Abhayapuri

The Assam earthquake of 1897 disfigured the royal palaces of Dumuria which led to the Queen Abhayeswari Devi (the widow and second queen of Raja Kumud Narayan Bhup Bahadur)[1] who was the then ruler of Bijni to shift the capital to the Deohati forest area which was later renamed as Abhayapuri after Devi Abhoyamata, the family deity of the ruling dynasty.

Raghu Rai established his capital at Barnagar in Barpeta (now a district in Assam), and received as his share the Koch territories lying to the east of Sankosh River.

The name "Bijni", now a sub-division of Chirang district of Bodoland Territorial Area in Assam, comes from the name of the king Bijit Narayan.

According to The Imperial Gazetteer of India, a small assessment from the Bijni kingdom was always accepted in lieu of land revenue, though it has sometimes been argued it was nothing more than a tribute.

The present extent of the estate to which they were entitled was still matter of uncertainty, but in 1882 it was ruled by the government of India that the Raja should receive 130,000 acres (530 km2) of land.

These estates generally remained under the direct management of the government, who allowed to the Raja 7.5 percent of the collections as his share of profits.

The existence of ruins in Lalmati-Durgamari area along with temples was brought to the notice of the Historical & Antiquarian Department of the Govt.

The department undertook excavation work which resulted the discovery of the temples, images and idols of gods and goddesses.

[2][failed verification] Since time immemorial, Koch[3](belonging to Indo-Mongoloid ethnic group of people) have been living in this area now known as Abhayapuri.

The 44th conference of the Asam Sahitya Sabha was held in Abhayapuri in 1977 under the presidency of Syed Abdul Malik, a big name in the history of modern Assamese literature.

In the last few years, population of Abhayapuri has increased surprisingly with a large number migrating government workers starting to reside permanently in the town.

This burst in population, combined with lack of development in public infrastructural facilities, has started playing spoilsport on the once-remarkably-peaceful small town in recent years.

Also, the increasing number of private and public vehicles, especially small passenger carriers like 'tempos' and vans, and motorcycles has raised serious concern about road traffic safety.