1) Meeteis controlled an area that extended from the Nou Kian river of Tibet in the North to Aracan in the South; from the Garo Hills and bengal in the West to the Yunan province of China in the east. (for reference see An accurate map of Hindoostan or India,by Mathew Carey, Series no 57, page 53, published in Carey's Geral Atlas, Phiadelphia, 1814)
2) When Burmese (Awa) invaded the land during the reign of King Paikhomba in 1693, the Meetei soldier fought the battle on the bank of Ningthi river (now in Myanmar). Two Meetei soldiers were died in the battle and successful in repelling the invading Awa. If Meetei land as claimed by today's half brain historians as Imphal Valley only, this battle could be fought near Kangjeibung in the Imphal district or khongjom in Thoubal district. In 1693, the term Kukis or kookis are not created.
3)Department of Hill Affairs (Haomacha Loisang) was establish in Meetei Kingdom during the reign of King Irengba (984-1074). If Meetei land, as claimed by some history and political students of JNU or DU (admitted through ST quotas from Manipur) belong to Imphal Valley only, what was the point of establishing such Hill Affairs Department some 1000 years ago when terms like Kukis and Nagas are not created in the political history of the World?
4) Meetei kings, on several occasions went for military expeditions in the hills. Don't confuse this as war or invasion to a foreign land. Meetei kings have many feudal chief as well as tributary chiefs who resides in the hills of Meetei Kingdom. What was the necessary of military expeditions against his own subjects? Those were to prevent raids by one village to another village; to collect tributaries from those chiefs who tried to go rebel against the Kings; to subjugate the rebellious chiefs or khullakpas; to reassert supremacy of the Meetei Kingdom and to impose Lanlup (tributaries paid to Meetei King by defeated Chiefs of Hills) systems.
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| Chothe Chief was given the responsibility of controlling Hills of Manipur by Maharaj Chandrakirti (present day Kuki areas for good administration of the Manipur Kingdom (Image Courtesy - Google/E-pao) |
5) Maharaj Chandrakirti created the Kuki Hills in 1852. After Meetei King got alliance with the British, the word "Kuki" was created. As per the records of "Khul Koun Ho Thusim", the Meetei King gave the duties of controlling hills of Meetei Kingdom to four feudal chiefs, namely Shairing Chothe, Sokhojam Singson, Lamhao and Paosuol. These feudal chiefs went to collect taxes and suppress rebellious chiefs who tried to work against the Meetei king and controlled the affairs of newly created Kuki hills. Later in 1921, the present town named as Churachandpur came up. The place was previously known as Songpi. There was a Sub Divison office in Songpi area. It was renamed into Churachandpur to honour the Chief Guest, Maharaj Churachand in a welcome function of Labour Corps who were sent to Europe. In the newly established Churachandpur Sub Division (erstwhile Songpi Sub Division), few villages namely Khopibung, Gelmol, Bijang, Teiseng and Songpi are included. The Lamka which present residents of CCpur are claiming was more than 15 kms away from the Churachandpur Sub Division. If the land was not under the Meetei Maharaj Churachand, there was no question of inviting a foreign King by British SDO. Nor they have the right to rename a SDO into some alien name.
So, please educate and tell the history of Manipur in the positive tone, rather than creating a separate history and political domains. These 5 points are just a broad explanations of how Meetei Kingdom was spreading in a vast areas (much larger than present State of Manipur) and controlling hundreds of Village chiefs as tributaries of Meetei Kings for the last 2000 years. Let us not influence by Western thoughts to divide the State, rather know your forefathers roots and work towards peace and development to benefit the South East Asian Corridors, once independently owned by the Kingdom of Manipur.
