It is on the bank of the Kangvai stream that flows down from the eastern slopes of the Thangjing Hill into the Imphal Valley, stretching from the foothills to the Tedim Road.

[1][2] Next to Kangvai along Tedim Road is a Meitei village called Phougakchao Ikhai, which is considered part of Bishnupur district.

[9] On 25 December, the British Political Agent J. C. Higgins went with a force to the foothills of Thangjing Hill to punish the Ukha Kukis.

[12] Christianity had an early start at Kangvai, with the Welsh missionary Watkin Roberts having established a Bible School there.

When Roberts decided to shift the school to Sielmat, near Lamka, as well as to establish his headquarters there, the Vaipheis of Kangvai were peeved and disowned him.

[15] During World War II, the Tedim Road was laid by the British administration as part of its defence against Japanese invasion.

They originally planned to stay at Ukha Loikhai, on the western side of Thangjing Hill, but the village did not have enough food supplies to support them.

Bandhs (shutdowns) and blockades are conducted here as well as at Torbung as a way of asserting the rights and privileges of the valley and hill communities.

On that day, between 11 am and 1 pm, Kukis held a protest march in the Churachandpur town against the Meitei demand for a Scheduled Tribe status.

[23] Reports were received of a counter-blockade at Torbung,[24][25] and a counter-agitation in the surrounding valley areas (such as the Kangvai village), where houses were attacked by Meitei mobs.

[29] A reporter visiting the Kangvai Bazar three months later, described the scene thus:[30] Homes and shops have been flattened and torched; charred remains of vehicles are everywhere.

The bazaar is entirely empty, except for the vast number of troops who now occupy this ghost town.The residents of Kangvai that fled on 3 May never returned to their homes.

[31] Sometime in June, the central armed forces defined a "buffer zone" between Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts, which included the Kangvai village.

After the expiry of the deadline, it organised mobs to storm the barricades, with the security forces blocking them and firing tear gas shells.