Churachandpur/ Lamka
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Lamka
Sukrita Baruah, July 10, 2023: The Indian Express
What is the history behind ‘Lamka’?
The names ‘Lamka’ and ‘Churachandpur’ are both a little over a hundred years old. According to Lam Khan Piang, Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Hyderabad, the name ‘Lamka’ — which means ‘crossroads’ in Kuki dialects — can be traced to the 1917-1919 Anglo-Kuki War. The conflict was a result of Kuki chiefs opposing British demands for recruiting people in the Labour Corps for World War I (between 1914 and 1918).
The first road in question, he said, was the Tipaimukh Road that was to connect Imphal with a centre set up by Missionaries in 1910, in Songpi village — close to the current town of Churachandpur. By the time the Anglo-Kuki war began in 1917, Piang said, the British needed a way to reach Hiangtam, a village at the centre of the rebellion, currently located at the Indo-Myanmar border.
“When the British had to begin their punitive measures, or to wage the war, they started making a road to reach there… Tiddim Road was constructed by the British to go to Hiangtam village. So, the place where the already existing road Tipaimukh Road met this new road was the crossword, was ‘Lamka’,” he said.
What about the history of Churachandpur?
The name Churachandpur — which was first introduced in the area in 1921 — draws from Churachand Singh, the king of the Manipur Kingdom from 1891 to 1941. Following the end of the Anglo-Kuki War in 1919, which the Kukis lost, the administration of the hills surrounding the Manipur kingdom was re-organised and brought under regular administrative control by the British, who divided it into three sub-divisions. The southwestern subdivision inhabited by Kuki-Zomi communities had its headquarters at Songpi.
In his 1996 book, This is Lamka, scholar Tualchin Neihsial wrote that in 1921, B.C. Gasper — the British Sub-Divisional Officer of Songpi — threw a feast in honour of those who had been recruited for the Labour Corps to France and had returned, also inviting the Maharaja.
“On that occasion, Songpi, the Sub-Divisional Headquarters, was renamed as Churachandpur after the name of Maharaja Churachand. It was announced by the lambu [interpreter] that the name of Songpi was changed to Churachandpur from that day, and that anybody who called it Songpi would be sent to jail,” Neihsial wrote. Gauhati University Assistant Professor of History, D. Letkhojam Haokip, presents a slightly different version. According to him, the Maharaja had been welcomed to the reception ceremony by Semthong Haokip, the Chief of Songpi, who said that the name would be changed. “It was the outcome of a cordial relationship between the Chief and the Maharaja,” he said.
Both versions, however, agree that locals were not happy with this, and in any case, this administrative set-up itself was dismantled in 1930.
How has the name been perceived since then?
Over the years, the centre of activity in the area moved from Songpi to Lamka as the latter grew and the town became the district headquarters of Manipur South District in 1969, when Manipur was divided into districts for the first time.
The district continued to be known as Manipur South District until a Revenue Department order of 1983 was issued, naming the districts after their headquarters. It named the district and its headquarters Churachandpur.
In his book, Neihsial had written of a public reaction with many parallels to present-day images. “The Students’ Union demanded that Lamka should be retained and Churachandpur discarded. They asked the shopkeepers to erase their signboards bearing Churachandpur but to write Lamka instead,” he wrote, adding that buses plying between Imphal and the town were asked to use a label stating that their destination (or starting point) was Lamka.
While that was 40 years ago, this has bubbled over as an emotive issue again in the heat of the ongoing conflict, as many stakeholders from the Kuki-Zomi community emphasise historical autonomy from the Manipur kingdom.
“Locals see it as a way of colonising, that’s why they are sentimental over the name. There have been unsuccessful demonstrations earlier, but people are even more sentimental now because of the outbreak of state-sponsored violence,” Dr Haokip said.
“When the name of the district was changed in 1983, the matter was not even discussed in the assembly. The consent of the local people was never taken to change the name. And secondly, Churachand Singh had never ruled there. It was the British who conquered us and took control of the administration… To the people, it doesn’t make sense for your forefathers’ land to be named after a king who never ruled over it… Lamka brings back the memory of resistance to the British during the 1917-1919 war,” said Piang.
