TAI KHAMTI-BRITISH WAR

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Context

The Tai Khamti-British War of 1839 – and not the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 – could well be India’s first war of independence, believes Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein.

About

Tai Khamti took place in 1839 between the Tai Khamti people and the British.
The theatre of this war was some 2,400 km east of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh where the mutiny began.
Tai Khamtis resisted colonisation by the British. Some 80 British soldiers, including Col. Adam White, were killed in the resultant conflict.

About Tai Khamti

The Khamti people, who follow Theravada Buddhism, number a little more than 1,00,000 today and live in areas straddling Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
They inhabit the region around the Tengapani basin were descendants of migrants who came during the century from the Hkamti long region, the mountainous valley of the Irrawaddy.
They have their own script for their language, known as ‘Lik Tai’, which originated from the Shan (Tai) script of Myanmar.
Sangken is the main festival of the Khamti.