Nara Narayan

Naranarayan
Reign	1554 - 1586
Successor	Lakshminarayan
Father	Vishwasingha

For the Hindu deities, the twin avatar of Vishnu, see Nara-Narayana.

Maharaja Naranarayan (Bengali: মহারাজা নরনারায়ণ) was the third and last ruler of the undivided Koch kingdom of Kamata. He succeeded his father Biswa Singha. Under him the Koch kingdom reached its cultural and political zenith. He introduced a silver coin, called the Narayani,^[1] that greatly influenced the numismatics of Assam. His patronage gave Srimanta Sankardeva the first royal patronage to Mahapuruxiya Dharma.

In 1581 Raghu Deva, the son of his brother Shukladhvaj became the de-facto ruler of the eastern part of his kingdom Koch Hajo, though under suzerainty of his uncle. After the death of Nara Narayan, he declared his independence.

Nara Narayan's son Lakshmi Narayan succeeded him after his death, but only inherited the western part of his kingdom Koch Bihar. On December 23, 1596 Man Singh I married Nara Narayan's daughter Kshamadevi^[2].

Nara Narayan was a noted patron of literature. During his reign, Purushottam Vidyavagish wrote the Prayogaratnamala, a treatise on Sanskrit grammar.

Notes

1. ^ Rai Barma 1988
2. ^ Sarkar 1984, p. 82

References

• Rai Barma, Hemant Kumar (1988). "Narayani Currency". http://coochbehar.nic.in/Htmfiles/Narayani_currency.html. Retrieved 2007-12-25. 
• Sarkar, Jadunath (1984, reprint 1994), A History of Jaipur, Orient Longman, New Delhi .

Nara Narayan Koch Dynasty
Regnal titles
Preceded by Vishwasingha	Maharaja of Kamata	Succeeded by Lakshminarayan