Commemorating the 107th Anglo-Kuki War (1917-1919): Kuki Tribes’ Forgotten Role in India’s Freedom Struggle

Once regarded as an insular geography beyond the reach of modernity, the Global Wars came to underpin an unprecedented colonial control and administrative expansion at the imperial North East Frontier of India. While the First World War witnessed massive recruitment for labour corps, pervasive militarization, and brutal military campaigns, the Second World War entailed how disruptive the colonial experience was for local societies such as the Kukis.

The Anglo-Kuki War 1917-1919

107 years ago, when other parts of India were busy mobilizing resources; combatants, non-combatants, labourers, funds and materials for the Great War, the Kukis of the Northeast frontier of India declared ‘war against the King-Emperor’. At the dawn of the twentieth century when the First World War broke out, the British Government of India initiated the recruitment of labour Corps for France. Subsequently, when orders were sent to the Kuki chiefs to participate in the labour corps, the principal Kuki chiefs opposed such orders. Their opposition to labour recruitment later turned into an armed resistance and the Kukis rose in open revolt against the British in March 1917. While the Anglo-Kuki War of 1917-1919 was a war fought against the British expansionist imperialism, the policy of labour recruitment decided the timing of the outbreak of the rebellion. Whereas the opposition started in March 1917, an active warfare and counterinsurgency operations went on for more than one year (December 1917 to May 1919), suspending two agriculture seasons and ending with the systematic destruction of villages, properties and all sources of livelihood. It was the ‘largest series of operations’ in the eastern frontier of India, eclipsed only by the Second World War in the region in 1944.

The introduction of the colonial administrative system prior to 1917 in the hill areas was perceived by the Kuki people as offensive, as they felt that the new administrative system had seriously undermined their identity, freedom and existence. Thus, the policy of the British Raj seeking to control the Kuki people by imposing land revenue, house-tax and forced labour fundamentally contradicted the principles and customs of the Kukis. With the imposition of such laws, the Kukis feared that the British would exploit their traditional village authority and economy completely within a short time. Then came the policy of labour recruitment.

Official Account of the Anglo-Kuki War

The ‘war against the King-Emperor’ and ‘the war against Her Majesty, the Queen’ was recorded by various British administrators, military officials and others and was referred under different names. Robert Ried termed it the ‘Kuki Rebellion’, the ‘most serious incident in the history of Manipur and its relations with its Hill subjects’ (Reid 1983 [1942]: 77), Colonel W.L. Shakespear (1929) referred to it as the ‘Anglo-Kuki Uprising, 1917-1919’, the ‘Revolt of the Thadou-Kukis’ (Ray 1990), the ‘Kuki Uprising 1917-1919’, (Bhadra 1975), ‘Kuki Anti-British Resistance’ (Bezbaruah 2010), etc. Recent scholarships referred to it as the ‘Kuki Rising’, ‘Kuki War of Independence’, ‘The Anglo-Kuki War’, ‘The Zou Gal’, and locally known as Saap Gal.

An extract from the proceeding of the Chief Commissioner of Assam by A.W. Botham, 27 September 1920 stated that:

• The Kuki rising of 1917-1919 … is the most formidable with which Assam has been faced for a least a generation… In all, the rebel villages held… covering over some 6,000 square miles of rugged hills surrounding the Manipur Valley and extending to the Somra Tract and the Thaungdut State in Burma.

• The rebellion in the Chin Hills and amongst the Kuki tribes of Manipur obliged the cessation of the war drafts to the Army, as it was not long before every available man of the Assam Rifles was required to suppress the rising in co-operation with the Burma Military Police force. It took a year and a half of continuous active service in mountainous country on the part of 2400 of the Assam Rifles and 3000 of the Burma Military Police before order was finally restored. (Shakespear 1929:197)

He further recorded that the Kuki rising was ‘the largest series of military operations conducted on this side of India since the old expeditionary days.’

Sir Robert Reid, another official historian, in his book History of the Frontier Areas, recorded that:

• That most serious incident in the history of Manipur and its relations with its Hill subjects was the Kuki Rebellion. Commencing in the closing days of 1917, it cost 28 lakhs of rupees to quell, and in the course of it many lives were lost. (Reid 1942:79)

J.H. Hutton, the then D.C. of Naga Hills and a political officer of Kuki operations, who was well versed with Kuki life and lore, also wrote:

• The operations against the rebellious Thado of the Manipur State in 1918 and 1919 led to a very much better acquaintance with him, and from then onwards the more I have seen of the Thado, the more I have respected him and the better I have liked him. (Hutton 1983)

Facts and Figures

According to British official account, 7650 transport coolies were deployed and the number of casualties on the British troops included 60 dead, including one British officer, 142 wounded including three British officers and 97 deaths due to diseases. Casualties incurred on the transport coolies included 7 killed by Kukis, while 396 died of diseases.

The official estimate of casualties on the Kuki side includes 120 men who were killed in action. As many as 126 Kuki villages were burnt down by British troops, and the total number of villages mercilessly punished and coerced to surrender includes 140 villages. The destruction of properties includes food grains, granaries, livestock, including 576 mithuns. (Reid, History of Frontier Areas)

17 October and its Significance

On 14 October 1917, the Political Agent of Manipur took 50 rifles from Imphal and headed to Mombi (Lonpi) via Kakching-Sugnu road to arrest its chief, Ngulkhup. After reaching the village, lambus were sent out to inform Ngulkhup to give himself up. When the chief refused, Captain Heggins, before his party returned, burnt down all the houses and properties of Mombi on the morning of 17 October. The burning of Mombi displeased the Kukis in general, and the Mombi Kukis in particular, that the course of their relationship with the government changed. After the burning of Mombi, the villagers went back to their charred village and rebuilt. The chief, Ngulkhup declared his country ‘closed’ to Sahibs and Sarkaris and issued an order to hillmen that no one should go to the plains. The Mombi incident spread like wild fire and reached the Chassad chief, Pache. This was followed by war councils held in different parts of the Kuki hills. Amongst the war councils held in different parts, the Chassad war council was the most prominent and significant one. The resolution was solemnized with Kuki customary war rite called Sathin-Salung-neh (feasting on the liver and heart of animal).

Such a war rite could be termed as the highest form of vow that symbolizes true commitment and supreme sacrifice against the enemy. The day has been now observed as the Anglo-Kuki War Day.

The Second World War and the Kuki Participation

It has been generally accepted by scholars that the Second World War was a turning point in the making of modern South Asia with the subsequent advent of nation-states in postcolonial times. While some fits ‘in the grand narrative of British decolonization and Indian Freedom Struggle’, others still remain obscured from the ‘autobiography of the Independent Indian nation state’.

The Second World War came at a time of struggle for India’s independence and the Indian National Army (INA) became prominent with an aim to liberate India. With INA and the Japanese Imperial Army fighting alongside, the idea of liberation from the colonial yoke gained momentum and the voice of liberation echoed the hills. Thus, the Second World War transformed the North East Frontier from an unknown periphery to Centre of international politics.

The participation of local societies such as the Kukis was a recognition of the rising tide against anti-colonial nationalism. Even though many hill tribes had always been keen to aid the British, as the war progressed, communities such as the Kukis were receptive to the idea of self-determination. This prompted them to be enlisted as guides and later as regular army of the INA in increasing numbers. For instance, the Kukis participated as ‘men of war’ alongside the Japanese Army in a desperate way out to ‘shake off their bondage under the Raj’ as the war offered new possibilities of freedom and independence from the British Raj.

Available data suggest that the number of Kuki INA soldiers killed by Allied forces was 24, the number of men arrested inside Burma and later deported to Calcutta jail was 15, and altogether, 586 were arrested and imprisoned in India. The number of Kukis who ‘went underground’ was estimated as 5,377 which brings to a total of at least 6,000 Kukis who have actively participated and helped the Japanese Imperial Army and the Indian National Army.

The war years of 1942-45 was also marked by severe crop failure and people resorted to wild roots and other forest produce for themselves and for the starving soldiers. It was in this condition that the Kukis were able to guide the weary Japanese and INA soldiers and provide them food and shelter.