Queen Empress

ABOUT THE BOOK The conflict between Manipur and the British Raj of 1891 has never been documented and it is fitting that John and Saroj Parratt’s account and analysis of the event should appear in the centenary year of the event. It is an extra­ordinary narrative in which multiple British diplomatic and military blunders led to the deci­sive defeat of a force of crack Gurkha troops at the hands of the tiny state of Manipur and to the public execution of five high­-ranking British officers. Following the inevitable crushing of Manipur by the might of the Raj the leading figure on the Manipuri side the young and popular Crown Prince Koireng Tikendrajit was arraigned before a military tribunal in a trial which violated a good many of the tenets of British justice and con­demned to be hanged. The Manipuri affair of 1891 symbolised a tragic struggle for natio­nal identity. It is a story of the complex tangle of the relationship between British power and an inde­pendent state and of the personal tragedies of Koireng Tikendrajit Political Officer Grimwood and his beautiful and resourceful wife. This book is based on detailed archival research in London Delhi Calcutta and Imphal and on field research in Manipur. This gripping narrative is recounted here with great vividness and elegance. ABOUT THE AUTHORS SAROJ NALINI ARAMBAM PARRATI was born in Manipur. She studied at the Universities of Calcutta and London and obtained her Ph.D. from the Australian National University. Besides carrying out ongoing research in Manipur she has taught at several African Universities. Her previous publi­cations include The Religion of Manipur (Firma KLM Calcutta) a pioneering work and standard text on Manipuri culture. JOHN PARRATI was born in England and obtained his doctorate from the University of London. He has taught and researched in Africa New Guinea and India and has been professor of Religion at the Universities of Malawi and Botswana.