Sadiya

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Sadiya (also, Sadia) is a small town in the Lakhimpur District of the North-eastern Indian state of Assam. It stands high on a grassy plain, nearly surrounded by forest-clad mountains on Himalayas, on the right bank of what is locally (but erroneously) considered the main stream of the Brahmaputra river.

Sadiya means "blessing" or a "desert flower", much like "Jasmine".

Sadiya was the extreme north-east frontier station of British Raj, in the Lakhimpur district of Eastern Bengal and Assam regions. On the opposite bank is a railway station which used to connect with the Assam-Bengal line of that era. Sadiya had been garrisoned by detachments of native infantry and military police, and was the base of a chai.' of outposts. There had a bazaar, to which the hill-men beyond the frontier - Mishmis, Abors and Khamtis — used to bring down rubber, wax, ivory and musk, to barter for cotton-cloth, salt and metal goods.

Sadiya today serves as one of the Indian Red Cross district headquarters.

In 1882 Francis Jack Needham was appointed Assistant Political Agent for the British authorities after having served in the region as an assistant Superintendent of Police since 1876. He finally retired from service in 1905 after spending his life exploring above the Brahmaputra river and writing a treatise on the grammar of Miri, Singpho and Kampti languages. He was awarded the Gill memorial medal in 1887 and made a fellow of The Royal Geographical Society in 1889. His main purpose in life was exploration partly in order to try and discover the source of the Brahmaputra river. His award of the Gill memorial Medal and F.R.G.S was for penetrating into the Zanjul Valley and into Tibet from Assam.