Tirot Sing Day – July 17, 2024

History of Tirot Sing Day

Tirot Sing – also called U Tirot Sing Syiem — was a chief of the Khasi people in the early 1800s. He was born in 1802 and died in 1835. His ancestors were from the Syiemlieh clan. He was a ‘Syiem’ (chief) of Nongkhlaw, a village in the Khasi Hills. He was a constitutional ruler who shared corporate responsibility with his council, which consisted of delegates from the region’s most powerful clans.

Tirot Sing waged war against the British and attacked them for attempting to take possession of the Khasi Hills. The British claimed authority over the Brahmaputra Valley in 1826. They sought to connect it to the Surma Valley by building a road through the Khasi Hills.

David Scott, representing the British, asked Tirot Sing, the Khasi chief, for approval to build the road, promising Sing that he would retain the sovereignty of his province and be able to trade freely. Sing, however, was disturbed when he learned that the British had been reinforcing their garrisons in the region, as he was suspicious of the British’s true intentions. He then served the British with a notice to evacuate the region, which they ignored.

Tirot Sing was determined to push the British out of the Khasi hills, and in April 1829, hundreds of his warriors attacked a British stronghold, sparking the four-year Anglo-Khasi war. Given the Khasi’s lack of equipment and the fact that they were massively outnumbered, Tirot Sing and his men’s bravery in mounting a four-year resistance is a testament to their valor. Tirot Sing was eventually apprehended by the British and sent to Dhaka, where he died in prison on July 17, 1835.