Mount Manipur, formerly known as Mount Harriet, is the third highest peak in the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The mountain houses the Mount Manipur Memorial, which commemorates the Manipuri freedom fighters of the Anglo-Manipur War and the Mount Manipur National Park ''(Mount Harriet National Park)'', which is best known for its rich biodiversity in the archipelago. On 17 October 2021, ''Mount Harriet'' was officially renamed as ''Mount Manipur'' by the

Union Government of India The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territo ...

, as a tribute to the freedom fighters of

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

. This was initially announced by

Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...

, the Union Home Minister of India, in a function in

Port Blair Port Blair (), officially named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headqu ...

, highlighting about the sacrifices of Yuvaraj Tikendrajit Singh, General Thangal, Meitei King Kulachandra Dhwaja Singh, the Maharajah of

Manipur kingdom The Manipur Kingdom, also known as Meckley, was an ancient kingdom at the India–Burma frontier. Historically, Manipur was an independent kingdom ruled by a Ningthouja dynasty, Meitei dynasty. But it was also invaded and ruled over ...

and other 22 freedom fighters of the Anglo-Manipur war of 1891. The re- christening of the name of the mountain peak in honor of the Manipuri freedom fighters was given positive reactions from

and

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Connection with the British

The mountain peak's former name "Mount Harriet" was given in honor of Harriet Christina Tytler, a British artist and photographer, who was the wife of Robert Christopher Tytler, a British soldier. The peak was one of the summer headquarters of the

Chief Commissioner A chief commissioner is a commissioner of high rank, usually in chief of several commissioners or similarly styled officers. Colonial In British India the gubernatorial style was chief commissioner in various (not all) provinces (often after bein ...

during

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

Connection with Manipur

The ''Mount Manipur'' of the

of the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

has significant historical connections to the

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

Exile of the Manipuri warriors

After the end of the Anglo-Manipur War in the year 1891, many Manipuri warriors were exiled to the British penal colony in the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...

. Among the exiled warriors, Meitei King Kulachandra Dhwaja Singh, the Maharajah of

, was one of them. During that time, the Cellular Jail ( Kalapani) was about to be built. So, Kulachandra Singh and other prisoners were imprisoned on the ''Mount Manipur'', in the South Andaman district. In accordance to a document of the time of

kept in the "Manipur State Archives", 23 men, including King Kulachandra and his brothers, were ''

transported for life Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

'' to the

Tracing the records of the pasts

In a long period of a decade between 2003 and 2013, experts and scholars from the ''All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU)'' visited ''Mount Manipur'' for the investigation into the information on the exiled prisoners. ''A. Mubi'', the then Vice President of the AMWJU confirmed that Kulachandra Singh was house-arrested in the mountain.

Construction of a memorial site in the mountain

According to ''Ng. Uttam'', the director of the ''Department of Art and Culture'' of the

Government of Manipur The Government of Manipur (; /mə.ni.pur lə́i.ŋak/), also known as the State Government of Manipur, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Manipur and its 16 districts. It consists of an ex ...

, representatives from

talked to the authorities of the

to provide a piece of land for the construction of a memorial site for the Manipuri warriors in the mountain. In the year 2019, the ''A&N'' authorities agreed to the request. A piece of land was approved near the Cellular Jail. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the process of the construction was significantly delayed. The

Central Government of India The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territor ...

gave financial assistance to the

, regarding the construction of the memorial site in the mountain. Before the onset of the annual

Indian Independence Day Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August as a public holiday in India commemorating the nation's independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947. On this day the Indian Independence Act 1947 came into effect, transferri ...

celebration in the year 2021, the

unveiled a

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monolit ...

Imphal Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a ...

, commemorating the sweet memories of the Manipuri ''"unsung war heroes"''.

Gallery

File:Andaman tree nymph.jpg File:Pseudocalotes andamanensis.JPG File:Centaur_Oakblue_andamans_at_Mt_Harriet_National_Park.jpg

Notes

References

External links

* {{Cite web , last=Samom , first=Sobhapati , date=2019-01-17 , title=Six Andaman islands likely to be named after freedom fighters from Manipur , url=http://nenow.in/north-east-news/six-andaman-islands-likely-to-be-named-after-freedom-fighters-from-manipur.html , access-date=2022-09-13 , website=NORTHEAST NOW , language=en-US Mountains of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Highest points of Indian states and union territories