FaustinoRicks4 at 14:10, 16 August 2025

2025-08-16T14:10:51Z

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{{short description|River in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Khuga River
| native_name =
| other_name = Tuitha River
| nickname =

| image =
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| pushpin_map = India Manipur#India
| pushpin_map_size =
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| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = [[India]]
| subdivision_type2 = State
| subdivision_name2 = [[Manipur]]
| subdivision_type3 = Districts
| subdivision_name3 = [[Churachandpur district|Churachandpur]], [[Bishnupur district|Bishnupur]]

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| source1 =
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| source1_coordinates= {{Coord|24.0821|93.6479|display=inline}}
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| mouth =
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| mouth_coordinates = {{Coord|24.4285|93.8378|display=title,inline}}
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| progression = [[Manipur River]]
| river_system = [[Chindwin River|Chindwin]]
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| waterbodies = [[Khuga Dam|Khuga Reservoir]]
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'''Khuga River''',{{efn|Alternative spellings: '''Khuka'''<ref>{{harvp|Parratt, The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur, Vol. 1|2005|p=122}}</ref> and '''Khooka'''.<ref>
{{citation |chapter=Annual Administration Report of the Munnipoor Agency, For the year ending 30th June 1874–75 |title=Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department |location=Calcutta |publisher=Foreign Department Press |year=1874 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/annualadministr00unkngoog/page/n43 |via=archive.org |page=7}}
</ref>}} also known as the '''Tuitha River''', is a river in [[Manipur]], [[India]]. It originates in the [[Churachandpur district]] and flows through the district for much of its course. It enters the [[Imphal Valley]] near [[Torbung]], and flows east, joining the [[Manipur River]] near Ithai. The Khuga River valley in the Churachandpur district is thickly populated, with the [[Churachandpur]] town and numerous villages.

== Course ==
The Khuga River originates in the southern part of the [[Churachandpur district]], close to the border with [[Chin State]] (Myanmar), and flows north into the [[Imphal Valley]] south of [[Moirang]]. The upper course of the river is traditionally called "Tuitha" in [[Kuki-Chin languages]].{{sfnp|Churachandpur District Census Handbook|2011|p=24}} But the name is also applied to a south-flowing head stream of the river originating near Mount Mulam.{{sfnp|Churachandpur District Census Handbook|2011|p=25}} British maps have noted this headstream as "Hilpi River". Another headstream flowing north from the southern borders joins this stream near Hiangtam Khul ({{Coord|24.0821|93.6479|name=Source of Khuga}}), forming the Khuga River.{{sfnp|Churachandpur District Census Handbook|2011|p=25}}

The combined river flows due north, breaking into a wide plain near the Mata village, which is referred to as the "Lamka plain" (Lamka ''zaang'').<ref name="Lamka plain"/> Near Mata, a multi-purpose dam called [[Khuga Dam|Mata Dam]] (or Khuga Dam) has been constructed in 2010. It forms a long reservoir, submerging much of the upper valley.<ref>
[https://churachandpur.nic.in/tourist-place/khuga-dam/ Khuga Dam], Churachandpur District administration, retrieved 1 September 2023.
</ref>
After the dam, the Khuga river flows for about 16 km through the Lamka plain/Khuga valley before entering the Imphal Valley near [[Torbung]] (in the [[Bishnupur district]]).

Near Torbung, streams from [[Thangjing hills]] to the west, prominently the Torbung stream, join the Khuga River, as does the outlet stream of the [[Loktak Lake]]. The combined river flows east and joins the [[Imphal River]] near Ithai to form the [[Manipur River]].{{sfnp|Churachandpur District Census Handbook|2011|p=25}}

== Valley ==
Khuga River flows through a wide valley, which appears as if it is an extension of the Imphal Valley. The second largest town of Manipur, [[Churachandpur]], locally known as Lamka, lies in the valley.<ref name="IE Lamka">
{{citation |author=Sukrit Baruah |title=Amid ongoing violence, why there is an open challenge to the name of Manipur’s Churachandpur |newspaper=The Indian Express |date=10 July 2023 |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/manipur-churachandpur-lamka-kuki-zomi-meitei-history-8820659/}}
</ref>
Numerous other villages also dot the valley, housing a large portion of the Churachandpur district's population. The region has been referred to as the "Lamka plain".<ref name="Lamka plain">{{harvp|Pau, Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills|2019|loc=p. xii: "From a remote hill village in the Indo-Burma border, my grandparents moved to the plain of Lamka (Lamka ''zaang'') in Churachandpur District of Manipur chiefly in search of better livelihood and opportunity for the education of their children."}}
</ref>

The [[Tedim Road]], running between the [[Imphal]] city and the town of [[Tedim Township|Tedim]] in the [[Chin State]] of Myanmar, partly runs through the Lamka plain / Khuga river valley. It leaves the valley near the village of S. Geltui, and follows a hill route to reach [[Singngat]], after which it enters the [[Tuivai River]] valley up to the town of [[Behiang]] on the [[India–Myanmar border|India-Myanmar border]].

== History ==
The Khuga River was relatively unknown to the [[Manipur (princely state)|history of Manipur]]. Its first mention is found in ''[[Cheitharol Kumbaba]]'' (Manipuri court chronicles) in the year 1712, noting a murder at "Torbung, near Khuka".<ref>{{harvp|Parratt, The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur, Vol. 1|2005|p=122}}. The expression "near Khuka" suggests that the reference could have been to a place rather than a river.</ref> After the [[British Raj|British]] began to exert their influence in Manipur, they regarded the southwestern part of the present-day Manipur state vaguely as part of "Lushai hills". The Manipur kingdom extended only to the southern periphery of the Imphal Valley. It was referred to as the "Moirang frontier" in an administrative report in 1876.<ref>{{citation |title=Annual Administration Report of the Munnipoor Agency for the year 1875–1876 |location=Calcutta |publisher=Foreign Department Press |year=1876 |url=https://archive.org/details/annualadministr00unkngoog/n79 |via=archive.org |page=5}}</ref> The ''Gazetteer of Manipur'', published in 1886, makes no mention of the Khuga River and uses the name "Turbung stream" for its lower course running in the Imphal Valley.<ref>{{citation |last=Dun |first=E. W. |title=Gazetteer of Manipur |publisher=Manas Publications |year=1992 |orig-year=1886 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.32037 |via=archive.org |page=193}} (Villages such as Saikot and Saitul are described as being "on the Turbung stream".)
</ref>

Scholar Pum Khan Pau believes that the Khuga River valley might have been traversed by Manipuris for the first time in 1857, when Maharaja [[Chandrakirti]] led an expedition to [[Tedim Township|Tedim]] (in the present day [[Chin State]] of Myanmar), then the central base of the [[Sukte clan|Kamhau-Sukte tribes]]. The Manipuri troops fled "in confusion" after facing the combined troops of Kamhau, Sukte and Sihzang tribes, and returned to the Imphal Valley via a previously "unknown route", which eventually formed the route of the present day Tedim Road along the Khuga River valley.{{sfnp|Pau, Tedim Road|2012|pp=778–779}}

In 1872, the Maharaja sent another expedition to the Chivu salt springs (near modern [[Behiang]]), ostensibly to support the British [[Lushai Expedition]]. The Manipuri troops camped there for two months, and, during their return journey, arrested the Kamhau chief of [[Mualpi]] by name [[Go Khaw Thang]]. Even though the British officials decried the expedition as "treachery", the Maharaja succeeded in marking his claimed territory.{{sfnp|Pau, Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills|2019|pp=67–69, 160}} In 1894, when the British delineated the border between Manipur and [[Chin Hills]], they rant it close to the Chivu salt springs.{{sfnp|Pau, Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills|2019||p=161}}

During the [[Kuki Rebellion of 1917–1919]], the British constructed a road to [[Hiangtam]], south of Singngat along the Khuga River valley. Hiangtam was described as a stronghold of the Kuki rebels, and the British needed a way to send troops and supplies. The junction point of the Hiangtam road and the Tipaimukh road came to be known as Hiangtam Lamka, which formed the core of the modern Lamka or Churachandpur town.<ref>{{citation |author=Sukrit Baruah |title=Amid ongoing violence, why there is an open challenge to the name of Manipur’s Churachandpur |newspaper=The Indian Express |date=10 July 2023 |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/manipur-churachandpur-lamka-kuki-zomi-meitei-history-8820659/}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], the British improved the Hiangtam road and extended it to Tedim for the defence of eastern frontier of India. The resulting road came to be known as the Tedim Road, running between the Imphal City and the town of [[Tedim Township|Tedim]]. Seven decisive battles were fought along this road between the 17 Division of British India and the 33 Division of Japan. The Japanese reached Churachandpur on 8 April 1944, and four additional battles were fought within Manipur, including one near [[Torbung]]. Eventually the Japanese were defeated at [[Imphal]] and withdrew with heavy losses.{{sfnp|Pau, Tedim Road|2012}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{citation |title=Churachandpur District Census Handbook |publisher=Directorate of Census Operations, Manipur |year=2011 |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/846/download/36252/DH_2011_1403_PART_A_DCHB_CHURACHANDPUR.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Churachandpur District Census Handbook|2011}}}}
* {{Cite book |first=Saroj Nalini Arambam |last=Parratt |title=The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur: The Cheitharon Kumpapa, Volume 1 |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-34430-1 |location=London |ref={{sfnref|Parratt, The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur, Vol. 1|2005}}}}
* {{citation |first=Pum Khan |last=Pau |year=2012 |title=Tedim Road—The Strategic Road on a Frontier: A Historical Analysis |journal=Strategic Analysis |volume=36 |number=5 |pages=776-786 |doi=10.1080/09700161.2012.712387 |ref={{sfnref|Pau, Tedim Road|2012}}}}
* {{citation |last=Pau |first=Pum Khan |title=Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills: Empire and Resistance |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2019 |isbn=9781000507454 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dVmnDwAAQBAJ |ref={{sfnref|Pau, Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills|2019}}}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/15994309 Khuga River], OpenStreetMap, retrieved 2 September 2023.
* [https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/16128397 Tedim Road], OpenStreetMap, retrieved 2 September 2023.

{{Hydrography of Manipur}}
[[Category:Rivers of Manipur]]

Khuga River - Revision history

FaustinoRicks4 at 14:10, 16 August 2025