Mombi, Manipur

This article is about the village in Manipur, India. For fictional character, see Mombi.

Mombi Lonpi
Mombi Location in Manipur, India Mombi Mombi (India)
Coordinates: 24°06′37″N 93°56′20″E
Country	India
State	Manipur
District	Chandel
Population  (2011)
• Total	464
Language(s)
• Official	Meitei (Manipuri)
• Regional	Kuki-Chin languages
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)

Mombi, original name Lawmpi or Lonpi, is a census village in the Chandel district in the Manipur state of India. It had a population of 464 in the 2011 census.

Mombi is a village of historical significance. It is believed to have been under the control of Kamhau-Sukte tribes until 1894, when the Manipur–Chin Hills boundary commission transferred it to Manipur. The burning of the Lonpi village by the British on 17 October 1917 launched the Anglo-Kuki War that lasted two years.

Geography

The Gazetteer of Manipur (1886) mentions the village Mombi as being situated on a head-stream of the Chakpi River, which is a left tributary of the Manipur River. The head-stream in question is the Tuiyang or Tuingam River. The Survey of India map, however, places the village on the ridge adjascent to the Tuiyang river valley. The ridge houses the State Highway from Sugnu to the Myanmar border near the Laijang village (with Lallum being on the opposite side of the border in Myanmar).

The entire ridge possibly consitutes the "Lonpi/Mombi village". At the northern end of the ridge, which dips into the valley is a "New Mombi" village, adjacent to Kuljang, which is mentioned in some documents. At the southeastern end of the ridge is a peak, which the Government of Manipur has designated as a scenic attraction called "Lonpi Gamvet Mol".

History

According to the Gazetteer of Manipur, the village of Mombi was settled by the Mangvung clan of "new Kukis" (who were known as "Khongjais" in Manipur). However, according to scholar Pum Khan Pau, it was a Thadou Kuki village. The Thadou were probably displaced from Mualpi in Chin Hills, and reused that name (spelt "Mombi" in English) for their new village.

During the rule of Regent Nara Singh (r. 1834–1850), the Kamhau-Sukte tribes apparently took possession of Mualpi and made several raids on southeastern Manipuri villages, including Mombi and Heeroway. In 1855, after Maharaja Chandrakirti Singh came to power, they burnt down the Namphou/Lamphou village, which is further north close to Chandel. An exasperated Maharaja led a 1,500-strong force in 1857 against Kam Hau, the chief of the tribes, at Tedim in Chin hills. But the effort failed, with the Manipuri commander getting killed and the troops dispersing "in confusion". The Maharaja was forced to agree to a border with Kam Hau along the Chakpi River. Thus Mombi remained in the hands of the Kamhau-Sukte tribes. The Maharaja established a border post at Namphou to the north of Mombi.

In 1872, the Maharaja sent an expedition to the Chivu salt springs (near modern Behiang on the present day southern border of Manipur), ostensibly to support the British Lushai Expedition. The Manipuri troops camped there for two months, and arrested the Kamhau chief of Mualpi during their return journey. Even though the British officials decried the expedition as "treachery", the Maharaja succeeded in marking his desired territory.

The Chivu expedition did not have any consequences for the immediate aftermath. The southern tribes continued to be either independent or paid tributes to the Kamhaus. From Mombi, the Kamhaus appear to have controlled the hills up to the Khuga River valley. The British administration reports narrate an incident in 1876, describing a clash between Manipur's khongjai troops and the Kamhaus, with victory going to the Manipur troops.

In 1894, The British delineated the border between Manipur and the "Chin Hills" to be awarded Burma. They ran it close to the previously marked "Pemberton's line" and continued it to Chivu springs. According to scholar Pum Khan Pau, 47 tribal villages that paid tribute to the Kamhau chief were thus transferred to Manipur, Mombi included.

See also

• List of populated places in Chandel district

Bibliography

• Annual Administration Report of the Munnipoor Agency, For the year ending 30th June 1874–75, Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department, Calcutta: Foreign Department Press, 1876 – via archive.org
• Chandel District Census Handbook (PDF), Directorate of Census Operations, Manipur, 2011
• Dun, E. W. (1992) [1886], Gazetteer of Manipur, Manas Publications – via archive.org
• Ngamjahao Kipgen; Doungul Letkhojam Haokip, eds. (2021), Against the Empire: Polity, Economy and Culture during the Anglo-Kuki War, 1917–1919, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-003-00065-5
  • Hanneng, David (2021), "From Co-operation to Coercion: The Anglo-Kuki War as a response to changing British geopolitics", in Ngamjahao Kipgen; Doungul Letkhojam Haokip (eds.), Against the Empire: Polity, Economy and Culture during the Anglo-Kuki War, 1917–1919, Routledge, pp. 53–70, ISBN 978-1-003-00065-5
  • Lunkhopao, Robert (2021), "Empire of Violence: Colonial state-making and frontier violence during the Anglo-Kuki War", in Ngamjahao Kipgen; Doungul Letkhojam Haokip (eds.), Against the Empire: Polity, Economy and Culture during the Anglo-Kuki War, 1917–1919, Routledge, pp. 71–90, ISBN 978-1-003-00065-5
• Pau, Pum Khan (2012), "Tedim Road—The Strategic Road on a Frontier: A Historical Analysis", Strategic Analysis, 36 (5): 776–786, doi:10.1080/09700161.2012.712387
• Pau, Pum Khan (2019), Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills: Empire and Resistance, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781000507454

External links

• Chakpi River, OpenStreetMap, retrieved 16 October 2023.