History of annexation of Cachhar by the British.
Introduction
The Cachari kingdom arose in northeastern India in the early thirteenth century. According to folklore, the Kacharis were descended from Ghatotkacha, the son of Bhima II Pandava. But there is a debate as to who exactly is meant by Kachari. P. N. Bhattacharya in his 'A Critical Study of Mr. Gait's History of Assam' commented that the upper part of the Barak valley is known as Cachar to the people of Srihatt and the people of that region are Cacharis. But here Kachari refers to the non-Bengali tribal population. That is, the Bodo people who live in the north-Cachhar Pahar in the Brahmaputra valley (except Garo, Koch and Tripuri) are generally known as Kachari. However, the Cacharis of North-Cachhar Hills like to identify themselves as Dimasa.
Kachari Kingdom
Before the arrival of the Ahoms in Assam, the Cachari kingdom extended far into North-East India. Yashanarayana, Pratapanarayana, Govinda Chandra etc. are particularly notable among the Cachari kings. During the reign of King Pratapnarayana who ruled from 1583-1613 AD, Cachar kingdom extended to Dimaru, plain Cachar and North Cachar, Dhansidi valley and eastern part of Sylhet in Naogaon district. Pratapanarayana coined and circulated in his own name. But the Kachari kings gradually retreated due to clashes with Ahom, Koch, Jaintia etc. powers. They were forced to shift their capital first from Dimapur (present-day Nagaland) to Maibong and later to Khaspur and Haritikar (near Badarpur in present-day Karimganj district).
Introduction of Cacharis to
British Power The first introduction of Cacharis to British power was in 1762 when Verlest Saheb from Chittagong encamped for about a year at Jatrapur near present day Silchar on his way to help Raja Jaisingh of Manipur against the Burmese with some sepoys. Although Verlest could not go to Manipur due to illness, death etc. of sepoys, but he came in contact with Kachari king Krishnachandra Narayan at Khaspur.
Division of Cachar Kingdom In
1813 King Krishnachandra Narayan died. As a result, his brother Govindachandra Narayan (1813-30) ascended the throne. Taking advantage of Govinda Chandra's weakness, the prince Kohidas planned to establish an independent kingdom in the remote northern Cachar surrounded by hills. King Govinda Chandra's men secretly killed Kohidas, but Kohi Dasa's son Tularam proclaimed himself king. As a result, in the first half of the 19th century, Cachar was divided into North Cachar and South Cachar. The king of North Cachar is Tularam and the king of South Cachar is Govindachandra.
Partition of Cachar State
Occupation of South Cachar by the British The ruler of South Cachar, Govindchandra, was always in fear of Manipuri and Burmese invasions. In order to get rid of this helpless situation, Govinda Chandra entered into an agreement with the East India Company on 6th March 1824 and promised to help the company in exchange of ten thousand rupees annually. Thus Dakshina became the company's tax jurisdiction.
On April 24, 1830, Govind Chandra was killed by an assassin in the conspiracy of Raja Gambhir Singh of Manipur. Govindachandra had no children at the time of his death and the company authorities denied him the right to adopt a son. As a result. On June 30, 1830, an officer of the Company's army named Fisar was entrusted with the powers of Collector and Magistrate with headquarters at Cherrapunji. Then on August 14, 1832, South Cachar was formally annexed to the British Empire with Dudhpatil and Silchar as their headquarters.
Occupancy of North Cachar
When politics in Cachar became heated due to conflict between Govindachandra and Tularam, the British Commissioner David Scott took an initiative to settle the dispute between Govindachandra and Tularam. But this attempt was not successful. The next British Commissioner, Francis Jenkins, forced Tullaram to sign a treaty on 3 November 1834. As a result, Tularam became the overlord of North-Cachhar only in name, and his kingdom became in effect a vassal state of the Company. Not only that, a part of the state of Tularam was cut off and included in the British-ruled Naogaon district.
Subsequently, after the death of Tularam in 1854, his two sons Nakulram and Brajnath were accused of incompetence and incompetence, and the rest of the Uttarkachar hills were also annexed to the British Empire as per the instructions of Governor General Lord Dalhousie (1848-56 AD). Thus British rule was established in both plains and hills.
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