The Life and Times of Maniram Dewan, India’s Lost Hero
Maniram Dewan was an Assamese nobleman and a freedom fighter in British India. He was one of the first people to establish tea gardens in Assam. His real name was Maniram Dutta Barua. During the British rule in India, he served as Dewan (a junior administrative officer). He reported his discovery to the British and, as they say, the rest is history.
He was born on 17th April 1806 in a family that had traditionally served Assam’s Ahom kings. He spent his early years in Bengal after his family fled Assam after the Burmese invaded the province in 1817.
He returned later and joined the EIC. In the earlier part of his life, Maniram Dewan became loyal to the British East India Company. At the age of 22, he was appointed a Tehsildar and a Sheristadar of Rangpur under David Scott’s Deputy Captain John Bryan Neufville. He was later made Borbhandar (the Prime Minister) under the titular Ahom ruler Purandar Singha (1833-1838) after the latter was restored to the throne.
Discovery of Tea Cultivation
In the 1820s, on one of his field trips, Maniram encountered the Singpho tribals of Upper Assam. He noticed that they were cultivating tea, which was hitherto unknown to the rest of the world. He directed the cultivators Robert Bruce and his brother Charles Alexander Bruce to the local Singpho chief Bessa Gam. They collected the tea samples from Singphos and took them to the company administration.
The British had been importing copious amounts of tea into England from China but the opium wars in the mid-19th century put a halt to these imports. So, the British began looking for alternatives to meet their need for tea. Initially, they began to smuggle Chinese seedlings and experimented with tea cultivation, but in vain.
So, when Maniram pointed to the tea being grown by the Singpho tribals, it was the solution they had been looking for. Dr Nathaniel Wallich, the superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden, however, declared that these samples were a different species than the tea plants of China.
The British finally decided to start tea plantations in India, and in 1834, the Tea Committee was set up and its members visited Assam to study the possibilities of tea cultivation there. A deal was struck with Purandar to establish tea gardens in the region. Thus, by 1835, Assam became the first Indian province to cultivate tea.
Striking Out on His Own
In 1839, Maniram was appointed as the Dewan of Assam Tea Company at Nazira with a salary of ₹ 200 per month. But in the 1840s Maniram quit the job due to differences of opinion with the officers. But he had acquired sufficient tea cultivation expertise.
Later he became the first Indian to grow tea commercially in Assam by establishing his own tea gardens at Chenimora in Jorhat and Selung in Sibsagar respectively. He was not only a tea cultivator but also ventured into gold procuring, salt production, iron smelting, manufacturing of goods, boat and brick making, ivory work, ceramic, agricultural products, etc. Maniram wanted to make Assam self-reliant through all kinds of enterprise. Adept in numerous trades himself, chiefs of neighbouring states considered him a Demi-God.
His success with tea was, however, short-lived. After six years of cultivation, Maniram was ruined by the British, who impeded his efforts as they felt he was getting too powerful. He had expanded his tea gardens, earned the respect of the local people, and enjoyed considerable clout. Since he was no longer on their side, the British were wary of the influence he exercised and wanted to cut him to size. He had faced numerous administrative obstacles in establishing private tea plantations, due to opposition from the competing European tea planters. In 1851, an officer seized all the facilities provided to him due to a tea garden dispute. Maniram had to face economic hardship.
Maniram realised just how oppressed the Assamese were under the East India Company. He grew close to the then ruling Ahom King, Purandar Singha. To highlight the plight of the Ahom people, he initially presented his case before A J Moffat Mills, a prominent Calcutta judge, who was sent to Assam on an official tour in 1853. Though his case was dismissed, he met many influential people in Calcutta, where his cause found support among the Bengali elite.
Seeking Retribution
When the Indian sepoys started an uprising against the British on 10 May 1857, Maniram saw it as an opportunity to restore the Ahom rule. With help from messengers disguised as fakirs, he sent coded letters to Peali Baruah, who had been acting as the chief advisor of Kandarpeswar in his absence. In these letters, he urged Kandarpeswar Singha to launch a revolt 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, Nahidhar Sarma Muktear, Luki Senchowa Barua, Ugrasen Narangikhowa Gohain, Deoram Dihingia Barua, Dutiram Barua, Bahadur Gaonburha, Sheikh Formud Ali and Madhuram Koch.
Maniram was arrested in Calcutta, detained in Alipur for a few weeks, and then brought to Jorhat. His letters to Kandarpeswar had been intercepted 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 ringleader 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 resentment among the public, resulting in an open revolt that was suppressed forcefully.
Honour and Recognition of Maniram Dewan
Several folk songs called “Maniram Dewanar Geet” have been composed in his memory. The Maniram Dewan Trade Centre has been set up at Guwahati for the promotion of trade activities. The Maniram Dewan Boy’s hostel of the Dibrugarh University has been named after him. In 1963, a movie “Maniram Dewan” was released based on history of Maniram Dewan. This movie won President’s Silver Award.
A martyr to the people of Assam, Maniram Dewan continues to be an inspiration for the Assamese people.
