Place · Kachari pillar & palace ruins · India
Dimapur Kachari Ruins
The Dimapur Kachari Ruins in Dimapur district, Nagaland — the 10-13th century monumental remains of the Kachari (Dimasa) kingdom's medieval capital at Hidimba, with 25 surviving massive sandstone pillars (chess-piece shaped, 7-9 metres tall, carved with Kachari dynastic emblems) and the Rajbari fort ruins. The Kachari kingdom (c.4th century CE to 1832) ruled Assam and Nagaland before shifting its capital to Khaspur in 1540 after the Ahom conquest of Dimapur. The pillars are unique in Indian architecture — no other dynasty produced free-standing monumental stone pillars of this shape and scale. The site was abandoned to forest regrowth after 1540 and documented by the ASI in 1902; sustained excavation since 1950. The remains widen the Indian architectural geography into Nagaland. ASI protection since 1902.
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Tradition
- Kachari historical landscape
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 25.900, 93.730
Connections (1)
- AnalogueVangchhia
Vangchhia in Mizoram and the Dimapur monoliths in Nagaland are the northeastern megalithic landscapes, and both run into the historical period — Dimapur's pillars are sixteenth-century Dimasa Kachari work destroyed by the Ahoms in 1536. Menhir erection continued in parts of the northeast into the twentieth century, which makes the region the only place in India where the practice can be observed rather than excavated.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Dimapur”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
Open Dimapur Kachari Ruins in the repository →