Early history According to historian Jangkhomang Guite, during the medieval period, the
Tripura kingdom extended its control over the southwestern hills of present-day Manipur up to the foothills of the Thangjing range. Manipur was at that time focused on its eastern frontier and conducted trade with the Burmese. In the 17th century, with the occasional invasions of Tripura into the Imphal valley, interactions began with Tripura. The southern frontier of the kingdom of
Manipur was the southern end of the valley, i.e., the Torbung region. Manipur's royal chronicle,
Cheitharol Kumbaba mentions "Torbung" for the first time in 1712. An astrologer called Chantrasekhor, who was on his way to Tripura, was murdered at Torbung near "Khuka" (possible reference to the
Khuga River). In 1722–1723, Tripura is said to have attacked Manipur, encamping at present-day Torbung (Loklou). Skirmishes lasted an entire year and the Manipuris suffered significant losses. In the end, the ruler
Gharib Niwaz himself came down to command the forces, there was hand-to-hand combat, and ten attackers were captured. "On the same day the Takhens [Tripuris] fled of their own accord from Loklou," says the chronicle. In 1744, the "Katwan of Moirang" was given the charge of dredging the river in Loklou. There are also several mentions of "Loklaopung" (possibly a mound along the course of the river, which was dug up). In 1769, during the rule of
Bhagya Chandra (Chingthang-Khomba), the subsidiary ruler of the Moirang principality called Khellemba allied with the Burmese invading forces and governed the whole of Manipur while Bhagyachandra himself went into exile. Khellemba's capital was at
Kwakta. He is said to have shifted the village of Kiyamgei (near
Lilong Chajing) to Torbung, causing considerable hardship to people. Eventually Bhagyachandra defeated Khellemba and the forcible migration was reversed. In 1789–1790, Bhagyachandra launched an expedition to Saiton Hills lying to the south of the Imphal Valley, and encamped at
Cheklapai near Torbung. The result of the expedition seems to have been ambiguous since the tribals of Saiton Hills were not fully subdued.
Cheitharol Kumbaba states that the soldiers blocked up the Loklai river. 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 (in the present day
Chin State of Myanmar), which was then the central base of the
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 is believed to be the Khuga River valley. The British laid the "Hiangtam Road" through the valley around 1920, and later expanded it to the
Tedim Road during the
Second World War. In 1858, Torbung is mentioned as a region. The Maharaja of Manipur is said to have settled "Saitons" in a (new) village
in Torbung. The Saiton Hills (the east–west-running range of hills on the southern boundary of the Imphal Valley) were invaded in 1789, but not fully subdued. In 1858 when the Maharaja came to
Moirang to repel the Kamhaus (
Aakam-Hao) tribes, a Haokip clan of
Kukis apparently came down from Saiton hills to accept settlement in the Torbung region.
British Raj The British-compiled
Gazetteer of Manipur (1886) describes the "Turbung stream", which it describes as a fair-sized stream that enters the Manipur valley at its southwest corner. It is said to flow through a wide flat-bottomed valley, which is described as suitable for camping. The
Gazetteer makes no mention of a village by the name Turbung, but mentions several villages along the stream or the valley of Turbung, including "Lairit" (a
Kom village), "Mangyol" (a Kuki village of the
Simmte clan), "Saikot" (a Kuki village of the Mangoung clan), "Saitul" (a Kuki village of Vungsun clan), and "Tunnam" (a
Koireng village), In 1872, the Maharaja sent an expedition to the Chivu salt springs (near
Behiang, along the southern border of Manipur in the present time), ostensibly to support the British
Lushai Expedition. The Manipuri troops camped there for two months, and arrested the Kamhau chief of
Mualpi during their return journey. Even though the British officials decried the expedition as "treachery", the Maharaja succeeded in marking his desired territory. The Chivu expedition did not have any immediate consequences. The southern tribes continued to be either independent or tributary to the Kamhaus. From their base at Mualpi, the Kamhaus appear to have controlled the hills up to the Khuga River valley. The British administration reports narrate an incident in 1876, describing a clash between Manipur's
Khongjai troops and the Kamhaus, with victory going to the Manipur troops. In 1894, the British delineated the border between Manipur and the "
Chin Hills", the latter being awarded to Burma. They ran the border close to the previously demarcated "Pemberton's line" (but not identical to it), and continued it to Chivu springs. According to scholar Pum Khan Pau, 47 tribal villages that paid tribute to the Kamhau chief were thus transferred to Manipur, including the entire southern part of the present-day
Churachandpur district. Thus, Torbung became an interior location to the state of Manipur instead of being a border locality. During
World War II, the British constructed a motorable
Tedim Road between Imphal and
Tedim in 1942–1943. Seven decisive battles were fought along this road between the 17 Indian Division of British India and the 33 Division of Japan. The Japanese reached Churachandpur on 8 April 1944, and four of these battles were fought within Manipur, including one at "Torbung". The Japanese were eventually defeated at Imphal and withdrew from Manipur with heavy losses.
Independent period After Manipur's merger with India in 1949, the whole state was administered as a single district. The Bishnupur ("Bishenpur") subdivision was established some time between 1951 and 1961, and Torbung was included in it. By 1991, Bishnupur has been made a district. As a key interaction point between the valley communities of
Meitei people and the
Kuki tribes of the
Churachandpur district, Torbung has often been in the news. Protests were held by the valley communities against the renaming of Thangjing Hill and another group opposed the protest. Women protesters from the tribal communities protested against three controversial bills passed by the Manipur assembly in 2015, who were in turn opposed by other women's groups. The Torbung area was also the epicentre of the
2023-2025 Manipur violence. On 3 May 2023, as the tribal communities protested the Meitei community's demand for the
scheduled tribe status, the valley communities organised a "counter-blockade" at Torbung and another "counter agitation" from the
Moirang subdivision, which led to clashes between the two sides and properties were burned on both the sides of the district border. The resulting tensions led to a two-year-long ethnic violence resulting in over 260 deaths and over 60,000 people displaced. The first casualty of the violence on 3 May was at Torbung. A pastor called Sehkhohao Kipgen was lynched to death. His body was dumped in a ditch in the Meitei part of the town and could not be retrieved by Kukis. A Meitei man was also fatally injured on that day in Torbung and died in an Imphal hospital the next day. He was an
Arambai Tenggol activist from Ithai, who reportedly went to Torbung to "save people's lives and houses". The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights (KOHUR) said that it was only after the lynchings of Kipgen and another Kuki-Zo man that Kukis started firing gun shots. The mobs were very violent on that day according to a senior police officer. The
Director General of Police P. Doungel, who went to Torbung to control the situation, had to be evacuated. == See also ==