Features- Kangla - ‘Waterloo’ of 17 Assam Rifles

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Kangla - ‘Waterloo’ of 17 Assam Rifles
By Damodar Waikhom
KANGLA is the most sacrosanct place for the Manipuris since time immemorial, as it is a place regarded as the ‘navel’ of their ancient kingdoms and mythologies. Customarily also it is a sacred place where coronations (Phambal Tongba) of their kings had been successively carried out, particularly from the time of their god-like king Pakhangba in 33 A.D. till the last king, Bodhachandra Singh of the dynasty. Bodhachandra Singh was coronated in the year 1943 as the successor of Maharaj Sir Churachand Singh, K.C.S.I.C.B.E. (Knight Commander Star of India Commander British Empire) who abdicated the throne in favor of his eldest son in 1941 and spent his last days in solace at the holy place of Nabadwip, West Bengal. The formal coronation of Bodhachandra Singh as the king of Manipur took place in the thick days of the 2nd World War when Manipur was under the terrible wave of the deadly war passing through a very difficult time. The customary part of the ceremony was first performed inside the cave located at Kangla which is said to be actually a pre-historic extinct volcanic cave connected underneath thro-ugh very deep channels with other important and ancient caves such as of Kangkhui, Hundung of Ukhrul district and of Hiyangthang cave etc. of the valley area. It is inside this cave that customary functions of coronations of the kings of Manipur seated along with their queens on a sacred slab are solemnized by the royal pundits (Amaibas) and the length of time within which they could sit on it determines the duration of their kingship. Bodhachandra Singh could not sit for long inside the cave and thus he had been the king of Manipur for a very short period (from 1941 to 1947/48). Also he became the last king of Manipur of the Pakhangba's dynasty as was very truly predicted in the Manipuri puya (puran) calling him to be the ‘Konggon Ningthou’ (bubble king). Thus, the coronation of Bodhachandra Singh was the last of its kind in the history of Manipur but it was unprecedentedly the most spectacular one as it was carried out with full military honors given by the Allied Forces of the 14th Army under general Slim (later on Field Marshal) who operated against the invading Japanese columns of the l5th Army under General Mutaguchi. The most spectacular part of the ceremony was the grand military procession of the contingents of all the troops of the British, Indians and other groups of the Allied Forces including war tanks and other mechanised columns which led the to and fro royal Kangla journey of the king and the queen, Kamalavati Devi (Sangai Devi - still alive) seated majestically on the palanquin type royal seat especially erected on the elephant with colorful decorations which is locally known as ‘Sembang Mahum’ in their royal Phambal Tongba Tribal dress. After the arrival at the palace from Kangla the King’s formal official coronation was carried out at the royal Darbar Hall located on the western side of the present Govindajee’s Temple in the presence of a large gathering of audience of the public including ministers and other high ranking civil and military officials. The proceeding of the royal coronation was conducted under the auspices of C. Gimson, the Political Agent of Manipur on behalf of the Viceroy of India dressed in the viceregal ceremonial uniform. The most eventful ceremony was followed by exhibitions of the famous Manipuri traditional and indigenous Pana games put up by selected well known local champion players which were very keenly and with great thrills witnessed by all, especially by the allied audience of the officers and troops of the Allied Forces present in the function. The Royal British Engineers of the Allied Forces also carried out most spectacular programs of ‘fire-works’ in the night which marked the auspicious occasion more eventful to the great thrills of all the inhabitants of the Imphal city of the time. The history of Kangla as the seat of power of the ancient kingdom of Manipur began from a very early period - according to the learned historians of Manipur. The period is recorded to be from the time of the reign of one Kangba who ruled the kingdom in some 3000 BC and the independent kingdomship of the State ended in the year 1891, when she had been conquered by the British and they had taken over all the palatial and most strategic area of Kangla and since been converted it as their invincible Fort and Garrison. Firstly, occupied by a column of their regular Army, the battalion of the 123rd Outram’s Rifles and later on by the 4th Bn of the so called, the Assam Rifles after the withdrawal of the former from Manipur on the outbreak of the 1st World War. The 4th Bn of the Assam Rifles was raised initially for service in the North East Frontier Tract but brought it to Manipur and retained in the State as the Govt. of India in the Army department decided not to garrison her further with any regular troop. The main functions of the Assam Rifles Battalion stationed in Manipur were - (a) to maintain British paramountcy in the State, (b) to protect the ruling dynasty, and (c) to preserve peace in the hill areas of the State. The purpose of stationing the 4th Assam Rifles at Kangla, located at the heart of the Imphal city was also for providing armed protections to the British Residency of the Political Agent located just nearby (the present Manipur Governor’s Raj Bhavan) vis-à-vis to thwart off immediately any probable armed rebellion that might trigger off against the British power at any time from the discontented and war defeated sulking Manipuris living in majority around the capital town, Imphal. Kangla is not only the sacred place for all the coronations of the kings of Manipur but it is also a traditional place of cremation of the kings of Manipur when they die - it is a must part of the Manipuri royal customs. In fact, late Sir Akbar Hydari, one of the most brilliant Muslims of the Indian Civil Services from a noble and distinguished Hyderabad family and a person hand-picked by the British as the first Indian Governor of the erstwhile greater Assam Province with capital at Shillong who visited Manipur as the royal guest in 1947 just on the eve of India getting her independence and who died at Waikhong Dak Bunglow in the night while halting there on a rural outing program due to sudden cardiac arrest was cremated at Kangla with full State honors in the next morning with the mortal body of the deceased VIP consigned to flame as preferred by his family members - his son-in-law Lt. Col. Yusuf Ali who was the Commandant of the 4th Bn Assam Rifles at that time. It was also at Kangla, just in front of the erstwhile Manipuri palace that five British officials headed by Quinton, the Chief Commissioner of Assam Province met their death as predicted again in the Manipuri puya (puran) for the cause of which the better armed and larger force of the British columns from three directions, one from the western side from Cachar under the command of Major Maxwell and second-in-command, Subedar Konthoujam Khellendra Singh, another from the northern Kohima side, the third, the strongest one, under general Cowatt from the southern Burma (now Myanmar) side advanced to assert the supremacy of the British over the power of the isolated and independent State of Manipur and won over the very stiff battles put up by the brave Manipuris, particularly at the battlefields of Khongjom and Thoubal Athokpam where General Paona Brajabashi and other great heroes of Manipur laid down their lives fighting the much superior British Force in most gallant manners for the sake of defending their motherland, Manipur. And as a follow-up action of the British Government Senapati Bir Tikendrajit Singh and Major General Thangal were arrested and hanged to death on the charge of waging war against the Queen Empress of Britain. Such is the place of Kangla located just at the heart of the Imphal city which is methodologically, customarily and historically so important for all the Manipuris but had since been occupied by the British after they had conquered the State as described above. In fact, on 15th August, 1947 the British flag (the Union Jack) which had since been flying high at Kangla Fort till 14th August went down quite in a stooping manner and was replaced in its place by the brilliantly signing Pakhangba-insignia embedded red flag of independent Manipur showing that they (the British) had, in principle, returned the historic place to the hands of the people of Manipur as their genuine property. However, the Manipur Government was liberal enough and in good faith they allowed the further occupation of the area by the 4th Bn of the Assam Rifles though the absolute necessity of their service in the valley area of Manipur was no more after the State became the integral part of the independent India as was required earlier for the protection of an alien power. The 4th Bn of the Assam Rifles till very recently had a very good rapport and reputation with the local people. But it has been really unfortunate that such a confidence and good reputation that the people of Manipur had on the troops of the unit had gradually diminished after the Battalion had been shifted to Kamjong area and the Fort had since been occupied by other new battalions one after another, latestly and presently by the 17th Bn who became the unit which has met the - Waterloo - sort of ill-fate because of their thoughtless actions with unnecessary ambitions, if it may be said so, latest being the case of Manorama in which they have made themselves unnecessarily involved and trapped. Really, it is in this context that one may honestly ask as a most pertinent question that 'what did the 17 Assam Rifles actually gain from the arrest of Manorama'? Of course, the operation that they had carried out for the arrest of Manorama might have been initially of doing their due duty with some good faith, and by arresting her as a listed active member of one of the valley-based insurgent groups as alleged by them to extract some information for locating the camps of the undergrounds etc. Such good intention, if they had at all, could have been really fruitful if they had accompanied at least two-three personnel of the civil police, particularly one or two women police and had immediately handed her (Manorama) over to the nearest police station from where she could have been easily produced before the joint interrogation-cell for obtaining the wanted information in the presence of all concerned in proper manner. Most unfortunately, this had not been done, instead in a very hurried and hasty manner the column, it seems, straight away started dealing her in a most merciless and brutal manner which actually yielded no good results to them but only led to giving of very very serious ‘counter-productive’ results as a result of which the entire valley area of the State was suddenly plunged into a very ‘chaotic’ and ‘turmoiling’ situation which escalated like a wild fire from a simple spark as the people became highly enraged and discontented with the ‘beastly’ manner done to deceased-Manorama. In the year 1939 during the uprising of the second ‘Nupilal’ - women’s war of the Manipuris it was a column of the 4th Bn Assam Rifles under the direct command of their Commandant, Colonel Bullfield that the Manipuri women agitators were brutally treated with firing of their rifles and charging with bayonets just in front of the Imphal Telegraph office while trying to rescue T. Sharpe, the President of the Manipur State Darbar from the hands of the women’s irate mob who wrongfully and very stubbornly confined him in the office room of the Telegraph office from early morning till very late noon as he failed to please them immediately with their demand for withdrawal of the orders of exportation of rice from Manipur by the licensed local Marwari agents of Imphal but in the history of the event even the image of the 4th Assam Rifles has not been written so badly as the image and reputation that so adversely earned presently by the 17 Assam Rifles which will remain recorded as their darkest image in the history of Manipur, perhaps for ages to come -this is the most unpleasant and adverse reputation and also an ever unreasonable black image that the 17 Assam Rifles have gained from the arrest of Manorama affected in a very objectionable manner and had killed her in a very gruesome manner later on in the simple pretext that she attempted to flee from their lawful custody. Anyway, one good thing for the people of Manipur that is very much in the offing to come out as compelled by the burning circumstances is that -the Government of India is now seemed all set to vacate the sacred place of Kangla from further occupation by the Army and hand over it back to the people as its genuine owner. Such a good gesture and thoughtful action of the Government of India should have been actually taken much earlier, at least, well before their decisions taken in regard to the vacation of the Red Fort, Delhi which has traditionally and customarily no such sanctity and sacredness as Kangla of Manipur has as described above. If the people of Manipur gets, at least, the benefit of getting back their sacred place, Kangla as a result of the misdeeds done by the column of the 17 Assam Rifles then it is definitely due to the grace of God, the Almighty as is very rightly said in the well known Bengali proverb ‘Ishwar ja kore, mangoler jaino’ which means whatever God does is for the welfare of the human beings - though the people of the valley had a very ‘turbulent’ and ‘tying’ time to pass through for the last so many weeks.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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