Manipur Rajbari: Only the base structure stands
Source: The Sangai Express

Shillong, October 13 2025: Now only the base structure or foundation of Manipur Rajbari, Shillong still stands which witnessed a key historical event in 1949 that has the most far-reaching consequences in the modem political history of Manipur.

It was at Redland Manipur Rajbari, Boyce Road, Laitumkhra, Shillong that Maharaj Bodhchandra signed the Manipur Merger Agreement on September 21, 1949 .

The Government of Manipur demolished the historic building recently in the name of reconstruction/restoration and it evoked widespread condemnation and disapproval from different quarters.

Given the emotive nature of the issue and historical significance of the Manipur Rajbari, a team of media persons from Imphal went to Redland, Shillong and made a spot assessment today.

The foundation of Manipur Rajbari building was made with brick and stone, and its floor was constructed with wooden planks.

Manipur Rajbari: Only the base structure stands

The space beneath the wooden floor was left vacant.

After the building was demolished, only the foundation, a piece of wall in the posterior section and the kitchen with chimney are still standing.

Other components including wooden posts were seen piled up in an outhouse.

As the media team reached the Rajbari site early this morning, PDA Assistant Engineer L Dhaneshor was found supervising the works being undertaken there.

Interacting with the media team, Dhaneshor said that the Art and Culture Department wrote a letter to PDA in 2022 to prepare a DPR for restoration/renovation of the Rajbari.

PDA prepared a DPR and sent it to the Art and Culture Department, and the department forwarded the same DPR to the North Eastern Council (NEC).

On March 22, 2023, PDA Engineers, officials of Art & Culture Department, Archeology Department and Planning Department held a meeting.

Following the meeting, experts from Archeological Survey of India made a field inspection of Manipur Rajbari, Shillong, the PDA AE said.

After this, the NEC approved the project named "Infrastructure development of Heritage Complex, Shillong".

Construction of guest house inside the Manipur Rajbari complex had already started before the recon-struction/restoration work of the Rajbari building was initiated, he said.

Dhaneshor said that removal of the dilapidated tin roofs and the walls started on September 29.The building was found in a very bad shape as it was more than 80 years old.

As the building was quite old and the tin roof leaky, the posts/pillars as well as the wall plates were found eaten by moths.

The walls were made of mud and 'singmit', he said.

On being enquired if Art & Culture and Archeology Departments were consulted before the Rajbari building was dismantled, the AE said that PDA is the implementing agency.

He said that the dismantling process started with the approval of the parent department which is the Art & Culture Department.

There is also an instruction that the old components must be used in reconstructing the building as far as possible while those which cannot be used again must be replaced with new ones.

The same instruction says that the Rajbari building must be reconstructed by retaining the same structure.

PDA is only following these instructions.

As the project must be completed within March 2026, dismantling of the building was started manually, Dhaneshor said.

As the demolition process started and doors and windows were removed one after another, the building collapsed on October 8 as most of its components were dilapidated and eaten by termites.

The demolition was done manually, no machines were used and there is CCTV footage of the whole demolition process from September 30 to October8.Onemaytakealookat the footage, he said.

The wooden posts/pillars of the Rajbari building were of the dimension 4X5 inch.

Wooden posts of the same dimension will be used in reconstructing the building, the AE said.

A firm of the Archeological Survey of India, Delhi carried out a survey of the building earlier.

There is a drawing of the building to be reconstructed, complete with measurement, he said.

The reports published in media and social media in Manipur that the Rajbari building was demolished using a bulldozer are wrong, Dhaneshor asserted.

On being enquired whether the reconstruction/restoration work will continue or it shall be halted in the backdrop of the widespread outcry against its demolition, the PDA AE said that the same work has been halted at present at the instruction of the higher authority.

The higher authority may come out with further instructions after inspection by a survey committee.

Meanwhile, the Government has constituted an enquiry committee, he said.

The estimated cost of the project being implemented with financial assistance from the NEC is Rs 14.9 crore.

Apart from reconstruction/restoration of the Rajbari building, the project includes construction of a guest house, compound fence and other infrastructure.

There is also a plan to maintain the Rajbari building as a museum after it is reconstructed/restored by carefully preserving all the objects related to it so that it can serve as a living object of history, he said.

On the other hand, most of the furniture items and other objects were taken away when the Rajbari was sold away by then titular king Okendro.

Some years back, the original structure of the Rajbari building was altered when a modem washroom/toilet was constructed inside the building.

It is not clear whether it was done by GAD or the caretaker.

The media team saw a Mahadev temple worshipped by king Bodhchandra just beside the Rajbari building.

They also came across four Meitei houses inside the Manipur Rajbari complex, now known as Manipur Bhavan.

The media interacted with one Konthoujam Prabir Singh, now residing at a building earlier occupied by Manipuri soldiers during the time of Maharaj Churachand.

Konthoujam Prabir, now over 75 years old, said that his father Konthoujam Parmananda Singh hailed from Cachar, Assam and he was serving under the Government of Assam around 1930.At that time, there was no State called Meghalaya and Shillong was the capital of Assam, Prabir said.

When Parmananda was posted at Shillong, he stayed at Manipur Rajbari and acted as a local guardian of MK Binodini, Maharaj Churachand's daughter who was then reading at St Mary College, Shillong.

Prabir said that his mother Subhashini and MK Binodini were very close.

He said that her elder sister, elder brother and himself were bom at Manipur Rajbari, Shillong.

He also showed MK Binodini's book "Churachand Maharajgi Imung Manung" which has a photograph of his father, Parmananda and mother, Subhashini, and others.

Prabir said that three Bengali men and a woman came there in May 2022 and took measurements of the building.

"I didn't know whether they were from the Archeological Survey of India", he said.

They came back again in 2024, took measurements of the building and said that they were making an assessment for development of the complex as a heritage site, Prabir told the media team.

Contrary to the expectation that the Manipur Rajbari would be developed as a heritage site by retaining its original structure, an official team came on September 30 and they started dismantling the building, he said.

He said that most parts of the Manipur Rajbari collapsed on October 8.Earlier, the complex of Manipur Rajbari was quite big.

But it grew smaller since the time of Maharaja Okendro, he said.

Prabir said that he saw a wealthy Khashi man taking away two/three truck loads of costly articles used by Manipuri kings inside the Rajbari.

It was during the time of Maharaj Okendro.

Citing his late father Parmananda, Prabir said that it was not inside the Rajbari building, now demolished, where Maharaj Bodhchandra signed the Manipur Merger Agreement on September 21, 1949.There was a tennis court inside the Rajbari complex and it was on this tennis Court that the Manipur Merger Agreement was signed.

The area where the tennis court was had been sold away, Prabir said.

As such, the spot where the Manipur Merger Agreement was signed is not within the existing Manipur Rajbari (Manipur Bhavan), Prabir said.

Some leaders including the Art & Culture Director too came to Shillong and inspected the Manipur Rajbari.

But all efforts of the media team to contact and meet them proved futile.