Meitei also known as Manipuri, is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam. It is one of the constitutionally scheduled official languages of the Indian Republic. Meitei is the most widely-spoken Tibeto-Burman language of India and the third most widely spoken language of northeast India after Assamese and Bengali. There are 1.76 million Meitei native speakers in India according to the 2011 census, 1.52 million of whom are found in the state of Manipur, where they represent the majority of its population. There are smaller communities in neighbouring Indian states, such as Assam (168,000), Tripura (24,000), Nagaland (9,500), and elsewhere in the country (37,500). The language is also spoken by smaller groups in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Meitei literature, also known as Manipuri literature, is literature written in the Meitei language of Manipur. An ancient institution of learning, the Luwang Nonghumsang, later known as the Pandit Loishang, collected sources of indigenous Meitei knowledge and philosophy until the 18th century. Writing by Meiteis is assumed to go back to the Kingdom of Kangleipak in the early 12th century. The Meitei script is a Brahmic abugida. It is known only from the Puya manuscripts discovered in the first half of the 20th century. Manuscripts of the 18th and 19th centuries were written using the Bengali alphabet. The existence of the Meitei script in the 15th-century hinges on the authenticity of an inscription dated to the reign of Senbi Kiyamba. The first printed Manipuri book, Manipurer Itihas, appeared in 1890 from the Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta. Though the kings of Manipur had established contact with the British from the middle of the eighteenth century onward the real impact of the contact came much later. Johnstone Middle English School, based on the western system of education, was started in 1885 at Imphal, and in 1891 Manipur lost its independence to the British. British domination facilitated the introduction of new systems in the civil, political and educational spheres, which hastened the process of modernization in Manipur, exposed as it was to new ideas and influences.
Panthoibi, also known as Nongpok Leima, is a goddess associated with civilization, courage, fertility, handicraft, love, victory, warfare and wisdom in the mythology and religion of Ancient Kangleipak. She is a consort of the God Nongpok Ningthou. She is considered to be one of the divine incarnations of Leimarel Sidabi and is also identified as a form of Goddess Nongthang Leima. She is worshipped mainly by the Meitei people in Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Nongshaba is a lion god in Sanamahism and Meitei mythology. He is also regarded as a king of the gods. He is credited with producing light in the primordial universe and is regarded as the maker of the sun. He is worshipped by the people of both the Ningthouja clans as well as the Moirang clans. Nongshaba was worshipped by the people of Moirang clan as a lineage deity and regarded as the father of the god Thangching. He is the greatest of the Umang Lais but he made his only son Thangching the chief deity of Moirang.
The Henjunaha Lairoulembi, also known as the Henjunaha Lairuklembi, shortly known as the Henjunaha, is a legendary epic love story of Henjunaha Yangleingamba and Thongnang Lairoulembi. It is one of the epic cycles of incarnations of Meitei mythology and folklore, that is originated from Moirang province of Ancient Kangleipak.
Nongpok Ningthou, also known as the Sovereign of the East or King of the East, is a deity in Sanamahism, the indigenous religion of Manipur. He is the ruling guardian deity of the eastern direction. Legend says Nongpok Ningthou and his consort Panthoibi were united in the Nongmaiching Ching mountains. Later, they were worshipped as the civilization giving deities in Meitei religion.
Puya Meithaba, or Lairik Meithaba, refers to the annual commemoration of a legendary 18th-century scripture burning in post-colonial Manipur by a neo-convert Vaishnavite King, or to the original libricide of Puyas itself. There is no historical evidence that the libricide happened. Nonetheless, the commemoration, organised by the Meitei National Front and others since 1979, has been a critical tool in the spread of Meitei nationalism and has mainstreamed a particular reconstruction of premodern Manipur, which has come to be uncritically reproduced even in academic publications.
Meitei mythology is a collection of myths, belonging to the religious and cultural traditions of the Meitei people, the predominant ethnic group of Manipur. It is associated with traditional Meitei religion of Sanamahism. Meitei myths explain various natural phenomena, how human civilization developed, and the reasons of many events.
The ancient legend of Khuyol Haoba and Yaithing Konu is one of the epic cycles of incarnations of Meitei mythology and folklore, that is originated from Moirang kingdom of Ancient Kangleipak. It concerns the fateful love of Khuyol Haoba, an orphan man, for the beautiful Yaithing Konu. Khuyol Haoba was the son of late Khundouremba, a court official of Moirang. Yaithing Konu was the daughter of Luwang Huiningsumba, an influential nobleman of Moirang.
The Mahabharata is one of the epics of Sanskrit literature that is translated as well as literarily adapted into Meitei language, thereby creating a space for Hindu literature within the granary of Meitei literature.
The ancient legend of Khamba and Thoibi is a classic, as well as one of the epic cycles of incarnations of Meitei mythology and folklore, that is originated from Ancient Moirang kingdom of Ancient Kangleipak . It is referred to as the "national romantic legend of Manipur" by Indian scholar Suniti Kumar Chatterjee.
The culture of Meitei civilization evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Ancient Kangleipak, continuing most notably into Medieval Kangleipak, while influencing the neighboring states and kingdoms, till present times.
The Khongjomnubi Nonggarol is an ancient Meitei language literary narrative text (puya) containing two major stories, first about a group of six Luwang girls turning into the pleiades in the sky, one of them giving birth to a harinongnang and the second about a lady named Haosi Namoinu turning a harinongnang, unable to suffer the extreme cruelty of her stepmother, during her father's absence.
Haosi Namoinu is a character in Meitei mythology and folklore of Ancient Kangleipak. She is the only daughter of lady Pokmabi Laoshigam Chanu and lord Senbi Loikenba. Her father was a minister of the then Ancient Moirang kingdom, in charge of collecting tributes from the land of Kabo.
The Loiyumpa Silyel, also termed as the Loyumpa Silyel or the Loiyumpa Shilyel or the Loyumpa Shilyel or the Loyumba Sinyen, is an 11th-12th century ancient Meitei language written constitution, regulated in the Ancient Kangleipak during the rule of King Loiyumba. In 1110 CE, its format was finalised from a promulgation of the proto-constitution, drafted in 429 CE by King Naophangba. Historically, it is the first written constitution, and one of the well recorded Ancient Meitei language texts of the kingdom. It was replaced by the Manipur State Constitution Act 1947, that was functional until Manipur was merged into Republic of India on October 15, 1949.
The Chainarol, also known as the Chainalol, is an ancient Meitei language text (puya) which records the armed combats of various gladiators through different periods of history of Ancient Kangleipak. It consists of 27 stories of real life incidents of the dual fight between different gladiators.
Chakpa Makhao Ngambi was the Burmese queen of Toungoo dynasty of Kingdom of Ava and the Meitei princess of Ningthouja dynasty of Kangleipak. She was the Queen consort of King Taninganway of Myanmar, until her abdication after having a son. By birth, she was a first-degree relative of King Charairongba of Manipur Kingdom and a second-degree relative of King Pamheiba Garib Niwaj, Charairongba's successor. Her abdication from the Burmese throne caused a long time international conflict between the Meiteis and the Bamars.
Many pāmbīs play significant roles in the different elements of Meitei culture, including but not limited to Meitei cuisine, Meitei festivals, Meitei folklore, Meitei folktales, Meitei literature, Meitei mythology and Meitei religion (Sanamahism) of Kangleipak.
The Tutenglon is an ancient Meitei language text, based on the saga of the two Meitei princes, Yoimongba and Taothingmang, who took upon themselves the superhuman task of dredging the channels of the biggest and the longest rivers in Kangleipak, the Iril River and the Imphal River. It also describes about the flood that happened during the reign of king Ngangoi Yoimongba in Ancient Kangleipak. The text also mentions that Yoimongba and Taothingmang are the two sons and Lairoklembi is a daughter of Meitei king Khuyoi Tompok. Princess Lairoklembi was married to the chief of Koubru.
Ancient Meitei literature, also termed as Old Manipuri literature, is literature written in the Old Manipuri language from the earliest texts until the time of King Pamheiba. All the ancient Meitei literary works are written in the traditional Meitei script. The ancient Meitei language texts, written in Meitei script, are conventionally termed as "the puyas".
