The Capital of
Assam
In 1866 the military
administration was shifted from Gauhati and a Cantonment was established. During
1866-1867, Colonel Hopkinson pleaded with the higher authorities for transfer
of the Divisional Head Quarters from Gauhati to Shillong on political,
strategic and climatic grounds[1].
But the matter remained undecided till 1874.
The name Shillong was finally adopted by the
Government of Bengal on 28 June 1866. The place was "as nearly possible equidistant from the plains of Sylhet and Assam",
wrote the Principal Assistant, Court of
Khasi and Jaintia Hills to Colonel Francis Jenkins (1834–1861), the
Commissioner of Assam[2].
In 1866 Shillong was also
made the Head Quarters of the British Frontier Troops, Deputy Inspector General
of Police, and Superintending Engineer, Assam as well as the Deputy
Commissioner of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills. With the shifting of the offices from Cherrapunji, Yeodo was
renamed Shillong after the sacred peak by Col. Henry Hopkinson on 28 April 1866.
According to B. Datta Ray, "Shillong
was born in the twilight of 28 April 1866", as a small settlement
covering an area of 2 square miles with a population of about a thousand.
Originally
it was decided to name the settlement as Yeodo after the Khasi sacred place and
market of Ieudoh. Ieudoh, the Barra Bazar
of Shillong, literally means the last day of the 8-day Khasi week. But on 14
May 1866, Hopkinson wrote to the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal that Yeodo had
been replaced by Shillong "in a way
that (it) will be productive of much inconvenience if the latter name be not
adopted". The location of the post office and other important offices
of the military authorities were already referred to as Shillong.
[1]Sengupta,
Sutapa. & Dhar, Bibhash. & North-East India Council for Social
Science Research. 2004, Shillong: a
tribal town in transition / editors, Sutapa Sengupta, Bibhas Dhar
Reliance Pub. House, New Delhi:
[2]Bengal
Judicial Proceedings June 1866, No. 121-22, Hopkinson to Bengal, 14 May 1866,
Notification by Lt. Governor of Bengal, cited in Hussain, Reference No. 27, p.
92, Choudhury, Bibhu Bhusan, p. 75.
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