The Northern Frontier: Resistance to Imperial Authority To the
north, following the Brahmaputra River upstream, where it makes
its great bend eastward toward the plains of Assam, Mughal
officers encountered peoples who responded very differently to
the imposition of imperial rule. In their efforts to dominate
this region, the Mughals followed in the footsteps of earlier
Muslim governors and sultans, who had made repeated invasions of
the region, with results ranging from temporary success to utter
catastrophe. Bordering Mughal Bengal to the north was Kuch
Bihar, which stretched from the Karatoya River to the
Brahmaputra and Sankosh rivers. East of Kuch Bihar lay Kamrup,
which extended along the banks of the Brahmaputra to the Bar
Nadi River, the frontier of the kingdom of Assam. Kuch Bihar was
more than a political frontier. The “Pani Kuch” peoples had for
long lived along the fringes of Indo-Aryan civilization: they
dwelt in forests, cultivated by hoe, drank rice beer, were
matrilineal and matrilocal, and sp