Marjit Singh

Marjit Singh was a king of Manipur kingdom between 1812 and 1819 as a vassal of Burma, but was eventually expelled by the Burmese. The Burmese devastated Manipur during a seven-year occupation that came to be known as Chahi-Taret Khuntakpa.

Marjit Singh was a son of Raja Bhagya Chandra, the ruler up to 1798. Afterwards, his numerous sons fought for the throne.

Madhuchandra succeeded his father at first. He fled to Cachar when the Burmese threatened the kingdom. He tried to regain it with the help of the Cachar king Govinda Chandra. However, he was killed by the troops of his brother, Chourjit Singh. During Chourjit Singh's reign, Marjit Singh fled to Cachar and got into a serious dispute there. Then he went to Burma in 1806 and received the help of King Bodawpaya in 1812. Bodawpaya sent a Burmese force, expelled Chourjit Singh and installed Marjit Singh as a vassal king. Marjit Singh also ceded the Kabaw Valley to Burma in return for the favour.

Marjit Singh ascended to the throne in 1812. Chourjit Singh, along with another brother Gambhir Singh, fled to Cachar. Govinda Chandra refused to help them against a brother, but Marjit Singh invaded Cachar anyway in 1817. Chourjit and Gambhir Singh helped Govinda Chandra fend off Marjit Singh, but they in turn drove out Govinda Chandra, took over Cachar and plundered it.

Marjit Singh and his nobles tried to replicate the luxurious habits they learnt at the Burmese court, with splendour in dress and cavalcades, which contrasted with the natural simplicity of Manipur. The people tolerated them only for fear of the Burmese. Marjit Singh is also said to have built a gilded palace, which was only allowed for the Burmese king. In 1819, when Bagyidaw succeeded Bodawpaya, Marjit Singh failed to attend his coronation. Bagyidaw, who had always supported Marjit Singh's entreaties in the past, was irked by the insubordination, and sent troops to reconquer Manipur.

The Burmese drove out Marjit Singh and installed puppet rulers, supported by a permanent garrison stationed in Manipur.

The Burmese occupation lasted until the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824, and became locally known as Chahi-Taret Khuntakpa. It devastated Manipur. According Pemberton, Manipur was 'doomed ... to the devastating visitation of Burmese armies which have nine or ten times swept the country from one extremity to the other, with the apparent determination of extirpating a race whom they found it impossible permanently to subdue.'

Marjit Singh went to Cachar and joined his other brothers. The brothers divided Cachar among themselves, with Marjit occupying Hailakandi and Gambhir Singh taking control of South Cachar. Chourjit took shelter in Sylhet.