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Venue | Northeast India (Manipur, Assam and Tripura) |
Location | Northeast India (Manipur, Assam and Tripura) |
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Meitei script movement, also called Meetei script movement (sometimes also referred to as Manipuri script movement), is a series of cultural wars and campaigns, undertaken by various cultural and sociopolitical associations and organisations as well as notable individual personalities, against the Government of Manipur and other authorities concerned, regarding the revivalism and the development of the Meitei script.
In 1709, Hinduised Meitei King Garib Niwaz (Meitei : Pamheiba ), after an inspiration from a Hindu missionary, Shantidas Gosai of Sylhet, Bengal, massively converted the religion of Meitei people from Sanamahism (aka Meiteism) into Hinduism in the then Kangleipak kingdom (renamed as "Manipur" kingdom, drawing mythical connection with Mahabharata's coastal Manipur kingdom ). Simultaneously, the king banned the usage of Meitei script and decreed its replacement with Bengali script for the writings of Meitei language, which is extensively followed still today. The books written in Meitei script were burnt inside the Kangla Fort (Kangla Palace) in Imphal. Anyone who opposed him (the king) were either executed or exiled. This unfortunate incident of libricide is known as the Puya Meithaba (transl. burning of the puyas ) in present times. [16] [17] [18]
Starting from the early 1930s, a socio-religious organisation named "Meitei Marup" (Meitei : ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯔꯨꯞ) started the revivalism movement of the traditional Meitei culture, religion and script. Soon afterwards, many educated elite groups and youths joined the movement of revivalism and development of Meitei script. [19]
In the year 1934, during the reign of Meitei King Churachand Singh (Meitei : ꯅꯤꯡꯊꯧ ꯆꯨꯔꯆꯥꯟ꯭ꯗ ꯁꯤꯡꯍ), the then Maharajah of Manipur kingdom, a group named "Beebodh Janani Shabha" published a book titled "Meetei Yelhou Lairik" (Meitei : ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯌꯦꯜꯍꯧ ꯂꯥꯏꯔꯤꯛ) and urged the then Royal Court to implement the Meitei script. Subsequently, in the year 1946, another group named "Meetei Mayek Thougal Marup" (Meitei : ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯊꯧꯒꯜ ꯃꯔꯨꯞ) published a book titled "Meetei Mayek Ahanba" (Meitei : ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯑꯍꯥꯟꯕ) and urged the then Manipur State Council to accept it. Afterwards, on 13th March 1958, many Meitei script scholars and enthusiasts organised a grand meeting, at the office of "Manipur Motor Association", thereby creating the "Meetei Mayek Luptin Committee" (Meitei : ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯂꯨꯞꯇꯤꯟ ꯀꯝꯃꯤꯇꯤ), which spearheaded the Meitei script movement massively in the later years. [20]
In a period between March 1958 to February 1959, multiple symposia were organised and in a certain meeting, the Meetei Mayek sub-committee passed a resolution to accept the use of 27 letter system of the Meitei script, including 18 ancient alphabets that read the letters as “Kok, Sam, Lai, Mit, Pa, ...” and 9 derivative alphabets. [21]
Many associations and organizations including but not limited to "Kangleipak Eyek Kanba Phamthon Lup" (Meitei : ꯀꯪꯂꯩꯄꯥꯛ ꯏꯌꯦꯛ ꯀꯟꯕ ꯐꯝꯊꯣꯟ ꯂꯨꯞ) (1958), "Mayek Luptin Committee" (Meitei : ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯂꯨꯞꯇꯤꯟ ꯀꯝꯃꯤꯇꯤ) (1958), "Lon Amasung Mayek Neinaba Apunba Marup" (Meitei : ꯂꯣꯟ ꯑꯃꯁꯨꯡ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯅꯩꯅꯕ ꯑꯄꯨꯟꯕ ꯃꯔꯨꯞ) (1968), etc. were formed to assist the movement. [22]
A decade after the birth of "Mayek Luptin Committee" (Meitei : ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯂꯨꯞꯇꯤꯟ ꯀꯝꯃꯤꯇꯤ), an organisation named "Lol Amasung Mayek Neinaba Apun Lup" (Meitei : ꯂꯣꯜ ꯑꯃꯁꯨꯡ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯅꯩꯅꯕ ꯑꯄꯨꯟ ꯂꯨꯞ) organised a symposium about Meitei script during February 1969 and another symposium on 9th November 1969. The symposia accepted the 18 letter system of the Meitei script, found in the PuYas (Meitei : ꯄꯨꯌꯥ) as the genuine writing system and urged the Manipur Government to recognise it as the "Meetei national alphabet". [23]
Afterwards, most of the experts had the consensus on the 27 letter system. The symposium organised by the Progressive Writers Association, from 11th to 12th September, 1976 at GM Hall, followed by multiple academic meetings for more than two months, accepted the 27 letter system. The 27 letter system was also accepted by the meeting held on 13th November 1976, the state level meeting held at TG Higher Secondary School during May 1978, the meeting of the Meetei Mayek Expert Committee (Meitei : ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯑꯈꯪ ꯑꯍꯩ ꯂꯨꯞ) on 16th November 1978 and many others. Soon, the Government of Manipur published the Gazette (Extra ordinary) no. 13 recognising the 27 letter system. [24]
On 16th November 1978, the "Kangleipak Eyek Kanba Phamthon Lup" (Meitei : ꯀꯪꯂꯩꯄꯥꯛ ꯏꯌꯦꯛ ꯀꯟꯕ ꯐꯝꯊꯣꯟ ꯂꯨꯞ) and the "All Manipur Students' Union" jointly formed the "Meitei Mayek Expert Committee" (MMEC). After researching the PuYas (old Meitei texts), the committee approved the 27 alphabet letters, consisting of 18 major letters and 9 derivative letters. The 27 letter system was also approved by the Government of Manipur and included in the Manipur Gazette on 22nd April 1980. [lower-alpha 1] [25] [26]
On 18th August 2003, a registered body of 24 social associations and organisations named "MEELAL" (Meitei : ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯏꯔꯣꯜ ꯏꯌꯦꯛ ꯂꯣꯏꯅꯁꯤꯜꯂꯣꯜ ꯑꯄꯨꯟꯕ ꯂꯨꯞ) started to spearhead the movement. Since then, it has been keeping a keen observation on the usages of non-Meitei language words in public. MEELAL organised campaigns for teaching of the Meitei script in educational institutions, to replace the usage of Bengali script in academic textbooks. Besides, it also organises free classes teaching how to write and read Meitei script for both young and old people in every possible way. [27] [28]
In the year 2005, a non political organization named "Meitei National Front", which observes the anniversary of Puya Meithaba (Meitei : ꯄꯨꯌꯥ ꯃꯩ ꯊꯥꯕ) every year, aimed to re-introduce the Meitei script once again and to replace the Bengali script. It was coordinated by another organization named "Apunba Meetei Mayek Sandokpa and Hinghanba Lup" (Meitei : ꯑꯄꯨꯟꯕ ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ ꯁꯟꯗꯣꯛꯄ & ꯍꯤꯡꯍꯟꯕ ꯂꯨꯞ). This movement was led by Chingsubam Akaba (Meitei : ꯆꯤꯡꯁꯨꯕꯝ ꯑꯀꯥꯕ). [29]
When the Government of Manipur didn't take up any progressive actions for Meitei script, some script revival activists used extreme methods to draw attention to the government and to accelerate the process of the revivalism of the Meitei script. Public signboards lacking any writings of Meitei script were often smeared with tar. In another instance, a plaque at a city flyover was once broken by the script activists. A state government library in Imphal, housing a significant number of Meitei language books written in Bengali script, was incinerated in one night by some unknown protesters. [30] [31]
MEELAL script activists visited different educational institutions, collected and burned Manipuri textbooks written in Bengali script for almost 2 months, during the Indian National Congress government led by Okram Ibobi Singh, that was merely waiting and watching the chaos and the turmoil. [32]
MEELAL made its script revival movement stronger in pace by enforcing an economic blockade in Manipur, besides the libricide. Many vehicles entering Imphal against the blockade were burned down in public, attracting the attention of Manipur Government. [33]
MEELAL issued a decree that all the Meitei language newspaper dailies should use Meitei script. At first, the newspaper publishers refused to accept the decree. As a result, MEELAL raided newspaper distribution centres and threatened hawkers not to distribute any newspapers, till the publishers accept their decree. In response to MEELAL's actions, Meitei language newspaper dailies of Manipur stopped their publications for 3 consecutive days, protesting against the intrusion of their freedom of rights, until there was a negotiation under which they were allowed to distribute their newspapers if they reserved some space on the front page for news in Meitei script. [34]
When the Government of Manipur didn't take up any progressive actions for Meitei script, on 13th April 2005, MEELAL (Meetei Erol Eyek Loinshillon Apunba Lup), burned down the Manipur State Central Library that stored more than 1,45,000 books, in the aim to immediately replace the Bengali script by the Meitei Mayek for writing Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language) in all the academic text books for students. Almost all the Meitei language books kept in the library were written (or printed) in Bengali script. [35] [36] [37]
On 18th May 2005, under the pressure of MEELAL, Manipur Government issued an order for implementation of the 27 letter system of the Meitei script, thereby allowing the teachings of the script in the educational institutions from Class 1 and Class 2 from the year 2006. [38] [39]
In the year 2007, Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillon Apunba Lup (MEELAL) (Meitei : ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯏꯔꯣꯜ ꯏꯌꯦꯛ ꯂꯣꯏꯅꯁꯤꯜꯂꯣꯟ ꯑꯄꯨꯟꯕ ꯂꯨꯞ) warned all vehicle owners in Manipur to change their vehicle number plates from English (Hindu-Arabic numerals) or Bengali numerals to Meitei numerals. MEELAL said “The indigenous script is an important part of the identity of the people.” [40] The Manipur Police arrested several MEELAL script revival activists as well as many artists and number plate dealers. They also cautioned the vehicle owners. [41] As a reason for the arrests, Y Joykumar, Manipur Police Chief, said:
“Vehicles that sport Meetei Mayek on their number plates will be violating the Motor Vehicles Act and as such, will be liable for prosecution. The majority of people here are yet to read and write Meetei Mayek, and if any such vehicle is involved in an accident or a criminal case, no witness will be able to give the registration number.” [42]
Manipur State Motor Vehicle Authority preferred Bengali script over Meitei script, regarding usages in vehicle number plates. Despite the obstacles, MEELAL didn't give up by saying that they are not against the law of the land as Meitei script is already included in the Government Gazette besides being used in educational institutions of Manipur. [43]
Getting the fruits of the movement, the usage of Meitei script is being improved.
Currently, the Meitei script is taught up to Master's degree in the Manipur University and other equivalent educational institutions. However, during the movement to achieve this current status, around five hundred MEELAL script activists were arrested and 20 were detained under the National Security Act (NSA). [51]
The Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Manipur Act No. 7 of 2021) was declared, in which Meitei script was given the official script status by the Government of Manipur. [52] The act states the following:
"Manipuri Language" means Meeteilon written in Meetei Mayek and spoken by the majority of Manipur population: Provided that the concurrent use of Bengali Script and Meetei Mayek shall be allowed in addition to English language. for a period upto 10(ten) years from the date of commencement of this Act.". [53]
During July 2022, MEELAL held a convention and adopted 3 resolutions, which are: (1) to ban all the obstructions to the use of 27 letter system of the Meitei script, (2) to consider any association or organisation violating the resolutions as public enemy and (3) to induce the government to consult experts and take up necessary steps to promote the 27 letter system of the Meitei script. [54] [55]
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.
The Meitei people, also known as Meetei, Manipuri people, is an ethnic group native to Manipur. They form the largest and dominant ethnic group of Manipur in Northeast India. They speak the Meitei language, one of the 22 official languages of the Republic of India and the sole official language of Government of Manipur. The Meiteis primarily settled in the Imphal Valley region in modern-day Manipur, though a sizeable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. There is also a notable presence of Meitei people in the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Meitei ethnic group represents about 53% of Manipur's population.
The Meitei script, also known as the Kanglei script or the Kok Sam Lai script, after its first three letters is an abugida in the Brahmic scripts family used to write the Meitei language, the official language of Manipur, Assam and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is first known from engravings on 6th century CE coins and copper plate inscriptions. as verified by the various publications of the National Sahitya Akademi. It was used until the 18th century, when it was replaced by the Bengali alphabet. A few manuscripts survive. In the 20th century, the script was revived and is again being used. Beginning in 2021, the Government of Manipur began to use the Meitei alongside the Bengali-Assamese script, per the Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021.
2024 in Meitei culture, including but not limited to Meitei architecture, Meitei cinema, Meitei cuisine, Meitei dances, Meitei festivals, Meitei language, Meitei literature, Meitei music, Meitei religion, Meitei script, etc.
Chingsubam Akaba was an Indian Sanamahist revivalist.
Manipuri Language Day, is an annual celebration of the Manipuri (Meitei) language in India and Bangladesh on 20 August. It is the day in 1992 on which Manipuri was added to the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, making it one of the official languages of India.
Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation (DLPI) is a directorate of the Government of Manipur in charge of the language planning and the implementation of language policy.
The social movement of Meitei language to attain linguistic purism is advocated by literary, political, social associations and organisations as well as notable individual personalities of Bangladesh, Myanmar and Northeast India.
The Meitei language, also known as the Manipuri language, is one of the seven officially declared minority languages, recognised by the Government of Tripura. Its promotion and development are done by the Directorate of Kokborok & Other Minority Languages, established in August 2012.
Events in the year 2022 in Manipur
The Naoriya Phulo script, also known as the Naoria script, the Invented Meitei Yelhou Mayek script, or the Invented Meetei Yelhou Mayek script, is a constructed script, invented by Laininghan Naoriya Phulo (1888-1941), to write Meitei language. It is different from the Meitei Mayek, the official script for Meitei language. It shares many similarities with the Devanagari script and the Eastern Nagari script.
The International Sanamahism Students' Association (ISSA) (Meitei: Malem Sanamahi Laining Maheiroi Lup), also called the International Sanamahism Students' Association, Kangleipak (Meitei: Malem Sanamahi Laining Maheiroi Lup, Kangleipak), is an international non-governmental organization of students of Sanamahism (traditional Meitei religion). It gives its services to the conservation and the upraising of the practices of Sanamahism in the society. It also draws the attention to the government of Manipur state to take up essential steps to protect Sanamahism from getting extinct.
Meitei language, officially and formally known as Manipuri language, is one of the official languages of the state government of Assam. It serves as the additional official language in all the three districts of the Barak Valley as well as in the Hojai district of Assam.
2022 in Meitei culture, including but not limited to Meitei architecture, Meitei cinema, Meitei cuisine, Meitei dances, Meitei festivals, Meitei language, Meitei literature, Meitei music, Meitei religion, Meitei script, etc.
2021 in Meitei culture, including but not limited to Meitei architecture, Meitei cinema, Meitei cuisine, Meitei dances, Meitei festivals, Meitei language, Meitei literature, Meitei music, Meitei religion, Meitei script, etc.
Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillol Apunba Lup, shortly known as the MEELAL, is a group that works for the development of Meitei language and Meitei script. It is one of the groups that spearhead the historic Meitei script movement against the Government of Manipur.
The Meitei people, also called Manipuri people, is one of the minority ethnic groups in Assam. They are referred to as Mekhlee, Mekhelee, Meckley, Monipuri, Monipuriya, Magalu, Mogolu, Moglie, Moglai, among many other names dedicated to them by the other people of Assam. Meiteis call Assam as "Tekhao" or "Tekhau" or "Tekhaw". In October 2020 their population was estimated 168,127 with its population, the Meitei tribe is a fairly large ethnic minority in Assam and Meitei culture can be found in everywhere places.
Marup is an Indian Meitei language newspaper, circulated mainly in the Northeast Indian state of Tripura. It started its publication works in the year 1969. It is published in Agartala. It is recognised by the Information and Cultural Department of the Government of Tripura.
The Manipur Official Language Act is an act (document) that declares the official language of the State of Manipur. It was passed by the Manipur Legislative Assembly, approved by the Governor of Manipur. It makes Meitei language as the official language of the Government of Manipur. It was initially enacted in 1979 but later amended in 2021, to replace Bengali script's sole usage by the concurrent usage of both Meitei script and Bengali script, for writing the Meitei language.