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=Cherekapar= Cherekapar is a semi-rural, semi-urban place in the Sivasagar district of Assam which is located in the north-eastern part of India. But it has historical importance too in the history of Assam which was ruled by the kings of the Ahom dynasty for more than six hundred years before the British invaded Assam in the 18th century. The entire area of Cherekapar is bounded by two rivers namely Dikhou and Darika.

Language
The people of Cherekapar speak Assamese, the native language of Assam.

Location
Located in the outskirts of Sivasagar town which was once the capital of Ahom kingdom, Cherekapar can be reached by air from Guwahati, the nearest airport is at Jorhat about 40km away from Sivasagar and by railways and nearby road transports at a distance of 300 km directly from Guwahati, the capital city of Assam.

History
At the heart of Rongpur, the present-day Sivasagar, a big tank called 'Sivasagar pukhuri'('pukhuri' means pond in Assamese) was dug up by the Ahom queen named Ambika, the chief queen of his highness king Swargadeo Shiva Singha. The tank has an area of 526091 sq. meters and is square/rectangular in shape. During the rule of Ahom kings, four officers with a group of people were entrusted to look after the maintenance and security of the four banks of this huge tank. Out of the four banks of the tank, the southern bank was regarded as the most important from the strategies point of view as it was located on the side of 'Gargaon', the old capital of Ahom kingdom with its royal palace only at a distance of 10km to the south, linked with a road named 'Gargaon Ali' ('Ali' means road in Assamese). The name of the officer entrusted with this bank was 'Cherek' and after his name, the area on this side ultimately came to be known as 'Cherekorpar' or 'the bank belonging to Cherek', now most popularly known as 'Cherekapar'. On this side of the tank, a huge gate was constructed over Gargaon Ali at the entrance of Gargaon. Gargaon was surrounded by a huge earthen barrier all-around which was known as 'Banhgaorh', meaning 'bamboo wall'. Some kind of bamboo trees were planted on this earthen barrier so densely that it was almost difficult to penetrate this wall by the weapons of the enemy. At around 3km away from the Sivasagar tank, there was another big tank dug up during those days named as 'Dhuba pukhuri', meaning 'washerman's tank' where garments of the royal families were washed by the washermen. Unfortunately, this tank is now in a delipidated state for want of proper maintenance. It is to be mentioned here that some areas of Cherekapar are inhabited by Manipuri people who came to the Ahom kingdom accompanying the Manipuri princess Kuranga Nayani who was married to an Ahom king named Swargadeo Rajeswar Singh. In addition to their own culture, these Manipuri people follow the Assamese culture as well.

Important places
On the bank of 'Cherekapar', during the British era, a church was constructed and thereafter a Buddhist monastery was constructed. With the advent of time, numerous educational institutions, social organizations, the Head Office and Workshop of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India (ONGC) came up on this side of Cherekapar.

Famous personalities
Many eminent personalities and educationists like Late Dr. Lila Gogoi who was a famous author and had been a President of the Assam Sahitya Sabha and Late Dr. Saila Dhar Gogoi, Ex Vice-Chancellor of Dibrugarh University hailed from Cherekapar.

Present status
Now the Government of India is taking up a project to convert Sivasagar into a heritage site which means, there is ample scope for 'Cherekapar' to be a beautiful historical place in the near future.