History

Dimapur is the ancient capital of the Kachari tribe, whose rule existed before the 13th century AD. Reminiscences of the glory of this kingdom can be found in the ruins that are scattered in and around the town. This ruins give evidence of a culture that probably had a touch of Hinduism, but were predominantly Non-Aryans. Besides monoliths, Dimapur contains other ruins of temples, embankments and baths.
The District draws its name from the Kachari dialect; ‘di’ – meaning river, ‘ma’ – meaning great or big, and ‘pur’ – meaning city, together connoting ‘the city near the great river’. That the Kachari kingdom flourished in Dimapur in the days of old is evident from the existence of the Kachari Rajbari Fort ruins, housing the ancient stone monoliths, and the many excavated tanks dug by the royalty known even today as the Rajpukhuri, Padampukhuri, Bamunpukhuri, Jorpukhuri etc. to name a few. The monoliths represent the elaborate rituals of the cult of fertility.