Churachandpur

The name "Chura Chandpur" was originally given to the village of Songpi (24°20′04″N 93°39′09″E) on the road to Tipaimukh (present day NH2) around the year 1920. It was named after Churachand Singh, the reigning maharaja of the Manipur princely state at that time. The Khuga river valley, the present site of Churachandpur was forested and mostly uninhabited at that time.[8]

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known as the "Churachandpur Subdivision".[10][11][lower-alpha 3] In 1930, the Sub-Divisional Officers (S.D.O.'s) were withdrawn due to dearth of staff and the subdivision was administered directly from Imphal.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][lower-alpha 4]

Also during the rebellion, the British constructed a road to Hiangtam in the southern part of the subdivision, which branched off the Tipaimukh road. The junction of the two roads came to be known as Hiangtam Lamka and a new village got established there.[5][lower-alpha 5] Another village called Zenhang Lamka was established to the east of the Hiangtam Road and the two villages together came to be called "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]

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 of Churachandpur 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 people have increasingly spurned the name "Churachandpur".[5]