ANGLO-KUKI WAR: WHEN A SMALL TRIBE FOUGHT THE BRITISH FOR TWO YEARS

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ANGLO-KUKI WAR: WHEN A SMALL TRIBE FOUGHT THE BRITISH FOR TWO YEARS

The backdrop of the first world war sowed the seeds of Kuki nationalism, an event which is often overshadowed by the greater war of independence occurring in mainland India. The Kuki revolt, or the Anglo-Kuki War, between 1917-1919, witnessed a small tribe of the northeast, with no standard army or weaponry, battle the mighty British for two years.

The British and the Kukis fought each other for two years in the Ango-Kuki War. Image Source: Wikipedia

World War I was memorable to India on several accounts. Although India itself was not involved in the Great War, Indians definitely were. The British forced many native people to contribute to the war by enlisting in the army, serving in the labour corps and so on. Although some Indians did comply, perhaps in hopes of wealth and rewards after the war was over, there were a few who provided stiff resistance to the British.

The Kuki tribe was one of the groups that rose against the British. The Kukis are a multi-tribal ethnic group, residing in several regions of northeast India including Manipur, Mizoram, Assam as well as parts of Myanmar and Bangladesh. They are originally considered to be a native of the Mizo hills, the mountainous region to the south-eastern part of Mizoram and Manipur. Between the late 18th and the 19th century, they migrated to Manipur.

The number asked of the Manipur king was 20,000 men, and it was initially complied with. Several thousands of men from the Imphal Valley joined the Corps. However, the Kukis resisted and held a series of conclaves. In March 1917, the Kukis, after performing a sacrificial ritual, declared war against the British. This marked the beginning of the Anglo-Kuki War, which lasted for two long years.

The Kukis engaged in both direct confrontation as well as guerrilla tactics during this war. Since they were better equipped with the knowledge of the hills, they had the element of surprise even though they lacked organizational skills. The colonial rulers declared the hills of Manipur as a ‘disturbed area’ and deployed the British army troops to tackle the conflict.

The revolt continued for two years, finally ending in 1919 when the Kukis were outnumbered by the British troops. The leaders of the revolt were arrested by the British and sent off to exile or put in jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

While the ICL issue was the immediate cause of conflict, it was not the sole factor contributing to the Anglo-Kuki war. The Kukis felt threatened by the British, particularly their policies of Christianising the tribes, their efforts to stop traditional practices like jhum or shifting cultivation, and their imposition of taxes on hill houses. Forced labour or pothang was another policy of the colonisers which infuriated the Kukis. The ICL merely provided the immediate context to confront the British for a collective cause i.e., freedom. Hence, while the British regarded the happenings of 1917-1919 as a mere uprising, for the Kukis, it was a war of independence from the oppressive colonial rule.

The Anglo-Kuki War or Revolt, although did not end in the favour of the tribes, it showed how even a small tribal group with no advanced skills as compared to the British, could still cause considerable damage to those in authority. In a way, the Kukis as well as northeast India found victory even in defeat because the revolt of 1917-19, showcased the limitations of the British control over the northeast region.

The princely state of Manipur formally came under British control in 1891, but the latter's involvement in the tribal areas of the northeast had started much earlier. This caused deep resentment among the hill tribes, whose traditional ways of life had been severely affected by the changes brought about by the British. The Kukis in particular expressed their hatred for the colonial rulers on multiple occasions. For instance, in the 1860s, they raided and burnt 15 villages, killing about 185 British men in what came to be known as the ‘Great Kuki Invasion of Tipperah’.

After the British conquered Manipur, they largely left the hills unbothered, to prevent clashing with the tribes. Yet, the British-tribal hostilities remained strong as ever.

During the first world war, the British had asked the Maharaja of Manipur to supply non-combatants for the Indian Labour Corps (ILC). The Labour Corps, operating between 1915-1921, was a special unit enlisted under the same terms that applied to the Indian army. Initially, the recruitment to the ILC was voluntary but from 1917, the British enforced a quota policy and asked the local authorities to provide a fixed number of men to the ILC.