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As usual, the British enormity was growing in all parts of India. It seized lands, forests, and now the hills. In the middle of the 19th century, Britishers turned their attention toward the hills of Khasi. The local people who were against being under the dominance of the East India Company raised a war against them which is called the Anglo-Khasi War. This is not a victory story but a brave reality of the Khasi people.
Tribal History: Stories of their identity and struggle
In the northeastern parts of India, the inhabitants of Meghalaya were an ethnic group of people, chiefly including the tribes of Khasi, War, Bhoi, and Jaintia. They are commonly known as Hynniewtrep people. The Khasis followed the matrilineal system. They were happy with what they had under their tribal leader Tirot Sing. Britishers got a new possession, Guwahati in lower Assam. They already owned property was Sylhet, a part of Burma. To connect both possessions they wanted to construct a road track to save weeks of travel. For this, they choose the Khasi hills as an intervention.
The Britishers found that Tirot Sing was interested in Duars (passes into Assam), an alluvial floodplain area. Now they got an idea to construct roads on Khasi hills by bribing Tirot Sing allusively. With a clever and mutual beneficiary, the Britishers proposed the idea of road construction on the Khasi hills with the surrender of Duars. After a two-day discussion, the assembly agreed to Britisher’s proposal, and the road construction was started.
Invariably, things would not be fine for a long time with the Britishers. Balaram Singh, the king of Ranee started a dispute with Tirot regarding the claim of Duars. To establish his claim, in 1828, Tirot Sing appeared with his armed men with excessive confidence that the Britishers would back him up, against Balaram Singh. Tirot was innocent to understand that trusting the Britishers was like trusting a snake that it would not bite. Confronted by a party of soldiers, the Britishers blocked Tirot Sing’s passages. This betrayal faced by Tirot created hatred towards the East India Company.
The news was spreading that the British army was being reinforced in Assam. Tirot again assembled the meeting as he came to know that the British were planning to impose taxes after the construction of the roads. Balram Singh, the Raja of Ranee disputed this with Tirot and put an end to this, Tirot Sing marched to the Bordwar, where the English were camped, but his way was blocked by the British soldiers. To put an end to this, he enjoined the Britishers to evacuate Nongkhlaw but they refused. Infuriated Khasis attacked the British garrison in Nongkhlaw in 1829. They killed two British officers that sought reprisal from the British and thus started the Anglo-Khasi war.
Tirot Sing started to plot military operations against the Britishers with other chiefs. But the major drawback was they were out of weapons, totally in contrast to the English army. They fought with the available native weapons such as swords, shields, and bows and arrows. But later they realized that it was impossible to compete with their well-trained opponent in war and battle. They started a guerrilla activity that lasted for four years.
Chief Tirot Singh was fighting robustly in the war. However, he was shot by a British officer. Without any option, he went inside a cave to hide to tend to his wound. Again he became prey to betrayal. This time a man from his group revealed Tirot’s hiding place for gold coins. On July 17, 1835, this great leader died and his death anniversary has been declared a state holiday in Meghalaya to honour his endless tiresome part. The war led under the leadership of the chief Tirot Sing came to an end as the Khasis were defeated and the British gained supremacy over the hills.
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