Overview

Udalguri district (Pron:ˌʊdʌlˈgʊəri), also known as Odalguri, is a district in the Bodoland Territorial Region of the state of Assam in Northeastern India. Udalguri town is the headquarters of the district.

The name Udalguri, denotes a place surrounding the Udal tree (Udal, meaning a tree and Guri meaning surrounding area). Some authors are of the opinion that the name of the place became Udalguri as there was a hermitage of a sage named Uddalak Muni. Yet, another source mentions that the word has origins in the Boro language. From the Bodo words ordla and gundri, the name became Ordlagundri > Ordlagundi > Odalguri > Ugalguri. Bodo people still pronounce the name as Odalguri. In Bodo language ordla means wide and spacious and gundri means powdered object.

This district was formed on June 14, 2004 as one of the four districts under the Bodoland Territorial Council. This district was carved out by bifurcating Darrang district. The territory of the present district was earlier Udalguri sub-division of the undivided district. There are Hindu, Christians and Muslim population living together in the district. This was a very peaceful place till mid 80s but various communal clashes took place from time to time. Late Jojaram Sharma was one of the prominent India freedom fighters from Assam lived here.

Why visit District Name?

Other than the multitude of culture and tradition of the various ethnic communities, the district has several tourist places. Some of the important ones are,

1. Part of Manas National Park
2. Bathou temple and Research centre in Odalguri District (All Bathou Mahasabha)
3. Old Namghar (Assamese Worship Place) in Udalguri Town
4. Old Hanuman temple in Udalguri Town
5. Old Baptist Christian church in Udalguri Town
6. Bhairabkunda Picnic Spot^[3]
7. Gethsemane Man-made Forest (Bhairabkunda)

Did you know?

According to the 2011 census Udalguri district's population is 8,31,668, an increase of 9.8% over 2001.^[9] The literacy rate is 66.6% and the gender ratio is 966.^[9] There are 449 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,160/sq mi).^[9] Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 4.55% and 32.15% of the population respectively.

The district is multi-ethnic and multi-religious in nature. Bodos forms the largest ethnic group in the district with 33.76% of the district's population. Other ethnic groups with significant population are Adivasi community with almost 23.12% and Bengali Muslims with 12% of the district's population. Assamese and Bengali Hindus resides mainly in urban areas. There is also a presence of sizeable Nepali speaking Indian Gorkha community with estimated 5% of the district's population thinly scattered across the Udalguri district.