Pangsau Pass

---

title: "Pangsau Pass" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountain-passes-of-meghalaya", "mountain-passes-of-myanmar", "india–myanmar-border-crossings", "world-war-ii-sites-in-burma"] description: "Roads to Myanmar from Assam" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangsau_Pass" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Roads to Myanmar from Assam ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain pass"]

Field	Value
name	Pangsau Pass
photo	Pangsau Pass.jpg
elevation_m	1136
location	Part of Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh on India–Myanmar border
range	Himalaya
map	Burma
map_caption	Location of the Pangsau Pass
label	Pangsau Pass
coordinates
::

| name = Pangsau Pass | photo = Pangsau Pass.jpg | photo_caption = | elevation_m = 1136 | elevation_ref = | traversed = | location = Part of Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh on India–Myanmar border | range = Himalaya | map = Burma | map_caption = Location of the Pangsau Pass | map_size = | label = Pangsau Pass | coordinates = | topo = Pangsau Pass or Pan Saung Pass, 3727 ft () in altitude, lies on the crest of the Patkai Hills on the India–Myanmar border. The pass offers one of the easiest routes into Burma from the Assam plains. The pass lies on the famous Ledo Road (Stillwell Road) and named after the closest village on Myanmar's territory, Pangsau, which lies 2 km east of the pass. India's undisputed easternmost point Chaukan Pass - east of Vijaynagar in the Changlang district - lies northeast of Pangsau Pass.

History

History

Early era

During the 13th century, it was the frequently used route by Ahoms, a Shan tribe, for their arrival and settlement in Assam in India.

British raj era

The British in the late 19th century looked at the pass as a possible railway route from India to Myitkyina in north Burma through the Hukawng Valley, all of which were part of the British Empire at the time, but no railway was built. In the 19th century, British railway builders had surveyed the Pangsau Pass, which is 1136 m high on the India-Burma border, on the Patkai crest, above Nampong, Arunachal Pradesh and Ledo, Tinsukia (part of Assam). They concluded that a track could be pushed through to Burma and down the Hukawng Valley. Although the proposal was dropped, the British prospected the Patkai Range for a road from Assam into northern Burma. British engineers had surveyed the route for a road for the first 80 mi.

During World War II the pass became famous because of the Stilwell Road (Ledo Road) connecting British India to Nationalist Chinese forces fighting the Japanese in China. The pass was the large initial obstacle encountered by United States General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell's forces in their effort to build a land route to supplement The Hump air route (after the other land route, the Burma Road was lost to advancing Japanese forces).

The Stilwell Road began at Ledo, Assam, the railhead, and passed through Tirap Gaon, Lekhapani, Tipong, Jagun, Jairampur (the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary and beginning of Inner Line), and Nampong before switchbacking steeply upwards through densely forested hills to the pass, 12 km away. The distance from Ledo to Pangsau Pass is 61 km. Because of the fierce gradients and the mud, which made getting up to the pass difficult, it was nicknamed "Hell Pass" during the war.

Present era

The Pangsau Pass Winter Festival since 2007 is a 3-day joint India-Myanmar annual global village event organized during the 3rd week of January every year in Nampong, Arunachal Pradesh. It showcases diverse cultures of Northeast India and Myanmar including folk songs, folk dances, arts, crafts, ethnic foods, and traditional sports, and culture of Tangsa Naga tribe. Tangsa Rongrand War dance, Lungchang dance, Wancho dance, Bihu Dance, and Bamboo dance performances are held.

References

References

1. [http://karachi.s-asian.cam.ac.uk/archive/films/mackrell12.html Centre of South Asian Studies - Mackrell Collection - Film 12] {{webarchive. link. (2012-07-12)
2. ''Gazetteer of north-east India'', Govt. of India
3. [[Donovan Webster]], ''The Burma Road''
4. [https://nenow.in/north-east-news/arunachal-pradesh/pangsau-pass-winter-festival-going-beyond-frontier.html Pangsau Pass Winter Festival: Going beyond the Frontier], Northeast Now, 7 December 2018.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::