Dewathang (Deothang)
Dewathang — Deothang on the map, Dewangiri in the British records — is a road town 18 kilometres above the Assam border at around 790 metres, and it is where Jigme Namgyel drove a British garrison out in February 1865. Today it holds an engineering college and a Buddhist shedra. Allow 45 minutes to an hour.
What happened here?
On 5 February 1865, Bhutanese forces under Jigme Namgyel — Penlop of Trongsa, later Druk Desi, and known as the Black Regent for his dark face, his black robes and his black horse — cut off the water supply to the British-held fort and forced the garrison to evacuate. The retreat left two howitzers on the ground, and he took them back to Trongsa.
It lasted two months. Brigadier-General Sir Henry Tombs retook the position in April 1865 with the 55th Regiment of Foot, and Bhutanese resistance collapsed. The Treaty of Sinchula, signed on 11 November 1865, closed the war.
Whether anything of the fort survives to look at, we can’t tell you from here — no source we could find says either way. Ask us before you build a day around it.
Bhutan lost the Dewangiri tract, and got it back in 1951
Sinchula cost Bhutan the Duars and Dewangiri — about 83 square kilometres — in exchange for an annual subsidy of 50,000 rupees. That territory was returned to Bhutan in 1951, eighty-six years later.
One honest caveat: the ceded tract is described as “a northern part of Kamrup”, which is the plain. Whether it reached up to the hill town itself is not something our sources settle, so we’ll tell you the territory changed hands and not pretend to know exactly where the line ran — or that the town you are standing in was on the far side of it.
The college is named after the man who fought here
The Jigme Namgyel Engineering College carries the name of the commander of 1865. It is Bhutan’s first technical college: founded as the Royal Bhutan Polytechnic on 22 February 1972, teaching from 22 February 1974 in civil and electrical engineering, mechanical added in 1988, and renamed for Jigme Namgyel in 2015.
It stands on the ridge at the west end of town, around 880 metres — which is why you will see Dewathang quoted at several different altitudes. The town climbs about a hundred metres from the highway to the campus, and the published figures are all measuring different ends of it.
The Chökyi Gyatso Institute
Founded in 1990 by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche — a lama who is also, in his other career, an internationally shown filmmaker — the institute began as a small temple and has functioned as a shedra, a Buddhist college, since 2015. It teaches more than 130 monks.
It is one of only four sites the dzongkhag itself promotes to visitors. It is also a working monastic college rather than a monument, so whether guests go in, and when, is a question for your guide.
When should you come?
October to March. This is the low, hot southeast — up at 790 metres Dewathang is a good deal cooler than the border town below it, but the monsoon still makes these roads hard work.
See things to do in Samdrup Jongkhar for the rest of the district, and Narphungla for the birding stop on the climb north.
Frequently asked questions
What happened at Dewathang in 1865?
Bhutan won here. On 5 February 1865, Bhutanese forces under Jigme Namgyel, Penlop of Trongsa, cut off the water supply to the British-held fort and forced the garrison out. The retreating column left two howitzers behind, and Jigme Namgyel took them back to Trongsa. It did not hold: Brigadier-General Sir Henry Tombs retook the position that April, and the war ended with the Treaty of Sinchula on 11 November 1865.
Was the Dewangiri territory ever ceded to India?
Yes, for eighty-six years. Under the Treaty of Sinchula of 11 November 1865, Bhutan ceded Dewangiri — about 83 km² — to British India, and it was returned to Bhutan in 1951. Whether that tract included the hill town of Dewathang itself, we can't tell you: it is described only as "a northern part of Kamrup", which is the plain below. So the territory changed hands; whether the town did is not something our sources settle.
Why is it called Dewathang, Deothang and Dewangiri?
All three are the same place. Dewathang and Deothang are the Bhutanese forms — Deothang is what you will see on maps and road signs — and Dewangiri is the name in the British records, which is why the battle is written up under that spelling almost everywhere outside Bhutan.
What is there to do in Dewathang today?
It is a 45-minute to one-hour stop on the way up from the border. It holds the Jigme Namgyel Engineering College — Bhutan's first technical college, founded as the Royal Bhutan Polytechnic on 22 February 1972 — and the Chökyi Gyatso Institute, a Buddhist shedra. Whether you go inside either is worth asking us before you plan the day.
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