Dihing River

River in India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dihing^[3] or Burhi Dihing is a large tributary, about 380 kilometres (240 mi) long,^[1] of the Brahmaputra River in Upper Assam in northeastern India. The river originates at 2,375 metres (7,792 ft) above sea level in the Eastern Himalayas (the Patkai Hills)^[1] in Arunachal Pradesh and flows through Tinsukia and Dibrugarh Districts in Assam to its confluence with the Brahmaputra at Dihingmukh. Its watershed covers about 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 mi²).^[1] The Dihing has created a number of oxbow lakes in the area.

CountryIndia

StatesArunachal Pradesh and Assam

SourcePatkai Hills

elevation2,375 m (7,792 ft)^[1]

Quick facts Dihing River Burhi Dihing River, Location ...

Dihing River Burhi Dihing River
Dihing river at Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh
Location in Assam, India Show map of Assam Dihing River (India) Show map of India
Location
Country	India
States	Arunachal Pradesh and Assam
Physical characteristics

Source	Patkai Hills
• elevation	2,375 m (7,792 ft)^[1]

Mouth	Brahmaputra River
• coordinates	27°14′0″N 94°42′0″E^[2]
Length	380 km (240 mi)^[1]
Basin size	6,000 km² (2,300 sq mi)^[1]

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, Duliajan and Naharkatia (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.^[3]

History

According to historical as well as geographical records, the Dihing once flowed through entire Upper Assam and met the Brahmaputra at Mahuramukh (or Lakhau) both in Bokakhat^[4]^[5].

Satellite imagery examined by J. N. Sarma revealed palaeochannels of a larger ancestral river, which he termed the Proto-Burhi Dihing. Its upstream palaeochannel lay mainly north of the present river and crossed it near Naharkatia, while the downstream palaeochannels continued westward south of the present Burhi Dihing, through the tract between the Burhi Dihing and the Disang river. Beyond Tingkhong, these abandoned channels formed northern and southern groups that converged near Sepon; Sarma interpreted their distribution as evidence that the downstream channel progressively migrated northward towards the present course of the Burhi Dihing.^[6]

John Peter Wade's geographical sketch of Assam, compiled in 1800, described Majuli as formed by the Dihing on the south and the Luit on the north, with channels connecting the two rivers across the island. In the same account, Wade described Assam as separated by the Brahmaputra into three principal geographical divisions—Uttarkol or Uttarpar, Dakhinkol or Dakhinpar, and Majuli—and noted that the first two designations had formerly been applied specifically to Upper Assam.^[7] Edward Gait noted that references to the Dihing in accounts of the late eighteenth century denoted the river channel south of Majuli, corresponding to the course of the Brahmaputra south of the island in his own time. He cautioned that the continued use of the name did not necessarily prove that the Brahmaputra's principal channel still flowed north of Majuli during the events described. Gait further observed that the southern channel was still known as the Dihing when the map accompanying Horace Hayman Wilson's 1852 Narrative of the Burmese War in 1824–26 was prepared. He also recorded an Assamese tradition attributing the change in the Brahmaputra's course to a flood brought down by the Dibang River in 1735, while noting that the northern channel continued to carry a considerable volume of water afterward.^[8]

According to Sarma(2007), about 250 years ago, the Dihing flowed westerly through Sibsagar district to meet the Brahmaputra at the extreme western point of Majuli island, which is now nearly 200 km west of present Dihingmukh, i.e. the outfall of the Burhi Dihing ^[9]. Gait(1926) mentions the same noting that at that time the Dihing is believed to have flowed into the Brahmaputra further east than the Buri Dihing does now and the rivers Disang, Dikhou, Disai, Dhansiri were all tributaries to the Dihing. The river later dried out during the 17th century (as mentioned in Buranjis) and changed course to join the Brahmaputra at Dihingmukh.^[10] At that time the Dikhou River had an independent route and flowed as Kolong and joined the Brahmaputra at Kajalimukh in Nagaon district.^[11]^[12]

Historical mentions

The river's former course is also reflected in historical references to settlements and royal centres along its banks. Buranjis describe the Dihing river as the border between the Chutia kingdom in the north and Ahom kingdom in the south.^[13]^[14]^[15] Buranji narratives associate Namrup, Tipam and Salguri as successive settlements of Ahoms along the river. Another passage states that Athabari received its name after eight atha trees were planted along the Dihing during the reign of Sukhaamphaa(r.1552-1603).^[16] During the later development of the Ahom kingdom, Sudangphaa established his capital at Charagua near the Dihing, while Suhungmung made Bakata his capital on the river and constructed an embankment to protect the settlement from floods.^[17] Although several of these places are no longer situated beside the present Burhi Dihing, their historical association with the river reflects its older westward course through Upper Assam.^[18]

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.

^[3]

References

[1]
Sarma, Jogendra N.; Basumallik, Sudhir (1986). "Channel Form and Process of the Burhi Dihing River, India". Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography. 68 (4): 373–81. doi:10.2307/521528. JSTOR 521528.
[2]
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. "Burhi Dihing River". Geographical Names. ITA. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
[3]
Ehtesham, Ansari. "Dihing River - Tributaries Maps Bridges History". Rivers Of India.
[4]
Wilcox, R. (1832). "Memoir of a Survey of Asam and the Neighbouring Countries, Executed in 1825-6-7-8" (PDF). Asiatic Researches. 17: 320. Retrieved 18 February 2026. ...the Dihing did not disembogue itself where it does now into the Brahmaputra, but turning to the south-east received the Disang, and Dikko, the Jazi, and Disai river, and was discharged into the great river near Mahura.
[5]
Gait, Edward,"History of Assam(1926)", p.132, "Lakhau lies at what was then the confluence of the Dihing and the Brahmaputra. At the period in question, the latter river flowed down the course of what is now called the Lohit river, along the north of the Majuli island, while the Dihing followed the present channel of the Brahmaputra to the south of it, and, after receiving the waters of the Disang and the Dikhu, united with the Brahmaputra at its western extremity. At a still earlier period the Dihing is believed to have flowed into the Brahmaputra further east than the Buri Dihing does now."
[6]
Sarma, Jogendra Nath (25–27 November 1993). A Study on Palaeochannels from Satellite Imagery in a Part of Upper Assam. National Symposium on Remote Sensing Applications for Resource Management with Special Emphasis on the North-Eastern Region. Guwahati. pp. 77–79, 82–83.
[7]
Wade, John Peter (1927) [1800]. "A Geographical Sketch of Assam". In Sharma, Benudhar (ed.). An Account of Assam. North Lakhimpur, Assam: R. Sarmah. pp. 3, 8, 32.
[8]
Gait, Edward Albert (1906). A History of Assam. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co. p. 192.
[9]
Sarma, Jogendranath, Change of river channel and bank erosion of the burhi dihing river (Assam), assessed using remote sensing data and gis,"But about 250 years ago the Dihing (present Burhi Dihing) flowed westerly through Sibsagar district to meet the Brahmaputra at the extreme western point of Majuli island, which is now nearly 200 km west of present Dihingmukh, i.e. the outfall of the Burhi Dihing"p.95
[10]
Gait, Edward,"History of Assam(1926)", p.132,"..while the Dihing followed the present channel of the Brahmaputra to the south of it, and, after receiving the waters of the Disang and the Dikhu, united with the Brahmaputra at its western extremity. At a still earlier period the Dihing is believed to have flowed into the Brahmaputra further east than the Buri Dihing does now."
[11]
Prakash, Col. Ved (2007). Encyclopedia of Northeast India Volume 1. Atlantic Publishers. p. 98. ISBN 978-81-269-0703-8.
[12]
Gait, Edward,"History of Assam(1926)", p.132,"..At that time, according to native traditions, the Dikhu had an independent course as far as Kajalimukh, part of which still survives in the Majuli as the Tuni river, and part in Nowgong, as the Kallang."
[13]
Assam Buranji (SM), p. 9
[14]
Bhuyan, Rashmi Rekha (2023). "Archaeological Remains of the Dihing Valley of Assam: A Visit to Moiramora" (PDF). Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology. 11 (2): 532. About 250 years ago the Dihing (present Burhi-Dihing) flowed westerly through Sivsagar district to meet the Brahmaputra at the extreme western point of Majuli island (Sarma and Goswami, 2007). Over the centuries, the river Dihing has changed its courses many times...We find the earliest historical records of the valley after the coming of the Ahoms as the Buranjis or the Ahom chronicles mention about the conflict between the Ahoms and the Chutiyas on the bank of the river Dihing. The Satsari Asom Buranji refers to the Ahom-Chutiya conflict over the matter of fishing rights in the river Dihing which ultimately led to the annexation of the entire Chutiya territory upto Sadiya by the Ahoms during the reign of Suhungmung (p.56). However, it was only in the second decade of the sixteenth century, the area was brought under the control of the Ahoms and before that the whole territory of present-day Dibrugarh was under the Chutiyas.
[15]
Dutta, Sristidhar (1985), The Mataks and their Kingdom, Allahabad: Chugh Publications, p. 28, ..the Chutiya kingdom was bound by the Himalayas on the north, river Burhi Dihing on the south, Patkai ranges on the east and Bharali river in the west
[16]
Saikia, Sayeeda Yasmin (1997). In the Meadows of Gold: Telling Tales of the Swargadeos at the Crossroads of Assam. Guwahati: Spectrum Publications. pp. 21, 42. ISBN 81-85319-61-8.
[17]
Gait, Edward A. (1926). A History of Assam (2nd ed.). Calcutta and Simla: Thacker, Spink & Co. pp. 83, 85.
[18]
Sarma, Jogendranath, Change of River Channel and Bank Erosion of the Burhi Dihing River (Assam), Assessed Using Remote Sensing Data and GIS, p. 95.