Maniram Dutta Barua popularly known as Maniram Dewan was indubitably one of the greatest Assamese freedom fighters of India. He was born on 17 April 1806-26 February 1858 and was one of the first people to establish tea gardens in the state of Assam. A steadfast supporter of the British East India Company in his early years, he was hanged by the British for conspiring against them during the 1857 mutiny.
Maniram was born into a Kalita family that had migrated from Kannauj to Assam in the early 16th century. His paternal ancestors held high offices in the Ahom court, the rulers of the state. The Ahom rule had weakened significantly following the Moamoria rebellion (1769–1806). During the Burmese invasions of Assam (1817-1826), Maniram's family sought refuge in Bengal, which was under the control of the British East India Company. The family returned to Assam under the British protection, during the early days of the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826). The East India Company defeated the Burmese and gained the control of Assam through the Treaty of Yandabo (1826).
During the initiation of his career, Maniram became a dedicated associate of the British East India Company administration under David Scott, the Agent of the Governor General in North East India. In the year 1828, the 22-year-old Maniram was appointed as a tehsildar and a sheristadar of Rangpur under Scott's deputy Captain John Bryan Neufville. Later, he was made a borbhandar (Prime Minister) by Purandar Singha, the ostensible ruler of Assam during 1833–1838. He continued to be an associate of Purandar's son Kamaleswar Singha and grandsom Kandarpeswar Singha. Maniram became a loyal confidante of Purandar Singha, and resigned from the posts of sheristadar and tehsildar, when the king was deposed by the British.
Maniram was the first one to inform the British about the Assam tea grown by the Singpho people, which were up till then unheard of to the rest of the world. In early 1820s, he directed the cultivators Robert Bruce and his brother Charles Alexander Bruce to the local Singpho chief Bessa Gam. Charles Bruce collected the tea plants from the Singphos and took them to the Company administration. However, Dr. Nathaniel Wallich, the superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden declared that these samples were not same species as the tea plants of China.In the year 1833, after its monopoly on the Chinese tea trade ended, the East India Company decided to establish major tea plantations in India. Lord William Bentinck established the Tea Committee on 1 February 1834 towards achieving this goal. The committee sent out circulars asking about the suitable places for tea cultivation, to which Captain F. Jenkins responded, suggesting Assam. The tea plant samples collected by his assistant Lieutenant Charlton were acknowledged by Dr. Wallich as genuine tea. When the Tea Committee visited Assam to study the feasibility of tea cultivation, Maniram met Dr. Wallich as a representative of Purandar Singha, and highlighted the region's prospects for tea cultivation.
In the year 1839, Maniram became the Dewan of the Assam Tea Company at Nazira, drawing a salary of 200 rupees per month. In the mid-1840s, he quit his job due to differences of opinion with the company officers.[7] By this time, Maniram had acquired tea cultivation expertise. He established his own tea garden at Chenimora in Jorhat, thus becoming the first Indian to grow tea commercially in Assam. Jorhat later became home to the tea research laboratory Tocklai Experimental Station. He established another plantation at Selung (or Singlo) in Sibsagar. Besides the tea industry, Dewan also ventured into several other industries that included manufacturing of different goods.
However, during 1850’s, he became hostile towards the British Government as he had faced numerous administrative obstacles in establishing private tea plantations, due to opposition from the competing European tea planters. In the year 1851, an officer seized all the facilities provided to him due to a tea garden dispute. Maniram, whose family consisted of 185 people, had to face financial adversity. In the year 1852, Maniram presented a petition to A.G. Moffat Mills, the judge of the Sadar Court, Calcutta. He pointed out that the British policies were aimed at recovering the expenses incurred in conquering the Assam province from the Burmese, resulting in exploitation of the local economy. He protested against the waste of money on frolicsome court cases, the unfair taxation system, the inequitable pension system and the introduction of opium cultivation. He also criticized the discontinuation of the puja (Hindu worship) at the Kamakhya Temple, which according to him resulted in calamities. Maniram further wrote that the "objectionable treatment" of the Hill Tribes (such as the Nagas) was resulting in constant warfare leading to mutual loss of life and money. He complained against the desecration of the Ahom royal tombs and looting of wealth from these relics. He also expressed his disapproval of the appointment of the Marwaris and the Bengalis as Mouzadars (a civil service post), when a number of Assamese people remained unemployed.
When the Indian sepoys started a mutiny against the British on 10 May, Maniram saw it as an opportunity to restore the Ahom rule. With help from messengers disguised as fakirs, he sent coded letters to Piyoli Baruah, who had been acting as the chief advisor of Kandarpeswar in his absence. In these letters, he urged Kandarpeswar Singha to launch a rebellion against the British, with help from the sepoys at Dibrugarh and Golaghat. Kandarpeswar and his loyal men hatched an anti-British plot and gathered arms. The plot was supported by several influential local leaders including Urbidhar Barua, Mayaram Barbora, Chitrasen Barbora, Kamala Charingia Barua, Mahidhar Sarma Muktear, Luki Senchowa Barua, Ugrasen Marangikhowa Gohain, Deoram Dihingia Barua, Dutiram Barua, Bahadur Gaonburha, Sheikh Formud Ali and Madhuram Koch.
The conspirators were joined by the Subedars Sheikh Bhikun and Nur Mahammad, after Kandarpeswar promised to double the salary of the sepoys if they succeeded in defeating the British. On 29 August 1857, the rebels met at Sheikh Bhikun's residence at Nogora. They planned a march to Jorhat, where Kandarpeswar would be installed as the King on the day of the Durga Puja; later Sibsagar and Dibrugarh would be captured. However, the plot was uncovered before it could be executed. Kandarpeswar, Maniram, and other leaders were arrested. Maniram was arrested in Calcutta, jailed in Alipur for a few weeks, and then brought to Jorhat. His letters to Kandarpeswar had been seized by the Special Commissioner Captain Charles Holroyd, who judged the trial. Based on the statement of Haranath Parbatia Baruah, the daroga (inspector) of Sibsagar, Maniram was identified as the kingpin of the plot. He and Peali Barua were publicly hanged on 26 February 1858 at the Jorhat jail. Maniram's death was widely mourned in Assam, and several tea garden workers struck work to express their support for the rebellion. The executions led to anger among the public, resulting in an open revolt which was suppressed vehemently.
Maniram was born into a Kalita family that had migrated from Kannauj to Assam in the early 16th century. His paternal ancestors held high offices in the Ahom court, the rulers of the state. The Ahom rule had weakened significantly following the Moamoria rebellion (1769–1806). During the Burmese invasions of Assam (1817-1826), Maniram's family sought refuge in Bengal, which was under the control of the British East India Company. The family returned to Assam under the British protection, during the early days of the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826). The East India Company defeated the Burmese and gained the control of Assam through the Treaty of Yandabo (1826).
During the initiation of his career, Maniram became a dedicated associate of the British East India Company administration under David Scott, the Agent of the Governor General in North East India. In the year 1828, the 22-year-old Maniram was appointed as a tehsildar and a sheristadar of Rangpur under Scott's deputy Captain John Bryan Neufville. Later, he was made a borbhandar (Prime Minister) by Purandar Singha, the ostensible ruler of Assam during 1833–1838. He continued to be an associate of Purandar's son Kamaleswar Singha and grandsom Kandarpeswar Singha. Maniram became a loyal confidante of Purandar Singha, and resigned from the posts of sheristadar and tehsildar, when the king was deposed by the British.
Maniram was the first one to inform the British about the Assam tea grown by the Singpho people, which were up till then unheard of to the rest of the world. In early 1820s, he directed the cultivators Robert Bruce and his brother Charles Alexander Bruce to the local Singpho chief Bessa Gam. Charles Bruce collected the tea plants from the Singphos and took them to the Company administration. However, Dr. Nathaniel Wallich, the superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden declared that these samples were not same species as the tea plants of China.In the year 1833, after its monopoly on the Chinese tea trade ended, the East India Company decided to establish major tea plantations in India. Lord William Bentinck established the Tea Committee on 1 February 1834 towards achieving this goal. The committee sent out circulars asking about the suitable places for tea cultivation, to which Captain F. Jenkins responded, suggesting Assam. The tea plant samples collected by his assistant Lieutenant Charlton were acknowledged by Dr. Wallich as genuine tea. When the Tea Committee visited Assam to study the feasibility of tea cultivation, Maniram met Dr. Wallich as a representative of Purandar Singha, and highlighted the region's prospects for tea cultivation.
In the year 1839, Maniram became the Dewan of the Assam Tea Company at Nazira, drawing a salary of 200 rupees per month. In the mid-1840s, he quit his job due to differences of opinion with the company officers.[7] By this time, Maniram had acquired tea cultivation expertise. He established his own tea garden at Chenimora in Jorhat, thus becoming the first Indian to grow tea commercially in Assam. Jorhat later became home to the tea research laboratory Tocklai Experimental Station. He established another plantation at Selung (or Singlo) in Sibsagar. Besides the tea industry, Dewan also ventured into several other industries that included manufacturing of different goods.
However, during 1850’s, he became hostile towards the British Government as he had faced numerous administrative obstacles in establishing private tea plantations, due to opposition from the competing European tea planters. In the year 1851, an officer seized all the facilities provided to him due to a tea garden dispute. Maniram, whose family consisted of 185 people, had to face financial adversity. In the year 1852, Maniram presented a petition to A.G. Moffat Mills, the judge of the Sadar Court, Calcutta. He pointed out that the British policies were aimed at recovering the expenses incurred in conquering the Assam province from the Burmese, resulting in exploitation of the local economy. He protested against the waste of money on frolicsome court cases, the unfair taxation system, the inequitable pension system and the introduction of opium cultivation. He also criticized the discontinuation of the puja (Hindu worship) at the Kamakhya Temple, which according to him resulted in calamities. Maniram further wrote that the "objectionable treatment" of the Hill Tribes (such as the Nagas) was resulting in constant warfare leading to mutual loss of life and money. He complained against the desecration of the Ahom royal tombs and looting of wealth from these relics. He also expressed his disapproval of the appointment of the Marwaris and the Bengalis as Mouzadars (a civil service post), when a number of Assamese people remained unemployed.
When the Indian sepoys started a mutiny against the British on 10 May, Maniram saw it as an opportunity to restore the Ahom rule. With help from messengers disguised as fakirs, he sent coded letters to Piyoli Baruah, who had been acting as the chief advisor of Kandarpeswar in his absence. In these letters, he urged Kandarpeswar Singha to launch a rebellion against the British, with help from the sepoys at Dibrugarh and Golaghat. Kandarpeswar and his loyal men hatched an anti-British plot and gathered arms. The plot was supported by several influential local leaders including Urbidhar Barua, Mayaram Barbora, Chitrasen Barbora, Kamala Charingia Barua, Mahidhar Sarma Muktear, Luki Senchowa Barua, Ugrasen Marangikhowa Gohain, Deoram Dihingia Barua, Dutiram Barua, Bahadur Gaonburha, Sheikh Formud Ali and Madhuram Koch.
The conspirators were joined by the Subedars Sheikh Bhikun and Nur Mahammad, after Kandarpeswar promised to double the salary of the sepoys if they succeeded in defeating the British. On 29 August 1857, the rebels met at Sheikh Bhikun's residence at Nogora. They planned a march to Jorhat, where Kandarpeswar would be installed as the King on the day of the Durga Puja; later Sibsagar and Dibrugarh would be captured. However, the plot was uncovered before it could be executed. Kandarpeswar, Maniram, and other leaders were arrested. Maniram was arrested in Calcutta, jailed in Alipur for a few weeks, and then brought to Jorhat. His letters to Kandarpeswar had been seized by the Special Commissioner Captain Charles Holroyd, who judged the trial. Based on the statement of Haranath Parbatia Baruah, the daroga (inspector) of Sibsagar, Maniram was identified as the kingpin of the plot. He and Peali Barua were publicly hanged on 26 February 1858 at the Jorhat jail. Maniram's death was widely mourned in Assam, and several tea garden workers struck work to express their support for the rebellion. The executions led to anger among the public, resulting in an open revolt which was suppressed vehemently.