The early history of Manipur is composed of mythical narratives . The location of the
Kangla Fort on the banks of the
Imphal River is believed to be where King Pakhangba built his first palace.[14]
Loyumba Shinyen, the written constitution of Kangleipak was formally developed by King
Loiyumba (1074–1121) in 1110 AD.[15] He consolidated the kingdom by incorporating most of the principalities in the surrounding hills.[16] After subjugating all the villages within their valley Kangleipak kings grew in power and began a policy of expansion beyond their territory. In 1443 King Ningthoukhomba raided
Akla (present day
Tamu, Myanmar), an area ruled by
Shan people, initiating a policy of Manipuri claims to the neighbouring
Kabaw Valley.[16]
The zenith of the Kangleipak State was reached under the rule of King
Khagemba (1597–1652). Khagemba's brother Prince Shalungba was not happy about Khagemba's rule so he fled to the
Taraf where he allied with the local
Bengali Muslim leaders. With a contingent of Bengali Muslim soldiers led by
Muhammad Sani, Shalungba then attempted to invade
Manipur but the soldiers were captured and made to work as labourers in Manipur. These soldiers married local
Meitei women and adapted to the
Meitei language. They introduced
hookah to Manipur and founded the
Meitei Pangals (Manipuri Muslim community).[17] It is claimed that Manipur learned the art of making gunpowder from the Chinese merchants who visited the state around 1630 and had started making rockets named Meikappi by the early 18th century.[18]
Following the
Burmese invasions, in 1824 the king of Manipur
Gambhir Singh (Chinglen Nongdrenkhomba) asked the British for help and the request was granted.
Sepoys and artillery were sent and British officers trained a levy of Manipuri troops for the battles that ensued. After the Burmese were expelled, the Kabaw Valley down to the
Ningthi River was added to the state.[20]
In 1824–1826, on the conclusion of the
First Anglo-Burmese War, Manipur became a
British protectorate.[21] Manipur remained relatively peaceful and prosperous until King Gambhir Singh's death in 1834.
At the death of Gambhir Singh, his son
Chandrakirti Singh was only one year old, and his uncle
Nara Singh was appointed as regent. That same year the British decided to restore the Kabaw Valley to the
Kingdom of Burma, which had never been happy about the loss. A compensation was paid to Raja of Manipur in the form of an annual allowance of
Rs 6,370 and a
British residency was established in Imphal, the only town of the state, in 1835 to facilitate communication between the British and the rulers of Manipur.[20]
After a thwarted attempt on his life, Nara Singh took power and held the throne until his death in 1850.
His brother
Devendra Singh was given the title of Raja by the British, but he was unpopular. After only three months, the rightful heir Chandrakirti Singh invaded Manipur and rose to the throne. Numerous members of the royal family tried to overthrow Chandrakirti Singh, but none of the rebellions was successful. In 1879, when British Deputy Commissioner G.H. Damant was killed by an
Angami Naga party, the king of Manipur assisted the British by sending troops to neighbouring
Kohima. Following this service to the crown, Chandrakirti Singh was rewarded with the
Order of the Star of India.
After Maharaja Chandrakriti's death in 1886 his son
Surachandra Singh succeeded him. As in previous occasions, several claimants to the throne tried to overthrow the new king. The first three attempts were defeated, but in 1890, following an attack on the palace by
Tikendrajit and
Kulachandra Singh, two of the king's brothers, Surachandra Singh announced his intention to abdicate and left Manipur for Cachar. Kulachandra Singh then rose to the throne while Tikendrajit Singh, as the commander of the Manipuri armed forces, held the real power behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Surachandra Singh, after leaving Manipur, appealed to the British for help to recover the throne.[20]
The British decided to recognise Kulachandra Singh as Raja, and to send a military expedition of 400 men to Manipur to punish Senapati Tikendrajit Singh as the main person responsible for the unrest and the dynastic disturbances. This action and the violent events that followed are known in British annals as the 'Manipur Expedition, 1891',[22] while in Manipur they are known as the 'Anglo-Manipur War of 1891'.
The British attempt to remove Tikendrajit from his position as military commander (Senapati) and arrest him on 24 March 1891 caused a great stir. The British Residency in Imphal was attacked and the Chief Commissioner for Assam
J.W. Quinton, Col. Sken, the British Resident and other British officials were murdered. In the middle of the unrest
Ethel St Clair Grimwood, the widow of Frank St Clair Grimmond, the killed British Resident, was credited with leading a retreat of surviving
sepoys out of Manipur to Cachar.[23] She was later lauded as a hero.[24]) A 5,000 strong punitive expedition was sent against Manipur on 27 April 1891. Three British columns entered Manipur from
British Burma, Cachar and the Naga Hills, which after several skirmishes with the 3,000 men strong Manipuri army, managed to pacify the kingdom. Following the British attack, Tikendrajit and Kulachandra Singh fled, but were captured. Tikendrajit and those Manipuris involved in the killing of the British officers were tried and hanged, while the deposed King Kulachandra Singh and other leaders of the rebellion were sent to the
Cellular Jail in the
Andaman Islands. Manipur was briefly
annexed to
British India by virtue of the
doctrine of lapse. On 22 September 1891 when
Meidingngu Churachand (Churachandra), a 5-year-old boy, was put on the throne, power was restored nominally to the Manipuri crown over the state. During the dynastic disturbances and the British intervention the Naga and
Kuki hill tribes of the state lapsed into lawlessness, with numerous instances of murder and arson in the mountain villages, a situation that lasted well into 1894.[20]
Princely state under British Raj
The child ruler Churachand belonged to a side branch of the Manipur royal family, so that all the main contenders to the throne were bypassed. While he was a minor the affairs of state were administered by the British
Political Agent, which facilitated the introduction and implementation of reforms. The first paved road to Manipur was inaugurated in 1900 —until then there had been no proper roads to reach the kingdom— and this improvement in communication facilitated a visit by Viceroy
Lord Curzon in 1901.
Raja Churachand was formally declared king in 1907 after completing education in
Ajmer.[20]
In 1918 he was given the privilege to use the title '
Maharaja' and during his reign Manipur enjoyed a period of relative peace and prosperity. In 1934 king Churachand was
knighted by the British, becoming Sir Churachandra Singh.[25]
On 14 August 1947, with the lapse of paramountcy of the British Crown, Manipur became briefly "independent" in the sense that it was free of control from the Governor of Assam, which may be regarded as reversion to political autonomy that existed before 1891.[27][28][29] However, the Maharaja had signed the
Instrument of Accession on 11 August 1947, ceding the three subjects of defence, external affairs and communication to the Union of India.[27][30][31][32][33] A '
Manipur State Constitution Act 1947' was enacted, giving the state its own constitution, although this did not become known in other parts of India owing to the relative isolation of the kingdom.[29] The Government of India did not recognize the Constitution.[34]
On 21 September 1949, the Maharaja was coerced to sign a Merger Agreement with the Union of India, to take effect on 15 October the same year.[35] As a result of the agreement, the Manipur State merged into the Indian Union as a
Part C State (similar to a
Chief Commissioner's Province under the colonial regime or a
Union Territory in the present Indian structure), to be governed by a Chief Commissioner appointed by the Government of India. The representative assembly of Manipur was abolished.[36]
Unhappy with the central rule,
Rishang Keishing began a movement for representative government in Manipur in 1954. The Indian home minister, however, declared that the time was not yet ripe for the creation of representative assemblies in Part C States such as Manipur and
Tripura, stating that they were located in strategic border areas of India, that the people were politically backward and that the administration in those states was still weak.[36] However, it was given a substantial measure of local self-government under the Territorial Councils Act of 1956, a legislative body and council of ministers in 1963, and
full statehood in 1972.[37]
1938–1941 Gerald Pakenham Stewart (1st time) (Japanese prisoner 1941–45)
1941–1946 Christopher Gimson (3rd time) (s.a.)
Dec 1946 – 14 August 1947 Gerald Pakenham Stewart (2nd time)
British administrators
During the princely state stage (1891–1947), an
Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer of the
East Bengal and Assam cadre was appointed as the administrator, first as the Vice-president of the Manipur State Darbar, and, from 1916, as its President.[45][46][47][25]
1948 – 16 April 1949 M. K. Priyobrata Singh (s.a.)[50]
16 Apr 1949 – 15 October 1949 Rawal Amar Singh[51]
Flags
The State of Manipur had a set of two flags, a white one and a red one. All featured the Pakhangba dragon in the centre, although not as prominently in the latter flags.[52]
^William MuCulloch authored Account of the Valley of Munnipore and of the Hill Tribes (1859).[41]
^Robert Brown authored Statistical Account of the Native State of Manipur and the Hill Territory under Its Rule (1874).[42]>
^James Johnstone authored My Experiences in Manipur and the Naga Hills (1896).[43]
^John Shakespear authored The Lushei Kuki Clans (1912).[44]
References
^Keen, Caroline (2015).
An Imperial Crisis in British India. I.B. Tauris. p. 150-152.
doi:
10.5040/9780755624355.
ISBN978-1-78673-987-2. Ghose maintained that under the Indian Penal Code only subjects of the Queen or foreigners residing in British India could be guilty of waging war against the Queen. Manipur was an independent sovereign state and..
^
Phanjoubam, Pradip (2015),
The Northeast Question: Conflicts and frontiers, Routledge, pp. 3–4,
ISBN978-1-317-34004-1: "After comprehensively defeating the Burmese in 1826 in Assam and Manipur, and the signing of the Treaty of Yandabo, the British annexed Assam, but allowed Manipur to remain a protectorate state."
^Akoijam, A. Bimol (28 July 2001), "How History Repeats Itself", Economic and Political Weekly, 36 (30): 2807–2812,
JSTOR4410908
^
abBanerjee, S. K. (January–March 1958), "Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947", The Indian Journal of Political Science, 19 (1): 35–38,
JSTOR42748891
^Why Pre-Merger Political Status for Manipur: Under the Framework of the Instrument of Accession, 1947, Research and Media Cell, CIRCA, 2018, p. 26, GGKEY:8XLWSW77KUZ: "Before the controversial merger, both Manipur and India were bound by the Instrument of Accession (IOA) which the King of Manipur signed on 11 August 1947. The IOA was accepted by the Governor General of India Lord Mountbatten on 16 August 1947 vide Home Department, Government of India file no A-1/1/1947. Subsequently, the Manipur State Council approved the IOA in its meeting held on 22 August 1947 Vide Memo No. 383 PTI Reference Council Minutes Part I of 11-8-1947. The execution of the Instrument of Accession was published in the Manipur State Gazette on 27 August 1947."
^Haokip, Thongkholal (2012). "Political Integration of Northeast India: A Historical Analysis". Strategic Analysis. 36 (2): 304–314.
doi:
10.1080/09700161.2012.646508.
ISSN0970-0161.
S2CID153661583.: "The Maharajah of Manipur was invited to Shillong in September 1949 for talks on integration.... The Maharaja was placed under house arrest and debarred from any communication with the outside world. The Maharaja was thus forced to sign the ‘Merger Agreement’ with India on September 21, 1949, and Manipur became a 'Part-C state' of the Indian Union."