Sibendra Narayan Koch
Compiled and Edited By Surjit Singha
Sibendra Narayan Koch was known for his literary works and for various democratic movements for the Koches living in Assam and Meghalaya. He was born in Guthulibari village of Garo Pahar District of the then undivided Assam on May 21, 1937, Sibendra Narayan Koch represented the Mendipathar Legislative Assembly Constituency in the Meghalaya Assembly in 1972.
He belonged to the Koch community which is one of the minority tribes of Meghalaya, represented the community as a member of the legislative assembly of Meghalaya as an elected member. He was the founder general secretary of the Garo Pahar District Koch Sanmilan and it was due to his efforts that the Koches of the Meghalaya were recognized as Scheduled Tribe by the Meghalaya Government.
Koch has authored a number of books on the history, language, and culture. His ‘Koch Janagosthir Atit Sandhanat Eti Khoj’ is regarded to be a magnum opus in this regard. For this book, he was conferred the title ‘Koch Ratna’ by the Brihattar Koch Janagosthiya Samaj and the Meghalaya Koch Sanmilan at the 2015 Dalu session of the Meghalaya Koch Sanmilan.
His huge collection of books includes all the volumes of the Vedas, Upanishads various editions of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and many other classical titles as well as all the significant books like the famous ODBL (The Origin and Development of Bengali Language) and Kirata Jana Krti by Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, Banikanta Kakati’s Assamese Language and its Development and Formation, almost all the volumes by the patriarch of history from the east, H.K. Barpujari, books on Garo history and culture from William Carey, Major Playfair to Milton Sangma and the list goes on.
Sibendra Narayan Koch was well versed in Assamese, Bengali, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Garo, and Koch languages. He was a polyglot in the true sense of the term. He has been a voracious reader and also a prolific writer. Quite significantly, he used to write in English and Assamese only. His most significant book is on the history of the Koches which he wrote in Assamese. One of his major articles on the Koches was published in the book, Culture, Ethnicity, and Identity: A Reader which was published in 2012.
The demand for ST status for the Koch Rajbanshis became one of the first major democratic ethnic movements of Assam with unprecedented popular support. In the democratic movement of the Koches of the Assam who are popularly known as Koch Rajbongshi (Koch), Sibendra Narayan Koch was actively involved as one of its intellectual guides along with other intellectuals. He has shown genuine interested for the ST Hood of the Koch Rajbanshis to be granted ST status in Assam and also in Meghalaya.
Sibendra Narayan Koch as a scholar belongs to the class of thinkers who have given primacy to the mythic dimensions of historical discourses thereby opening up a fresh insight to look at the entire enterprise of historical exploration of the past. According to him, the arrival of the Koches happened through the Western terrain onto the Eastern territory; he has extensively cited illustrations from numerous ancient texts and has also made an extensive philological inquiry to corroborate his arguments. He even quite substantially argued that the Indus Valley civilization bore crucial evidence of the presence of the Koches as its actual architects. He has also provided a long list of place and geographical names that etymologically belonged to the Koch lexicography that included the places like present Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Assam and the whole of North East.
THE KOCH UNVEILED AN EXTRAORDINARY TALK BY SIBENDRA NARAYAN KOCH: PART 1
THE KOCH UNVEILED AN EXTRAORDINARY TALK BY SIBENDRA NARAYAN KOCH: PART 2
THE KOCH UNVEILED AN EXTRAORDINARY TALK BY SIBENDRA NARAYAN KOCH: PART 3
THE KOCH UNVEILED AN EXTRAORDINARY TALK BY SIBENDRA NARAYAN KOCH: PART 4
Reference:
Death of Koch Ratna mourned (2015, July 13). In The Assam Tribune. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/mdetails.asp?id=jul1315/city053
Prodhani, J. (n.d.). Sibendra Narayan Koch: A Scholar Par Excellence. In Academia. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from http://www.academia.edu/19845780/Sibendra_Narayan_Koch_A_Scholar_Par_Excellence
Last Updated: 12 October 2018
Project: Koch
Surjit 