Razouvotuo Chatsu
Chairman Chümoukedima Village Council
I am constrained to issue this statement in regard to the historical background of Dimapur and its contiguity towards the Mikir hills of Assam on the background of series of claims and demands through mass media to own these lands in the recent pasts. The Chümoukedima traditional Angami village who had direct affinity with the plains of KUDA (Our ancestral name of Dimapur) now Dimapur hereby share the undeniable and irrefutable historical facts to repel the misconceptions and also those elements out to flare up violence, out to disturb the age-old friendship, peace and understanding with our neighbours. I on behalf of the mentioned traditional village would like to state the following:
A short history of the Cachari Kingdom, which had its capital in Dimapur once upon a time and later shifted to North Cachar, would provide considerable clarification on the picture of the history of the Area.
The Cachari Raja had his capital first in Gherghoon in Jorhat District of Assam and during the reign of Chakrodoz, its fourth Raja; the Assamese drove him away from Gherghoon. Chakrodoz fled to Dimapur and established his Capital there on the right bank of the Dhansiri River.
The kingdom flourished considerably well in Dimapur; 3 huge ponds, an impressive beautiful Brick Gate, perhaps the first of the kind of the period and Stone Pillars decorated with intricate designs, constructed during their time are seen in Dimapur today bear witness.
Then on hearing the approach of Kalapar, a great brahmin Warrior who converted to Islam and became destroyer of the hindu Rajas, Chakrodoz fled to Mybong in the Hills of North Cachar.
After two years, he came down to Dimapur with some of his fighting men and happened to meet one Assamese Phukon who informed him that the invaders had left and there was no danger.
Believing it to be true, the Raja and his men settled down to make camp and cook. Then all of a sudden, the Assamese fell on the Raja and his men.
Chakrodoz fled with the remaining of his men to Mybong again and died there. Several of his successors also died in Mybong and the Court moved to Cashpore in Cachar.
Dimapur was once again deserted and in the process became a thick and big jungle. It became the abode of wild animals, elephants, rhinoceros, wild buffalo, wild Boars and tigers. The Cachari inhabitants dispersed here and there and to various places of Assam, their population became very thin.
During the first few decades of the nineteenth Century, Manipur and Ahom Kingdoms were in great turmoil with several unworthy claimants fighting for the Throne with Burmese forces called in for help.
The Burmese became the actual controller of the puppet Rajas of Manipur and Assam. The Ava king was arrogant and disrespectful of foreigners and began to cast his eyes even towards the British territory of Bengal also.
In 1826, the British declared War on the Ava King, and drove them out of Manipur and Assam. They then made the Rajas accept supplementary Treaties of Yandaboo and a British Secretary in the Court of the Rajas who will govern the land now in consultation with the Secretary on important matters of governance. The Rajas could not now maim any of his subjects or award capital punishment without the approval of the British Secretary.
The easiest line of communication between Burma and Bengal lay through Cachar, at that time under Dacca. The British took out Cachar from Dacca and added it to Nowgong District of Assam.
At this time, Tularam Senapati was the chief Ruler of Kachar. Tularam Senapati was the son of Kecha Din who was a Table Servant of the Raja of Kachar Govin Chunder who had no male descendants. The Raja gave Kacha Din an appointment to an office in North Cachar Hills.
He rebelled against his master Raja Govin Chunder in 1813. Govin Chunder enticed him to the Plain and had him assassinated.
Tularam, the son of Kacha Din, set out to avenge the death of his father and with the help of the Burmese managed to hold out in the Hills of North Cachar against every effort by the Raja Govin Chunder to expel him from there.
Tularam handed over his forces to his cousin Govin Ram who defeated the Raja Govin Chunder, but turned against Tularam. Tularam, got the help of the Manipuris, drove away his cousin Govin Ram, and then submitted himself to Raja Govin Chunder.
During these turbulent decades, marauding batches of Angamis could easily moved into North Cachar territory for plunder and capture British subjects as prisoners to sell them very profitably to Bengali Slave Traders in Sylhet.
And in spite of a line of British armed Posts stretching from Gorompani near Golaghat to Bokolia, Haflong and to Assaloo, they could not stopped the Angami depredation on the British subjects in North Cachar year after year.
The British entrusted Tularam Senapati to establish a line of posts in his Territory to control the incursions of the Angamis but Tularam in 1836 complained and protested that he has no control over the Naga villages and the Angamis.
Tolaram handed over his responsibilities to his sons Nokoolram and Brijnath Burman but the British arrogated the responsibilities for their raiding Naga Villages and gave them Pension in lieu of collecting the Revenues from the land.
The British decided to abandoned their station at Asaloo and transfer it to Samoogooting (Chümoukedima) in 1842. They wanted to make agreements with the Nagas there and enquired about the King of the village, but Mr. JATSOLIE (DOTSOLIE), the chief warrior of Chümoukedima and the Chümoukedima Villagers said they have no King and pointed to their Spears set on the ground as their King. Realizing that the people have no kings, the British then never made Treaties with Chümoukedima and any tribe of the Nagas.
The Angami incursions into the British territory, followed by expensive Government reprisal Expeditions against the Villages in the next cold season, carried on year after year without rest.
It so exasperated not only the Directors of the East India Trading Company but also the Governor General of India Lord Dalhousie who said that the burning is not even worth the candle. The Governor General ordered that the barbaric wild tribes be left alone to themselves in their jungles and the Government should only protect its own Territory.
This Policy of non-Interference continued for some time but the Angami Naga did not cease their depredation on the British Territory.
In 1841 Lieutenant Biggs carried out his tour of the Angami country and concluded friendly ties with most of the leading villages; a depot of Salt was opened at Dimapur. In 1844 when an Assistant was sent to collect Tributes, but the Chiefs defied him and absolutely refused to pay. They followed this up by a series of daring raids into the British territory.
In 1843, one Huri Das who was in Nowgong Jail earlier, on the employ of Manipur was also suspected of assisting Khonoma to attack Mezoma. Six Kacharis with muskets Huri Das had sent were found in Mezoma Village in support of Chief Zievilie against his opponent Chief Nitholie of the same Village.
The two Chiefs went to Gauhati and made peace in front of the Agent of the Viceroy and returned home but when the Daroga Bhogchand of Samoogooting arrested the Cacharis from the Village and were being taken down to Samoogooting, the two Chiefs together waylaid and killed him at Piphema.
The tenth expedition of the British in 1850 left the plain to relieve Lieutenant Vincent in the Hills, and after capturing the strong fort at Khonoma and fighting one of the bloodiest battles in the Hills at Kikrüma, the troops returned from the hills in 1851.
In the same year 1851, there were no less than 22 Naga raids on which 55 persons killed, 10 wounded and 113 taken captive from North Cachar.
In 1878, the Post at Samoogooting was shifted to Kohima to control the Angamis from inside their own country.
The next year 1879, the Angamis under the leadership of Khonoma attacked the British Fort at Kohima but after 14 days under Siege, relief forces from Wokha, Manipur and Dimapur lifted the Siege, ending the biggest battle ever between the British and the Angamis in the Naga Country.
Tularam Senapati said he has no control over the Angamis, and this area consists of a big territory of North Cachar which includes a lot of land on the right bank of Dhansiri River from the ancient Cachari capital of Dimapur to the confluent of Munglumuk and Dhansiri and beyond covering the whole of the Intangki Wildlife Sanctuary.
Since the taking over of the Ahom Kingdom of Assam by the British in 1826 as per the Supplementary Agreement to the Treaty of Yandabo, the Assam Kingdom of Raja Purunder Singh was ceded to British and his Southern boundary was declared limited to the Northern Bank of the Dhansiri River in no uncertain Terms.
Prior to the creation of Naga Hills District in 1866, the British always described the area as Angami Country or Naga Country, and the Dimapur Area has always been continuously a part of Naga Hill District for the last 172 years today.
On the eve of Indian Independence in 1947, the Sub-Committee of the Constituent Assembly, Premier Gopinath Bordoloi as the Chairman of the Sub-Committee for the Northeast, discussed the Issue of Dimapur area thoroughly, strongly and often hotly debated in the Meeting at Shillong.
The Naga National Council represented by its President Mr. T. Aliba Imti and NNC Representative Mr. Khelhoshe Sema has, in no uncertain term, strongly argued the Dimapur Area belongs to Naga Hills. Mr. Aliba finally said, “I may lose a battle but I cannot go home a traitor”. When Mr. Kheloshe Sema’s turn came to speak, he said to the Chairman, “Sir, What our member said is the soul of Nagas”.
It was the British recognition, from the earliest times, of Dimapur Area as not only under Angami Control but also the surrounding buffer Areas as Angami Area of Influence that the East India Company established Tea Gardens only far away from Dimapur though Tea plants(trees) was found first growing wild in the Jungles around Dimapur.
The Dimapur Area has been continuously a part of Naga Hill District for the last 172 years today. When the British established their Post in Chümoukedima in 1842, the Village was in the 27th Generation (810 years) since its establishment and the whole Dimapur Plains as far as the eyes could see was in our jurisdiction.
In 1840 when ER. Grange started from Nowgong on a Tour of Naga Country, he found Cacharees around Mohondjoa, Nerondlea and Bokolea in Mikir Hills; he recorded “The Cacharees here, till within two years past, have been obliged to pay tribute to Nagas of Sumoogoding, to preserve peace. The tribute consisted of a cow or a bullock, and one mound of salt per annum” – Verrier Elwin: The Nagas in the Nineteenth Century, P/218.
