Hojai District is a new district in Assam, India. It was formed on 15 August 2015.. The headquarters of the District is situated at Sankardev Nagar, which is about 8 Km away from the Hojai Town. Hojai District is formed from three tehsils of Nagaon District, namely Hojai, Doboka and Lanka. Hojai was a part of undivided Nowgong district of then Assam Province.
Demographics
According to the Indian Census of 2011, the three tehsils in the newly formed Hojai District had a population of 931,218 in 2011. Among those 499,565 are Muslim and 424,065 are Hindu. Muslims constitute 53.65% of district population, Hindu constitute 45.53% of district population. After Sylhet referendum which led to separation of Sylhet division from then Assam Province, a large number of Bengali Hindus or Sylheti Hindus have migrated to the area from the then East Pakistan and are mostly settled in the towns such as Lumding and Hojai.
The geographical area presently under Hojai district and its surrounding area as in the history of the ancient Kamarupa, was known as Davaka kingdom or Kapili Valley kingdom. In different sources this kingdom is mentioned as ‘Dabak’, ‘Kapili’ and ‘Tribeg’. This kingdom enjoyed independent status up to the 6th century A.D. Medieval historical sources mention that during the reign of Kashyap of the Barahi Pala dynasty there began a new era of Kachari supremacy in the Kapili-Jamuna valley. Birochana, a minister of Kachari origin in the service of king Bhoumapala of Behali area in the north bank of Brahmaputra had to flee his kingdom after a conflict with the king and came to the south bank of Brahmaputra and established a new kingdom on the banks of the Kalong river which was Brahmapur or the present day Batampur and he assumed the name ‘Bicharpatipha’. Soon Kachari reign spread to the entire Kapili-Jamuna valley and the name of the kingdom was known as Kacharipar. Due to Ahoms kingdom's vigorous territorial expansion, the Kachari kings came in to conflict with them. During the rule of Kachari king Tamradhwaja Narayan the Kachari ruled areas went to the Ahoms under Swargadeo Gadadhar Singha. The word ‘Hojai’ is of Dimasa origin. The priestly class of the Dimasas are known as ‘Hoja’ or ‘Hojaisa’ and the place they inhabited came to be known as Hojai. Even now Hojai area has a sizeable population of Dimasas and some of them have the surname ‘Hojai’.
Politics
Hojai district has three assembly constituencies. They are Jamunamukh, Hojai and Lumding. Hojai district is also part of Nowgongconstituency.
