Revolt of Radharam

[1] The initial factors of the revolt may be traced to the 1760s, when Radharam Datta, who was a Bengali Hindu from the village of Taltala, established himself at an area named Chargola, located at the tri-juncture between Sylhet, Tripura and the Mizo Hills.

[2] However, the late Zamindar's son, Ghulam Raja Choudhury, believed that Radharam had cheated his father and went to the British Sadr Nizamat in Calcutta to contest the inheritance.

This allowed him to expand his control and influence over the Kuki villages, which he used to raise a personal armed militia commanded by his son, Ranamangal.

[7][8] Radharam created his own fort, courts and prison, effectively ruling as an independent chief, with the inhabitants of his lands referring to him as Nawab.

[9] When he and other local Zamindars facing similar attacks complained, the District Collector of Sylhet, Robert Lindsay, created a police outpost on the borders of Chargola to keep Radharam in check.

[6] Within a few months of its establishment in 1786, the outpost was attacked and its inhabitants killed on Radharam's orders, who then had a fort manned by his Kuki soldiers erected in its place.

After a second failed expedition, Lindsay had a fleet of war-boats attack Chargola in a battle on the Son Beel that lasted several days.