Assamese nobleman Maniram Dutta Baruah, more popularly known as Maniram Dewan, was hanged on this day by the British for conspiring against them during the 1857 Uprising. He had been arrested from Kolkata.
He was among the first through whom the British became aware of the possibility of cultivating tea in Assam and the potential of the enterprise.
Maniram was appointed Dewan of Assam Tea Company. But a few years later, he gave up his job following differences deleted with East India Company and established his first tea garden at Cinnamara in Jorhat.
In the 1850s, the British targeted his business and made it impossible for him to run it.
Maniram submitted a petition to a Kolkata court saying that the people of Assam had been reduced to abject misery by British policies. He said that the British intended to recover the cost of capturing Assam from the Burmese through such policies.
He proposed that the rule of Ahom kings be reinstated in Assam.
He arrived in Calcutta in early 1857 to gather support for Kandarpeswar Singha of the Ahom royal family as the future king. When the Uprising began, he saw it as an opportunity and urged Kandarpeswar to participate in it by organising his people in Jorhat. During this period, Maniram was communicating constantly with Piyali Baruah, a close associate of Kandarpeswar.
A day had been decided on to install Kandarpeswar as king, but the British came to know the plan. Maniram was arrested in Calcutta and Piyali, Kandarpeswar and the others who were involved, were arrested in Jorhat. Maniram and Piyali were charged with treason and hanged in Jorhat. February 26 is now observed for their martyrdom.
