The Dihing or Burhi Dihing (Dihong = wide river) is a large tributary, about long, of the

Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Southwestern China, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Brahmaputra or Luit in Assamese language, Assamese, Yarlung Tsangpo in Lhasa Tibetan, Tibetan, the Siang/Dihan ...

in Upper

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

in northeastern India. The river originates at above sea level in the Eastern

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

(the

Patkai The Pat-kai (Pron:pʌtˌkaɪ) or Patkai Bum ( Burmese: ''Patkaing Taungdan'') are a series of mountains on the Indo-Myanmar border falling in the northeastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Upper Burma region of Myanmar. I ...

Hills) in

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

and flows through Tinsukia and Dibrugarh Districts in Assam to its confluence with the Brahmaputra at Dihingmukh. Its watershed covers about . The Dihing has created number of

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...

s in the area. Namdapha river is a tributary of the Dihing on its northern bank. Disang river is a tributary of the Dihing in its southern bank. The Jeypore-Dihing Rainforest, Namdapha National Park, numerous petroleum fields, wet-paddy fields, bamboo orchards and tea gardens provide a unique landscape along its course. Ledo, Margherita,

Digboi Digboi (IPA: ˈdɪgˌbɔɪ) is a town and a town area committee in Tinsukia district in the north-eastern part of the state of Assam, India. Crude oil was discovered here in late 19th century and first oil well was dug in 1866. Digboi is known ...

, Duliajan and

Naharkatia Naharkatia (previously spelt as Naharkatiya or Nahorkatiya) is a town and a Municipal board in Dibrugarh district in the Indian state of Assam. It is well known for petroleum and gas reserves. Earlier, Duliajan, the head office town of O ...

(''Nahorkotiya'') are the small towns in its valley. Dihing is one of the largest contributors to the Brahmaputra River. The plains of the Dihing Valley has a rich variety of flora and fauna. The Betel nuts are produced most in the areas of the Dihing Plains.

History

According to historical as well as geographical records, the Dihing once flowed through entire Upper Assam and met the

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Southwestern China, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Brahmaputra or Luit in Assamese, Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, and ...

at Mahuramukh in

Bokakhat Bokakhat ( ) is a town in Assam and a Municipality Board in Golaghat district in the state of Assam, India. It is about 23 km away from the world heritage site Kaziranga National Park. Bokakhat town is situated almost in the middle of Ass ...

. At that time the rivers Disang, Dikhou, Disai, Dhansiri were all tributaries to the Dihing. The river later dried out during the 17th century (as mentioned in

Buranji Buranjis (Ahom language: ''ancient writings'') are a class of historical chronicles and manuscripts associated with the Ahom kingdom. There were written initially in the Ahom Language and later in the Assamese language as well. The Buranjis ar ...

s) and changed course to join the Brahmaputra at Dihingmukh. Even before that, the river met the Brahmaputra near the confluence of

Subansiri river The Subansiri (Chayul Chu in Tibet) is a trans- Himalayan river and a tributary of the Brahmaputra River that flows through Tibet's Lhuntse County in the Shannan Prefecture in Southwestern China, and the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and A ...

. At that time the Dikhou river had an independent route and flowed as Kolong and joined the Brahmaputra at Kajalimukh in

Nagaon district Nagaon district is an administrative district in the Indian state of Assam. At the time of the 2011 census it was the most populous district in Assam, before Hojai district was split from it in 2016. History Bordowa was the birthplace of the ...

Bridges and crossings

# Rail bridge of chain age 41.480 kilometers situated at Kutuha Kachari Village of length 288.20 meter and width 6.30 meters. # RCC bridge of chain age 41.610 kilometers situated at Kutuha Kachari Village of length 236.30 meter and width 8.18 meters. # Rail bridge of chain age 54.586 kilometers situated at Kowar Kharoni Village of length 504.20 meter and width 8.50 meters. # Steel bridge of chain age 102.625 kilometers situated at Cheerika Beel Village of length 616.6 meter and width 3.13 meters. # RCC bridge of chain age 108.730 kilometers situated at Kowar Kharoni Village of length 273.93 meter and width 8.25 meters. # Rail bridge of chain age 109.136 kilometers situated at Kowar Kharoni Village of length 339.30 meter and width 5.89 meters.

References

{{reflist

External links

Riversofindia.com
Rivers of Assam Tributaries of the Brahmaputra River Rivers of Arunachal Pradesh Ahom kingdom