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.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/1839-struggle-by-tai-khamti-is-indias-first-war-of-independence-arunachal-deputy-cm/article38034194.ece