Dima Hasao/ North Cachar
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Cachar, North
A subdivision of Cachar District, Assam, lying between 24° 58' and 25° 50' N. and 92° 32' and 93° 29' E., with an area of 1,706 square miles. The subdivision is a section of the range which divides the Surma Valley from that of the Brahmaputra. It was through these hills that the Kachari kings moved from Dimapur, their capital in the Dhansiri valley, to the plains of Cachar, and for many years their capital was at Maibang, in North Cachar, on the northern side of the Barail range. Early in the nineteenth century Tula Ram Senapati, a chaprasi in the employ of the Kachari Raja, succeeded in establishing himself here; and till 1854 he and his sons were recognized by the British Government as feudatory chiefs of the desolate tract of jungle lying between the Mahur river on the south and the Jamuna river in Nowgong District on the north. The whole of the subdivision consists of mountainous country, the hills taking the form of serrated ridges, whose sides in their natural condition are clothed with dense evergreen forest. Shifting cultivation is practised, according to which the land, after being twice cropped, is allowed to lie fallow for seven or eight years, when it becomes covered with a dense growth of reeds and bamboo jungle. The population is extremely sparse, and excluding the persons enumerated by the railway authorities, there were in 1901 only 12 persons per square mile. In 1891 the population was 18,941, and in 1901 it had risen to 40,812 ; but almost the whole of this increase was due to the presence of a large number of persons engaged on the con- struction of the railway, who have since left the District.
The Assam- Bengal Railway runs through the subdivision, connecting the Brahma- putra Valley with the sea at Chittagong. Its construction was a work of great difficulty and expense, owing to the fact that the hills are largely composed of shale, while the country is covered with jungle, destitute of supplies, and very unhealthy for people working under such conditions as the railway employes. The subdivision is administered by a police officer exercising magisterial powers with head-quarters at Haflang, and contains 254 villages. House tax is assessed in lieu of land revenue. The assessment under this head in 1903—4 amounted to Rs. 6,600. The rainfall is much lighter than in the Cachar plains, the high wall of the Barail acting as a barrier to the monsoon clouds. At Haflang the average fall is only 77 inches, and at Maibang farther north 55 inches.
