Elangbam Nilakanta Singh | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 October 1927 |
| Died | 11 February 2000 (aged 72) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Known for | Literature |
| Awards | Padma Shri (2000) Sahitya Akademi Award (1987) |
Elangbam Nilakanta Singh (1927-2000) was an Indian poet and critic, [1] considered by many as one of the pioneers of modern Meitei literature. [2] [3] A recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987, Nilakanta Singh was honored by the Government of India, in 2000, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. [4]
Elangbam Nilakanta Singh was born at Keisamthong Elangbam Leikai in the capital of the Indian state of Manipur on 4 October 1927 [5] to Lakhi Devi and Elangbam Bokul Singh, a primary school teacher, as the eldest of their eight children. [2] [3] [6] He did early schooling at Churachandpur and continued at Johnstone Higher Secondary School, Imphal from where he passed the matriculation in 1945. His pre university studies were at Murarichand College, Sylhet, in the present day Bangladesh and later, graduated in Arts (BA) from Gauhati University. He secured a post graduate degree of MA in Philosophy and LLB also from the same university. [1] [2] [6]
Singh started his career as a lecturer at D. M. College, Manipur in 1953 where he rose in ranks as a senior lecturer and the Head of the Department. [1] He worked as the Director of the Department of Social Welfare, the Government of India from which position he retired in 1986. [1] [3] He was also a consultant at Manipur University in 1989, Senior Fellow of the Government of India in 1989 and a member of faculty of Philosophy at Manipur University from 1996 to 1997. [2] [6] He was the general secretary of Manipur Sahitya Parishad for two terms, in 1958 and from 1964 till 1968, the president during 1993-94 and the executive member till his death in 2000. [2] [3] [6] He was also involved with several other cultural societies such as Naharol Sahitya Premi Samiti, Geeta Mandal, Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy, Manipur Cultural Forum, Arabindo Society, Mutua Museum and Divine Life Society. [2] Nilakanta Singh represented the Indian cultural delegation in many overseas visits to countries such as Hungary, Germany and France under the Indo European Cultural Exchange Programme in 1971. [1]
Singh has authored several publications which included poems, critical studies, travelogues and historical and cultural essays. [3] [7] [8] [9] Some of his notable works are:
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book Tīrtha yātrā in 1987. [3] [5] [6] In 2000, the Government of India honoured him with the civilian award of Padma Shri. [2] Nilakanta Singh died on 11 February 2000, [6] before the Padma Award investiture ceremony could take place. [2] [3] [5]
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India has 22 officially recognised languages. Sahitya Akademi, India's highest literary body, also has 24 recognised literary languages.
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.
Padma Shri Ashangbam Minaketan Singh is regarded as one of the founders of modern Manipuri literature. He was born as the only child to Ashangbam Jivan Singh and Medhabati Devi on 2 May 1906. His grandfather Ashang Kut, also known as Ashangbam Phura Hongba, served as an Officer in The Maharaja of Manipur's army. In March 1891 he played a part in the assassination of British officials and was thereby sentenced for transportation on charge of murder. He was sentenced twenty five years of life imprisonment at Kalapani Jail, which is located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.
Shitaljit Singh Rajkumar, also known as "Rajkumar Shitaljit Singh" or "RK Shitaljit", was a noted writer, scholar and educationalist of Manipur. He was born on 18 August 1913, and died at the age of 95 at his residence at Keishamthong Top Leirak, Imphal on 8 June 2008.
Elam Endira Devi, is an Indian classical dancer and teacher, known for her expertise and scholarship in the classical dance form of Manipuri, especially in the genres of Lai Haraoba and Raas. The Government of India honored her, in 2014, with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of art and culture.
Waikhom Gojen Meitei is an Indian poet and educationist from Manipur. The Government of India honored him in 2014 by bestowing upon him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for his services to the fields of education and literature.
Khangembam Mangi Singh, popularly known as Guru Pena Mangi, was an Indian musician, known for his expertise on the Manipuri traditional musical instrument Pena. The Government of India honored him in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Khumanthem Ningol Nameirakpam Ongbi Ibemni Devi was an Indian singer of traditional music, known for her expertise in the Khongjom Praba genre of Manipuri music. The Government of India honoured Ibemni Devi in 2012, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Haobam Ongbi Ngangbi Devi was an Indian classical dancer and musician, known for her expertise in the Manipuri Dance forms of Lai Haraoba and Raas. In 2010, the Government of India awarded Haobam Ongbi Ngangbi Devi the Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Rajkumar Achouba Singh is an Indian classical dancer and teacher, known for his scholarship on the Manipuri dance forms of Raas and Lai Haraoba. Singh, who is credited several books and articles on Manipuri culture, is a former Principal of the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy, Imphal. A holder of post graduate degrees in Raas and Lai Haraoba, he has also been a visiting teacher at the Government Dance College, Imphal. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2010, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. He is also a recipient of the Manipur State Award.
Kshetrimayum Ongbi Thouranisabi Devi is an Indian classical dancer and author, specialising in the Indian classical dance form of Manipuri. She was honoured by the Government of India in 2003 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Ningthoukhongjam Khelchandra Singh was an Indian writer, lexicographer and historian, known as the author of Manipuri to Manipuri and English, the first modern general dictionary in Meitei language, which was published in 1964. He was a fellow of the Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1987.
Sougaijam Thanil Singh is an Indian classical dancer, known for his proficiency in the classical dance forms of Manipuri and Nata Sankirtana. Born to S. Ksher Singh, a Manipuri dancer, in the Northeast Indian state of Manipur, he received his early training from his father as well as Guru Tombi Sharma, Guru Bhaigchandra Singh and Guru Koireng Singh. Later, he studied Manipuri dance and Nata Sankirtana, under Maisnam Amubi Singh, renowned dancer and Padma Shri awardee, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy, Imphal, securing a diploma and a post graduate diploma, respectively, in the disciplines.
Yumlembam Gambhini Devi is an Indian singer of Nata Sankirtana and dancer of Manipuri Raas. She is a member of faculty at Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy (JNMDA) and a recipient of the 1988 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2005, for her contributions to Manipuri dance and music.
Thingbaijam Babu Singh was an Indian classical dancer, academic and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Manipuri. He was the Pradhan Guru of Pung and Raas traditions of Manipuri dance at the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Born on 8 February 1936 at Lairensajik, a small village in the state of Manipur, he was known to have been one of the notable choreographers and teachers of Manipuri dance and had a long line of renowned performers such as Elam Endira Devi, Ibemubi Devi, and Priti Patel, as his students. Singh was the author of a book, Meitei Punglon Raga Ahouba, and was a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year 1990. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for his contributions to Manipuri dance.
Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi was a writer from the Northeastern Indian state of Manipur. She wrote in Meiteilon under the mononym Binodini. She was best known for her 1976 historical novel Boro Saheb Ongbi Sanatombi, which won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1979. Its English translation, ThePrincess and the Political Agent, was published as a Penguin Modern Classic in 2020 by Penguin Random House India.
The Khamba Thoibi Sheireng, also spelled as the Khamba Thoibi Seireng, is a Classical Meitei language epic poem based on the ancient love story of Khuman prince Khamba and Moirang princess Thoibi of Ancient Moirang kingdom of Ancient Kangleipak. It is the magnum opus of Hijam Anganghal, the "Bard of Samurou". It is regarded as the national epic of the Manipuris. It is regarded as the greatest of all the epic poems in Meitei literature, with 39,000 verses, thereby being the third longest Indian epic poem, next to the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
Thongalen is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld in Meitei mythology and Sanamahism, the indigenous religion of Manipur. He is the Guardian God of the nadir..
Luwang Ningthou Punshiba, shortly known as Luwang Punshiba, is a king of the Luwang dynasty of Ancient Manipur civilization. He is best known for his long life and outstanding wisdom in Manipuri folklore and history of Manipur.
Nongthombam Shri Biren, better known shortly as Shri Biren or Sri Biren, and also spelled as Shribiren or Sribiren, was an Indian editor, poet, playwright, social reformer, teacher and short story writer of works in Meitei literature. His writings are characterised by the wrath and the mood of the loss of hope and confidence. He was active in writing in the 1960s and the 1970s. Most of his writings are predominant with the "iconoclastic extreme anger and questioning of everything in life". He was considered to be an angry young man of the 1970s, for his poem, Tangkhul Hui. He was known for portraying the lives of people in a metaphysical and philosophical way, protesting against the existing socio-political systems and institutions and attempting to break them, using symbolism and allegory as tools, as evident in "The Two Doors". He was bestowed with the Manipur State Kala Academy Award, the Central Sahitya Akademi Award and the Jamini Sundar Gold Medal for his poetry and short stories. Unfortunate to the Meitei literature is that he died at an early age, suffering from Parkinson's disease.
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