Bongaigaon district | |
|---|---|
 Bhumeshwar Hill | |
.svg) Location in Assam | |
 Bongaigaon district | |
| Coordinates:26°28′00″N90°34′00″E / 26.4667°N 90.5667°E /26.4667; 90.5667 | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Assam |
| Division | Lower Assam |
| Headquarters | Bongaigaon |
| Government | |
| • Lok Sabha constituencies | Barpeta (shared with Barpeta district) |
| • Vidhan Sabha constituencies | Bongaigaon,Abhayapuri North,Abhayapuri South |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,093 km2 (422 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 738,804 |
| • Density | 675.9/km2 (1,751/sq mi) |
| Demographics | |
| • Literacy | 69.74%[1] |
| • Sex ratio | 966 |
| Time zone | UTC+05:30 (IST) |
| ISO 3166 code | IN-AS |
| Website | bongaigaon |
Bongaigaon district (Prpn:ˈbɒŋgaɪˌgãʊ) is an administrativedistrict in the state ofAssam in northeasternIndia. The district headquarters are located atBongaigaon. The district occupies anarea of 1,093 km2.
According to lore, the name 'Bongaigaon' derives from the words 'bon' (wild) and 'gai' (cow). In the distant past, wild cows were often a menace to villagers in this area due to which the district got its name.
Bongaigaon district fell underEastern Dooars. Dooars betweenSankosh River andManas River are called Eastern Dooars.
From early 17th-century some parts of present-day Bongaigaon district was under the control ofKingdom of Bhutan, till theDuar Wars in 1865 when British removed the Bhutanese influence and later the areas were merged to undividedGoalpara district of theIndian Union in 1949.
The district was part ofKamrup. In the 14th century, its rule was passed onto theBaro-Bhuyans. Later in the 1580sNara Narayan of theKamata kingdom conquered the area and it subsequently became the fiefdom of the Bijni family, who were descendants of Nara Narayan. When the Kamata kingdom split intoKoch Bihar andKoch Hajo due to rivalry between the king and his nephew Raghu Rai, Bongaigaon became part of Koch Hajo. Soon Koch Hajo and Koch Bihar went to war, and the MughalNawab of Dhaka, supporting Koch Bihar, defeated Rai atDhubri in 1602. Rai's son Parikshit signed a peace treaty, but hostilities resumed in 1614 and Parikshit was driven back to modern-dayGuwahati, where he surrendered and soon after died. His son, Bijit Narayan, was made Zamindar of the region between theManas andSankosh: from him the Bijni family descended. Koch Hajo was tributary to the Mughals, but in the last decades of the 17th century Mughal influence waned significantly due to theAhom-Mughal wars in which theAhoms were eventually successful. Koch Hajo, including Bijni Zamindari, fell under Ahom influence.
The district of Bongaigaon was created on 29 September 1989 from parts ofGoalpara andKokrajhar districts.[2] 2004 saw a loss of size when part of the district was split to makeChirang district.[2]
In the late 1750s, theEast India Company strengthened their influence inBengal andLower Assam. In 1822 the East India Company created Goalpara district containing present-day Lower Assam, theGaro Hills and northeasternRangpur division in Bangladesh. The Bijnis continued to pay tribute to the British, and even gained a small amount of land after theDuar War in 1865. Rangpur and the Garo Hills were eventually stripped away to form different districts, but Goalpara continued to be administered as part of a Cooch Behar province. Eventually the Assam Valley province was founded in 1874, and Goalpara was moved to it. Goalpara was later divided into various districts includingKokrajhar andDhubri, and later Bongaigaon.[3]
Bongaigaon district occupies an area of 1,093 square kilometres (422 sq mi),[4] comparatively equivalent toRéunion.[5] Bongaigaon district is surrounded by Barpeta in the east, the Brahmaputra in the south and Kokrajhar in the north and west corner and share international border withBhutan in the north.
The places that are worth visiting in Bongaigaon are eco-park,Bagheswari temple, tea garden, andSuryapahar. The history of Bagheswari temple is such that once a priest saw in his dream that Maa Bagheswari asked him to go to a particular place where if he digs out he will find a sword that belonged to Maa Bagheswari. And the next morning when the priest went to dig in the place he saw in his dreams, he found the sword.[citation needed] After that day a temple was built over the place and there they worship the sword. There is no idol inside the temple.
In 2006 the Indian government named Bongaigaon one of the country's 250most backward districts (out of a total of640).[6] It is one of the eleven districts in Assam currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).[6]
The district has three subdivisions: Bongaigaon,Bijni, andNorth Salmara. In 2004, parts of the Bongaigaon district (mainly areas under Bijni subdivision) were given over to form theChirang district, under theBodoland Territorial Council (BTC), with its district headquarters atKajalgaon.
There are fourAssam Legislative Assembly constituencies in this district:Bongaigaon,Bijni,Abhayapuri North, andAbhayapuri South. The latter is designated forscheduled castes.[7] Bijni is in theKokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency, whilst the other three are in theBarpeta Lok Sabha constituency.[8]
According to the 2011 census, the total population of the district is 738,804, out of which 375,818 are males while 362,986 are females. The average sex ratio is 966. The average literacy rate in urban areas is 87.4% while that in the rural areas is 66.4%. The total literacy rate of Bongaigaon district is 69.74%. The male literacy rate is 63.09% and the female literacy rate is 54.26% in Bongaigaon district. 14.86% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 11.21% and 2.55% of the population respectively.[9]
| Religion | Per cent | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islam | 50.22% | |||
| Hinduism | 48.61% | |||
| Christianity | 0.80% | |||
| Other or not stated | 0.37% | |||
The district religious composition are as follows:Hindu 359,145,Muslim 371,033,Christian 5,924,Sikh 384,Buddhist 236,Jain 871 as per 2011 census report.[10] Way back in 1971, Hindus were slight majority in Bongaigaon district with forming 69.8% of the population, while Muslims were 27.8% at that time.[11]
| Circle | Muslims | Hindus | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bongaigaon (Pt) | 6.99% | 89.80% | 3.21% |
| Boitamari | 69.00% | 29.96% | 1.04% |
| Srijangram | 66.10% | 33.51% | 0.39% |
| Sidli (Pt) | 39.43% | 58.98% | 1.59% |
| Bijni (Pt) | 55.99% | 43.77% | 0.24% |
According to the 2011 census, 48.51% of the population spokeAssamese, 43.35%Bengali, 3.06%Hindi, 1.45%Kamtapuri and 1.13%Boro as their first language.[12]
{{cite book}}:|last1= has generic name (help)Réunion 2,535km2
Places adjacent to Bongaigaon district | |
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