Chinglen Nongdrenkhomba (1788–1834), also known as Raja Gambhir Singh, was a ruler of the

Manipur Kingdom The Manipur Kingdom was an ancient independent kingdom at the India–Burma frontier that was in subsidiary alliance with British India from 1824, and became a princely state in 1891. It bordered Assam Province in the west and Briti ...

Biography

He was a son of Chingthang Khomba. He succeeded his nephew Yumjaotaba in April 1821 during the seven years devastation. He abdicated the throne with the arrival of a Burmese force under his cousin Prince Jai Singh, the first puppet king of Manipur under Burmese suzerainty, in October 1821. Gambhir Singh fled to

Cachar Cachar district is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. After independence the undivided Cachar district was split into four districts in Assam: Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills), Cachar district alongside ...

. In

, Gambhir Singh with the help of his elder brothers Chourjit and Marjit dethroned Govinda Chandra, the king of

. Govinda Chandra applied for the protection of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. His request was refused. In consequence of which he applied to the King of

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

to reinstate him. Accordingly, in 1823 the king of

send a large army into Cachar from to arrest Chourjit, Marjit and Gambhir Singh. The Burmese forces proceeded up to the territory of British

. In March 1824,

Lord Amherst Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaig ...

, the then Governor General of British

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

declared war against Burma. In 1823, the British Government opened communications with Gambhir Singh; upon which 500

Meiteis The Meitei people, also known as the Manipuri people,P.20: "historically, academically and conventionally Manipuri prominently refers to the Meetei people."P.24: "For the Meeteis, Manipuris comprise Meeteis, Lois, Kukis, Nagas and Pangal." is ...

under his command were taken into pay of the British Government, and co-operated with the British troops in driving out the Burmese out of

. This force of 500 men was known as Gambhir Singh Levy (later Manipur Levy). The Manipur Levy under Gambhir Singh and his second cousin Nara Singh, later

Maharaja Nara Singh Nara Singh (1792 – 11 April 1850) also known as Chingthanglen Pamheiba and Meetingu Lairen Nonglen Sendreng Manik Khomba, was a ruler of the Kingdom of Manipur. He ruled first as regent from 1834 to 1844 and then as king for a period of s ...

, played a key role in driving out the Burmese from cachar and Manipur. The

First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese ...

was ended with the defeat of the Burmese. A peace treaty was signed between the Burmese and the British on 24 February 1826 known as the

Treaty of Yandaboo The Treaty of Yandabo ( my, ရန္တပိုစာချုပ် ) was the peace treaty that ended the First Anglo-Burmese War. The treaty was signed on 24February 1826, nearly two years after the war formally broke out on 5March 1824, by ...

. According to the article no.2 of the Treaty Gambhir Singh was declared the independent ruler of Manipur. Gambhir Singh reigned until his death on 9 January 1834. He was succeeded by his infant son Chandra Kirti with

as regent. The ''Khaki Ngamba'' mentions that on a Monday in either April or May 1829, Singh was passing through

Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...

whilst on a British expedition against the

Khasis The Khasi people are an ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India with a significant population in the bordering state of Assam, and in certain parts of Bangladesh. Khasi people form the majority of the population of the eastern part of M ...

. Two processions were being prepared by Sylhet's

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

communities respectively. The

Islamic month The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or ...

Muharram Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after R ...

in the

history of Sylhet The Greater Sylhet region predominantly includes the Sylhet Division in Bangladesh, and Karimganj district in Assam, India. The history of the Sylhet region begins with the existence of expanded commercial centres in the area that is now Sylhe ...

was a lively time during which

tazia Ta'zieh ( ar, تعزية; fa, تعزیه; ur, ) means comfort, condolence, or expression of grief. It comes from roots ''aza'' (عزو and عزى) which means mourning. Depending on the region, time, occasion, religion, etc. the word can sig ...

processions were common. This happened to fall on the same day as the

Hindu festival Across the globe, Hindus celebrate a diverse number of festivals and celebrations, typically marking events from ancient India and often coinciding with seasonal changes. These celebrations take place either on a fixed annual date on the solar ...

Rothjatra Ratha Yatra (), or Chariot festival, is any public procession in a chariot. The term particularly refers to the annual Ratha Yatra in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other East Indian states, particularly the Odia festival that involve a ...

. Sensing possible communal violence, the Faujdar of Sylhet,

Ganar Khan Nawab Ganar Khan ( bn, গনর খান, Gonor Khan, fa, ), also spelt Ganer Khan, was the final dependent Faujdar of Mughal Bengal's Sylhet Sarkar. He was the last Muslim to govern Sylhet although his rule was titular and did not hold much t ...

, ordered the Hindu community to delay their festival by one day. Contrary to the Nawab's order, a riot emerged between the two communities. As a

himself, Singh managed to defend the Hindus and disperse the Muslim rioters with his Manipuri troops. The Rothjatra was not delayed, and Singh stayed to take part in it. Revered by the Hindu community as a defender of their faith, he enjoyed the procession and initiated the practice of celebrating

and worshipping

Jagannath Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...

in his own homeland of

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...

References

External links

Modern Era
-

IIT Guwahati The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) is a public technical university established by the Government of India, located in Amingaon area, North Guwahati city, in the state of Assam in India. It is the sixth Indian Institute ...

* Frontline - 9 September 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Gambhir Meitei royalty Hindu monarchs 1789 births 1829 deaths

Biography

See also

References

External links