Ukhrul/Hunphun is a town in Ukhrul district in the state of Manipur, India. Ukhrul district is the home of the Tangkhul Naga. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ukhrul district. There are also four sub-divisions in the district for administering the villages in and around it. The villages however are governed by the 'Village Heads'.Ukhrul is located at 25.12N 94.37E.[2] It has an average elevation of 1,662 m (5,453 ft) above sea level. It has a wet summer and cold, dry winter. Ukhrul is a land of beautiful mountains interspersed by numerous tribal inhabitants echoing with the rhythms of tribal cultures and rich wild life. This virgin land has enchanting calls to people who love to spend time in tranquility. Besides the serene environment, the ways of life of the simple and friendly tribals who have been known for generations for their honesty and integrity leave one spellbound. Such are the people of the hill. Ukhrul district is the home of the Tangkhul. The Tangkhuls belong to the great Mongolian race which is spread all over the World. Linguistically, they belong to a large language family called Sino-Tibetan, within that family to the sub-family Tibeto-Burman. In general this points towards an origin in the north, that is south-west China and Tibet . It is believed that the earliest home of the Tangkhuls was the upper reaches of Huang Heo and Yangtze Rivers which lies in the Zinjiang province of China. Like the other desert areas of the world, the people including the Tangkhuls migrated from this place to different directions. One group moved towards east and southeast to be become known as Chinese, another group moved southward to become the tribes of Tibeto-Burman which includes the Tangkhuls and other Naga sub tribes. That was between c. 10,000 BC to 8000 BC. This movement has continued into recent historic times. S.K. Chatterjee noted that from 2000 BC onwards, Sino-Tibetan speakers from China pushed south and west and entered India. According to W.I. Singh, in his History of Manipur, the Tangkhuls settled in the Samshok (Thuangdut) area of Myanmar. It is believed that they belong to the Yakkha tribe in China. The Tangkhuls as also other Naga tribes came to Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh through Myanmar. Some of them also settled down in Myanmar and did not venture further. However, their movement over Myanmar and into India was spread over a period of time. They entered the present habitat in waves following one another and in some cases in close succession. The Tangkhuls came together with the Maos, Poumais, Marams and Thangals because all of them have references to their dispersal from Makhel (Makrefii) a Mao village in Senapati district. They had also erected megaliths at Makhel in memory of their having dispersed from there to various directions. The Tangkhuls point out to the association of their forefathers with the seashore. Most of the ornaments of the Tangkhuls such as kongsang, huishon, etc. were made of sea shells, cowrie and conch shells a prominent feature of the people who live on the shore. By the 2nd century AD Tangkhuls were living in Samshok (Thuangdut) in Myanmar . Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer and geographer of Alexandria in his Geography of Further India c. 140 AD referred to the Tangkhul Naga (Nangalogue) at Triglypton (Thuangdut). Tangkhuls began to disperse from Samshok after the invasion of Ko-lo-feng and his successor I-mau-shun the king of Nan-chao in the closing part of the 8th century AD and beginning of the 9th century. They were further driven towards the north west of Myanmar by the Shan people. The Tangkhul as also other Naga tribes have travelled from China to Myanmar and from there they came to their present land traversing through innumerable snow-covered landscapes, mountains and wild forests confronting wild beasts and tribes. Thus, the exodus of the Tangkhul from China to Myanmar and finally to India is indeed a story of heroism of human courage and endurance. In course of time every Tangkhul village became a small republic like the Greek city states. Every village had an unwritten constitution made up of age-old conventions and traditions. The Tangkhul villages were self-sufficient except for salt, and self-governing units ruled by hereditary or elected chief assisted by a Council of Elders. The chief was a judge, administrated and commander rolled into one. The ancient Tangkhul history is hitherto an unrecorded past. History however became more enlightened by the beginning of the 13th century owing to the cultural, trade and sometimes turbulent relations which had grown up with the people of the valley. References to the Tangkhul were found as early as the 13th century during the reign of Thawanthaba (1195-1231 AD) of Ningthouja Meitei dynasty. The chronicles refer to the frequent raids in many tribal villages by these Kings. There has always been some form of relationship between the Tangkhul and the Meitei in terms of political alliance and trade relation. Some items of Naga material - culture indicate a long history of contact between the plain and hills. The Elephant Cloth (Leirungphi), for instance, resplendent with complex animal designs, worn by the Nagas of Manipur, has its origin in the wish of the ruler of Manipur in the mid-seventeenth to present his Naga allies with a special cloth. The popular Tangkhul shawl Changkhom is also known as Karaophi in Manipur. The Tangkhul dance (pheichak) was known as Chingkheirol in Manipur, from the fact that it came from Chingkhei (North East of Imphal). During the reign of the most powerful Meitei King Pamheiba a.k.a. Garib Nawaz (17091748) for the first time, the heartland area of the Tangkhul country was brought under the suzerainty of Manipur. In 1716, the kings forces invaded the great Tangkhul village of Hundung and sixty eight prisoners were captured. In 1733, the king sent a military expedition to Ukhrul and conquered. The outcome of the expeditions incurred heavy casualty on the Kings forces; the royal chronicles record the death of seventy Meitei soldiers. The defeat of these two big villages situated in the heart of Tangkhul country was landmark in the establishment of the Meitei political hegemony over the Tangkhul hills which started feeling the brunt of the Meitei power. The Ningek inscription of king Garib Nawaz refers to the Khullakpa of Okhrul (Ukhrul). Ukhrul was the headquarters of the Tangkhul Long (Tangkhul Assembly), as well as the Tangkhul annual fair locally known as Leh Khangapha used to be held at Somsai in Ukhrul. Hence the fall of Ukhrul in 1733 in the hands of the Meitei Maharaja herald the fall of the Tangkhuls country. The next significant relationship between the hills and the valley took place during the reign of Bhagyachandra (17591762 and 17631798). In 1779 king Bhagyachandra established a new capital at Langthabal about seven kilometers south east of Imphal. For the nest 17 years Langthabal remained as the capital. He employed many Tangkhul and Kabui Nagas in the digging of moats around the new capital of Langthabal. Of the Tangkhul chiefs, Khullakpa of Hundung and Ukhrul made friendship with the king. The relationship between the Tangkhuls and the Meiteis during the mediaeval period was not only of wars and conquests. They also carried on trade and commerce. The Tangkhuls supplied cotton to the valley. They also came and did sale and purchased in the Sanakeithel which was the principal market in Imphal. The Tangkhuls are used Manipuri coin of bell-metal locally called sel as a medium of exchange which was first introduced during the reign of Khagemba (15971652). The boundary of Manipur and Burma ( Myanmar ) was laid down by an agreement signed between the British authorities (East India Company) and Burma on 9 January 1834 on the river bank of Nighthee ( Chindwin). The Article No.4 (iii) of this agreem ent relates to the Tangkhul country. Fourth (iii) - On the north, the line of boundary will begin at the foot of the same hills at the northern extremity of the Kabo Valley and pass due north up to the first range of hills, east of that upon which stand the villages of Chortor (Choithar), Noongbee (Nungbi), Nonghar (Nunghar), of the tribe called by the Munepooriis (Manipuris) Loohooppa (Tangkhul), and by the Burmahs Lagwensoung, now tributary of Manipoor. As a result of this boundary demarcation without the knowledge let alone consent of the Tangkhuls, many Tangkhul village situated in Somrah hills are include under Burma . Later, when India and Burma attained national independence, the Tangkhuls found themselves totally dismembered belonging to two different countries.
