There is a need for good historical work in Manipur. A civilization with 2,000 years of history lacks accurate, genuine, and well-researched works to be proud of. Although several attempts have been made in the past, it does not live up to the expectations of readers and researchers. Most of the historical work lacks authenticity, evidence, and references to support the writings. The late Karam Manimohan Singh’s work on “NUPI LAL (Manipuri Women’s War)” is the complete story of Nupi Lal in Manipur. This book tells us not only about the event and its consequences from 1904 to 1939, but also the factors that led to the great uprisings from 1851.
It is rightly said that one’s interests and dedication to pursuit is more important than one’s career choice. Although he is a professor of English and earned his PhD in English from Benaras Hindu University, Manimohan’s work on Manipur’s history is incredible. Today’s historian cannot imagine writing a work as grotesque as Karam Manimohan Singh.
In this book, the author highlights the vices and abuses in administration practiced by the reigning Rajas of Manipur. The British policy of “hands-off” in the internal management of the state no doubt enhanced the undesirable habits and ruthless antipathy of the Raja that was manifested all the time towards the poor and downtrodden, to grow to gigantic size without limit.
The first Nupi Lan in 1904 was clearly the work of Rajkumars who did not like the selection of Chura Chand Singh as the Raja of Manipur. These Rajkumars were inciting women to resist British rule.
The historic demonstration of Manipuri women for their great disgust at the absolutist mode by British officials came in 1904 when Lt. Col. H St. P Maxwell issued an order to temporarily resuscitate the Lalup system (a forced laborer where men between the ages of 17 and 60 worked freely for 10 days every forty days duration) in order to force the inhabitants of the town of Imphal to rebuild the Assistant Political Agent’s bungalow which burned down. Maxwell attributed the burning of the town of Imphal, instigated by the Rajkumars of the late ruling clan, as a sign of his great displeasure with Raja Chura Chand, who was appointed independently and breaking the traditional primogeniture lie by the British.
The women were guided by the simple thought that their husbands had refused to submit to Lalup’s work, which has now become illegal and therefore causes the penalties of punishment for the women.
On the historic day of October 5, 1904, as soon as the Political Agent returned from his morning walk, he found some 3,000 Manipuri women gathered in his compound, and within a very few minutes, another 2,000 had arrived and began shouting at once. Maxwell once wrote a very regrettable comment on this event as follows:
“It’s very hard to know how to deal with a crowd of feral cats like this, but I’ll be careful to disperse them next time before they become numerous.”
An important factor, which aroused the angry feelings of the Manipuri against the Marwari traders, was that the latter were not allowed to export rice from Manipur on the condition that they stop when the price of rice rose to Rs 3 per mound. But certain Marwaris were granted the pass to export the rice to fulfill the purposes of the Government, even during the time of the ban. The grievance was that many of the Marwari traders, without even considering the needs of the public, had always tried to avoid the restriction under cover of the Red Pass.
The impact of the uprising was so great that it severely influences the state administration.
Mr EF Lydall commented that,
“In addition to this loss of confidence, the Women’s War caused a collapse of the Administration, manifested mainly by the insufficiency, both in number and efficiency, of the State Police.”
Karam Manimohan Singh talks more deeply about the causes, impacts and reforms in the state. The war which began as an agitation by the women of Imphal against the export of rice was gradually taken over by Nikhil Manipuri Mahasabha, under the leadership of Hijan Irabot Singh and used as a tool to ferment agitation in Congress lines.
The book is divided into thirteen chapters and a conclusion. The writer takes pains by adding a few pages for additional information about the chronology of events, glossary of words, 15 sets of appendices and most importantly the photos of the brave women who led the 1939 women’s war. Nupi Lan is a bestselling work for the author who has previously published two more books on the history of Manipur: Hijam Rabot Singh and Political Movements in Manipur (1989) and History of Christian Missions in Manipur and other neighboring States (1991).
Nupi Lan, Karam Manimohan Singh
Posted by K Premlata Devi
Hardcover and bound, 331 pages
Price 400 rupees
