Balaram Sougaijamba : The forgotten General of Manipur

Yambem Laba
There are no monuments or institutions or streets named after him in Manipur today and many of the younger generation of the Manipuri people have not heard of him. The State Government has not also held any function to honour him. Yes, one is talking of General Balaram Sougaijamba, who played a vital role in the shaping of Manipur and fixing of the present political entity of Manipur. Born sometime in 1805 to Sougaijam Hari Singh of Moirangkhom, Imphal, his family was one of the thousands that had to endure the wrath of the Burmese forces in 1819. The Burmese had invaded Manipur with a vengeful motive of inflicting a fatal blow to the body and psyche of the Manipuri in retaliation for the sufferings inflicted on them at the hands of the Manipuri rulers earlier.
And long before Adolf Hitler had perfected the art of mass extermination of Jews through poison gassing in specifically built chambers, the Burmese had devised a similar method in Manipur then. They would herd Manipuri families inside their houses and shut the doors. And since poison gases were yet to be invented then the Burmese occupational forces hit upon the idea of burning basketfuls of dried chillies inside the houses where the Manipuris were entrapped. The emitting smoke of the burning chillies with no escape vents would simply choke the Manipuris to death. Then they also herded thousands to Burma as captives, not chained but simply by stabbing a hole through the palms of their hands and inserting a long vine through which it was held on both ends by a Burmese captor.
Those who escaped death or captivity by the invaders made the long exodus for safety in neighbouring countries in Assam and then Bengal. Sougaijam Hari and his young son Balaram were also amongst those who fled to Cachar District in Assam, where they had settled down to eke out a new life. But amongst the thousands of the Manipuris who had fled the country were the Manipuri ruler Gambhir Singh and his brothers Narsingh and Chourjit. Gambhir was aware that his predecessor, the King of Manipur, had in 1762 signed a pact with the East India Company in which both sides had agreed to come to each other's assistance.
The British were looking for an ally to counter growing French interest in the South and Southeast Asian region then. It did not take long for the East India Company to respond to the call for help from Manipuri ruler Gambhir Singh to help to oust the Burmese occupiers of the country. So on 30 July 1824, the Manipur Levy was raised at a place called Jutrapur in the Cachar District of Assam with Lt Colonel Inns CB, and assisted by Captain Grant and Lieutenant Pemberton, they trained the expatriate Manipuris in modern British-style military warfare.
The 500- strong Manipur Levy comprised 460 infantry, which also consisted of 5 subedars, 10 jamadars, 10 havildars, 23 naiks, and 412 sepoys, and a 40-strong cavalry of Manipuri horsemen, which had 4 sirdars and 36 cavalrymen. Being able horsemen, both Hari Singh and his son Balaram were enlisted in the Cavalry, father Hari being number 18 and son Balaram in the 38th in the muster roll of the Levy. The Levy, led by Narsingh, soon swept down into the Manipur valley and drove the Burmese out and chased them way back into Burma, chasing them across the Chindwin. Young Balaram, who was yet to cross his teens, was also in the thick of the battles all the way across the border.
Then in 1826 the Burmese authorities inked a treaty with the British, which in history is today known as the Treaty of Yandaboo, by which the Burmese were made to recognise Manipur as a sovereign State. Thereafter the British placed a political agent in Imphal to safeguard its interests in the region. Gambhir Singh died soon after having liberated Manipur from the British. He left behind an infant son, Chandrakriti, whose mother, Kumudini, was suspicious that her husband's brother, Narsingh, might want to seize the throne for himself. She soon fled for Cachar with young Chandrakriti.
Then Narsingh began to rule Manipur as the Prince Regent. Then his eyes soon fell on young Balaram, who had already shown his prowess on the battlefields and his acute sense of administrative justice. He was made a Senapati of the army by Narsingh and given his daughter Wangngamlan Kheledraswari to be his wife. And after Wangamlan passed away, Balaram married her younger sister, Tonusana, again.
Then after Narsingh’s demise, Chadrakriti returned to Manipur as its ruler and retained the service of Balaram. Then when Sir James Johnstone arrived in Manipur as the political agent and began taking an active role in the streamlining of the affairs of Manipur, like fixing the boundaries of Manipur in 1881, Balaram was the representative of the Maharajah in Johnstone’s venture. Then in 1885, when the Burmese Government attacked and seized the Bombay- Burma Company, which was involved in logging, it held hostage British and other Europeans stationed at Kendat. This had provoked the 3rd Anglo- Burmese War. The British forces were led by Colonel Johnstone, along with Balaram as head of the Manipuri soldiers accompanying Johnstone. The Europeans were freed and brought to Imphal for safe passage to India.
The British Government’s hold over Burma was complete after Kendet. The last Burmese ruler was taken prisoner and exiled to a place near Goa where he died in captivity. A grateful British Government of India then directed the Chief Commissioner of Assam to honour Major Balaram for his contribution to the final and complete control of that country. Burma continued to be administered from India till the 1935 India Act was passed. The Burma- Bombay company soon came to the hands of the Wadia’s of Bombay, whose brand, the Bombay Dyeing, became a household name in fabrics.
General Balaram, who was also referred to as Ayangpoorel and Polia Major in the annals of Manipur, also played a leading role in the subduing of the Akamhoas, Kamhaos to the British and also referred to as Lushais and now Mizos, who had been attacking the tea estates in Cachar during the lean season and had the audacity to abduct the daughter of the British tea estate owner, prompting the British to lead a punitive expedition to the Lushai Hills. That was earlier in 1871-72. The Manipur contingent was led by Balaram, who was now a Major General, and he camped at Behiang, the last Manipur post on the Imphal-Tiddim road. The Akamhaos had captured some 957 Paites (Chins) in Burma and some other hill tribesmen to be their slaves.
They were freed by Balaram, and King Chandrakriti had them settled on the plains southwest of Moirang and some along the Thangjing ranges, and they were provided food for a year until they were able to grow their own crops. This, according to journalist and author Pradip Phanjoubam, was the beginning of the settlement that led to the creation of present-day Churachandpur district, which the Kuki-Zo-Chin communities are today demanding to be Kukiland.
The Akamhao Chief Kokatang and his other followers were brought to Imphal and lodged in prison, where Kokatang died in custody due to cholera. Pradip adds that since Balaram was kept as the man in charge of the entire operation, including their resettlement and well-being, the new settlers began developing a deep bond between them and him and considered him as one of their own. He also recollected that being a descendent of the General from his mother’s side, how many Kuki chiefs came to the house of his grandfather when he died. But things took a serious turn when, as the Kuki-Meitei turmoil began, a spanner in the works was thrown in when the Kukis began claiming that General Balaram was originally a Kuki being of the Singson Clan. This had created quite a confusion in the minds of the Meiteis, but now that his genealogy has been laid clear, there should be no further confusion on that count. Speaking to The Statesman, Anita Sougaijam (photo left), representing the General Balaram Sougai-jamba Foundation, said that it is unfortunate that the general died on the 2nd of May in 1889, two years before the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891, and hence his name is not much remembered as those involved in that war.
However, his contribution to the making of Manipur should be recognised, which the present and past Governments of Manipur have been failing to do so far. She added that the General’s statue, erected and installed at his birthplace in Moirangkhom, has been funded by purely private contributions from family members and other well-wishers. We are not asking for a State holiday to commemorate his name, but at least an institution can be named after him so that his name continues to be associated with Manipur. My personal suggestion is that the present Manipur Police Training College located at Pangei can be named as the General Balaram Police Training Academy.
The writer is a senior journalist at The Statesman