JORHAT

city, northeastern Assam state, northeastern India. Jorhat lies along a tributary of the Brahmaputra River. A road and rail junction, it is the commercial centre of a productive agricultural area. Jorhat is noted for jewelry manufacture and is the site of Assam Agricultural College. In the late 18th century the city was the capital of an independent Ahom kingdom; the Ahoms, a Tai-speaking people, migrated from Yunnan, China, beginning about the 1st century AD. Pop. (1991 prelim.) city, 57,998; metropolitan area, 111,584.