01The road through the hills
After the Company took Assam from the Burmese in 1826, its agent David Scott wanted a road from the Brahmaputra valley over the Khasi hills to Sylhet. In 1827 the Syiem of Nongkhlaw, Tirot Sing, agreed in his durbar to let it pass, and work began with a rest-house at Nongkhlaw. The Khasi chiefs soon saw troops and outsiders settling on their land. Word came that the British meant to tax and hold the hills. On 4 April 1829 Tirot Sing’s men attacked the post at Nongkhlaw and killed the two British officers there, Lieutenants Bedingfield and Burlton.
02Four years in the forest
The Company answered with columns that burned villages across the hills. Tirot Sing and the allied chiefs fought from the forests and caves with swords, bows and a few muskets, raiding posts and vanishing. He was wounded, hunted and finally gave himself up in January 1833. Sent as a prisoner to Dhaka, he died there on 17 July 1835. Meghalaya keeps 17 July as U Tirot Sing Day, and his memorial stands at Mairang, near Nongkhlaw, where the hima still has its Syiem.
The life of this place
- 1827Tirot Sing’s durbar allows the Company’s Gauhati–Sylhet road through Nongkhlaw.
- 4 April 1829Khasi fighters attack the British post at Nongkhlaw; the Anglo-Khasi war begins.
- January 1833Tirot Sing surrenders and is deported to Dhaka.
- 17 July 1835Tirot Sing dies in captivity at Dhaka.
