|
Manipur: The multicultural land
|
The people |
The Meiteis |
The Bishnupriyas |
Origin if Manipuris
|
Concept of Manipur and Manipuri
|
The Land of Manipur
Manipur boasts of an exotic landscape with gently
undulating hills, emerald green valleys, blue lakes and
dense forests. It is the sheer tranquility enveloping
it, interrupted only by a soft breeze that sets it apart
from the other northeastern states, and makes it the
ideal getaway. Manipur, literally meaning the land of
jewel, is a paradise on earth when Mother Nature has
been extra generous in her beauty. And from the very
inception, this princely state of Manipur has always
been a shinning outpost of the country in the sparse of
the eastern Himalayas. It never lost its basic link with
the mainstream of the Indian culture
The present state of Manipur geographically by Nagaland
in the North, Mizoram in the South, Cachar district of
Assam in the West and bordering Myanmer in the East. The
land surface of Manipur is 22,347 sq. kms. And about 90%
of the land is mountainous. Its rain varies between
2,600 to 3, 350 meters.
In 1826, Manipur was brought into India by the treaty of
Yandavo by Raja Jai Singh with the British at the end of
the Indo-Burmese war. This followed a dispute in
accession to the throne. With the intervention of the
British the dispute was settled. In 1891 Churachand was
nominated the Raja and it came under British rule as a
princely state. During World War II Imphal was occupied
by the Japanese. After Indian independence Manipur
became a Union Territory and subsequently achieved
statehood in January 21,1972.
The People
The people of Present Manipur include Meitei,
Bishnupriyas, Naga, Meitei Pangal and other colourful
communities which have lived together in complete
harmony for centuries. Theses are the people whose
folklore, myths & legends, dances, indigenous games and
martial arts, exotic handlooms & handicrafts are
infested with the mystique of nature.
The Meiteis
The origin Meitei lies with the term Meitei itself. The
term Meitei is most probably derived from "Mai" ( Mai
=people, comp. Burmese "mai" =man) + "Tai"(=Thai),
meaning the Thai people. Shri R. M. Nath states "
Mei-theis is clearly - people of Theis land meaning
people coming from central China". Another theory holds
that Meitei is derived from Mi (=men) and Thei(=sperate)
that men from different tribes merged together. The sven
tribes or clan of meiteis are Moirang, Ningthouja, Angom,
Chenglei, Ngangba, Looang and Khuman (or Khumal).
The Meteis are related to the present Naga race of the
hills also in respect of many customs still in existence
in both groups. The distribution of Kiratas in
north-eastern region is one of the evidences to support
this school of thought. Another school of thought
considers Manipuris to be descended from the stock of
Dravidians who migrated from south India to Manipur and
Naga hills through Burma.
The Bishnupriyas
The term Bishnupriya is derived from Vishnupurika or
Bishnupriya. It is said that these people were the
followers of the Vishnu cult from the very ancient
times. They installed the image of lord Vishnu at a
place in Manipur, which was given the name Bishnupur.
Sir G. A. Grierson recorded the people "Bishnupuriya
Manipuris" and Dr. Suniti kumar Catterji calls them
simply "Bishnupriya" or "Mayang". But "Mayang" is a
misnomer for this language. The Bishnupriya Manipuris
never called themselves as "Mayang". It is term used by
the Meiteis in a degrading sense. In Meitei, the "Mayang"
means foreigner, westerner.
Like the meiteis, Bishnupriya Manipuri community also
divided into five sub-clans viz.; The Khumals, the
Moirangs, The Angoms, The Luwangs and the Mangang. The
calls them Lokeis and collectively as "Pancha
Bishnupriyas". Besides there are 70 Lokei( Ningthou
Khongya or members of Royel Family), Lempa Lokei (Thakcham),
Moirango Lokei (Moirang them) are the dominating groups.
Each of the Lokei have their distinct ethnic identity(
Gotros).
The origin of Manipuris
There is not much of historical evidence available on
the origin of the people of Manipur. There are different
opinions regarding the origin. Some believe that
Manipuris are a fine stalwart race descended from an
Indo-Chinese stock, with some admixture of Aryan blood.
Some scholars consider that the Manipuris are Indo-aryan
Kshatriyas as mentioned in the Epic, 'Mahabharatha'.
Another school of thought consider Manipuris the
descendants of Kiratas.
The concept of "Manipur" and "Manipuri"
The inhabitants of Manipur did identify them as
"Manipuris" since past centuries. The land Manipur was
formerly divided into small territories occupied by
different clans, namely, the Khumals, the Moirangs, The
Angoms, The Luwangs, the Ningthoujas, etc. The
territories were after the names of the respective
clans. Some of the clans are of Aryan branches and some
are of of kuki-chin branch.
So different clans of the Aryan and Mongoloid people
lived side by side in Manipur for centuries. In course
of time the Meiteis ( the Ningtauja clan) occupied all
the territories towards 15th century AD and established
a sovereign kingdom known as ‘ Meitei Leipak’ ( the land
of Meiteis).
Historians without any prejudice will agree that the
Bishnupriyas were living in the Valley of Manipur from
centuries before the establishment of that "Meitei-
Laipak" (Sometimes refers as to be Senalaipak,
Kongleipak, Metrabak etc.). The Meiteis called the
Bishnupriyas as ‘Mayangs’ and the history Manipur goes
back the 7th century AD, if not still earlier.
As regards the name Meitei and Bishnupriya, there is a
story prevalent and found in a Meitei purana or puya
called " Khumal Purana". This purana states that
conversion of Meiteis in Hinduism by Shri Santidas
Babaji in 19th century at the instance of the king Shri
Pamhaiba was aimed at linking the with the Aryans, the
mainstream of people of Manipur and their language too
with Sanskrit. The Aryans, the followers of Lord Vishnu
denied to accept the initiation by Shri Santadas Babaji
and the others(accepted). And thus the Manipuri people
Aryan and Kuki-chin group have been classified and
renamed as Bishnupriya and Meiteis.
Therefore, the term ‘Manipur’ and ‘Manipuris’ have been
in use by both the Meiteis and the Bishnupriyas commonly
with equal right to them; and practically, people of
both these clans used these two terms ‘Manipur’ and
‘Manipuris’ without any reservation to identify their
land and themselves respectively.
Culturally, the Meiteis and Bishnupriyas cannot be
distinguished from each other. Both these two clans
developed a homogeneous culture, and the concept of the
one community grew among them. Mutual social intercourse
between the two exists in practice.
Compiled
by Ashim Kumar Singha on November 12, 2002
References:
- Tribals and
their culture in Manipur and Nagaland, Vol 3 by G.
K. Ghosh
- Religion and
Culture of Manipur By Dr. M. Kiti Singh
- Khumal Purana
by Pandit Navakhendra Sharma
- Manipur
Itihas by R.K. Sanahal Singha, Imphal 1947
- The
Bishnupriya Manipuris By Dr. K.P. Sinha
- Manipur and
the Mainstream, by Prof. N. Tombi Singh, 1975
-
http://manipuri.freeservers.com
-
http://manipuri.20m.com
-
http://themanipurpage.tripod.com/culture/culrel.html
