JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ASIATIC SOCIETY. 
Part I—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e. 
No. I.—1874. 
On the Ruins at Dimapur on the D unsir i River , A'sam.—By Major H. 
H. Godwest-Austen, F. R. G. S., F. Z. S., Sfc., Deputy Superin¬ 
tendent , Topographical Survey of India. 
(With two pliotocollotypes, three pliotozincographs, and one lithograph.) 
The ruins at Dimapur on the Dunsiri, 45 miles South of Golaghat 
are exceedingly interesting. They have been known and visited by the 
comparatively few Europeans who have passed through this part of A'sam, 
but I do not think any notice has been taken of them, save by Major (now 
Colonel) J. Butler in his book ‘ Travels and Adventures in Assam’, where 
two drawings are to be found of the entrance gateway and the ruins near, 
with a short account of the place ( vide Appendix A). On our return at the 
end of April from field work in the Naga Hills, we halted two clajs at 
Dimapur, to make an examination of the place. Of the history of the city 1 
was unable to obtain any information, and no native of the present place can 
tell one anything reliable. There seems, however, to be a general belief that 
the town was founded and built by a Kachhari Raja, and destroyed by the 
Nagas from the south. Not having seen elsewhere buildings or sculpture 
bearing any resemblance to those at Dimapur, I made a plan of the ruins, 
with the assistance of Mr. M. T. Ogle of the Topographical Survey Depart¬ 
ment, and he with Captain J. Butler, son of the above mentioned Col. 
Butler and Political Agent, Naga Hills, made on the following day the circuit 
of the N. W. side facing the outer wall of the town. I have thus been able 
to give a very fair plan of the whole place. The unpleasantness of this 
work can be imagined: the dense underwood with the constant showers then 
A 
