By H.H.Mohrmen
This year will mark the one hundred sixtieth anniversary of the day when U Kiang Nangbah was hanged by the British for leading the fight against the British government. To commemorate the auspicious event this column will bring out articles about the rebellion which will hopefully be published in the form of a book later. This particular column deals with the kind of relationship the British had with the other native rulers and the relationship of the other Khasi Syiems (chieftains) with the Jañtia rebels.
A Society in Disarray
The British are known for perfecting the art of exploiting the weaknesses of their opponents and they made the best use of this tactic in their fight against the Jañtia rebellion. They used the Khasis who remain non-committal to the cause of the rebellion and those who sympathised with the British government to their advantage. Noticing that the Syiems of the other Khasi syiemship did not join hands with the Jañtia in their fight against the government, they made the best use of the situation to further their interests. Even the Jañtia society of those days was not a monolithic community without differences. There were people who did not support u Kiang Nangbah.
The people who rebelled against the British during the Jañtia rebellion were mainly the Pnar and the War of the hills portion of the erstwhile Jañtia kingdom. But it is also true that even in the highlands of the erstwhile kingdom, not all the Daloi supported the rebellion. The British knew this and in fact, there are some Daloi who asked for the protection of the government for their people against the attacks of the rebels.
When Captain Morton suggested the idea of using the friendly Khasis and to engage then in direct fight with the rebels, A. Eden, officiating Secretary to the Government of Bengal, in his letter to the officiating Commissioner of Assam, – (No 2524, dated 18 November 1862), stated that the Lieutenant Governor is not in favour of sending armed tribal chiefs to the battlefield. But he instead suggested that the government can use the friendly Khasis by enrolling them temporarily as police under the officer of the particular force.
The Reward for the arrest of u Kiang Nangbah
When the government realized the futility of its efforts to get the rebels to surrender; to stop the rebellion the Lieutenant Governor authorized the officers in the field to apprehend the leaders of the rebels. The government even offered a reward of Rupees 1000 for the capture of u Kiang Nangbah and not exceeding Rupees 500 for the arrest of the other rebel Dalois.
The support that Hima Nongkhlaw rendered to the British
Major J.C. Haughton, officiating Commissioner of Assam & Governor General’s Agent, North East Frontier, in his communication to officiating Secretary to the government of Bengal – (No. 170, dated Cherrapunjee, the 12th November 1862) informed about the journey. He reported that he had arrived at the station at Cherrapunjee from Assam and described the arduous journey that he and his troops had walking from Guwahati to Cherrapunjee via Nongkhlaw.
The journey to Cherrapunjee via Nongkhlaw was on a road which was in a deplorable condition and he reached his destination with much difficulty. In his communication he suggested that the road needs repairs as it is the only outlet for commerce to a large track of country. Haughton said that on reaching Mairang he was met by a welcoming party arranged by the Syiem of Nongkhlaw. There were about thirty men deputed by the Syiem of Nongkhlaw to meet the British officer and his company at Mairang. The Kur of the Syiem, his Chief Officers and several others and his Myntris met Major Haughton at the first stage of their journey from Guwahati too. They sent about fifty coolies to carry the officer’s baggage and arranged many more men to help the British while they were at the different stages of the journey while they were within the territory of Hima Nongkhlaw.
Haughton noted that though the king of Nongkhlaw did not himself attend to Haughton and his party, his myntris, his officers and his kur (clans people) came to meet the British officer. Haughton said that he was told that the Syiem was not well so he was not able to meet Haughton but in reality Haughton was of the opinion that the Syiem’s indisposition was because he was inebriated. Haughton said that the Syiem’s representatives provided his entourage all the much-needed help while they were in Nongkhlaw Syiemship.
Considering the severity of threat posed by the Jañtia rebels, J.C. Haughton ordered withdrawal of forces from Nongkhlaw to use them to suppress the Jañtia rebellion. Major Haughton also warned the Syiem of Nongkhlaw of any activity which might be adverse to the interests of the British government. He warned and impressed upon the Syiem that he is responsible for the peace of his region and for the protection of each and every British subject that passes through his territory.
In the Jañtia rebellion, the Hima Nongkhlaw did not fight against the Jañtia and neither did they provide direct support to the British in their fight against the rebels. The Hima was instead compelled to provide logistics to the British force that passed through their chieftainship in their journey from Assam to the hills.
The Jañtias not only had to fight against the foreign forces but their battle was affected because there were members of their own community who were compelled to work against the cause. Haughton also mentioned in his report that the rebels had even reached out to those who maintained neutral positions both in the Khasi and Jaiñtia region and requested them to join hands with the government in its efforts to crush the rebellion. He had even received feelers from some of these groups who requested the government to send troops to protect their territories against the perceived attack from the rebels. The Jañtia rebels were not only left alone in their fight against the mighty British Empire but they were even betrayed by their own people.
The worldview of the Jañtias during Kiang Nangbah’s time
In the last part of 1800 AD the tribal people were still aloof in the hills and had very little interaction with the outside world. Their closest neighbours were the people in the plains of what is now known as Bangladesh. The proximity with this section of the population is also because this part of the plains area was then part of the same Jañtia kingdom.
The Jañtia kings who had ruled the kingdom from the 1500s were one of the very few flourishing tribal monarchies. They were one of the few kingdoms in North East India that minted their own coins. So undoubtedly those at the helm of power would have a better worldview than their subjects in the hills area. The general assumption is that the Pnar and the War of that time would not have known anything beyond Jaintiapur or Sylhet, or at the most their worldview would be limited to Calcutta only. But the records from the correspondence of the British military officers stationed in the region and their superiors in Calcutta prove all this wrong.
Major Haughton in his correspondence with the officers in Calcutta said that the rebels were campaigning to enroll fighters to join the rebellion. He said that the rebels sent messages to call for others to join and fight the British. The tactics used to enroll such volunteers was either by persuasion or by threatening those who were skeptical or those who worked against the rebellion. It also mentioned that the rebels knew about the military party which advanced from the area and sent a detachment for North Cachar to create disturbances in the region.
The interesting information shared by Haughton was that the rebels even boasted that they had sent messages to the King of Burmah/Burma and the Emperor of Russia for assistance. This simple information tells us of the worldviews of the people at that time and that their knowledge was not limited to the areas neighbouring the kingdom. It testifies to the fact that the Jaintia rebels knew that the British government was indeed very powerful, but they also knew of other empires which were equally powerful.
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