Unsung Heroes of Dimasa

  Recently I saw Rang de Basanti , all over again. It is one of the best movie I have seen in my life, it left me raging with anger and could have killed any corrupt minister at that moment with sheer rage.



   But one thing I realised after a while, "there is no problem with India but the problem is with the Indians". All the while we have been all praise for the freedom fighters of mainland India but our own freedom fighters of the North East are in the oblivion.


  Our own tribe has countless freedom fighters,being the ruler of a kingdom of pre-British occupation. Two of the prominent leaders were-


Senapati Tularam - A brave general of the last Dimasa king he resisted the British occupation till his last breath. After the death of the King Gobin Chandra Hasnu in 1830 the British took over most of the southern Dimasa Kingdom(present Cachar,Hailakandi and Karimganj of Assam) under "doctrine of lapse" in 1832. But the northern part of the kingdom [present Nagaon, KA,NCHills of Assam and Dimapur district (NAGALAND) ] was still under the Senapati Tularam and strongly resisted its occupation. It at last went into the British’s hand in 1854 after the death of the brave general. It was the last piece of land to fell into British hand in this part of the present India.


  Veer Sambhudhan Phonglo : He wasn’t any general or a king , he was an ordinary man born to a family of a farmer in 1854 until he grew up to become a rebel against the British Dynasty. His named was a word synonymous with fear and was dreaded among the Britishers that send down chills down their spine. He organized his own army by extensively traveling in the erstwhile kingdom. He was expert in guerilla warfare and was widely revered among the Dimasas and other tribes alike. The Bristish officers who attacked his camp in Maibang didn’t return alive. The British headquarter in Gunjung was completely annihilated by him and he was known to be so strong that he slaughtered two horses of the Bristish at one go. Consequently the news of his growing threat became a headache for the British Empire . The British bribed a women who befriended his wife and on one such visit to his home, he was surrounded by the British army. The women had taken away his “machete” as has been ordered by them in his absence. He had to cut through the army with one of a rusty “machete” placed as stand for cooking purpose. He was eventually hunted down by the Bristish in the  deep jungle as the creepers made it difficult for him to escape. And he was killed as a result of wound inflicted by “khokri” thrown by a Nepali army and died subsequently. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva ; his legacy are still found scattered in the erswhile Kingdom of Dimasa.