In the den of Rani Gaidinliu the legendary freedom fighter
. - Mount Kisha at Magulong Village -

Kh Hitler Singh *

Tomb of Rani Gaidinliu at Longkao :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

The writer was motivated to visit Magulong Village of Tousem Sub-Division by the speech of Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur, Shri Gaikhangam at the National Workshop on “Sustainable Development of Medicinal Plants Sector in North Eastern India” from 16th to 17th February 2015 held at Jubilee Hall, RIMS, Imphal. He had described the beauty of Magulong Village in a very lucid manner. The writer is also motivated to write and share the experience of our visit to different places by the Speech of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi through his public talk entitled “Manki Bat” aired in All India Radio.

Further, the writer feels that by writing this small article; a humble and small token of Homage is being paid to the legendary Freedom Fighter popularly called Rani Gaidinliu on her Birth centenary celebration; of course the writer is not having in depth knowledge about the freedom fighter. It is learnt that she was born in 1915; she was camping at Mount Kisha during 1932, and again in 1962 (after independence).

She was honored with Tamrapatra (Freedom Fighter) in 1972, Padma Bhushan in 1981, Vivekananda Sheva award in 1984. She died in 1993 and she was honored with Visha Munda Award (Social Work) posthumously in 1994 as evident from the photograph collected from Magulong village. It is learnt that Rani Gaidinliu started her freedom fighting from a very young age of thirteen years.

An opportunity came to the Western Forest Division, Tamenglong for organizing awareness programs on conservation of Biological Diversity in the Biodiversity rich villages of Tamenglong District under the aegis of Manipur Biodiversity Board, Imphal, Government of Manipur. Indeed Tamenglong is very rich in Biodiversity as it is evident from the presence of three proposed Wildlife Sanctuaries viz Bunning (Piulong) Wildlife Sanctuary, Zeliad Wildlife Sanctuary and Jiri-Makru Wildlife Sanctuary.

There were frequent report of occurrence of the Indian National Animal in the district and it is the most suitable District to set up a Tiger Reserve. {The writer’s Article:- Does Manipur has a breeding population of Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)} We proposed the venues of the awareness programs at Magulong and Bunning (Piulong) to DFO, Tamenglong; Shri Huri Golmei, and he readily agreed to our proposal.

We had quickly planned the visit to Magulong and Bunning (Piulong) on 27/3/2015 and 28/3/2015. We proceeded from Tamei in two 4 x 4 Vehicles leaving behind the non 4 x 4 vehicle at Tamei as the road condition is quite difficult for the vehicle without special gears. The team members were Shri Huri Golmei DFO/Tamenglong, Md. Bani Amin RFO/Tamei, Shri M.K. Pamei FG, Shri P. Sangsubou FG, Shri Thoiba, Shri Thanil, drivers and the writer. We drove from Tamei at 11.30 AM to Dikiuram and cross the Bridge at Barak river and drove up to Magulong. The road was difficult and steep. After several hours of drive we reached Magulong at around 3.30 PM which is located on the hill ridge.

Mt Kisha - Tamenglong - The Natural Paradise

We were warmly welcome by the village Chairman and other village authority members and provided retiring rooms. We requested them to call all the village members for the awareness program which was held in the evening of the same day as we would like to see the glorious and enchanting Mount Kisha on the next morning. The awareness program was concluded with traditional Zeliangrong Dance called “Python Dance” in honor of the visiting team.

Magulong village is a medium size village with 139 House-holds and with a population of 1148 persons as per 2011 census report. Magulong village has higher literacy rate of 77.79% compared to state average literacy rate of 76.94%.

The village was having rich wildlife in the past as we have seen depiction of several wild animals and birds in the entrance of community hall. The depicted fauna included Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), Leopard (Panthera pardus) Wild Buffalo (Bubalus arnee), Bison (Bos gaurus), Sambar deer (Cervus unicolor), Barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), Wild boar (Sus scrofa), Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis homrai), Owl, Magpie, Squirrel, Rodents, Crabs, Butterflies etc.

Next day i.e. 28/3/2015; we readied by 5.30 AM to climb up further to visit the famous Mount Kisha. The total distance of the to and fro journey is about 10 Km. The village Chairman with many village youth accompanied us. The journey was quite arduous as the slope is very steep. The up journey takes about two hours and we rested for three-four times during the climb and see the beauty of the Magulong Forest.

The Forest is full of Ushingsa/Dalchini (Cinnamomum zylenicum); a tree which is an important medicinal and aromatic plant; but the sad part is the unsustainable extraction of Dalchini bark by cutting down the whole tree. There is still very good Forest in the vicinity of the village and different varieties of orchid are seen, but jhuming is seen around the village which is very detrimental to the conservation of Bio-diversity but the villagers were doing jhuming out of compulsion as they have no alternative way of earning or livelihood. The good news is that the Village authority had ban jhuming in the vicinity of the Village.

We reach the Mount Kisha cave at around 7.45 AM after travelling through narrow, crooky, zig-zag foot paths. It is really amazing geological formation. We are led to the Den of the famous Freedom Fighter Rani Gaidinliu who fought against the British Colonial Rule. The Mount Kisha comprises of protruding stone cliff, and a cave formed at base of the stone cliff. There is very less vegetation on the face of stone cliff.

This stone rock cave was utilized by Rani Gaidinliu as hiding place and her HQ during freedom fighting period. At the entrance there is still testimony of Bunker Guard constructed by stone wherein her sepoys guarded her camp from any intrusion to the Den. The Den cannot be approached from other sides except from the entrance.

To our estimate, this stone cave could provide shelter to more than two hundred people during rain etc. The cave also has a water hole from the seepage of water through the stone rocks. Thus during Freedom Fighting Rani Gaidinliu had a very strategic and advantageous Head Quarter at this cave.

The Area is named as Mount Kisha which means “Mount of god of wars”. The cave is also popularly known as Gaidinliu Cave. It was a great and fulfilling experience to visit this place and the memories still lingered. We felt, it is high time to promote Magulong for uniqueness of Mount Kisha to the people far and wide. The site can be one of the important historical site, eco-tourism destination or adventure tourism site.