Cooch Behar district is an administrative district in the northern part of the Indian state of West Bengal. Headquartered at the town of Cooch Behar, the district lies in the foothills region between the eastern Himalayas and the floodplains of the Brahmaputra basin. It was for several centuries the seat of the princely state of Cooch Behar, ruled by the Koch dynasty, before being merged into the Indian Union in the mid-twentieth century.
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| State | West Bengal |
| Division | Jalpaiguri division |
| Headquarters | Cooch Behar |
| Predecessor entity | Cooch Behar State (princely state) |
| Merger with India | 1949 |
| Region | North Bengal |
The district is situated in the alluvial plains of North Bengal. It is bounded by the districts of Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri to the north and west, by the Indian state of Assam to the east, and by Bangladesh to the south. Major rivers crossing the district include the Teesta, Torsa, Jaldhaka, Kaljani, Raidak and Sankosh, all of which originate in the Himalayan or sub-Himalayan zone and flow southwards. The terrain is largely flat, with fertile soils that support intensive cultivation.
The region formed the core of the Koch kingdom that emerged in the early sixteenth century under Vishwa Singha and reached its peak under his son Nara Narayan. Over time, the kingdom contracted and survived as a smaller principality known as Cooch Behar, which became a princely state under British paramountcy in the late eighteenth century following a treaty with the East India Company in 1773.
After Indian independence, the last ruling Maharaja, Jagaddipendra Narayan, signed the instrument of accession, and the state was transferred to the Government of India in 1949. On 1 January 1950, Cooch Behar was made a district of West Bengal.
A long-standing peculiarity of the district was the presence of complex enclaves (chhitmahals) of Indian and Bangladeshi territory inside one another. These were largely resolved through the implementation of the India–Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement in 2015, when most of the enclaves on the Indian side were merged into Cooch Behar district.
The district is part of the Jalpaiguri administrative division. It is divided into subdivisions, with Cooch Behar Sadar serving as the headquarters subdivision; other subdivisions include Dinhata, Mathabhanga, Mekhliganj and Tufanganj. Administration at the local level is carried out through community development blocks, gram panchayats and municipalities, with the district magistrate as the principal officer of the state government.
The economy of the district is predominantly agrarian. Paddy, jute, tobacco, potato and various oilseeds are widely cultivated, and the district has historically been an important producer of tobacco in eastern India. Small-scale industries, trade and services are concentrated in the towns of Cooch Behar, Dinhata, Tufanganj, Mathabhanga and Haldibari. Bengali is the principal language, with Rajbanshi widely spoken, and there are significant Hindu and Muslim populations along with smaller communities.
The town of Cooch Behar preserves several monuments associated with the former princely state, most notably the Cooch Behar Palace (Victor Jubilee Palace), built in 1887 during the reign of Nripendra Narayan, and the Madan Mohan Temple. The annual Rash Mela, held around the Madan Mohan Temple, is among the largest fairs in North Bengal. The Koch–Rajbanshi cultural tradition, including its folk music and dance forms, remains an important element of regional identity.
The district is served by National Highway 27 (the East–West Corridor) and by branch lines of the Northeast Frontier Railway, with Cooch Behar and New