Initiative to preserve remains of Kachari Kingdom

Silchar, April 28: The only ruins, remains, relics and remnants of Kachari Kingdom which is located at Khaspur, about 25 km from Silchar town in Thaligram, under Udharbond PS, have been left unpreserved, unprotected and uncared. The Kingdom is also referred to as Dimasa Kingdom. The century old ruins are in a pitiable condition. Only a handful of information is available about its origin and historical background. It is a pity that little has been done to preserve and conserve the historical Kachari Kingdom. The Kingdom which is on the threshold of crumbling needs immediate attention of the Government and other concerned authorities. 

Sujit Kumar Ghosh, chairperson of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Culture, who is also a scholar of history, an educationist, a researcher, a visionary and a humanist, on his visit to Silchar, made it a point to visit the ruins of the vanishing Kingdom on Thursday. There, he was guided by members of Dimasa Royal Capital Protection Committee, Dimasa Historical Heritage Foundation and some local residents. He felt that the ruins which also include a number of ancient objects need to be preserved as soon as possible.

 Snan Mandir, Vishnu Mandir, Ronochandi Mandir, Barodwari, Kali Mandir and the main gate known as Singhodwar needs to be taken care of as they are in a bad shape. Some of them are tilting. Sujit Kumar Ghosh not only suggested ways to preserve the Kingdom, but also promised to give a huge sum of Rs.2 lakh for arranging a two day seminar cum workshop on Kachari Kingdom and Dimasa culture to be conducted soon at Khaspur under the patronage of MAKAIAS. He was keen to assist the Dimasas in preserving their language, culture, tradition, customs and conventions.

Sheer negligence on the part of the Government has led to the Kingdom’s present precarious conditions. There are only a handful of sign boards planted by the Archaeological Survey of India. There are no written documents, records or manuscripts, very little is known about the Kingdom. Moreover, there is no definite boundary of the Kingdom, it is necessary to demarcate one. Ghosh consulted the department of Archaeological Survey of India in Kolkata. A team will visit the palace soon. Later, a convener committee was formed with Rajdeep Roy, BJP spokesperson, Assam Pradesh, as its president. 

The convener committee which consists of joint conveners Sunit Barman, Romaranjan Barman, Anil Barman and retired teacher Bimal Chandra Deb, has been asked by Ghosh to prepare a budget proposal for the seminar cum workshop and for making sign boards in Dimasa, Bengali and English languages. Later, a book will also be published. Prof Vinay Kumar Srivastava, director of MAKAIAS, will visit the palace on Saturday. At present, three multi task staffs (MTS) and five labourers of the Archaeological Survey of India have been employed to look after the whole palace. The historical palace is in ruins and the jungle untamed.