Photo : Messenger
I have the pleasure of paying tribute to Syiem Tirot Sing at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Much has been said and written about Tirot Sing, Syiem of Hima Nongkhlaw in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya and his heroic struggle against the British colonisers became a saga and an inspiration to many.
The Khasis were forced by circumstances to take up arms against the British in what was their freedom struggle. Syiem Tirot Sing, Nongkhlaw Dorbar and the confederacy of Syiems in alliance were concerned at the gradual penetration by the British into their hills in the early decades of the 19th century.
By 1829, the sanatoriums at Sohra and Nongkhlaw were under construction. Of more concern was the building of the road connecting Sylhet in the southern plains with Kamrup to the north and the arrival of a workforce from the plains to construct that road.
Earlier in 1826, Assam, including the northern hills, was annexed to the foothills of the Khasi, the territories of the East India Company. By this, large stretches of land on the foothills adjoining were lost to the Khasi states.
Much earlier, the Sylhet plains, where several Khasi Himas controlled land, had already come under company rule in 1765 under the Diwani of Bengal.
Moreover, the company officials had cleverly entered into treaties with several of the Khasi Syiems in matters of defence, road connection and sanatoria.
The Khasi might not have realised the implications of the treaties at the time of giving their consent, but they did so in time, justifying their resistance.
Several Khasi Himas, including Shillong, before its division into Mylliem and Khyrim, Bhowal, Maharam, Myriaw, and Rarnbrai, participated in the confederacy to take up arms against the British in an endeavour to drive out the British colonisers from their hills and maintain their independence. Commencing on April 4, 1829, the Anglo-Khasi War was a protracted independence struggle.
For over three years, 1829–1833, the Khasis fought the British in what was among the earliest resistance and freedom struggles in the North East, indeed in India.
The heroic participation of Ka Phan Nonglait of Nongkhlaw in this struggle has lately caught the attention of the Indian people as one of many women and lesser-known freedom fighters from the North East who participated in India's freedom struggle.
After a valiant struggle, Syiem Tirot Sing laid down his arms in January 1833. At Dhaka, he was treated as an ordinary prisoner but was later placed under house arrest as a state prisoner. Able leader and brave freedom fighter Syiem Tirot Sing attained martyrdom on July 17, 1835.
He must have longed to return to the hills. He could not, due to the nature of his confinement. He certainly had a sad end, away from his people and family, and hastened by sickness, a tradition tells, that caused his untimely death.
It was my pursuit as a historian that enabled me to discover details of Syiem Tirot Sing's last days and demise. The search started in January 1986. A letter to the editor dated May 14, 1835, in the ‘The Friend of India’ read at the National Library, Kolkata, informed that Syiem Tirot Sing was provided comfortable living as a state prisoner in Dhaka.
In January 1988, while on a Charles Wallace Research Grant for research at the India Office Records and Library, London, I was fortunate to locate, read and take notes from reports of officials in Dhaka of the passing of Syiem Tirot Sing.
Many winters back, I was in Dhaka. Not far away from where I reside is the library of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Much further was the Bangladesh State Archives.
No clues came from my queries on U Tirot Sing at these repositories, other than some of the archives of the names of daily allowance given to prisoners and the Khasi chief's name was not listed in these records.
In early 2009, while on another of my annual visits to libraries and archives, I searched for additional information on the last days of U Tirot Sing at the National Archives of India, New Delhi and the West Bengal State Archives, Kolkata.
Interesting details of the last days of Syiem Tirot Sing were read and noted and later published.
Today we recall the life and significant contribution of Syiem Tirot Sing to the freedom struggle and the martyrdom for the cause he and his compatriots stood for.
His sterling qualities have found expression in many forms, in songs, poetry, drama, film, art and biographies and in the skilful imagination of sculptors as we unveil another work of art.
Reading three stanzas of Desmond Kharmawphlang’s delightful poem “The Song of U Tirot Sing.”
To us the bond of blood is a reminder
Of the long trek of our wandering race,
And now centuries after
We gather into an arm of resistance.
I grew up to the smell of coarse grain
Drying in the sun
And the taste of dried fish on hurdles
And dreams were shaped by the rural
Lanterns lit up at dusk
I weep the bitterness of broken births
Return me to my land.
Give the grass a chance to grow gain.”
Prof David Syiemlieh is an Indian Historian and former Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission. He could be reached at: <[email protected]>
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