Churachandpur (IPA: /tʃʊRVːˌtʃaːnɗpʊr/), locally known as Lamka,[5] is the second largest town in the Indian state of Manipur and the district headquarters of the Churachandpur District.[5][1] The name "Churachandpur" was transferred from the earlier headquarters of the district at Songpi to the present location,[b] and honours Churachand Singh, former maharaja of the Manipur princely state.[6] The local Kuki-Zo people reject the name as a colonial imposition and use the native name "Lamka".[5]
Churachandpur is not a statutory town and does not have a municipality. It is governed by the Autonomous District Council of the Churachandpur district.
Geography
The Churachandpur town is in the valley of Khuga River (called "Lamka plain"),[7] which flows north from the border with Chin Hills (Myanmar) towards the Imphal Valley. The town is at the intersection of two roads: the Tedim Road, which runs from the Manipur state capital Imphal to Tedim in the Chin State of Myanmar, and the Tipaimukh road that goes to Tipaimukh in the southwest and continues on to Mizoram. The junction of the two roads is called "Lamka" in Kuki-Chiin languages. At present, the northern portion of the Tedim Road and the Tipaimukh Road make up the National Highway 2, connecting the states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. In addition to these roads, the road to Sugnu via the Tuineng valley also leaves from the Churachandpur town.
Churachandpur is a sprawling urban agglomeration, said to be the second largest town in Manipur.[5] However it is not a statutory town and does not have a municipality. The region is divided into multiple villages and towns, under the supervision of the Autonomous District Council of the Churachandpur District.[1] Notable among the towns are Hiangtam Lamka, west of Tedim Road, Zenhang Lamka, east of Tedim Road, and Rengkai to the southeast.
During the Kuki Rebellion of 1917-1919, an Assam Rifles post was stationed at Songpi.[9] After the rebellion, the British Raj decided to set up four subdivisions for the hill areas. The South-West Subdivision was headquartered at Songpi. According to folklore, there was a feast organised in 1921 to honour the labour corps workers that returned from World War I, to which Maharaja Churachand Singh was invited. It was decided on that occasion to give the name "Churachandpur" to the Songpi village.[5] The subdivision headquartered here also came to be known as the "Churachandpur Subdivision".[10][11][c]
In 1930, the Sub-Divisional Officers (S.D.O.'s) were withdrawn due to dearth of staff and the subdivision was administered directly from Imphal. The Songpi/Churachandpur office fell into disuse.[12][d]
Also during the rebellion, the British constructed a road to Hiangtam in the southern part of the subdivision, which branched off the Tipaimukh road at a location that came to be called "Lamka". ("Lamka" means junction in Kuki-Chin languages.) The original location was called "Hiangtam Lamka" and became the site of a new village.[5][e] Another village called "Zenhang Lamka" was established to the east of the Hiangtam Road and the two villages together were referred to as "Lamka".[5] Eventually the whole plain in the Khuga River valley acquired the name "Lamka plain".[6][7]
During the World War II, the British constructed a motorable "Tedim Road" between Imphal and Tedim, extending the former Hiangtam Road. Seven decisive battles were fought along this road between the British 17 Indian Division and the Japanese 33 Division. The Japanese reached the Lamka area on 8 April 1944, and four battles were fought to the north of it, within Manipur, including one at Torbung.[14] Eventually the Japanese were defeated at Imphal and withdrew from Manipur with heavy losses.[14]
Independent period
In 1947, on the eve of Indian independence, the British reinstated the administrative powers of the Maharaja of Manipur, who promulgated a constitution establishing a legislative assembly and a ministry. The new administration decided to form circles for local administration, designating two of them at Churachandpur and Thanlon respectively. Finding that the old offices at Songpi had been reused for other purposes, in 1949, the Manipur administration decided to construct a new town in the Lamka area to serve as the headquarters. It was referred to as "New Churachandpur" for a few years.[15]
After Manipur's merger with India, the subdivision structure was reinstated, including a Churachandpur Subdivision based at New Churachandpur.[16] In 1969, the subdivision was converted into a district, first under the name "Manipur South" and later in 1983, as the "Churachandpur district".[17]
The Churachandpur town, which was the third biggest town in Manipur in 1971, was "denotified" in 1988 upon the recommendation of the Hill Areas Committee, and its area was placed under the Autonomous District Council. It was still listed as a Census Town in 1991, but the practice has since been discontinued. The whole area is considered "rural" for administrative purposes despite having clear urban characteristics.[18] The 2011 census lists three census towns in the region, viz., Rengkai, Zenhang Lamka, and Hill Town (Hiangtam Lamka).[19]
The local people are said to have always used the name "Lamka" for the town in preference to "Churachandpur".[20]
With the rise of ethnic tensions during the 2023 Manipur violence, the Kuki-Zo people have increasingly spurned the name "Churachandpur".[5]
Demographics
The majority of Lamka's population consists of Kuki-Zo people. The town also comprises 18 villages (neighbourhoods) with Meitei populations, totalling approximately 8350 people. Many of the Meitei villages were destroyed by mobs during the 2023 Manipur violence.[21]
^It was referred to as "New Churachandpur" during the 1950s and 1960s.
^A "sub-division" in the British system was a smaller unit of administration than a district, but often larger than native units of administration such as tehsil or taluka, which were styled "circles". The whole of Manipur was a single district under the British Raj. Four sub-divisions for hill regions were created in 1919. Other than Churachandpur, there was a North-West Sub-division headquartered at Tamenglong, a North-East Sub-division headquartered at Ukhrul, and a fourth sub-division headquartered at Imphal that covered the remaining areas (extreme north and the south-east).[10]
^While two other subdivision offices, at Ukhrul and Tamenglong, were reopened due to disturbances, Churachandpur remained closed.[13]
^"Lamka" means "crossroads" in the Kuki languages. "Hiangtam Lamka" was the village at the intersection of the Tipaimukh road and the Hiangtam road (now called "Tedim Road").[5]
^ ab
Pau, Pum Khan (2019), Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills: Empire and Resistance, Taylor & Francis, p. xii, ISBN9781000507454, From a remote hill village in the Indo-Burma border, my grandparents moved to the plain of Lamka (Lamka zaang) in Churachandpur District of Manipur chiefly in search of better livelihood and opportunity for the education of their children.
^ abPau, 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
^The Manipur State Gazette, No. 103, Imphal: Government of Manipur, by order of H. H. The Maharaja, 8 June 1949 – via archive.org, The Hon'ble Speaker to read out the Report on New Churachandpur Town as submitted by 3 Special Commissioners deputed by the Assembly.
^Manipur Gazette, Imphal: Government of Manipur, 1950, No. 21, January 25, 1950, pp. 1–3 – via archive.org
Gangte, Thangzam (undated) Churachandpur Chanchin (An Account of Churachandpur)
Ginsum, H (undated) Lamka Vangkhua (Lamka Town).
Kamkhenthang, Dr. H (1995) "Lamka Town vis-a-vis Churachandpur", Shan (daily), 21 December.
Kamkhenthang (1998) "Lamka (Churachandpur)" in B.D. Ray, A.K. Neog & H.K. Mazhari (eds.) Urban Development in North-East India : Potentiality and Problems, New Delhi: Vedams Books.
Manipur State Archives, Imphal: Manipur State Durbar 1907–1947 – Papers related to the Court of the President of Manipur State Durbar, Hill Misc. Case No. 28 of 1945–46, Phungkhothang Chief of Hiangtam Lamka; also Misc Case No. 504 of 1934 Phungkhothang Chief of Hiangtam Lamka.
