SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 20 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 22 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Who among the following was the key leader of the Khongjom War (1891) against British annexation of Manipur?

(a)Tikendrajit Singh commanded the Manipuri army and was later executed.
(b)Rani Gaidinliu led resistance against the British in Naga regions post-1930s.
(c)U Kiang Nangbah led uprisings in Jaintia Hills against colonial intrusion.
(d)Veer Surendra Sai resisted the British in Sambalpur for over four decades.

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The Anglo-Manipur War of 1891 ended in a British victory, and Khongjom was its last battle. Manipur's army was commanded by its Senapati, Tikendrajit Singh.

He was captured and hanged by the British on 13 August 1891, and Manipur became a princely state under British paramountcy → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Rani Gaidinliu led resistance against the British in Naga regions post-1930s. — Rani Gaidinliu was born in 1915, long after 1891. She joined the Heraka movement as a girl and was arrested by the British in 1932.
(c)
U Kiang Nangbah led uprisings in Jaintia Hills against colonial intrusion. — U Kiang Nangbah led resistance in the Jaintia Hills and was hanged by the British at Jowai on 30 December 1862, nearly three decades before Khongjom.
(d)
Veer Surendra Sai resisted the British in Sambalpur for over four decades. — Veer Surendra Sai fought the British in Sambalpur, Odisha, from 1827 and died a prisoner in Asirgarh fort in 1884, seven years before the Khongjom War.

Concept

The 1891 war grew out of a palace crisis. Tikendrajit had led a coup that ousted Maharaja Surachandra Singh and installed Kulachandra Singh, and the British moved against him.

The fighting ended with Manipur's defeat. The British hanged Tikendrajit and brought Manipur under their paramountcy as a princely state.

Major Paona Brajabashi died fighting at Khongjom, so his name is also tied to the battle. He is not among the options, and the question asks for the war's leader.

Key facts

The Anglo-Manipur War of 1891 ended in a British victory, and Khongjom was its last battle.
Tikendrajit Singh, Manipur's Senapati, was hanged by the British on 13 August 1891.
Major Paona Brajabashi died fighting at Khongjom.
After the war, Manipur became a princely state under British paramountcy.

Study next

Rani Gaidinliu and the Heraka movementU Tirot Sing and the Khasi resistanceVeer Surendra Sai and the resistance in Sambalpur

Common traps

Picking Rani Gaidinliu as the familiar north-eastern name: she was born in 1915, after the 1891 war.
Placing U Kiang Nangbah at Khongjom because both fought in the north-east: he was hanged in the Jaintia Hills in 1862.

Here the war is tested by its leader, with the wrong options drawn from other regions and decades. Rani Gaidinliu is the subject at 24 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.24, which keys her role in the Heraka movement.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: History — all 218 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.