Baro-Bhuyan

The Baro-Bhuyans (spelled variously as Baro-Bhuinas etc.) were warrior chiefs and landlords (zamindars) in medieval Bengal and Assam who maintained a loosely independent confederacy. In times of aggression by external powers, they generally cooperated in defending and expelling the aggressor. In times of peace, they maintained their respective sovereignty. In the presence of a strong king, they offered their allegiance. In general, they were in control of a group of villages, called cakala, and the more powerful among them called themselves raja.Baro denotes the number twelve, but in general there were more than twelve chiefs or landlords, and the word baro meant many. Thus, Bhuyan-raj denoted individual Bhuyanship, whereas Baro-Bhuyan denoted temporary confederacies that they formed. In Bengal they carved the land of Bhati into twelve administrative units or Dwadas Bangla

The system of Baro-Bhuyan confederacy is a relic of the erstwhile Kamarupa kingdom, that covered all of Assam, North Bengal and large portions of Bangladesh. The "parcelization" of power, which was an effect of settling North Indian adventurers, became prominent during the 9th century reign of Balavarman III of the Mlechchha dynasty. Whereas the central Kamarupa kingdom fragmented, the system of small chieftains remained. In Bengal as in Assam, the Baro-Bhuyans are found in regions within the traditional boundaries of the Kamarupa kingdom.