‘Hill Fort’ —-Town, Manipur
From Old Meitei: kangla, ‘prominence’, ‘hill’
Kangla Fort, sited 394m above the valley, was the ritual and political centre of Meitei kingship — a palace, citadel and sacred landscape in one—for over a thousand years.
Successive Ningthouja kings expanded it with moats, earthen ramparts, coronation sites and shrines to Kangla Sha, ‘the beast of the Kangla‘—portrayed with a lion’s body and a two-horned dragon’s head.
The fort was repeatedly attacked during Burmese invasions and finally captured by the British in 1891, who then barred Manipuris from entering it for over a century. Returned to the state only in 2004, Kangla has since become a powerful emblem of renewal and historical reclamation.
For related place names see Indian Place names and Manipur place names.
