Historian Sailen Debnath has brought into light the antiquity of Jalpaiguri after a long research. According to him, Jalpaiguri grew as an intermediary place between Mainaguri, the second oldest capital of Kamatapur, and Panchagarh, the third capital of Kamatapur. Panchagarh was built as a capital between Karatoya and Tista by king Prithu; and as it was a few miles to the south of present Chaolhati, for communication between Mainaguri and Panchagarh, Jalpaiguri, most probably named after Jalpesh, a ninth century pious king of Kamatapur, became gradually populated as a centre of trade and commerce in early times. It has to be noted that in the seventh and eighth century, some Vaishnava saints came to Jalapaiguri traversing their way to Manipur. Sailen points out that in subsequent times, during the period of the Raikats, Jalpaiguri developed faster; but for its modernization, the British colonial period with the expansion of tea plantation in Jalpaiguri district and the Dooars, was the most significant duration of time
