The pair of the statues dedicated to the "Kangla Sa" ("Kangla Sha") before their demolition by the British forces with their victory in the Anglo Manipur War of 1891.
During the British conquest of the Anglo Manipur War of 1891, the British forces led by Captain Allen demolished the two statues of the Kangla Sha dragons by blasting them by artillery fire into pieces on 20 July 1891.[15][16][17][18][19]
Later, in the year 2006, the statues of the "Kangla Sa" ("Kangla Sha") were reconstructed by the Government of Manipur.[20][21] Each statue is 19.30 feet in height, 15.30 feet in length and 6 feet in breadth. The weight of each statue is 36.50 metric tonne. The statues of the Kangla-Sha were sculpted based on the photographs published in the books including "The Lost Kingdom" and "The Meitheis" written by Thomas Callan Hodson. 4 kinds of bricks, found in the ruins of the Old Palace at Canchipur, were used during the construction of the sculptures. It took the craftsmen and sculptors 2 years to complete the construction works.[22]
Mud prototypes of the Kangla Sha statues displayed in the public to take people's comments, feedbacks, opinions and suggestions before going ahead with the works on the construction and the installation of the same at the Kangla Uttra Shanglen.
Before the construction of the real sculptures, to take the comments, feedbacks, opinions and suggestions of the people, Sculptor B Mohendro Sharma presented the prototypes of the Kangla-Sha, made of mud, displayed on the public.[23]
On 9 December 2008, after getting permission from the Kangla Fort Board for shooting a film on the history of Kangla, associated with the demolition of the Kangla Sha statues in front of Kangla Uttra Shanglen, the "Manipur Film Development Corporation" (MFDC) Ltd. demolished the prototypes of Kangla Sha with the powerful crackers on 9 December, between 2 PM and 4 PM inside the Kangla.[24][25][26]
On 18 June 2021, the "Kaba Khanba" (Meitei: ꯀꯕꯥ ꯈꯟꯕ, romanized: ka-bā khan-ba, lit. 'rods between jaws'[27]) of the Kangla Sha statues were removed by the Government of Manipur, along with the performances of religious rites and rituals by Amaibas (Meitei for 'priests') and Amaibis (Meitei for 'priestesses'), due to the perception by the authorities concerned that the rods gave pains to Kangla Sha, resulting in the downfall and unhappiness of the people of Manipur.[28][29] It was done after a unanimous joint decision by the Kangla Board, the Sanamahi Temple Board, the Uttra Shanglen, women's organisations of the Ima Keithel (Meitei for 'Ima Market') and the general public of Manipur.[30]
However, this event of the removal of rods drew criticism by RK Nimai, a retired IAS officer,[32][33]as
“The removal of kabak of the two kanglashas at Kangla which was shown in the local TV channels indicates the utter lack of knowledge of the so-called experts even in Meitei tradition.”[34]
In a neutral response to the criticism and its reactions, Ethno Heritage Council (HERICOUN) stated:
“The organisation (Imphal Free Press) is not an expert body on the issue at hand and as such it is not a party in the argument between the supporters and opposers of removing the support rods from the mouths of the twin Kanglasha.”[38]
A music band named "Kanglasha" was organised in Imphal in 2007. Its lead singer is Tukun Chongtham, its
lead guitarist is Mantosh Thokchom, its bassist is Sen Thokchom, its keyboard player is Surjit Kshetri and its drum player is Chingkhei Nongthonbam.[43][44]
