Kukis are known as "Kiratas"

History of Kuki Tribe – Are they the lost Kirats of Mahabharata?

History of Kuki Tribe: Taranath’s book titled History of Buddhism in India has a separate chapter on Kuki people which gives a clear description of their origin.

History of Kuki Tribe:
The current Manipur conflict has shaken the entire nation and so much false and misleading information is being spread on social media that the real truth has been completely covered in dust. One of the major and most widely spread misleading propaganda is that the Kuki tribe is not the original inhabitants of India and that they were established in Manipur by the British invaders in the nineteenth century. Although there is no historical or scientific basis for this incident, but since this thing has been widely publicized, everyone believes it to be true and for this reason these tribals are often insulted by calling them immigrants, refugees, foreigners and infiltrators from Myanmar. Unfortunately, there is neither any proof nor any basis for this. All this was publicized only for political gains and to make a community look better. Manipur also had a rich history which was preserved in old manuscripts and their study could throw light on the history of Kukis but on April 13, 2000, an angry mob of women (Meirapaibi in Manipuri) burnt the Manipur State Central Library with more than 1,45,000 books, ancient manuscripts and documents. The part of Manipuri history that was in Imphal was burnt but the truth neither hides nor bends and that is why many important documents which were outside Manipur survived and today are making history out loud.

While researching this topic, we came across some authentic and surprising references, which prove that the Kuki community has had a close connection with India since the ancient Mahabharata period. Although at present, due to the influence of the British people, most have adopted Christianity, but if we look at the history of the Kuki people, it is as old as the history of India. At such a time, there is an urgent need to know the history of this tribe with evidence so that false and misleading stories spreading in the country can be banned and conspiracies to defame a tribe can be busted.

Origin of the word Kuki and its context in ancient Buddhist texts. One of the most authentic sources of ancient history is the book “Taranath’s History of Buddhism in India”, written by Bhikshu Taranatha, one of the most famous Buddhist scholars in the sixteenth century and later published by Motilal Banarsidas Publishers. The book has a separate chapter on the Kuki people which gives a clear account of their origins. Taranath has written in his book that a tribe called Ko-Ki resides in the hills between Bengal and Burma. This area was called Ko-Ki area and it was said that these people have been living in this area even before the time of Emperor Ashoka who lived in the third century BC. Probably the British would have taken the name cookie from this Ko-Ki only. Monk Taranath described these Ko-Ki people as ardent followers of Buddhism. The entire chapter 39 of the book contains only the description of these Ko-Ki people and this chapter confirms their eastern border till the Rakhan region (currently Rakhine State of Myanmar) which proves that even at that time the residence of these tribes was in the hills of present-day Manipur. Taranath has mentioned several Buddhist Viharas in this region which clearly proves that these people have been living in these hills for more than two and a half millennium or since prehistoric times and so has been written by famous Manipuri historian Professor Gangmumei Kabui.

Tripura Copperplates – Unbreakable Evidence
Two such copper plates have been found in Tripura where the Kuki tribe is mentioned very clearly. The first of these is the Panchkhand copper plate which dates back to 641 AD. An incident is mentioned in this copper plate, where it is said that “some land was donated by the Hankula Kukis to five saintly Brahmins in the east, within which paddy was cultivated by the Tengkori Kukis”. This proves that Kuki tribes named Hankula and Tengkori lived in the east of Tripura. The second copper plate found in Tripura itself is the Ita copper plate whose time has been fixed as 1194 AD. It is said in the Ita copper plate that “land grants were given to Brahmin saints who came from Mithila in the land of Kuki population in Manukula region surrounded by Langla hill located in the east”. It would be appropriate to mention here that the Langla hills of that time were the Langol hills of present Manipur. Thus, the inscriptions on both these copper plates prove that the Kuki tribe existed here in the seventh and twelfth centuries.

Mentioned in Tripura Rajmala
The Tripura Rajmala is probably the only authentic document which throws full light on the history of the entire Northeast India. It gives a detailed account of the 145 kings of Tripura and their reign and is a well written compilation of events spanning more than two millennia. In Rajmala, the Kuki people have been called staunch followers of Lord Shiva and it has been said that they used to worship Lord Shiva together. The earliest mention of the Kuki tribe is during the reign of King Subrai or Trilochan (47th king) and states that when the king conquered the Hidamba country (present-day Cachar) and organized a “ceremony to please the fourteen gods”, it was the Kuki or Kirat tribes who provided all the animals for the sacrifice to the king and assisted the king in the ceremony. The reign of King Trilochan is believed to be in 7th or 8th century BC, it is even earlier.

Another incident during the reign of King Dhanya Manikya, who ruled in the 15th century, has been mentioned in detail in the Rajmala, which undoubtedly proves that the Kuki tribe was a worshiper of Shiva. In this document, there is a mention of a miraculous Shivling in the Kuki official area, due to which the Kuki people of this area were continuously getting prosperous and were also running gold mines. Knowing this, King Dhanya Manikya sent his son-in-law Hopa Kalau Namak in the east direction, who stole this Shivling by deceit. After this, he wrapped this Shivling in betel leaves and sent it to King Dhanya Manikya, but on the way that Shivling disappeared from the box and reached back to its original place at the place of worship of the Kuki tribe. Knowing this, the king worshiped Lord Shiva under the control of repentance and asked for forgiveness. The existence of Shaivism in the forbidden areas has also been documented. Even in this incident, Kuki tribe has been addressed as Kirat at many places.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Tripura Rajmala uses two names for these tribals. One is Kuki and the other is Kirat which is an important part of Mahabharata. In the 6th century epic “Kiratarjuniyam” written by Mahakavi Bharavi, the Kiratas are depicted as mountain hunters, a term that best fits the Kuki tribes and is repeatedly confirmed by the Tripura Rajmala.

Manipur Royal History (Chaitharol Kumbaba)
The royal history of the Manipur royal family is quite detailed and outlines in detail the events of the last several centuries. This chronicle is locally known as Chaitharol and provides undeniable and irrefutable evidence that the Kukis have been the local aborigines of Manipur long before the arrival of the British. Chatharol has repeatedly mentioned some tribes during different years of tenure. The earliest mention is found in 1467 where a group of tribes living in the hills were addressed as Kyang or Chin and in 1508 again another tribe living in these hills was called Khongsai. Not only this, in the fifteenth century the hills located to the south of Imphal (currently Churachandrapur) have been addressed as “Khongsai Hills”. It is pertinent to mention here that both Chin and Khongsai are sub-castes of the Kuki society and this fact proves beyond any doubt that the Kuki people were living in these hills during the fifteenth century.

This Chatharol, written by the forefathers of the present Manipur royal family, also mentions several campaigns against the Kuki people in different parts of the time. Some of them are Mangtaitang Campaign of 1734, Khongsai Hills Campaign of 1786, Saiton Hills Campaign of 1789 and some other small campaigns done during the same period. One thing is clearly mentioned in all these campaigns and that is that all these campaigns were done against the Kuki tribe. It would be appropriate to mention here that the British had reached these hills between 1835 and 1840 in the middle of the nineteenth century. So, if the British established the Kuki people in the region as per current propaganda, then who did these Meitei kings fight against?

The history of Manipur has been completely changed in the last few decades and old facts and documents have been destroyed and a distorted history has been propagated in which the Kuki tribe has been propagated as immigrants, refugees, foreigners and infiltrators from Myanmar. Some fake stories were made and real stories were suppressed. But when we look at the available evidence and existing documents, it is found that there is still a lot left. We have full proofs that the Kuki people have been living in this region for almost three millennia and they were ardent followers of Lord Shiva. To call them refugees, immigrants or infiltrators is not only an outright lie but also a crime. They may be our lost “Kiratas” of the Mahabharata.

Published Date: July 25, 2023 1:57 PM IST

Updated Date :July 25, 2023 2:13 PM IST

The article is in Hindi.

Source: INDIA POST ENGLISH

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