The Dimasa queen’s legacy: how a 19th-century warrior-ruler still shapes Dima Hasao

The story of the Dimasa queen who led her people against the British in the early 19th century — sometimes called the ‘queen of the hills’ — is being retold in Dima Hasao with a new urgency.

Historians disagree on details; the community agrees on the meaning: a ruler who fought, lost, and became the shape of resistance.

A statue, a school curriculum unit and an annual commemoration are the current battlegrounds of her legacy.