Marjit Singh was a Meitei king who ruled

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 Brit ...

between 1812 and 1819 as a vassal 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 ...

, but was eventually expelled by the Burmese.: "Marjit ruled over Manipur for seven years (1812-1819) as a vassal of the Burmese King." The Burmese devastated Manipur during a seven-year occupation that came to be known as '' Chahi-Taret Khuntakpa''.

Family

Marjit Singh was a son of Raja Ching-Thang Khomba, the ruler up to 1798. Afterwards, his numerous sons fought for the throne. Madhuchandra succeeded his father first. He fled to Cachar when the Burmese threatened the kingdom. He tried to regain it with the help of the Cachar king Govinda Chandra. However, he was killed by the troops of his brother, Chourjit Singh. During Chourjit Singh's reign, Marjit Singh fled to Cachar and got into a serious dispute there. Then he went to Burma and received the help of King

Bodawpaya Bodawpaya ( my, ဘိုးတော်ဘုရား, ; th, ปดุง; 11 March 1745 – 5 June 1819) was the sixth king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. Born Maung Shwe Waing and later Badon Min, he was the fourth son of Alaungpaya, fo ...

and expelled Chourjit Singh.

Rule

Marjit Singh ascended to the throne in 1812. Chourjit Singh, along with another brother

Gambhir Singh Chinglen Nongdrenkhomba (1788–1834), also known as Raja Gambhir Singh, was a ruler of the Manipur Kingdom. Biography He was a son of Chingthang Khomba. He succeeded his nephew Yumjaotaba in April 1821 during the seven years devastation. He ...

, fled to Cachar. Govinda Chandra refused to help them against a brother, but Marjit Singh invaded Cachar anyway in 1817. Chourjit and Gambhir Singh helped Gonvda Chandra fend off Marjit Singh, but they in turn drove out Govinda Chandra, took over Cachar and plundered it. At this stage, Marjit Singh appears to have gotten into trouble with the Burmese, who invaded the kingdom and expelled him.

Aftermath

The Burmese occupation lasted until 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 Burmes ...

in 1824, and became locally known as '' Chahi-Taret Khuntakpa''. It devastated Manipur. According Pemberto, Manipur was ‘doomed ... to the devastating visitation of Burmese armies which have nine or ten times swept the country from one extremity to the other, with the apparent determination of extirpating a race whom they found it impossible permanently to subdue.' Marjit Singh went to Cachar and joined his brothers. They divided Cachar among themselves, with Marjit occupying Hailakandi and Gambhir Singh took control of South Cachar. Chourjit took shelter in Sylhet.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Marjit Year of birth missing Year of death missing Meitei royalty Hindu monarchs

Family

Rule

Aftermath

See also

References

Bibliography