About Dhemaji
A remote, river-laced district at the north-eastern edge of Assam, sharing a long border with Arunachal Pradesh.
Where it sits
Dhemaji district occupies the north bank of the Brahmaputra in the Upper Assam division. The hilly ranges of Arunachal Pradesh form its boundary to the north and east, Lakhimpur district lies to its west, and the Brahmaputra river marks its southern edge. The terrain is almost entirely flat riverine plain, broken only by the foothills along the Arunachal border, and dozens of streams that come down from those hills and braid their way south to the Brahmaputra.
What's in a name
There are two commonly told explanations for the district's name. One traces it to the Deori words for "great water," reflecting how often the land floods. The other holds that "Dhemaji" grew out of two Assamese words — dhal (flood) and dhemali (play) — describing, again, a place where the rivers never quite settle down. Either way, the name itself is a record of the district's defining feature.
How it came to be a district
The area was originally part of the old Lakhimpur district, administered from Dibrugarh. It was carved out as a separate sub-division in 1971 and finally became a full, independent district of Assam on 14 October 1989, with Dhemaji town as its headquarters and Jonai as its co-district.
- HeadquartersDhemaji Town
- Area3,237 sq km
- Population (2011)6,86,133 (Census 2011)
- Literacy rate72.7%
- Formed14 October 1989
- Sub-divisions2 (Dhemaji Sadar, Jonai)
- Revenue circles4 (Dhemaji, Jonai, Sissiborgaon, Gogamukh)
- Development blocks5 (Dhemaji, Murkongselek, Sissiborgaon, Bordoloni, Machkhowa)
- Assembly constituenciesDhemaji, Jonai, Sissiborgaon
- Lok Sabha constituencyLakhimpur
- StateAssam, India
- PIN code (HQ)787057
Languages spoken
- Assamese~39%
- Mising~33%
- Bengali~10%
- Boro~7%
- Nepali~5%
- Hindi & others~6%
Figures are first-language shares from the 2011 Census and are approximate.
Dhemaji at a glance
Distance from Guwahati
Roughly 420–430 km by road via NH52 — about a 9–10 hour drive depending on conditions, or a shorter, more scenic route once across the Bogibeel bridge from the Dibrugarh side.
Nearest airports
Lilabari Airport (North Lakhimpur), about 68 km away, and Dibrugarh Airport on the opposite bank of the Brahmaputra, reachable via the Bogibeel bridge.
Rail link
Dhemaji railway station and Murkong Selek station (near Jonai) connect onward to Rangiya Junction and from there to the rest of the country.