Asm: শিলচর śilac(h)ara
‘Stone Bank’ City, Assam
From Asm: śilā, ‘stone’; char, ‘(river) bank’.
Silchar is the second largest city in Assam, famous for tea cultivation.
Indira Gandhi called it the ‘Island of Peace’ during a time when it was a beacon of stability in a region torn apart by civil war and ethnic conflict.
The name implies the town started as a stone mooring for ships on the bank of the river Barak, which then became a paved market built on stones, and finally metamorphosed into the fully-developed town it is today.
Captain Thomas Fisher founded the city in 1832 when he moved the HQ of Cachar District here.
Nazirpatty, Silchar Goswami21
