Last month, in June, I read the History of Modern Manipur. It's a book edited by Lal Dena (Department of History, Manipur University). This copy is a first edition, published in 1990. Our story starts way back in 1762 —the year Manipur came into its first formal contact with the British . At that time, King Bhagyachandra of Manipur was in big trouble. The Burmese (from present-day Myanmar) had invaded his kingdom, and he had to run for his life! So what did he do? He asked the British East India Company for help. The British, who were gradually expanding their power in India, believed that assisting Manipur could be beneficial. So they signed a treaty with Bhagyachandra in 1762 and promised to help him get his kingdom back. Spoiler alert: they didn’t do much at that time. But it was the start of a new relationship between Manipur and the British. Fast forward to 1819 . Manipur was in total chaos . Brothers were fighting for the throne. They were the sons of Bhagyachandra: ...