Kuki Rebellion of 1917–1919
tribal revolt against the British Raj in Manipur
The Kuki Rebellion or Anglo-Kuki War also known as the Kuki Rising (Zou: Zou Gal), was a tribal revolt during the British colonial rule in India during World War One.
It was a rebellion by the Kuki tribes of Manipur, ostensibly to resist their forcible recruitment into labour corps for the First World War. From a wider historical perspective, it can also be read as a response to the colonial intrusion into Kuki livelihoods, with new forms of economic relations and land policies, as well as the declining authority of Kuki chiefs. The colonial government responded with military operations which burned at least 126 Kuki villages and several food stocks, which the government deemed necessary to suppress the rebellion. During 2017–2019, the Kuki community of Manipur arranged centennial commemorations for the event at multiple locations in Manipur. Their celebration of the event as a "war" came into contestation by the Meitei and Naga communities of Manipur.
Background
Ashok Kumar Ray gives four causes for the uprising. These are the labour recruitment drives for World War One, the corruption of lambus, customary payments to hillmen on Pothang or for foreign service, and house tax. Lambus were hill advisors and administrators who gained influence in Manipur and became infamous for corruption and bribery practices. This behaviour also challenged the prestige and authority of the Kuki chiefs, thus leading to resentment.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q121734397. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2017 and 2019.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kuki Rebellion of 1917–1919” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.