Sivasagar district (Pron: or ) is one of the 34 districts of Assam state in Northeast

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Sivasagar city is the administrative headquarters of this district. This historic place is also known for its rich biodiversity. The districts covers an area of 2668 square kilometers (of the total area of 78438 square kilometers of Assam). The district comprises two sub-divisions – ''

Sivasagar {{Infobox settlement , name = Sivasagar , settlement_type = Metropolis , image_skyline = Sivasagar.jpg , image_alt = {{multiple image , border = infobox , total_width = 270 , image_style ...

'' and ''

Nazira Nazira () is a city and a municipal board in Sivasagar district Sivasagar district (Pron: or ) is one of the 34 districts of Assam state in Northeast India. Sivasagar city is the administrative headquarters of this district. This histo ...

''. The district of Sivasagar lies between 26.45°N and 27.15°N latitudes and 94.25°E and 95.25°E longitudes. The district is bounded by 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 ...

to the north,

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

to the south, the

Charaideo district Charaideo district is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. It was formally declared a new district of the state on 15 August 2015 by then Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi. It has been carved out of Sivasagar district with ...

to the east and the

Jhanji River The Jhanji River (also known as Jaji river or Jhanzi river or Janji river) is a tributary of the Brahmaputra River in the Indian state of Assam. The Jhanji river originates in Mokokchung district of Nagaland. The Jhanji river serves as the we ...

to the west. The Sivasagar district has acquired its distinct identity due to the co-existence of different races, tribes, languages and cultures.

History

Before the British period, the center of administration of Assam was around Sivasagar were the famous

Ahoms The Ahom (Pron: ) or Tai-Ahom (; ) is an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The members of this group are admixed descendants of the Tai people who reached the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in 1228 and the lo ...

ruled for nearly six hundred years. The Ahom kings took keen interest in building different temples, dedicated to various deities and which were usually flanked by large tanks which until today stand out as memorials to their glory in the district. Sivasagar, or Rangpur as it was known then, was the capital of the Ahom Kingdom from 1699 to 1788. The famous

Joysagar Tank Joysagar Tank, also known as Joysagar Borpukhuri is a large tank located at Sivasagar district, Assam, India. The lake is 5 km from the center of the Sivasagar town. The lake has historical significance. History The lake was made during t ...

was excavated within 45 days by

Rudra Singha Swargadeo Rudra Singha (– 27 August 1714), with Tai name Sukhrungphaa, was the 30th Ahom king, reigning from 1696 to 1714 A.D . His father Gadadhar Singha freed Assam from the Mughal disturbances and internal conspiracies, thereby Rudra Sin ...

(1696-1714) in memory of his mother

Joymoti Konwari Joymoti Konwari was the wife of Ahom prince Gadapani (later Supatphaa). She died at the hands of the royalists under Sulikphaa ''Loraa Roja'' without disclosing her exiled husband Gadapani's whereabouts in the Naga Hills, thereby enabling ...

. The Joy Dol is situated on the bank of the Joysagar Tank.

Pramatta Singha Swargadeo Pramatta Singha () with Tai name Sunenphaa, was the king of Ahom Kingdom. He succeeded his elder brother Swargadeo Siva Singha, as the king of Ahom Kingdom. His reign of seven years was peaceful and prosperous. He constructed numero ...

(1744-1751) built the

Rang Ghar The Rang Ghar (), (''rong ghor'' meaning "House of Entertainment") is a two-storeyed building which once served as the royal sports-pavilion where Ahom kings and nobles were spectators at games like buffalo fights and other sports at Rupahi Pa ...

with bricks in 1745. Gaurisagar Tank is situated at a distance of about eight miles from Sivasagar town. The Sivasagar Tank was excavated by queen Ambika Devi in 1733. The Siva Dol, Vishnu Dol and Devi Dol are situated on the bank of the Sivasagar Tank. Rajeshwar Singha (1751-1769) built the Kareng Ghar in Gargaon. Charaideo, about 28 kilometers away from Sivasagar is famous for a cluster of Maidams, the Ahom age tumuli.

Sukapha Sukaphaa (), also Siu-Ka-Pha, the first Ahom kingdom, Ahom Ahom Dynasty, king in medieval Assam, was the founder of the Ahom kingdom and the architect of Assam. A prince of the Su/Tsu (Tiger) clan of the Mao-Shan sub-tribe originally from prese ...

, the first Ahom king, constructed his capital at Charaideo in 1253. Sivasagar was earlier known as Rangpur and Rangpur was earlier known as Meteka. The original name of Sivasagar district was Sibpur. On February 24, 1826, the treaty of Yandaboo consolidated the British occupation of Assam. This

treaty of Yandabo The Treaty of Yandabo ( ) was the peace treaty that ended the First Anglo-Burmese War. The treaty was signed on 24February 1826, nearly two years after the war formally broke out on 5March 1824, by General Sir Archibald Campbell on the British ...

o brought an end to the roughly six hundred year long Ahom rule in Assam. After the 1826 treaty, the British government in Assam incorporated a number of administrative changes such as the formation of districts. The Sivasagar district was created after the annexation of

Purandar Singha Purandar Singha ( 1818–19; 1833–1838) was the last king of the Ahom kingdom in Assam. He was installed as king twice. The first time, he was installed by Ruchinath Burhagohain in 1818 CE, after the latter deposed Chandrakanta Singh ...

's dominion of upper Assam in 1839. The Sadar headquarter of Sivasagar was transferred to Jorhat in 1912–13. The undivided old Sivasagar district comprised three subdivisions, namely Sivasagar, Jorhat and Golaghat. In 1983, the Sivasagar district was reorganized to carve out the

Jorhat district Jorhat (pron: ˈʤɔ:(r)ˌhɑ:t) is an administrative district of the Indian state of Assam situated in the central part of the Brahmaputra Valley. The district is bounded by Majuli on north, Nagaland state on the south, Sivasagar on the east an ...

. It was further divided on 15 August 1987 for the creation of the

Golaghat district Golaghat district (Pron:ˌgəʊləˈgɑ:t) is an administrative districts of Assam, district in the state of Assam in India. It attained district status in 1987. The district headquarters are located at Golaghat. The district occupies an area of ...

Geography

One of the quaintest towns of Eastern Assam, Sivasagar is one of the cleanest towns in Assam. The district is situated between 26.45° and 27.15° North latitudes and 94.25° and 95.25° East longitudes. Sivasagar district occupies an area of , comparatively equivalent to

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Saaremaa Island Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

. The Sivasagar district is bordered by the

Naga Hills The Naga Hills, reaching a height of around , lie prominently on the border of India and Myanmar. They are part of a complex mountain system, and the parts of the mountain ranges inside the States and territories of India, Indian states of Naga ...

and Arunachal Pradesh in the south and south-east respectively and 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 ...

river in the north. The district is mostly flat alluvial plain with hillocks on south-eastern and southern areas near the

border.

Economy

The main industries in Sivasagar are oil industry, tea industry & tourism industry. Majority of the population are agrarian.

Demographics

According 2011 census Sivasagar district has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 1,151,050, roughly equal to the population of

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

. This gives it a ranking of 406th in India (out of a total of

640 Year 640 ( DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...

). The district has a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

over the decade 2001-2011 was 9.37%. Sivasagar has a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 954

females An organism's sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and male ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of 81.36%. After bifurcation Sivasagar district has a population of 679,632, of which 80,373 (11.83%) live in urban areas. The residual district has a sex ratio of 952 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 34,704 (5.11%) and 37,130 (5.46%) of the population respectively. In the residual district Hindus are 592,433 (87.17%), Muslims are 73,961 (10.88%), Christians 8,433 (1.24%). There are also a few villages of

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

tribes like Khamyang and

Turung people The Turung people or Tai Turung, are a numerically small Buddhist community in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. They speak their own Turung language. They originally migrated from Upper Burma and settled in Assam in the latter part of 1 ...

. Moreover, there is a small population of Tiwas, Konyak, Meitei and Nocte living in certain parts of the district. Many

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of Indic languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the state * Rajasthani architecture, Indian ar ...

families are also present in Sivasagar district Sivasagar is an overwhelming assamese majority district. At the time of the 2011 census, 90.24% of the population spoke Assamese, 2.78% Mishing, 1.96%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, 1.58%

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and 1.38%

Sadri Sadri is a municipality in the Pali district of Rajasthan, India. Before it was formally founded, there were various settlements in the area which fell under the Jagir of the Rajput clan Sindhal Rathore who still reside in the central part of ...

as their first language.

Flora and fauna

In 1999, Sivasagar district became home to the

Pani Dihing Wildlife Sanctuary Pani-Dihing Bird Sanctuary () is a bird sanctuary located in Sivasagar district, Assam. It is away from Sivasagar town. This protected area was established as a Bird Sanctuary in August 1996 by the Government of Assam. It was identified as a ...

, which has an area of . There are also many reserve forests like Abhaypur, Dilli, Diroi, Geleky and Saleh. There are some unclassified forests along the Nagaland and Arunachal border. The vegetation is mostly tropical evergreen with trees like hollong, titachapa, nahor, mekai etc. dominating the canopy. The district is also rich in

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

. Various rare and endangered mammals like

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a bear species in the Family (biology), family Ursidae found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'' and the smallest bear species, standing nearly ...

, sambar,

hoolock gibbon The hoolock gibbons are three primate species of genus ''Hoolock'' in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae, native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, Myanmar, and Southwest China. Description Hoolocks are the second-largest of the gibbons, after ...

are found in the reserve forests.

Festivals and fairs

The Bihus are the most popular agricultural festival in the district. The Bohag Bihu/Rongali Bihu marks the advent of the cropping season, the Magh Bihu is the harvest festival and the Kati Bihu held in the lean period of agriculture is marked by the observing of penance and prayer. The Vaishnav community observes the birth and death anniversaries of the prominent Vaishnava saints of the state. Tribal communities like the Mishings and Deoris also perform Bihu in their own styles. Id-ul-Zuha and Id-ul-fitr are religious festivals of the Muslim community. Other Hindu festivals observed in the district are Ambubashi, Durga Puja and Sivaratri . The Sivaratri Mela of Siva Dol in Sivasagar town has been observed since the days of Ahom rule. The Tea tribes maintain their own rich cultural traditions. The Jhumur dance and traditional music of these communities are very popular.

Sivasagar Day

The Sivasagar District celebrates Sivasagar Day on July the 1st of every year. The day is celebrated with cultural programs and cultural rallies along with plantation programmes in the entire Sivasagar District.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Sivasagar district official website
{{Coord, 26, 59, 03.90, N, 94, 37, 53.07, E, display=title Districts of Assam Ahom kingdom 1983 establishments in Assam