kushan-Gan became popular in Rajbongshi culture as a form of vibrant folk drama in order to explore, understand and comprehend the legendary figure Rama.
On the other hand, the word Kushan means ‘to wipe evil’ (Ku-evil, Shan-to clean by wiping). This is supposed to be derived from the concept of destroying injustice which is the consistent theme of the Kushan Gan. Bena is the chief folk musical instrument of kushan Gan. The chief performer of the Kushan Gan is the Geedal who sings, provides narration and plays the traditional stringed instrument Bena.