Manipur is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanmar, Sagaing Region to the east and Chin State to the south. The state covers an area of 22,327 square kilometres (8,621 sq mi). Manipur has been at the crossroads of Asian economic and cultural exchange for more than 2,500 years. It connects the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia to Southeast Asia, East Asia, Siberia, regions in the Arctic, Micronesia and Polynesia enabling migration of people, cultures and religions.
Meitei, also known as Manipuri, is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is spoken by around 1.8 million people, predominantly in the state of Manipur, but also by smaller communities in the rest of the country and in parts of neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh. It is native to the Meitei people, and within Manipur it serves as an official language and a lingua franca. It was used as a court language in the historic Manipur Kingdom and is presently included among the 22 scheduled languages of India.
The Meitei people, also known as the Manipuri people, is the predominant ethnic group of Manipur in Northeast India. They speak Meitei language, one of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic and the sole official language of Manipur. The Meiteis primarily settled in the Imphal Valley region in modern-day Manipur, though a sizable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. There is also a notable presence of Meitei in the neighboring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Meitei ethnic group represents about 53% of Manipur's population.
The Meitei Pangals, also known as the Pangals or the Meitei Muslims or the Manipuri Muslims, are a group of Muslims who speak Meitei language as their native tongue. They live mainly in Manipur. The term "Pangal" simply means "Muslim" in Meitei language. Various historical sources have different dates for when Islam first entered Manipur. However, the date all sources seem to confirm as definitive is 1606 AD. The origin of the Pangal community is equally varied.
The Manipuri Dance, also referred to as the ManipuriRaas Leela, is one of the eight major Indian classical dance forms, originating from the state of Manipur. The dance form is imbued with the devotional themes of Madhura Raas of Radha-Krishna and characterised by gentle eyes and soft peaceful body movements. The facial expressions are peaceful mostly expressing Bhakti Rasa or the emotion of devotion, no matter if a dancer is Hindu or not. The dance form is based on Hindu scriptures of Vaishnavism and is exclusively attached to the worship of Radha and Krishna. It is a portrayal of the dance of divine love of Lord Krishna with goddess Radha and the cowherd damsels of Vrindavan, famously known as the Raas Leela.
Gharib Nawaz was a Meetei king of Manipur, ruling from c. 1709 until his death. He introduced Hinduism as the state religion of his kingdom (1717) and changed the name of the kingdom to the Sanskrit Manipur (1724). He changed his royal name from his birth name Pamheipa to the Persianate Gharib Nawaz.
Ningthou Ching-Thang Khomba (1748–1799) was a Meitei monarch of the 18th century CE. The inventor of the Manipuri Raas Leela dance, with his daughter Shija Lailoibi playing as Radha at the first performance, he is a popular figure in Manipur, and much of his actions as King had been mythologized. He is also credited with spreading Vaishnavism in Manipur State after his grandfather Pamheiba made Hinduism the official religion and for creating a unified Manipur.
Sanamahism or Meiteism or Lainingthouism, is an ethnic religion of the Meitei people of Manipur, Northeast India. It is a polytheistic religion and is named after God Lainingthou Sanamahi, one of the most important deities of the Meitei faith. Sanamahi is the eldest son of the supreme god Yaibirel Sidaba and the supreme goddess Leimarel Sidabi. Traditionally every Meitei household, irrespective of the religion, worships Sanamahi and Leimarel Sidabi. The importance of Sanamahi in the religion is also emphasized in the name itself which means Liquid Gold. Sanamahism does not have a religious head but has a body, Maru Loishang that oversees the main religious activities and govern all affairs pertaining to the religion including conducts of priest and priestess. The Maru Loishang also acts a court for religious disputes. There are three main departments under the Pandit Loishang, namely, the Amaiba Loishang, the Pena Asheiba Loishang and the Amaibi Loishang. These departments have existed since the reign of King Meidingu Hongnemyoi Khunjao Naothingkhong of Manipur in 662 AD.
Manipuri Vaishnavism, also known as Meitei Vaishnavism, is a regional variant of Gaudiya Vaishnavism with a culture-forming role in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur.
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. 18th and 19th century manuscripts 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
The Apokpa Marup or the Apokpa Laining is a modern religious denomination of Sanamahism, the primitive Meitei religion or Meiteism, founded by Laininghal Naoriya Phulo in 1930 in Cachar, Assam. It was founded in the goal of reviving the suppressed old paganism of the Meitei ethnicity in the then Manipur.
Chiru (Naga) is a Southern Naga language spoken mostly in Manipur. The Chiru population numbers approximately 8,599. It is an endangered spoken in three districts of Manipur: Senapati, Noney district of Manipur and Cachar district of Assam. Chiru has been recognized as a Scheduled Tribe of Manipur by the government of India since 1956 under "The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, Act No. 63 of 1956" Dated 25 September 1956. The total population of the native speakers of Chiru is only 8599. The native speakers have high proficiency in Meitei language. The language is neither used in schools nor in radio or mass media. Older people read and write in Meitei language. The younger generation of Chiru speakers prefers Roman script.
The Manipur Kingdom was an ancient independent kingdom at the India–Burma frontier that was in subsidiary alliance with British India from 1824, and became a princely state in 1891. It bordered Assam Province in the west and British Burma in the east, and in the 20th century covered an area of 22,327 square kilometres and contained 467 villages. The capital of the state was Imphal.
Pakhangba is a primordial deity, often represented in the form of a dragon, in Meitei mythology and religion. He is depicted in the heraldry of Manipur kingdom, which originated in paphal, the mythical illustrations of the deity belonging to the traditional beliefs of Sanamahism in Manipur. Among the Meiteis, it is believed that the ancestor of one of the clans manifested himself as the Pakhangba.
Nongshaba, also spelled as Nongsaba, is a Lion God in Meitei religion (Sanamahism) and 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. God Nongshaba was worshipped by the people of Moirang clan as a lineage deity and regarded as the father of God Thangching (Thangjing). He is the greatest of the Umang Lais in Ancient Kangleipak but he made his only son Thangching (Thangjing) the chief deity of Moirang.
Hinduism is one of the religions practiced in the state of Manipur, India. Hinduism is concentrated in the Imphal Valley and other plain districts of Manipur located in the regions neighbouring Assam state. Hinduism is practiced mostly among the Meitei people, who are the predominant ethnic group of Manipur. Whilst the proportion of Manipur's population that practices Hinduism is roughly 41%, in the Manipur valley region Hindus constitute as much as 67-74% of the population.
Nongpok Ningthou, also known as Sovereign of the East or King of the East, is a deity in Meitei mythology and religion of Ancient Kangleipak. He is the ruling guardian deity of the eastern direction. Legend says Nongpok Ningthou and Panthoibi got united in the Nongmaiching hills. Later, they were worshipped as the civilization giving deities in Meitei religion.
Puya Meithaba refers to the annual commemoration of a legendary 18th-century scripture burning in post-colonial Manipur or to the original libricide in itself. Organised by the Meitei National Front since 1979, the event has been a critical tool in the spread of Meitei nationalism and has mainstreamed a particular reconstruction of history, which has come to be uncritically reproduced even in academic publications.
Haoreima or Haoleima is a goddess of tragic love and separation in Meitei mythology and religion of Ancient Kangleipak. According to some legends, she was a woman from the hills, who was killed while arranging to meet her lover, and turned into a tortured spirit. She is regarded as an incarnation of Goddess Panthoibi. She is also identified with goddess Nongthang Leima. She is also worshipped as goddess Ireima. She is one of the most revered Meitei goddesses, though she is of Tangkhul origin.
The social movement of Meitei language to be included as an associate official language of the Government of Assam is advocated by several literary, political, social associations and organisations as well as notable individual personalities of Northeast India.
