Manipur State

**Manipur**, also known as **Meckley**, was a princely state of British India in what is now Manipur, India. Historically, Manipur was a kingdom ruled by the Ningthouja dynasty. It became a protectorate of the British East India Company from 1834, and a princely state of the British Raj in 1891. Its capital was Imphal. By the 20th-century, after it became a princely state, the land area was 22,327 square kilometres (8,621 sq. mile).

## History 
### Foundation 
The kingdom was founded in 1110 CE by King Loiyumba of the Ningthouja dynasty. The dynasty dates back to 33 CE, began with Nongda Lairen Pakhangba, the first recorded king of Manipur. The Ningthouja dynasty is of great importance in Manipur's history and to the origins of centralized kingship and royal chronicle of the kings of Manipur.

After some expansions in power and authority, slowly absorbing other important clans even though they were allowed to have independent identity. During the reign of King Loiyumba in the 11th-12th century, the Ningthouja dynasty formalized the process of kingship through the *Loiyumba Silyel* (the earliest known written constitution of Manipur), the Kingdom of Manipur was founded.

Loiyumba consolidated the kingdom by bringing together most of the principalities in the surrounding hills. After conquering all the villages in their valley, the Manipur kings grew stronger and began to expand beyond their territory. In 1443 CE, King Ningthoukhomba raided Akla, which is present-day Tamu in Myanmar. This area was ruled by the Shan people, and the raid started Manipuri claims to the nearby Kabaw Valley. The height of the Manipur State occurred under King Khagemba from 1597 CE to 1652 CE. Khagemba's brother, Prince Sanongba, was unhappy with Khagemba's leadership, so he fled to the Taraf and formed an alliance with local Bengali Muslim leaders. With a group of Bengali Muslim soldiers led by Muhammad Sani, Sanongba attempted to invade Manipur. However, the soldiers were captured and forced to work as laborers in Manipur. These soldiers married local Meitei women and learned the Meitei language. They brought the hookah to Manipur and established the Meitei Pangals, the Manipuri Muslim community. It is said that Manipur learned how to make gunpowder from Chinese merchants who visited the state around 1630 and began producing rockets called Meikappi by the early 18th century.

The kingdom bordered Ahom Kingdom in the west, and the Burmese kingdom in the east. It was also invaded and ruled over by Burmese kingdom at various point of time.

The kingdom was at its greatest extend during the reign of King Gharib Nawaz in the 18th-century. In 1714 CE, Pamheiba announced Vaishnavism as the state religion of Manipur with the initiation by Santidas Gosai, a Bengali Hindu from Sylhet. He also replaced the Meitei script with the Bengali script, destroying and burning many documents of Meitei language written in Meitei script. After that, he changed his name to "Gharib Nawaz". In 1724 CE, he changed the name of the state from Kangleipak to Manipur after the Manipur of the *Mahabharata*. Gharib Nawaz made several invasions of the Burmese kingdom but made no conquests. After the death of Gharib Nawaz in 1751 CE, Manipur was under the Burmese kingdom. Bhagyachandra sought help from the British but, did not receive the help. After that, Bhagyachandra asked for help from the Ahom king Rajeshwar Singha who sent a force of 40,000 under Haranath Senapati Phukan to free Manipur.

After the Seven Years Devastation of Manipur and Assam by the Burmese, the British  The kingdom became a dominion under the British East India Company in 1824 primarily due to the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826) and the following British involvement in the region, and became a princely state of the British Raj in 1891 after the Anglo-Manipur War. Maharaj Churachand became the king in the late 19th-century. The princely state bordered the Assam Province in the west and British Burma in the east, and in the 20th century covered an area of 22,327 square kilometres (8,621 sq mi) and contained 467 villages.  

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