diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b67061d75..17a47f0ff 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@
 	* added ability to give seeding torrents preference to active slots
 	* added torrent_status::finished_time
 	* automatically caps files and connections by default to rlimit
+	* added session::is_dht_running() function
 
 release 0.14.7
 
diff --git a/docs/manual.rst b/docs/manual.rst
index d57e1f791..daf002faf 100644
--- a/docs/manual.rst
+++ b/docs/manual.rst
@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ The ``session`` class has the following synopsis::
 			, int> const& node);
 		void add_dht_router(std::pair<std::string
 			, int> const& node);
+		bool is_dht_running() const;
 
 		void start_lsd();
 		void stop_lsd();
@@ -1064,8 +1065,8 @@ are ``hostname`` and ``port``.
 .. _i2p: http://www.i2p2.de
 
 
-start_dht() stop_dht() set_dht_settings() dht_state()
------------------------------------------------------
+start_dht() stop_dht() set_dht_settings() dht_state() is_dht_running()
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 	::
 
@@ -1073,6 +1074,7 @@ start_dht() stop_dht() set_dht_settings() dht_state()
 		void stop_dht();
 		void set_dht_settings(dht_settings const& settings);
 		entry dht_state() const;
+		bool is_dht_running() const;
 
 These functions are not available in case ``TORRENT_DISABLE_DHT`` is
 defined. ``start_dht`` starts the dht node and makes the trackerless service
@@ -1133,6 +1135,9 @@ that are ready to replace a failing node, it will be replaced immediately,
 this limit is only used to clear out nodes that don't have any node that can
 replace them.
 
+``is_dht_running`` returns true if the DHT support has been started and false
+otherwise.
+
 
 add_dht_node() add_dht_router()
 -------------------------------
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/session.hpp b/include/libtorrent/session.hpp
index b339bd0fd..aa2b87803 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/session.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/session.hpp
@@ -285,6 +285,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		entry dht_state() const;
 		void add_dht_node(std::pair<std::string, int> const& node);
 		void add_dht_router(std::pair<std::string, int> const& node);
+		bool is_dht_running() const;
 #endif
 
 #ifndef TORRENT_DISABLE_ENCRYPTION
diff --git a/src/session.cpp b/src/session.cpp
index 9014e0f67..1cfe84ce8 100644
--- a/src/session.cpp
+++ b/src/session.cpp
@@ -618,6 +618,12 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		m_impl->add_dht_router(node);
 	}
 
+	bool session::is_dht_running() const
+	{
+		mutex::scoped_lock l(m_impl->m_mutex);
+		return m_impl->m_dht;
+	}
+
 #endif
 
 #ifndef TORRENT_DISABLE_ENCRYPTION