TAI KHAMTI-BRITISH WAR
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Context
- The Tai Khamti-British War of 1839 – and not the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 – could well be India’s first war of independence, believes Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein.
About
- Tai Khamti took place in 1839 between the Tai Khamti people and the British.
- The theatre of this war was some 2,400 km east of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh where the mutiny began.
- Tai Khamtis resisted colonisation by the British. Some 80 British soldiers, including Col. Adam White, were killed in the resultant conflict.
About Tai Khamti
- The Khamti people, who follow Theravada Buddhism, number a little more than 1,00,000 today and live in areas straddling Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
- They inhabit the region around the Tengapani basin were descendants of migrants who came during the century from the Hkamti long region, the mountainous valley of the Irrawaddy.
- They have their own script for their language, known as ‘Lik Tai’, which originated from the Shan (Tai) script of Myanmar.
- Sangken is the main festival of the Khamti.
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