i just mad
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
how to save meetei's...
How To Save Meitei Identity
Simply speaking, it is not simply simple.
Among the Nagas at large the quest for Nagalim has become a leitmotif of Naga nationalism, straddling Naga and Meitei political divides.
Meiteis have to confront the reality of the threat i.e. the specter of Naga nationalism. By Nagas I am referring to Nagas of Nagaland in particular and a few Nagas of Manipur in general. Manipur has some sub-castes of Nagas who want to unite with the Nagas of Nagaland. But it is not everybody’s cup of tea. For instance, Tangkhul Rishang Keishing MP does not want to. The late Yangmasho Shaiza did not want to but his younger brother, the late Lungshim did. Gaikhangam, a Kabui Naga MLA wants to, but Kabuis of Major Khul or Shaheb Manai or Keishamthong do not. The rest just follow the political trend of some of their leaders. This is a fractured Naga nationalism.
Meiteis meanwhile have lost vigor and the urge to fight from years of inactivity. Every skilled or unskilled job such as electrical work, plastering, joinery, plumbing, laundry, hair-dressing etc are done by outsiders such as Biharis, Oriyas, and other non-Manipuris. Rickshaw pulling is left in the able hands of Muslims. The most enterprising work for a Meitei is to open a small shop, which does not compromise his social dignity but without an iota of ambition to prosperity. This is not however a description of Meitei women. I am no wide-eyed innocent either. I bear the same inferiority complex which tends to over assert itself. Years of mendacious contentment (eikhoidi khudei ama shetlaga pangnung nungngaiba jatni) and lack of determination to succeed in life has brought the juggernaut of Meitei velour on the skid. We have become couch potatoes. The rise and fall of Meiteis is complete. We have become Thainagi Hanuman – figure of the past, now a paper tiger.
As we do not have a natural impetus to be hard working and believe in the ‘theory of least tendency’ (haying toura loire), Meitei nationalism remained dormant until it was suddenly jolted by the June 18, 2001 uprising because of the proposed renewal of ceasefire ‘without territorial limits’ between Naga insurgents and GoI. The rebellion destroyed the notion that would have underlined a subtle recognition of the four districts of Manipur by the Indian government as parts of Nagaland or Nagalim.
The Home truth about Meiteis.
We are losing touch. We need to stand up now and be counted. The jargon-riddled paean of multicultural Manipur is falling by the wayside. The apologist younger Meitei generations are unsuccessful in importuning the Naga tribals in Manipur. The Meitei zeal of expanding his audience gets up some Naga people’s noses. It is time for Meiteis to unmuzzle. One cannot woo a girl who says she does not love him by sending flowers and saying sweet-nothings. If she changes her mind she will come back to him because of his sincerity.
Why do Nagas hate Meiteis?
It is because of their history, nothing unique. The Ark of the Covenant is carried on from about the time of their great-great grandfathers. That was about the time of Young Thangal Major and Lt Col. Johnstone (later Maj. General).As a young student I had a few brushes with Naga students at the Dimapur Railway station just because I am a Meitei. Why? Here is my puckish reply. Let me quote James Johnstone (as everybody does) in his Manipur and Naga Hills. Page22. In 1832 CE Capt Jenkins and Lt Pemberton escorted by Rajah Ghumbeer Singh’s Manipuri troops, forced a passage through the Naga Hills with a view to ascertaining if there were a practicable route into Assam. This was how the Imphal to Dimapur road via Naga Hills later became a reality. In page 23, “the Manipuris in former days (before his time) did penetrate into Naga Hills and exacted tribute.” All the villages have Manipuri names in addition to their own.” After a period of lull during the Manipuri-Burmese War of 1819-25 “it was reasserted, and Ghambeer Singh reduced several villages to subordination, including the largest of all, Kohima, at which place he stood upon a stone and his foot-prints sculptured on it, in token of conquest, set up at a prominent position, together with an upright stone bearing carved figures (kangla sha) and an inscription.”
“The Nagas greatly respected this stone and cleaned it from time to time. Whenever a Manipuri visited a Naga village he was treated as an honored guest, at a time when a British subject could not venture into the interior without risk of being murdered.” I saw this feet-sculptured stone before it was destroyed by Naga students in the fifties. “Nagas regarded Manipur as the greater power of the two, because her conduct was consistent; if she (Manipur) threatened she acted. One British subject after another might be murdered with impunity, but woe betides the village that murdered a subject of Manipur, A force of Manipuris was instantly dispatched, the village was attacked and ample compensation exacted.…many of the Nagas began to speak Manipuri, and several villages paid an annual tribute.”
The Naga animosity towards Meiteis is thus driven by a weird psychology- Freudian concept of revenge. It is at best a shade odd and at worse an act of self-indulgence. The characters of their leaders run the gamut from eccentric to certifiable. Lest anybody jump to conclusions, let me explain. The Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem but Jews do not hate Italians. The British treated Indians worse than Indian dogs (a British dog is treated and fed with a daily meal, the cost of which will feed an average 6 Indians) but we no longer hate them. It is history. The bigger and more powerful fish always eat the smaller fish.
I am not for a moment saying that the Naga nationalism has risen from the ashes of Meitei hatred. It is more deep rooted than that but it certainly has prefabricated their dream of a greater Nagaland by dismembering large parts of Manipur so that Meiteis die a shouldering death. This sobering thought should make Meiteis feel ‘as good as death warmed up.’
The re-demarcation of Manipur’s boundary as drawn in the present day map was done on December 13, 1873 CE. Nagas want to change it ex -parte. They have already begun to refer to the northern parts of Manipur as southern Nagalim, ex nihilo as if they have created this geographical area from nothing. But from historical perspicuity, the northern boundary of Manipur should be the district of Kohima.
Why Naga Nationalism?
Naga nationalism has accrued from their desire to carve out a Naga identity in the post independent India. They feel they are not Indians. When some Naga leaders went to meet Nehru to talk about an independent Nagaland, Nehru retorted by saying that he would put one Indian solder for every tree in Nagaland., to prevent them seceding. Having sapped up that an independent sovereign Nagaland is a utopian dream, NSCN-IM dreamt of greater Nagalim within India. In a BBC interview in 2001, T Muivah tacitly indicated that he has an expansionist aim. Besides, the Nagaland Legislative Assembly since 1993 approved the formation of a Nagalim.
The distillation of Naga nationalism
It is their Christian education and imbibitions of Christian culture and not exclusively, its ethnic uniqueness. It is indeed a great ethnic challenge to the modern nation state of Manipur.
National education according to Rousseau, “….an education that must give souls a national formation, and direct their opinions and tastes in such a way that they will be patriotic by inclination, by passion, by necessity. When first he opens his eyes, an infant ought to see the fatherland, and up to the day of his death he ought never to see anything else.”
Nationalism is one of the most persistent forces in history, as components of cultural and political self-determination in the search for a unifying ethic. But from the study of world history, the idea (nationalism) can be sustained only if it avoids a descent into tribalism and intolerance of other ethnic groups. Nagas are missing a point in their education- that their future lays not in borders but in new relationship with Meiteis, Asomese and the people of Arunachal Pradesh. It is not too far to remember in history how the Nazi nationalism of the Third Reich crossed the border to annex parts neighboring countries which were partly inhabited by Germans. We all know the outcome.
***The Naga insurgents must be on cloud cuckoo land if they believe that Meiteis would live happily ever after once they have annexed parts of Manipur. Meiteis would make their dead cadres stir in their graves. The quotations from Johnstone above are an attempt to refresh their memory.) not printed in Sangai express.
It would be prudent for Nagas to realize that the ethnic concept of nationalism now is far outweighed by the pluralistic, multicultural concept because of the ever changing population of any country due to legal or illegal immigrants as in the case of Manipur, Asom, Tripura, Britain or France.
Meiteis have learnt it many years ago and have since been guiding their nationalism as pluralistic Manipuris not as Meiteis. It was not for nothing that Johnstone (I am sorry to quote him again, page 73) wrote: “The average intelligence of the Manipuris being higher than that found among the cultivators of many other native states…” The Naga ethnic challenges have shattered Meitei pluralism and have increased the tension between the need for cultural-ethnic distinctiveness and integrative tendencies. Meiteis should not however get hold of the wrong end of the stick. We should not act like a bull in a china shop. There is more to it than meets the eye.
What should Meiteis do to save our identity?
We have to bite the bullet as our horizons remain clouded for the next decade for us to be able to have a clear view of our destiny ahead. We should not be on cloud nine because Sonia Gandhi for the present Congress government assured us that the integrity of Manipur would be intact, until a settlement would arrive between the Naga insurgents and the GoI of any political party. We should now stop acknowledging our ‘error.’ It was simply an event in time. We must now assert ourselves. We have our primitivism (of Ibudhou Pakhangba) and pragmatism (able to deal with practical requirements). We don’t need to be liked, we would rather be respected.
Meiteis have pride and prejudice.
A flurry of adjectives is available to describe Meitei national characters. In fact you can pluck them from thin air to make a thesaurus. Some are good but most of them are bad but still effectively applicable in shaping our destiny. To name a few: arrogant, defiant, obstinate, pugnacious, self-believer, contrite, morally self-confident, readiness to spit in the eye of fate regardless of consequences. Most Meiteis can fit with some or all of them. For me they will fit as snugly as a pair of chamois leather gloves on my hands.
How to shore up Meitei identity
This is a $64,000 question. But I have a game plan, a strategic plan for the tussle between them and us. Until the Nagas stop banking on fantasyland there is need for our circumspection. Contrary to received wisdom there is nothing particularly difficult about it. It is not like drawing blood from stone. Here it goes. History is good depending on who wrote it. We need to learn a lesson from the recent Indian history. How the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) of China under Prime Minister Chou En -Lai kicked the Indian Army in the arse, literally. Not that the Indian jawans were cowards but they were simply not prepared under Krishna Menon as the Defense minister. Nehru never believed that China would ever confront India militarily believing that the mighty snow capped Himalayas would be on his side until the first skirmish at Long Ju in 1959.
The true story is however contrary to the popular yarn. After China crushed India in the1962 war, the Indian Army commissioned Lt Gen Henderson Brooks and Brig. P S Bhagat to study the debacle. “The fault lay at India or more specifically at the doorsteps of Jawaharlal Nehru and his clique. It was a hopelessly ill-prepared Indian Army that provoked China on orders coming from Delhi. The misadventure paid the price in men, money and national humiliation.”
The Chinese for four years (1956-1959) were constructing the Aksai Chin road in Ladakh following their occupation of Tibet, right under the noses of the Indian Army. They were training, equipping and acclimatizing the PLA at high altitude warfare in Tibet to destroy Nehru’s emerging image of Asian leader. Indeed, Chou En- Lai destroyed Nehru in two weeks. The Chinese feat was so stupefying that not a single Asian country gasped a feeble sound of sympathy for India.
I was a house surgeon at the Irwin hospital in New Delhi when the Chinese invaded India in October 1962. As I was the secretary at the Doctors’ Mess it fell on me to recruit doctors to go to Lucknow for one week’s military training before being carted away to the battlefront. I was already qualified as I had NCC- ‘C’ certificate. But the war finished as soon as it started after the Chinese declared unilateral ceasefire and withdrew from the plains of Assam above Tezpur as well as from other sectors. Manipur and the eastern part of Assam nearly became Chinese territory. Nehru never recovered after this humiliation. He died in 1964 from a stroke.
One evening I went to listen to Nehru when he spoke at the Ram Lila ground near the hospital. Some women speakers were moaning to Nehru how our jawans were not provided with warm snow clothing and that the women of Delhi were knitting woolen sweaters for them and so on. Nehru stood up to speak (in Hindi) and referred to the Chinese solders mockingly as monkeys (ye bunder log….) to draw laughter. Nehru prided that the Indian Army had to airlift everything from a needle to a tank to supply the jawans as if to prove the point he was missing. That he was engaged in a prolonged strategy of diplomatic foot-dragging and failed to recognize the war of dominance in Asia. And that China perceived India as a ‘weak’ target. After all, Nehru took no action when China invaded and occupied Tibet in1951 and again did nothing in 1959 when China ruthlessly put down the uprising in Tibet.
What Nehru did not realize then was that the Chinese bunder would never get off his back. What’s more, after humbling India to her knees he continued to ride piggy-back on all the future prime ministers. As his stature grew bigger he began to enjoy insulting the Hindu nationalist Prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajapayee.
While Vajapayee was exulting over his visit to China as the first prime minister after Nehru and even as he was feted as a guest, the PLA made a premeditated intrusion deep into Arunachal Pradesh, captured, disarmed and tortured a group of Indian security personnel. It was just to embarrass Vajpayee.
Vajpayee went to have a talk with his counterpart, Wen Jiabao on June 23. 2003 in Beijing. It was to reiterate India’s stand on Tibet as China’s integral part while soliciting the Chinese to accept Sikkim as an integral part of India (merged in 1974). Following the talk, the Chinese Foreign ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue denied Chinese acceptance of Sikkim as part of India.
Today the Chinese bunders have encircled India by its foreign policy and economic growth. Chinese engineers are busy building a deep-water port in Pakistan at Gwadar. They are out to build a harbor in southern Sri Lanka. They have installed surveillance equipment on Coco Islands off the coast of Burma.
India gave these islands in the 1950s to tickle the Burmese like our Kabaw valley. The Chinese have also been selling arms to Nepal and Bangladesh and will soon be building roads and laying pipelines across Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Taking cue from history we Meiteis must realize that ‘Enough is enough’ of Meitei bashing. A mere handful of Naga students will go for our jugular vein by blocking our life line arteries of National Highways 39 and 53 at any time for ridiculous frizzling grievances. We can do nothing but watch the agonizing humiliation in peckish helplessness.
The Meitei nationalism has become so fossilized that whenever someone meets a Meitei the first impression is that he is not super-polite and a bit nerdy. We dissipate a lot of energy by quarrelling among ourselves and trying to pull each other down. In the mayhem non-Meiteis go to the top. The time has now come for us to levitate by joining forces between the underground and the over ground elements of Meitei society.
In the emerging post-colonial neo-Nationalism of the Nagas (like the Hindutva), Meiteis have to wake up from the Rip Van winkle sleep as Japan once did. Japan went to war with China in 1894 with a victorious outcome. The upsurge of Japanese nationalism reached a climax. A second victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 further strengthened Japanese nationalism. They were able to remove their feelings of inferiority and bring a nationalism of confidence.
Meiteis have to defeat expansionist Naga nationalism.
In this war of attrition I am confident that Kukis will march with Meiteis (ichin-inou) in a joint venture. Though we have not been really gooey as strawberries in jam, for umpteen years we have been fighting along to defend our Manipur and to keep its borders intact.
There had always been irregular Kuki solders about 700-800. When Maharaj Chandrakirti went to Jila Durbar he was escorted by 2,000 Meitei and 1,000 Kuki solders among others. In 1899 the estimated population of Manipur was 220,000 with estimated gross revenue of Rs.10, 000. It had a standing Meitei Army of 5,503 with 700 Kuki irregulars.
The British regarded Kukis one cut above Nagas. “They (Kukis) are readily distinguishable from the Nagas, and are braver men.” “…. They were better soldiers than Meiteis.” (good old Johnstone again).
Since the professional politicians seriously lack knowledge and experience of mainstream India outside and neighboring politics of Nagas, the Meitei public should take the license of regulated patronage from a revived Meitei nationalism. Our strategy should be on nationalism and not on communalism. We must remember that the Hindutva while chasing “their long cherished dream” to build a Ram temple in Ayodha (Babri Masjid- Ram Janam Bhumi dispute) caused the death of 2,000 people in communal riots in 1992.
The way to save Meitei identity.
In my view it is to prepare ourselves (from Sekmai to Andro; phakyeng to Nongmaijing) emotionally but in ‘Masterly inactivity’ that there is an undercurrent of muddy water that might break up Manipur’s boundary at any time. We have to keep our heads above water by maintaining a sense of gravity, a sense of levity and a sense of propriety. Believing that the problem will just go away if we bury our head in sand would be as gullible and bad light as believing that god created mouth and he will surely feed it.
We need to demonstrate forcefully that Nagas cannot fulfill “their long cherished dream” of severing Meitei arms. Hopefully, after a balanced debate based on reason and sanity, common sense would prevail upon the educated Naga elite that in their dogged pursuit of a hobby horse they should not forget the spirit of peaceful existence by not fracturing body politic of their neighboring states.
I rest my case.
PS. I have used modern abbreviations- CE (Common Era) for AD and BCE (Before Common Era) for BC as they are now uses in intellectual circles because of their secularism.
*The article is written by Dr Irengbam Mohendra Singh.
Among the Nagas at large the quest for Nagalim has become a leitmotif of Naga nationalism, straddling Naga and Meitei political divides.
Meiteis have to confront the reality of the threat i.e. the specter of Naga nationalism. By Nagas I am referring to Nagas of Nagaland in particular and a few Nagas of Manipur in general. Manipur has some sub-castes of Nagas who want to unite with the Nagas of Nagaland. But it is not everybody’s cup of tea. For instance, Tangkhul Rishang Keishing MP does not want to. The late Yangmasho Shaiza did not want to but his younger brother, the late Lungshim did. Gaikhangam, a Kabui Naga MLA wants to, but Kabuis of Major Khul or Shaheb Manai or Keishamthong do not. The rest just follow the political trend of some of their leaders. This is a fractured Naga nationalism.
Meiteis meanwhile have lost vigor and the urge to fight from years of inactivity. Every skilled or unskilled job such as electrical work, plastering, joinery, plumbing, laundry, hair-dressing etc are done by outsiders such as Biharis, Oriyas, and other non-Manipuris. Rickshaw pulling is left in the able hands of Muslims. The most enterprising work for a Meitei is to open a small shop, which does not compromise his social dignity but without an iota of ambition to prosperity. This is not however a description of Meitei women. I am no wide-eyed innocent either. I bear the same inferiority complex which tends to over assert itself. Years of mendacious contentment (eikhoidi khudei ama shetlaga pangnung nungngaiba jatni) and lack of determination to succeed in life has brought the juggernaut of Meitei velour on the skid. We have become couch potatoes. The rise and fall of Meiteis is complete. We have become Thainagi Hanuman – figure of the past, now a paper tiger.
As we do not have a natural impetus to be hard working and believe in the ‘theory of least tendency’ (haying toura loire), Meitei nationalism remained dormant until it was suddenly jolted by the June 18, 2001 uprising because of the proposed renewal of ceasefire ‘without territorial limits’ between Naga insurgents and GoI. The rebellion destroyed the notion that would have underlined a subtle recognition of the four districts of Manipur by the Indian government as parts of Nagaland or Nagalim.
The Home truth about Meiteis.
We are losing touch. We need to stand up now and be counted. The jargon-riddled paean of multicultural Manipur is falling by the wayside. The apologist younger Meitei generations are unsuccessful in importuning the Naga tribals in Manipur. The Meitei zeal of expanding his audience gets up some Naga people’s noses. It is time for Meiteis to unmuzzle. One cannot woo a girl who says she does not love him by sending flowers and saying sweet-nothings. If she changes her mind she will come back to him because of his sincerity.
Why do Nagas hate Meiteis?
It is because of their history, nothing unique. The Ark of the Covenant is carried on from about the time of their great-great grandfathers. That was about the time of Young Thangal Major and Lt Col. Johnstone (later Maj. General).As a young student I had a few brushes with Naga students at the Dimapur Railway station just because I am a Meitei. Why? Here is my puckish reply. Let me quote James Johnstone (as everybody does) in his Manipur and Naga Hills. Page22. In 1832 CE Capt Jenkins and Lt Pemberton escorted by Rajah Ghumbeer Singh’s Manipuri troops, forced a passage through the Naga Hills with a view to ascertaining if there were a practicable route into Assam. This was how the Imphal to Dimapur road via Naga Hills later became a reality. In page 23, “the Manipuris in former days (before his time) did penetrate into Naga Hills and exacted tribute.” All the villages have Manipuri names in addition to their own.” After a period of lull during the Manipuri-Burmese War of 1819-25 “it was reasserted, and Ghambeer Singh reduced several villages to subordination, including the largest of all, Kohima, at which place he stood upon a stone and his foot-prints sculptured on it, in token of conquest, set up at a prominent position, together with an upright stone bearing carved figures (kangla sha) and an inscription.”
“The Nagas greatly respected this stone and cleaned it from time to time. Whenever a Manipuri visited a Naga village he was treated as an honored guest, at a time when a British subject could not venture into the interior without risk of being murdered.” I saw this feet-sculptured stone before it was destroyed by Naga students in the fifties. “Nagas regarded Manipur as the greater power of the two, because her conduct was consistent; if she (Manipur) threatened she acted. One British subject after another might be murdered with impunity, but woe betides the village that murdered a subject of Manipur, A force of Manipuris was instantly dispatched, the village was attacked and ample compensation exacted.…many of the Nagas began to speak Manipuri, and several villages paid an annual tribute.”
The Naga animosity towards Meiteis is thus driven by a weird psychology- Freudian concept of revenge. It is at best a shade odd and at worse an act of self-indulgence. The characters of their leaders run the gamut from eccentric to certifiable. Lest anybody jump to conclusions, let me explain. The Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem but Jews do not hate Italians. The British treated Indians worse than Indian dogs (a British dog is treated and fed with a daily meal, the cost of which will feed an average 6 Indians) but we no longer hate them. It is history. The bigger and more powerful fish always eat the smaller fish.
I am not for a moment saying that the Naga nationalism has risen from the ashes of Meitei hatred. It is more deep rooted than that but it certainly has prefabricated their dream of a greater Nagaland by dismembering large parts of Manipur so that Meiteis die a shouldering death. This sobering thought should make Meiteis feel ‘as good as death warmed up.’
The re-demarcation of Manipur’s boundary as drawn in the present day map was done on December 13, 1873 CE. Nagas want to change it ex -parte. They have already begun to refer to the northern parts of Manipur as southern Nagalim, ex nihilo as if they have created this geographical area from nothing. But from historical perspicuity, the northern boundary of Manipur should be the district of Kohima.
Why Naga Nationalism?
Naga nationalism has accrued from their desire to carve out a Naga identity in the post independent India. They feel they are not Indians. When some Naga leaders went to meet Nehru to talk about an independent Nagaland, Nehru retorted by saying that he would put one Indian solder for every tree in Nagaland., to prevent them seceding. Having sapped up that an independent sovereign Nagaland is a utopian dream, NSCN-IM dreamt of greater Nagalim within India. In a BBC interview in 2001, T Muivah tacitly indicated that he has an expansionist aim. Besides, the Nagaland Legislative Assembly since 1993 approved the formation of a Nagalim.
The distillation of Naga nationalism
It is their Christian education and imbibitions of Christian culture and not exclusively, its ethnic uniqueness. It is indeed a great ethnic challenge to the modern nation state of Manipur.
National education according to Rousseau, “….an education that must give souls a national formation, and direct their opinions and tastes in such a way that they will be patriotic by inclination, by passion, by necessity. When first he opens his eyes, an infant ought to see the fatherland, and up to the day of his death he ought never to see anything else.”
Nationalism is one of the most persistent forces in history, as components of cultural and political self-determination in the search for a unifying ethic. But from the study of world history, the idea (nationalism) can be sustained only if it avoids a descent into tribalism and intolerance of other ethnic groups. Nagas are missing a point in their education- that their future lays not in borders but in new relationship with Meiteis, Asomese and the people of Arunachal Pradesh. It is not too far to remember in history how the Nazi nationalism of the Third Reich crossed the border to annex parts neighboring countries which were partly inhabited by Germans. We all know the outcome.
***The Naga insurgents must be on cloud cuckoo land if they believe that Meiteis would live happily ever after once they have annexed parts of Manipur. Meiteis would make their dead cadres stir in their graves. The quotations from Johnstone above are an attempt to refresh their memory.) not printed in Sangai express.
It would be prudent for Nagas to realize that the ethnic concept of nationalism now is far outweighed by the pluralistic, multicultural concept because of the ever changing population of any country due to legal or illegal immigrants as in the case of Manipur, Asom, Tripura, Britain or France.
Meiteis have learnt it many years ago and have since been guiding their nationalism as pluralistic Manipuris not as Meiteis. It was not for nothing that Johnstone (I am sorry to quote him again, page 73) wrote: “The average intelligence of the Manipuris being higher than that found among the cultivators of many other native states…” The Naga ethnic challenges have shattered Meitei pluralism and have increased the tension between the need for cultural-ethnic distinctiveness and integrative tendencies. Meiteis should not however get hold of the wrong end of the stick. We should not act like a bull in a china shop. There is more to it than meets the eye.
What should Meiteis do to save our identity?
We have to bite the bullet as our horizons remain clouded for the next decade for us to be able to have a clear view of our destiny ahead. We should not be on cloud nine because Sonia Gandhi for the present Congress government assured us that the integrity of Manipur would be intact, until a settlement would arrive between the Naga insurgents and the GoI of any political party. We should now stop acknowledging our ‘error.’ It was simply an event in time. We must now assert ourselves. We have our primitivism (of Ibudhou Pakhangba) and pragmatism (able to deal with practical requirements). We don’t need to be liked, we would rather be respected.
Meiteis have pride and prejudice.
A flurry of adjectives is available to describe Meitei national characters. In fact you can pluck them from thin air to make a thesaurus. Some are good but most of them are bad but still effectively applicable in shaping our destiny. To name a few: arrogant, defiant, obstinate, pugnacious, self-believer, contrite, morally self-confident, readiness to spit in the eye of fate regardless of consequences. Most Meiteis can fit with some or all of them. For me they will fit as snugly as a pair of chamois leather gloves on my hands.
How to shore up Meitei identity
This is a $64,000 question. But I have a game plan, a strategic plan for the tussle between them and us. Until the Nagas stop banking on fantasyland there is need for our circumspection. Contrary to received wisdom there is nothing particularly difficult about it. It is not like drawing blood from stone. Here it goes. History is good depending on who wrote it. We need to learn a lesson from the recent Indian history. How the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) of China under Prime Minister Chou En -Lai kicked the Indian Army in the arse, literally. Not that the Indian jawans were cowards but they were simply not prepared under Krishna Menon as the Defense minister. Nehru never believed that China would ever confront India militarily believing that the mighty snow capped Himalayas would be on his side until the first skirmish at Long Ju in 1959.
The true story is however contrary to the popular yarn. After China crushed India in the1962 war, the Indian Army commissioned Lt Gen Henderson Brooks and Brig. P S Bhagat to study the debacle. “The fault lay at India or more specifically at the doorsteps of Jawaharlal Nehru and his clique. It was a hopelessly ill-prepared Indian Army that provoked China on orders coming from Delhi. The misadventure paid the price in men, money and national humiliation.”
The Chinese for four years (1956-1959) were constructing the Aksai Chin road in Ladakh following their occupation of Tibet, right under the noses of the Indian Army. They were training, equipping and acclimatizing the PLA at high altitude warfare in Tibet to destroy Nehru’s emerging image of Asian leader. Indeed, Chou En- Lai destroyed Nehru in two weeks. The Chinese feat was so stupefying that not a single Asian country gasped a feeble sound of sympathy for India.
I was a house surgeon at the Irwin hospital in New Delhi when the Chinese invaded India in October 1962. As I was the secretary at the Doctors’ Mess it fell on me to recruit doctors to go to Lucknow for one week’s military training before being carted away to the battlefront. I was already qualified as I had NCC- ‘C’ certificate. But the war finished as soon as it started after the Chinese declared unilateral ceasefire and withdrew from the plains of Assam above Tezpur as well as from other sectors. Manipur and the eastern part of Assam nearly became Chinese territory. Nehru never recovered after this humiliation. He died in 1964 from a stroke.
One evening I went to listen to Nehru when he spoke at the Ram Lila ground near the hospital. Some women speakers were moaning to Nehru how our jawans were not provided with warm snow clothing and that the women of Delhi were knitting woolen sweaters for them and so on. Nehru stood up to speak (in Hindi) and referred to the Chinese solders mockingly as monkeys (ye bunder log….) to draw laughter. Nehru prided that the Indian Army had to airlift everything from a needle to a tank to supply the jawans as if to prove the point he was missing. That he was engaged in a prolonged strategy of diplomatic foot-dragging and failed to recognize the war of dominance in Asia. And that China perceived India as a ‘weak’ target. After all, Nehru took no action when China invaded and occupied Tibet in1951 and again did nothing in 1959 when China ruthlessly put down the uprising in Tibet.
What Nehru did not realize then was that the Chinese bunder would never get off his back. What’s more, after humbling India to her knees he continued to ride piggy-back on all the future prime ministers. As his stature grew bigger he began to enjoy insulting the Hindu nationalist Prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajapayee.
While Vajapayee was exulting over his visit to China as the first prime minister after Nehru and even as he was feted as a guest, the PLA made a premeditated intrusion deep into Arunachal Pradesh, captured, disarmed and tortured a group of Indian security personnel. It was just to embarrass Vajpayee.
Vajpayee went to have a talk with his counterpart, Wen Jiabao on June 23. 2003 in Beijing. It was to reiterate India’s stand on Tibet as China’s integral part while soliciting the Chinese to accept Sikkim as an integral part of India (merged in 1974). Following the talk, the Chinese Foreign ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue denied Chinese acceptance of Sikkim as part of India.
Today the Chinese bunders have encircled India by its foreign policy and economic growth. Chinese engineers are busy building a deep-water port in Pakistan at Gwadar. They are out to build a harbor in southern Sri Lanka. They have installed surveillance equipment on Coco Islands off the coast of Burma.
India gave these islands in the 1950s to tickle the Burmese like our Kabaw valley. The Chinese have also been selling arms to Nepal and Bangladesh and will soon be building roads and laying pipelines across Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Taking cue from history we Meiteis must realize that ‘Enough is enough’ of Meitei bashing. A mere handful of Naga students will go for our jugular vein by blocking our life line arteries of National Highways 39 and 53 at any time for ridiculous frizzling grievances. We can do nothing but watch the agonizing humiliation in peckish helplessness.
The Meitei nationalism has become so fossilized that whenever someone meets a Meitei the first impression is that he is not super-polite and a bit nerdy. We dissipate a lot of energy by quarrelling among ourselves and trying to pull each other down. In the mayhem non-Meiteis go to the top. The time has now come for us to levitate by joining forces between the underground and the over ground elements of Meitei society.
In the emerging post-colonial neo-Nationalism of the Nagas (like the Hindutva), Meiteis have to wake up from the Rip Van winkle sleep as Japan once did. Japan went to war with China in 1894 with a victorious outcome. The upsurge of Japanese nationalism reached a climax. A second victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 further strengthened Japanese nationalism. They were able to remove their feelings of inferiority and bring a nationalism of confidence.
Meiteis have to defeat expansionist Naga nationalism.
In this war of attrition I am confident that Kukis will march with Meiteis (ichin-inou) in a joint venture. Though we have not been really gooey as strawberries in jam, for umpteen years we have been fighting along to defend our Manipur and to keep its borders intact.
There had always been irregular Kuki solders about 700-800. When Maharaj Chandrakirti went to Jila Durbar he was escorted by 2,000 Meitei and 1,000 Kuki solders among others. In 1899 the estimated population of Manipur was 220,000 with estimated gross revenue of Rs.10, 000. It had a standing Meitei Army of 5,503 with 700 Kuki irregulars.
The British regarded Kukis one cut above Nagas. “They (Kukis) are readily distinguishable from the Nagas, and are braver men.” “…. They were better soldiers than Meiteis.” (good old Johnstone again).
Since the professional politicians seriously lack knowledge and experience of mainstream India outside and neighboring politics of Nagas, the Meitei public should take the license of regulated patronage from a revived Meitei nationalism. Our strategy should be on nationalism and not on communalism. We must remember that the Hindutva while chasing “their long cherished dream” to build a Ram temple in Ayodha (Babri Masjid- Ram Janam Bhumi dispute) caused the death of 2,000 people in communal riots in 1992.
The way to save Meitei identity.
In my view it is to prepare ourselves (from Sekmai to Andro; phakyeng to Nongmaijing) emotionally but in ‘Masterly inactivity’ that there is an undercurrent of muddy water that might break up Manipur’s boundary at any time. We have to keep our heads above water by maintaining a sense of gravity, a sense of levity and a sense of propriety. Believing that the problem will just go away if we bury our head in sand would be as gullible and bad light as believing that god created mouth and he will surely feed it.
We need to demonstrate forcefully that Nagas cannot fulfill “their long cherished dream” of severing Meitei arms. Hopefully, after a balanced debate based on reason and sanity, common sense would prevail upon the educated Naga elite that in their dogged pursuit of a hobby horse they should not forget the spirit of peaceful existence by not fracturing body politic of their neighboring states.
I rest my case.
PS. I have used modern abbreviations- CE (Common Era) for AD and BCE (Before Common Era) for BC as they are now uses in intellectual circles because of their secularism.
*The article is written by Dr Irengbam Mohendra Singh.
AFSPA
BANGALORE DECLARATION AGAINST ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWERS ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH IROM SHARMILA
BANGALORE DECLARATION AGAINST ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWERS ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH IROM SHARMILA gomanipur.com
The following is the declaration taken after the seminar which took place in SCM house, Mission Road Bangalore in FULL DAY SEMINAR on `Irom Sharmila and AFSPA. The declaration goes as: We the civil society organisations and concerned individuals of Bangalore hereby express our deep concern and solidarity with the ten year-hunger-strike of Ms. Irom Sharmila and the struggle of the people of the North East and Jammu and Kashmir demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Having conducted a six-days-campaign in Bangalore from 29 January to 3 February 2011 culminating in a day long seminar on AFSPA and a protest, we hereby resolve the following:
We are outraged by the prolonged imposition of AFSPA, which allows the military to get involved in the ‘internal’ administration of the democratic order of the country, in one part or the other since 1958, and its adverse impact on the democratic rights of the peoples of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir,
We are concerned that AFSPA continues to be the most significant repressive tool of the Indian state that empowers even a non commissioned officer of the armed forces of union to kill on mere suspicion and provides legal immunity from prosecution, thereby causing untold misery and agony among the peoples of the affected regions,
We are concerned over the importance being given to AFSPA on the part of the state in the context of the increasing militarization of the society in the sub-continent especially after 9/11 and the growing communalization of the polity in India as a whole, we also unequivocally condemn the violence that goes in the name of ideologies which are supposed to be ‘pro-people’,
We are concerned over the way the media is reporting the incidents of violence in J&K and the North-East by and large ignoring the assault on human rights by the guardians of law and order and broadly endorsing these actions, in the name of 'national security' and justifying those policies of the state that militate against democratic norms and humanitarian principles,
We oppose this Act which has led to gross civil and political rights violations including enforced disappearances, extra-judicial execution, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence against women, arbitrary arrest and detention,
We assert that the imposition of AFSPA also has severe economic, social and cultural cost including erosion of civil administration, lack of access to education, basic health care, destruction of properties and sources of livelihood, and environmental destruction,
We further assert that the continuation of the 'disturbed area' status under the AFSPA in many part of the country is illegal in view of the violation of the mandatory six monthly periodic directed by Supreme Court in its 1997 Judgment,
We also note Further that the climate of impunity entrenched in these areas have led to the complete subversion of the Rule of Law including non-registration of cases against the armed forces, and even if the few cases where investigations are completed the criminal prosecution is pending for want of sanction from the Central Government on the application send by the State governments,
We remind the Government of India about the recommendations of Government’s own appointed B.P. Jeevan Reddy Committee (2005), Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Veerappan Moily (2007) and Working Group on Confidence-Building Measures in Jammu and Kashmir headed by Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2007), which have consistently recommended the repeal of AFSPA,
We recall that different committees and commissions set up by different State Governments into specific incidents of violence have also acknowledged the unbridled power the security forces enjoys under AFSPA,
We emphasize that the regions where AFSPA have been imposed, there exists suppressed democratic aspirations of people and the prolonged imposition of AFSPA has resulted in deepening the cycle of violence. Hence, only the repeal of AFSPA will open up the necessary democratic space for addressing the root causes of the political instability,
We are deeply disturbed by the increasing interference of the military establishment in the democratic processes in general and in particular the outcry that the Army top brass made in connection with the decision to review AFSPA,
We therefore the collectively demand:
1. that the Government of India repeal immediately
· The Armed Forces (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura) Special Powers Act, 1958 (as amended in 1972), and
· The Jammu and Kashmir Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1990
2. that the Government must refrain from inserting any part of the Acts into any other legislation granting unbridled powers to the armed forces of the union or the State police.
We call upon all those who are concerned about justice, peace and freedom to support the ongoing campaign for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and resist the increasing militarization of democratic spaces.
Please copy the text and print it in A4 size paper sheet and sign the document to repeal the arm force special power act and sent it to
Human Right Alert
Kwakethel Thiyam leikai
Imphal -795001 Manipur
Or email a scan copy of this doc to
hramanipur@gmail.com
bloitongbam@gmail.com
Human Right Alert
Kwakethel Thiyam leikai
Imphal -795001 Manipur
Or email a scan copy of this doc to
hramanipur@gmail.com
bloitongbam@gmail.com
Support the campaign let not make Irom sharmila Fast for another year..................let us end this
Monday, December 20, 2010
Unsustainable Identity
I don't think many of us would be surprise that Identity issues can bring about various forms of opinions especially in our present situation and status where we have many who are in to their own ' Identity-stage' - e.g. misplaced identity, identity crisis, identity consciousness , identity promotion, in-harmony with ones identity .
In a community like ours where ones individual and national identity had been generally shaped and influenced by the existing religion, the prevalent media etc; it is unfortunate that it had led for many of the Manipuris to have a misplaced identity . An identity formed by a very xenophobic academic curriculum, a xenophobic media which have lead to this misunderstood identity.
Please bear, but I would like to share an example -
It is like a dark complexion person brought up in a fair skin world where every curriculum , every form of entertainment and every form that resemble or 'the state of being beautiful' has become associated that is 'fair and not dark'. And growing up in such a skewed and xenophobic environment allows one to develop a very malfunctioned identity .
Unfortunately the signs of inner-conflicts starts once one try to sustain this misunderstood identity as the real identity and attempts to harmonise it with the globilised world . Lets think where the dark skinned person uses every form of cosmetic products and medical treatment to look fair or going further by even trying to live in the culture of the fair skin so to feel fair and superior!!
But in a globalised cultured society where skin colour doesn't reflect ones status or knowledge or dignity , such a NAIVE infatuation gets easily noticed. Such behavior which have been a product of being part of being a naive popualation or victim of skewed media and environment , are not accepted as part of a civilised world. But rather describe as inhumane and uncultured !!
Unfortunately in a society like ours , the prevalent xenophobic media and the right wing masters continues to direct and manipulate the naive minds ,leading to many more MISUNDERSTOOD IDENTITIES . Worst still , the naive minds are encouraged rather made to be comfortable in this misunderstood identity by manipulating the arrogant and egoistic attitude of this naive population.
As been mentioned by Patricia Mukhim , this misplaced identity have become so much part of ones lifestyle that they become so obsessed with , that no amount of reasoning or reality would allow the naive brains to introspect .
But in a cultured and developed society , where development and civilisation are based on transparency, these false identity cannot be SUSTAINED with any dignity, apart from exposing ones naiveness and arrogance.
Today, we witness two broad sets of people who talk about identity. One who understand the facts and the social reasons behind today's Meetei Identity and another set of people who justify or tries to ignore the the present day identity status of the Meeteis, for in such justification or undermining acts, it allows themselves to be indulge in their false identity which they have to like so much that it feels to be an inherent part of themselves.
And there are those who doesn't want to know themselves cos they can't make the effort , but have all the time to criticise those who are trying to do so.
It probably is good anthropological and social research study for the 'misunderstood identity' population of Manipur have begun to see those who are in not the same 'mindset' as them as a THREAT , A THREAT to their comfort , social status and particularly an hindrance to sustain their false identity.
I sometime wonder how Barack Obama would have done if he had tried to hide his Black ancestor background, and just try to project himself as a white . This could mean attempting to become white with cosmetics or medical treatment to be like 'Jacko' !! and then use word such as 'democracy' or one's freedom to choose to look how they wish to look like , and those who question his self-esteem with relates to his black background as xenophobic and interfering .
I don't think the develop world or civilised people would have ever accepted such a Obama as leader as a visionary !!
But He didn't live that, did he? He was proud of his Kenyan roots, his white mother ,his white grandmother , the upbringing in Indonesia etc He was as mentioned above a person of high self esteem and confidence and in harmony with his roots and upbringing .
But I am proud to say there is huge resurgence of Meeteis who have passed the stage of identity crisis , but are in content with the identity that there rich culture heritage and culture have bestowed , and have initiated the phase of promotion of harmony with their identity. e.g. They no longer are shameful of names in their mother tongue , but have taken the wonderful oppurtunity to name their beloved sons and daughter in beautiful names in their own mother tongue . And in such act, they don't have the arrogance to flaunt the beautiful names, but are just contented with it like any other cultured people does.
(Just like The japanese or the italian or the french or the koreans etc who doesn't flaunt or show any arrogance in their beautiful cultures or identity, but are just contented and happy with it.).
Organised worshipping and Social Feast in Ancient Kangleipak.
The Kangleicha Meetei Race, as one of the most ancient people having a very early civilization on the earth, had social organized worshipping of their God Creator, and social Feast since very early days of human civilization, though we are unable to say with dates today because of the burning of all written documents including Kanglei scriptures called the Puya by the Kangleichas.
In ancient Kangleipak we had two kinds of histories of the people - one for the State, and one for every group of people, what we call today in English Surname and in Kanglei Society as Sagei (Sakei). The State history is called Kanglei Puwari, and the Sakei Puwari is called Yumtaba Puya.
For every group of Kangleichas, which we call Sakei, there is a male person at the head of the Sakei. He is the worshipper of the group, interpreter of the scriptures, hymn, etc and he will choose the cooks for social feasts. He is called Piba (Pipa). The role of a Bamon (Brahman) in the Hindu days is designed as the role played by Piba.
A Kanglei Piba has certain qualifications in the Kanglei Monarchy. A Kanglei Piba must not have a physical defect. He cannot be mentally deficient. His wife too must have the same physical qualification as himself and should be married to the Piba as virgin woman.
A Piba is the agent of the Kanglei Monarch. Any State law or order will come to Piba first and the Piba will be responsible for execution of the State law or order.
But after the advent of Hinduism in the 18th century, everything of Kangleipak had been disorganized. A Bamon ( a derivative of Brahman) has taken the place of a Kanglei Piba. A Bamon is the worshipper cook, and everything upto 1949. Though the Kangleichas do not know what is the antecedent of the Bamon, his origin and private life, cooking and other functions.
When, in Manipur, Hindu King's power has become waned, the Kanglei revivalism comes to the forefront of the society and now there are hundreds and thousands of peoples who do not accept the worship of the Bamons and do not eat the meals cooked by the Bamons.
As a result of this revivalism and return to the ancient culture of the Kanglei Meetei Society, a group of Kangleicha Meeteis composed of experts in cooking business has come out to serve the Revivalists of ancient religion and culture of Kangleipak.
The following people are the members of an Association of cooks called Khwai Sagolband Phuhou Lup established in 1987 devoted to the cooking business to serve the Kangleichas professing ancient religion and culture of Kangleipak in the Imphal West :
In ancient Kangleipak we had two kinds of histories of the people - one for the State, and one for every group of people, what we call today in English Surname and in Kanglei Society as Sagei (Sakei). The State history is called Kanglei Puwari, and the Sakei Puwari is called Yumtaba Puya.
For every group of Kangleichas, which we call Sakei, there is a male person at the head of the Sakei. He is the worshipper of the group, interpreter of the scriptures, hymn, etc and he will choose the cooks for social feasts. He is called Piba (Pipa). The role of a Bamon (Brahman) in the Hindu days is designed as the role played by Piba.
A Kanglei Piba has certain qualifications in the Kanglei Monarchy. A Kanglei Piba must not have a physical defect. He cannot be mentally deficient. His wife too must have the same physical qualification as himself and should be married to the Piba as virgin woman.
A Piba is the agent of the Kanglei Monarch. Any State law or order will come to Piba first and the Piba will be responsible for execution of the State law or order.
But after the advent of Hinduism in the 18th century, everything of Kangleipak had been disorganized. A Bamon ( a derivative of Brahman) has taken the place of a Kanglei Piba. A Bamon is the worshipper cook, and everything upto 1949. Though the Kangleichas do not know what is the antecedent of the Bamon, his origin and private life, cooking and other functions.
When, in Manipur, Hindu King's power has become waned, the Kanglei revivalism comes to the forefront of the society and now there are hundreds and thousands of peoples who do not accept the worship of the Bamons and do not eat the meals cooked by the Bamons.
As a result of this revivalism and return to the ancient culture of the Kanglei Meetei Society, a group of Kangleicha Meeteis composed of experts in cooking business has come out to serve the Revivalists of ancient religion and culture of Kangleipak.
The following people are the members of an Association of cooks called Khwai Sagolband Phuhou Lup established in 1987 devoted to the cooking business to serve the Kangleichas professing ancient religion and culture of Kangleipak in the Imphal West :
1. Khulem Tejmani,
Sagolband Loukram Leirak, Imphal.
M. No. 9856483209
Sagolband Loukram Leirak, Imphal.
M. No. 9856483209
2. Lairenjam Maniton Meetei,
Sagolband Lairenjam Leikai,
M. No. 9856504545
Sagolband Lairenjam Leikai,
M. No. 9856504545
3. Takhellambam Tombi Meetei,
Mayanglangjing Taning,
M. No. 9856974908
Mayanglangjing Taning,
M. No. 9856974908
4. Takhellambam Ibochou Meetei,
Mayanglangjing Taning,
M. No. 9862096771
Mayanglangjing Taning,
M. No. 9862096771
5. Yengkhom Kheljit Meetei,
Sagolband Yengkhom Leirak,
M. No. 9856365554.
Sagolband Yengkhom Leirak,
M. No. 9856365554.
6. Salam Angousana Meetei,
Salam Kiyam
Salam Kiyam
7. Yumnam Khoibi Meetei,
Sagolband Ingudam Leirak
Sagolband Ingudam Leirak
8. Nandeibam Kula Meetei,
Sagolband Lukram Leirak.
Sagolband Lukram Leirak.
9. Haorongbam Kangjamba Meetei,
Naoremthong Laishram Leirak
M. No. 9774442118
Naoremthong Laishram Leirak
M. No. 9774442118
10. Tongbram Dhananjoy Meetei,
Moirang Hanuba Leirak
M. No. 9856750532
Moirang Hanuba Leirak
M. No. 9856750532
11. Soyam Action Meetei,
Sagolband Moirang hanuba
M. No. 9856898503
Sagolband Moirang hanuba
M. No. 9856898503
12. Takhellambam Sanayaima Meetei,
Mayanglangjing
Mayanglangjing
13. Takhellambam Khomba Meetei,
Mayanglangjing
Mayanglangjing
14. Takhellambam Chaobi Meetei,
Mayanglangjing
Mayanglangjing
15. Takhellambam Ibomcha Meetei,
Mayanglangjing
Mayanglangjing
16. Salam Kalachand Meetei,
Salam Kiyam
Salam Kiyam
17. Salam Santa Meetei,
Salam Kiyam
Salam Kiyam
18. Salam Devan Meetei,
Salam Kiyam
Salam Kiyam
19. Salam Samo Meetei,
Salam
Salam
20. Yumnam Khamba Meetei,
Yurembam Mayai Leikai
Yurembam Mayai Leikai
21. Konthoujam Khamba Meetei,
Konthoujam Laimang
Konthoujam Laimang
22. Konthoujam Samu,
Konthoujam Mamang
Konthoujam Mamang
23. Ingudam Ibobi,
Taothong
Taothong
24. Apujam Jatishore,
Taothong
Taothong
25. Kshetrimayum Guneswar,
Taothong.
Taothong.
26. Usam Dhamen,
Phumlou.
Phumlou.
Tracing the origin of the Naga movement and what is now?
Building the concept of the 'Naga'—
Before entering to the tricky problem of the Naga movement, let us know what is the root of the concept of the 'Naga' and which we generally take as a group of fine people without knowing its historical roots.
"The tribal name of the Angami Naga is 'Tengima'. Naga is a name given by the inhabitants of the plains, and in the Assamese language means 'naked'. "– Page 33 of the 'Manipur and the Naga hills' by Sir James Johnstone.
"1. Nanga (Hindustani) meaning: Naked... 5. Nagalogoi (Greek) meaning: The realm of the naked... 9. Nangta (Bengali) meaning: Naked."
–Page 5, 'The Naga Rapport' by Richard Haleng, Dimapur
–Page 207, 208 of the 'North East Frontier of India' by St. John F. Michell.
There are 25 villages inhabited by 25,000 Nagas in the North East Frontier of India as enumerated by the writer, Mr. Michell. These books written by the Englishmen are of 19th Century, except the book of Mr. Richard Haleng of Dimapur. From these Tribes, their status of civilization, their ways of lives, etc, these peoples got name of 'Naga' originally. There may be other tribes also seen by the plains peoples.
In the Kumbha Mela, many naked male persons who are said to be Devotees of God came out for 'Ganga Snan' etc. They are also called by the plains peoples as 'Naga Sadhu', 'Naga baba'. In 'The Naga Rapport', Mr. Richard Haleng claims 50 tribes in the contiguous areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland including 23 tribes in the western part of present Myanmar country as Nagas (Please see page 3,4 of 'The Naga Rapport' by Richard Haleng) to whom the name 'Naga' has ben extended. The 50 tribes of the Nagas include Kabui, Kharam, Koireng, Tangkhul etc etc of Kangleipak (Manipur).
"Linguistically, they have mutually unintelligible dialects from tribe to tribe" (page 1 of the Naga Rapport) These 50 tribes, having no common dialect, no common origin etc, the present Naga Peoples of the Nagaland claims to be one Naga race. The error, of the thinking process and the conclusion, is apparent from the fact that no unitary origin, no unitary tradition of having a common area of governance, so to say, no common history of these so called Naga peoples, are discovered and discerned upto this day. As there is no unity of origin, tradition etc, there is no common feeling of oneness at the time of any crisis.
The people of India including the Naga peoples saw the Meetei Race in action, an essential element of a Race in the recent Muivah Crisis, from the fact that the Meetei peoples of the of west of Manipur and North of Nagaland's automatic unity and response to the SoS of the Imphal valley Meeties. But for the so called Naga peoples, the NSCN (K), one of the strong groups of the Naga outfits stood firmly against Muivah, everybody saw it.
These so called Nagas of Manipur in the surrounding hills of Manipur are not Nagas, but nearest kins of the Present Meetei Race. "All tribes have also traditions amongst themselves that Munniporees are offshoots from them" – Page 6, 'The Meitheis' by T.C. Hodson. "Should it be a correct view that the valley of Munnipore was at no distant period almost covered entirely by water, the origin of the munniporees from the surrounding hill tribes is the proper and only conclusion to be arrived at." – Page 7 of the same book of TC Hodson. "The surrounding hill tribes assert that they are the Progenitors of the Manipuri Race."–Page 20, Linguistic Survery of India, Vol III part III. Further, amongst the tribes of Mr Michell, no tribe of the Past and Present Manipur are seen and no village of the Past and Present Manipur are seen too.
The following quotations from the book "People of Manipur, Anthropogenetic Study of Four Manipur Population Groups" by Dr. Rama Chakravartti (1986) may please be seen:
1. Palm Prints – "The three Manipuri Nagas (both sexes) follow the same model type like that of the Meitei males."–Page 79, 80. Please take the three Manipuri Nagas are Kabui, Tangkhul and the Mao Nagas.
2.Blood group– "R1" gene appears to occur in the highest frequencies in all the four studied groups, 'R2' gene occur in second highest frequency. Among the Kabuis the gene `Rz' is absent while among the Tangkhuls and Meiteis, this gene occur in equal frequencies."– page 95
3."The Kabui follow the valley population while the Tangkhuls present A>O>B. This pattern is however, not observed with any other Naga groups from Nagaland. All Naga groups follow the pattern of the Meiteis." – Page 96
4."The close similarity in ABO blood group between the Tangkhul Nagas and the Meitei is again confirmed indicating the ethnic homogeneity between these two groups" – Page 99.
The above recent scientific findings of Dr Rama Chakravartti categorically prove the Ethnic Homogeniety of the Meetei (Meitei) Race with all Naga groups, including those of the Nagaland, while showing a little difference from the Naga groups of the Nagaland.
Lastly, please see what the Meetei Puya, Scripture says:
"Talang Paopu Pinapa,
Epungloiki Yathangna Oikhipa Malemna Laiyamsingna Halaole,
Eepungloina Halaole;
Yaiphapaki Matikpu Laiyamsingna Penchale;
Asum Touna Loipi Chingki
Chingtonta Mapham Mapham Yengtuna
Tuka Waka Patuna Nungai Thoina Pankhale."
The Meetei Puya further says that a group of Salai peoples (Sons and daughters of Ipu Athoupa Konchin Tukthapa Pakhangpa) went up the high hills surrounding the Imphal valley making Hou Hou sounds in the later history of Meetei Race. This Meetei group who went up the high hills are amongst the Naga groups of Kangleipak and most possible indications are that they may be amongst the Kabui and Tangkhul groups.
These are clear statements of the Puya scripture telling you that a group of peoples called 'Lai' inhabited the Koubru mountain ranges of Kangleipak, and the so called Nagas of present time and the Meetei race are the descedants of these 'Lai' peoples. In later history, a group of the Lai peoples, coming down to the Imphal valley some times in 180 centuries B.C., became the Meetei Race, and a group of the Meetei race peoples also went up the surrounding high hills of Kangleipak in the later history of Kangleipak.
Birth of the Naga movement:
"... The Naga had no religion; that they were highly intelligent and capable of receiving civilization; that with it they would want a religion, and that we might just as well give them our own, make them in that way a source of strength, by thus mutually attaching them to us"–Page 43, 'Manipur and the Naga Hills' by Sir James Johnstone. "... a large population of Christian hillmen between Assam and Burma, would be a valuable prop to the state. Properly taught and judiciously handled, the Angamis would have made a fine manly set of Christians, of a type superior to most Indian native converts, and probably devoted to our rule." –Page 44 of the same book of Johnstone.
This is the beginning and birth of the present Naga movement. This conspiracy of the British Colonial Power, for a permanent base in the Asiatic continent between two sleeping giants, for destablization of the continent, was born in the 19th century. The words "between Assam and Burma" may be changed to "between India and China" now in the present global context. Following this conspiracy and birth of the Naga movement, the British colonial power in India tried seriously to develop a Naga entity which was entirely non-existant that time.
From the introduction of 'Inner Line Regulations' for checking influx of businessmen into the Naga areas in 1873, to the Declaration of the 'Naga Hills Excluded Area' administered in dicretion by the Governor of the British-India Empire as a political Agent of the British Crown in 1937, the Colonialist British had done enough to help this conglomeration of "Linguistically, they have mutually unintelligible dialects" tribal peoples of very different origins to develop a separate 'Naga Entity' entirely different from the surrounding peoples of common origin.
But this mission of the Europeans is a complete failure. The writer has given an example of complete failure above to the fact that of the Mr Muivah's last attempt to have a 'South Nagaland' in Manipur in his hand, the NSCN (K), one of the very strong outfits of Naga underground organisations in the North East of India, comes openly against Mr Muivah and his group NSCN (IM). Further, the Naga Hoho expresses the organisation's total disapproval of Mr. Muivah's move for a 'South Nagaland' in Manipur.
The Naga Hoho's president Mr Kevileto Kebiho expressed at Kohima that the economic blockade at NH 39 and 53 in Manipur will not be withdrawn, along with it the President 'appealed' to Mr Muivah 'to withdraw from Viswema village, a present Nagaland village, along with his armed cadres. The 'appeal' is a soft word, but in the present juncture of a 'South Nagaland' of Mr Muivah, it is a 'complete disapproval' of Mr Muivah in his move to impress him 'what Mr Muivah has done more harm to the Naga peoples than to bring unity amongst the Naga peoples'. This 'appeal' should be noted seriously by the 'Kacha Naga' of Manipur for future guidance. This is a warning to Mr Muivah to vacate Nagaland.
Before entering to the tricky problem of the Naga movement, let us know what is the root of the concept of the 'Naga' and which we generally take as a group of fine people without knowing its historical roots.
"The tribal name of the Angami Naga is 'Tengima'. Naga is a name given by the inhabitants of the plains, and in the Assamese language means 'naked'. "– Page 33 of the 'Manipur and the Naga hills' by Sir James Johnstone.
"1. Nanga (Hindustani) meaning: Naked... 5. Nagalogoi (Greek) meaning: The realm of the naked... 9. Nangta (Bengali) meaning: Naked."
–Page 5, 'The Naga Rapport' by Richard Haleng, Dimapur
–Page 207, 208 of the 'North East Frontier of India' by St. John F. Michell.
There are 25 villages inhabited by 25,000 Nagas in the North East Frontier of India as enumerated by the writer, Mr. Michell. These books written by the Englishmen are of 19th Century, except the book of Mr. Richard Haleng of Dimapur. From these Tribes, their status of civilization, their ways of lives, etc, these peoples got name of 'Naga' originally. There may be other tribes also seen by the plains peoples.
In the Kumbha Mela, many naked male persons who are said to be Devotees of God came out for 'Ganga Snan' etc. They are also called by the plains peoples as 'Naga Sadhu', 'Naga baba'. In 'The Naga Rapport', Mr. Richard Haleng claims 50 tribes in the contiguous areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland including 23 tribes in the western part of present Myanmar country as Nagas (Please see page 3,4 of 'The Naga Rapport' by Richard Haleng) to whom the name 'Naga' has ben extended. The 50 tribes of the Nagas include Kabui, Kharam, Koireng, Tangkhul etc etc of Kangleipak (Manipur).
"Linguistically, they have mutually unintelligible dialects from tribe to tribe" (page 1 of the Naga Rapport) These 50 tribes, having no common dialect, no common origin etc, the present Naga Peoples of the Nagaland claims to be one Naga race. The error, of the thinking process and the conclusion, is apparent from the fact that no unitary origin, no unitary tradition of having a common area of governance, so to say, no common history of these so called Naga peoples, are discovered and discerned upto this day. As there is no unity of origin, tradition etc, there is no common feeling of oneness at the time of any crisis.
The people of India including the Naga peoples saw the Meetei Race in action, an essential element of a Race in the recent Muivah Crisis, from the fact that the Meetei peoples of the of west of Manipur and North of Nagaland's automatic unity and response to the SoS of the Imphal valley Meeties. But for the so called Naga peoples, the NSCN (K), one of the strong groups of the Naga outfits stood firmly against Muivah, everybody saw it.
These so called Nagas of Manipur in the surrounding hills of Manipur are not Nagas, but nearest kins of the Present Meetei Race. "All tribes have also traditions amongst themselves that Munniporees are offshoots from them" – Page 6, 'The Meitheis' by T.C. Hodson. "Should it be a correct view that the valley of Munnipore was at no distant period almost covered entirely by water, the origin of the munniporees from the surrounding hill tribes is the proper and only conclusion to be arrived at." – Page 7 of the same book of TC Hodson. "The surrounding hill tribes assert that they are the Progenitors of the Manipuri Race."–Page 20, Linguistic Survery of India, Vol III part III. Further, amongst the tribes of Mr Michell, no tribe of the Past and Present Manipur are seen and no village of the Past and Present Manipur are seen too.
The following quotations from the book "People of Manipur, Anthropogenetic Study of Four Manipur Population Groups" by Dr. Rama Chakravartti (1986) may please be seen:
1. Palm Prints – "The three Manipuri Nagas (both sexes) follow the same model type like that of the Meitei males."–Page 79, 80. Please take the three Manipuri Nagas are Kabui, Tangkhul and the Mao Nagas.
2.Blood group– "R1" gene appears to occur in the highest frequencies in all the four studied groups, 'R2' gene occur in second highest frequency. Among the Kabuis the gene `Rz' is absent while among the Tangkhuls and Meiteis, this gene occur in equal frequencies."– page 95
3."The Kabui follow the valley population while the Tangkhuls present A>O>B. This pattern is however, not observed with any other Naga groups from Nagaland. All Naga groups follow the pattern of the Meiteis." – Page 96
4."The close similarity in ABO blood group between the Tangkhul Nagas and the Meitei is again confirmed indicating the ethnic homogeneity between these two groups" – Page 99.
The above recent scientific findings of Dr Rama Chakravartti categorically prove the Ethnic Homogeniety of the Meetei (Meitei) Race with all Naga groups, including those of the Nagaland, while showing a little difference from the Naga groups of the Nagaland.
Lastly, please see what the Meetei Puya, Scripture says:
"Talang Paopu Pinapa,
Epungloiki Yathangna Oikhipa Malemna Laiyamsingna Halaole,
Eepungloina Halaole;
Yaiphapaki Matikpu Laiyamsingna Penchale;
Asum Touna Loipi Chingki
Chingtonta Mapham Mapham Yengtuna
Tuka Waka Patuna Nungai Thoina Pankhale."
The Meetei Puya further says that a group of Salai peoples (Sons and daughters of Ipu Athoupa Konchin Tukthapa Pakhangpa) went up the high hills surrounding the Imphal valley making Hou Hou sounds in the later history of Meetei Race. This Meetei group who went up the high hills are amongst the Naga groups of Kangleipak and most possible indications are that they may be amongst the Kabui and Tangkhul groups.
These are clear statements of the Puya scripture telling you that a group of peoples called 'Lai' inhabited the Koubru mountain ranges of Kangleipak, and the so called Nagas of present time and the Meetei race are the descedants of these 'Lai' peoples. In later history, a group of the Lai peoples, coming down to the Imphal valley some times in 180 centuries B.C., became the Meetei Race, and a group of the Meetei race peoples also went up the surrounding high hills of Kangleipak in the later history of Kangleipak.
Birth of the Naga movement:
"... The Naga had no religion; that they were highly intelligent and capable of receiving civilization; that with it they would want a religion, and that we might just as well give them our own, make them in that way a source of strength, by thus mutually attaching them to us"–Page 43, 'Manipur and the Naga Hills' by Sir James Johnstone. "... a large population of Christian hillmen between Assam and Burma, would be a valuable prop to the state. Properly taught and judiciously handled, the Angamis would have made a fine manly set of Christians, of a type superior to most Indian native converts, and probably devoted to our rule." –Page 44 of the same book of Johnstone.
This is the beginning and birth of the present Naga movement. This conspiracy of the British Colonial Power, for a permanent base in the Asiatic continent between two sleeping giants, for destablization of the continent, was born in the 19th century. The words "between Assam and Burma" may be changed to "between India and China" now in the present global context. Following this conspiracy and birth of the Naga movement, the British colonial power in India tried seriously to develop a Naga entity which was entirely non-existant that time.
From the introduction of 'Inner Line Regulations' for checking influx of businessmen into the Naga areas in 1873, to the Declaration of the 'Naga Hills Excluded Area' administered in dicretion by the Governor of the British-India Empire as a political Agent of the British Crown in 1937, the Colonialist British had done enough to help this conglomeration of "Linguistically, they have mutually unintelligible dialects" tribal peoples of very different origins to develop a separate 'Naga Entity' entirely different from the surrounding peoples of common origin.
But this mission of the Europeans is a complete failure. The writer has given an example of complete failure above to the fact that of the Mr Muivah's last attempt to have a 'South Nagaland' in Manipur in his hand, the NSCN (K), one of the very strong outfits of Naga underground organisations in the North East of India, comes openly against Mr Muivah and his group NSCN (IM). Further, the Naga Hoho expresses the organisation's total disapproval of Mr. Muivah's move for a 'South Nagaland' in Manipur.
The Naga Hoho's president Mr Kevileto Kebiho expressed at Kohima that the economic blockade at NH 39 and 53 in Manipur will not be withdrawn, along with it the President 'appealed' to Mr Muivah 'to withdraw from Viswema village, a present Nagaland village, along with his armed cadres. The 'appeal' is a soft word, but in the present juncture of a 'South Nagaland' of Mr Muivah, it is a 'complete disapproval' of Mr Muivah in his move to impress him 'what Mr Muivah has done more harm to the Naga peoples than to bring unity amongst the Naga peoples'. This 'appeal' should be noted seriously by the 'Kacha Naga' of Manipur for future guidance. This is a warning to Mr Muivah to vacate Nagaland.
These are not all. When the NSCN (IM) began a War Cry against the plain people of Kangleipak (Manipur), the NSCN (K) openly warns against it. The NSCN (K) says that there is no any question of waging war by the Naga peoples against the plain peoples of Kangleipak (Manipur). The NSCN (K) says that Mr Muivah is a Terrorist. In the mind of everybody, it is still very fresh that in recent past many Tangkhul homes were brunt in Nagaland and the Nagaland Nagas attempted seriously to drive out Tangkhuls from Nagaland. According to newspaper report on 21/6/2010 Mr Muivah wanted to go to Fukoboto in the Sema area. The Sema peoples asked why Mr Muivah wanted to go to Sema area wanting to know the motive of Mr Muivah.
These are simple signs of obvious complete failure of developing Naga Entity and a Naga history among different tribes of different origin among whom there is no any intelligible dialect. The Europe-taught slogan 'Nagaland for Christ' of Mr Muivah will not help.
NSCN (IM) is a Spent Force
So far upto 21/6/2010, the development of the Nagaland expansion to present Manipur, if we watch the situation a bit minutely, it seems very clear that the NSCN (IM) and Mr Muivah are simply a 'Spent Force', so to say, a 'Burnt match stick'. Amongst the areas claimed by the NSCN (IM) and Mr Muivah (pretending to be the representative of all so-called Nagas), the areas of Myanmar is out of their reach. The government of Assam and Arunachal Pradsh are strong and rich enough to be feared by the Nagas.
The Nagas target Manipur which has the weakest political leadership without having a political philosophy, corroded by corruption, for Nagaland's neo-colonialism policy of expansion. The interference of the Nagaland government, to the internal affairs of Manipur and its illegality, is very apparent. The Nagaland government creates law and order problem in Manipur by helping openly the NSCN (IM) and Mr Muivah's claims. The Nagaland Assembly took resolutions to expand Nagaland to Manipur. The policy of interference of the Nagaland government will be proved a boomerang. Soon the importance of Dimapur as a commercial hub will go and the sufferings of the innocent people of southern portions of Nagaland and of northern side Manipur will increase very shortly, if a patriotic government comes to Manipur and develop fully other National Highways except NH 39 with protection forces.
Before leaving this matter to the readers, a factual presentation about the demoralisation and weakening of the Naga movement and Mr Muivah may please be seen:
The cease fire agreement and peace talk between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM) started in 1999. During this long period of about 14 years upto 2010, with the kindness of the Government of India and the Government of Manipur under the soft and kind hearted Chief Minister, Mr. Ibobi Singh, the NSCN (IM) cadres became a band of Highway Robbers and Extortionists, some time they kill their selected targets with impunity. They have very big purse full of money. The NSCN (IM) cadres became a band of people without morale and sanctity of the fighters of a good cause. Secondly, the NSCN (K) factor in the demoralising process of the NSCN (IM) and Mr Muivah is great.
The NSCN (K) openly says the Tangkhuls are not Nagas, they are part of the Meetei race. The Nagas should solve the problems of the Naga peoples without Tangkhuls of Kangleipak (Manipur). The Meeteis of the valley know very well that the Tangkhuls are very near kins of the Meetei race from scriptural and modern scientific foundations. When Mr Muivah makes a war cry against the valley people Meeties with a 'Nagaland for Christ' flag, the NSCN (K) openly stand against it.
According to newspapers report, from Viswema the NSCN (IM) leader Mr Muivah was sent-off by 300 NSCN (IM) armed cadres with the IRB of Nagaland Government, but later reports indicate that the leader was with about 50/60 armed NSCN (IM) cadres in Phek district of Nagaland. This indicates the corrosion of the NSCN (IM) fire power.
Further, according to newspaper report on 18/6/10, four IM cadres who followed the IM leader Mr Muivah were captured by the Assam Rifles in Kohima outside the designated camp for violation of Ground Rules. After that capture Mr Muivah speaks nothing and show no muscle. All these facts further show that the source of power and strength of Mr Muivah and NSCN (IM) is the Central government. According to the newspaper report, the NSCN (IM) leader Mr Muivah planned to enter Manipur from Pfutsero village of Nagaland on 9/6/10. He could not do anything upto 11/6/2010. In the mean time, the NSCN (IM) will meet on 14/6/2010 in New Delhi, certainly for a plan of appeasing Mr Muivah and NSCN (IM) by the Centre. Recently the Mr Ibobi's government showed a 'Regret', to the Nagas for making unsucessful to enter Manipur at Mao gate with a victory flag by Mr Muivah.
For the time being, Mr Muivah and the NSCN (IM) is powerless now, at any time Mr Muivah and the NSCN (IM) may be activated. This factor may be very seriously noted by the Indigenous Peoples of Kangleipak (present Manipur). The activation may be some times after next year general election. Closing this article of high political drama of the central government, Mr Muivah and the Manipur government at this stage, the present writer appeals to the Indigenous peoples of the North East states of India for their immediate attention. The writer knows of the Mongoloid peoples of the North East states of India and the vast Asiatic continent are of the same origin and Ancestry, from the original place of origin, the Koubru mountain ranges of Kangleipak, created and cradled at the spot. We should not make bad blood against each other, we should not be led by the ideas of small selfish ends. We should stand side by side at all times. Let the indigenous peoples of the North East and North Hilly Regions of India have a common wisdom of protecting themselves together as they are the nearest kinsmen of the same ancestry.
These are simple signs of obvious complete failure of developing Naga Entity and a Naga history among different tribes of different origin among whom there is no any intelligible dialect. The Europe-taught slogan 'Nagaland for Christ' of Mr Muivah will not help.
NSCN (IM) is a Spent Force
So far upto 21/6/2010, the development of the Nagaland expansion to present Manipur, if we watch the situation a bit minutely, it seems very clear that the NSCN (IM) and Mr Muivah are simply a 'Spent Force', so to say, a 'Burnt match stick'. Amongst the areas claimed by the NSCN (IM) and Mr Muivah (pretending to be the representative of all so-called Nagas), the areas of Myanmar is out of their reach. The government of Assam and Arunachal Pradsh are strong and rich enough to be feared by the Nagas.
The Nagas target Manipur which has the weakest political leadership without having a political philosophy, corroded by corruption, for Nagaland's neo-colonialism policy of expansion. The interference of the Nagaland government, to the internal affairs of Manipur and its illegality, is very apparent. The Nagaland government creates law and order problem in Manipur by helping openly the NSCN (IM) and Mr Muivah's claims. The Nagaland Assembly took resolutions to expand Nagaland to Manipur. The policy of interference of the Nagaland government will be proved a boomerang. Soon the importance of Dimapur as a commercial hub will go and the sufferings of the innocent people of southern portions of Nagaland and of northern side Manipur will increase very shortly, if a patriotic government comes to Manipur and develop fully other National Highways except NH 39 with protection forces.
Before leaving this matter to the readers, a factual presentation about the demoralisation and weakening of the Naga movement and Mr Muivah may please be seen:
The cease fire agreement and peace talk between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM) started in 1999. During this long period of about 14 years upto 2010, with the kindness of the Government of India and the Government of Manipur under the soft and kind hearted Chief Minister, Mr. Ibobi Singh, the NSCN (IM) cadres became a band of Highway Robbers and Extortionists, some time they kill their selected targets with impunity. They have very big purse full of money. The NSCN (IM) cadres became a band of people without morale and sanctity of the fighters of a good cause. Secondly, the NSCN (K) factor in the demoralising process of the NSCN (IM) and Mr Muivah is great.
The NSCN (K) openly says the Tangkhuls are not Nagas, they are part of the Meetei race. The Nagas should solve the problems of the Naga peoples without Tangkhuls of Kangleipak (Manipur). The Meeteis of the valley know very well that the Tangkhuls are very near kins of the Meetei race from scriptural and modern scientific foundations. When Mr Muivah makes a war cry against the valley people Meeties with a 'Nagaland for Christ' flag, the NSCN (K) openly stand against it.
According to newspapers report, from Viswema the NSCN (IM) leader Mr Muivah was sent-off by 300 NSCN (IM) armed cadres with the IRB of Nagaland Government, but later reports indicate that the leader was with about 50/60 armed NSCN (IM) cadres in Phek district of Nagaland. This indicates the corrosion of the NSCN (IM) fire power.
Further, according to newspaper report on 18/6/10, four IM cadres who followed the IM leader Mr Muivah were captured by the Assam Rifles in Kohima outside the designated camp for violation of Ground Rules. After that capture Mr Muivah speaks nothing and show no muscle. All these facts further show that the source of power and strength of Mr Muivah and NSCN (IM) is the Central government. According to the newspaper report, the NSCN (IM) leader Mr Muivah planned to enter Manipur from Pfutsero village of Nagaland on 9/6/10. He could not do anything upto 11/6/2010. In the mean time, the NSCN (IM) will meet on 14/6/2010 in New Delhi, certainly for a plan of appeasing Mr Muivah and NSCN (IM) by the Centre. Recently the Mr Ibobi's government showed a 'Regret', to the Nagas for making unsucessful to enter Manipur at Mao gate with a victory flag by Mr Muivah.
For the time being, Mr Muivah and the NSCN (IM) is powerless now, at any time Mr Muivah and the NSCN (IM) may be activated. This factor may be very seriously noted by the Indigenous Peoples of Kangleipak (present Manipur). The activation may be some times after next year general election. Closing this article of high political drama of the central government, Mr Muivah and the Manipur government at this stage, the present writer appeals to the Indigenous peoples of the North East states of India for their immediate attention. The writer knows of the Mongoloid peoples of the North East states of India and the vast Asiatic continent are of the same origin and Ancestry, from the original place of origin, the Koubru mountain ranges of Kangleipak, created and cradled at the spot. We should not make bad blood against each other, we should not be led by the ideas of small selfish ends. We should stand side by side at all times. Let the indigenous peoples of the North East and North Hilly Regions of India have a common wisdom of protecting themselves together as they are the nearest kinsmen of the same ancestry.
Discovery of Kangleipak - 9
Wide-spread knowledge of indigenous 18 alphabets of the Meetei Race and its wide spread support in Kangleipak (Manipur)
There were two most important and memorable days in 2009 in the history of Kanglei Meetei Eeyek (Script of the ancient Meetei race) in Kangleipak. They are 04-10-2009 (Sunday) and 31-12-2009 (Thursday).
On Sunday, the 4th October, 2009 there was a conference called ‘Laining Meepham' (Religious conference), also called ‘Puya Meepham" (conference on the scriptures called Puya in the Kanglei dialect) in Tera Keithel Children Home. In the conference, though the conference discussed only what was the Holy Puya (Holy scripture) left by the Kanglei ancestors before Hinduism in Kangleipak, necessitated by the total burning of the Kanglei Puyas and by the presence of many fabricated and manipulated so called Puyas at the moment, the conference was called ‘Laining Meepham", because all men and women involved in the discussion thought that the Holy Puya of the ancestors, the God Creator Father are all matters related to the Religion related with the concepts of the indigenous Kanglei Religion (Sanamahism). In the conference, after a very serious discussion for more than 4 hours, the conference unanimously selected Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Ama-Ilon Pukok Puya written in 18 alphabets is the holy and most ancient Puya of the ancestors of Kangleipak. Discussion on the holy puya started in 1987 in different places including the Sanamahi Sanglel (Sanamahi temple) at Manipur Rifles compound. This Laining Meepham on 04-10-2009 successfully selected the above named Puya as the Most Holy Puya concluding the 23 years old trouble some journey of seeking a Holy Puya (Scripture) of the Kanglei ancestors.
Wangkhemcha Chingtamlen conducting the ‘Puya Meepham' Seen with him are (L to R) A. Tomba Meetei (Padmashree), Chief Guest, M. Naotalel Khomba, President Meelal and Sanasam Mani Mangang, 87 years old Meetei Revivalist as Guest of Honour.
Ayekpam Tomba, Chief Guest, Wangkhemcha Chingtamlel, President (Moderator), Sanasam Mani Mangang, Moirangthem Naotalel Khomba, President Meelal, Leichombam Irabanta, Tera Khongsangbi, Sajou Chinglei, Yailipok Khoirom, as Guests of Honour of the Puya Meepham and along with Tokpam Thawai Lelpa , Hodam Leirak as Convener of the Meepham, decorated the Dais of the Puya Meepham on the day.
Ladies' participation representing different organizations : Luwang Leima, Meitram; Langmai Lembi, Kakwa Naorem Leikai; Chanu Priya Khunailembi, Kairang; Wairokpam Susila, Chinga Makha; Hijam Phajabi, Keisamthong Longjam Leirak; Chanu Victoria and Chanu Pemton, Patsoi II; Ayekpam Naobi Leima, Tera; Chanu Sonia and Chanu Pooja, Top Leirak; Naorem Chanu Bandana, Heiranggoithong; Chanu Bina, Moreh; Chanu Ayang Leima, Sekmaijin.
Names of organization supported the selection of Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Ama Ilol Pukok Puya, participated in the Puya Meepham on 04-10-2009 :
After intense discussion and heated interactions for more than 4 hours, the Puya Meepham selected almost unanimously Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Ama-Ilon Pukok Puya written in 18 alphabets of the ancient Meetei Race of Kangleipak as the Holy and most Ancient Puya (scripture) of the Kanglei ancestors, concluding 23 years old trouble some journey of seeking a Holy Puya (scripture) of the Enlightened Ancestors of Kangleipak.
The most memorable second day in the journey of the indigenous 18 alphabets of Kangleipak happened on 31-12-2009 (Thursday) by releasing a book called Kangla Warep at Press Club, Mejorkhul by The Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup. The book contains the decisions of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup accepting 18 indigenous Kanglei Alphabets as the correct alphabets (scripts) of Kangleipak (Manipur), as asserted by some of the expert/custodians of Puyas and by some of the Seven Judges, with a firm decision of the Thoupuloi Kanglup to persuade the Government to accept the decision recommendation of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup.
Prof. W. Nabakumar, HOD of Anthropology, MU is releasing Kangla Warep on 31-12-2009.
Composition of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup :
As a first step, the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup called by advertisement in the Local News Papers etc. the experts and custodians of Puya to submit written statements in matters of the following :
In response to the call of the Thoupuloi Kanglup, 13 (thirteen) experts/custodians of Puyas submitted their written statements along with Puya etc.
The following are the personalities selected by the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup as Judges to give their written opinion on the matters mentioned above after examination of the written statements/Puyas submitted by the experts/custodians of the Puyas etc.
There were two most important and memorable days in 2009 in the history of Kanglei Meetei Eeyek (Script of the ancient Meetei race) in Kangleipak. They are 04-10-2009 (Sunday) and 31-12-2009 (Thursday).
On Sunday, the 4th October, 2009 there was a conference called ‘Laining Meepham' (Religious conference), also called ‘Puya Meepham" (conference on the scriptures called Puya in the Kanglei dialect) in Tera Keithel Children Home. In the conference, though the conference discussed only what was the Holy Puya (Holy scripture) left by the Kanglei ancestors before Hinduism in Kangleipak, necessitated by the total burning of the Kanglei Puyas and by the presence of many fabricated and manipulated so called Puyas at the moment, the conference was called ‘Laining Meepham", because all men and women involved in the discussion thought that the Holy Puya of the ancestors, the God Creator Father are all matters related to the Religion related with the concepts of the indigenous Kanglei Religion (Sanamahism). In the conference, after a very serious discussion for more than 4 hours, the conference unanimously selected Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Ama-Ilon Pukok Puya written in 18 alphabets is the holy and most ancient Puya of the ancestors of Kangleipak. Discussion on the holy puya started in 1987 in different places including the Sanamahi Sanglel (Sanamahi temple) at Manipur Rifles compound. This Laining Meepham on 04-10-2009 successfully selected the above named Puya as the Most Holy Puya concluding the 23 years old trouble some journey of seeking a Holy Puya (Scripture) of the Kanglei ancestors.
Ayekpam Tomba, Chief Guest, Wangkhemcha Chingtamlel, President (Moderator), Sanasam Mani Mangang, Moirangthem Naotalel Khomba, President Meelal, Leichombam Irabanta, Tera Khongsangbi, Sajou Chinglei, Yailipok Khoirom, as Guests of Honour of the Puya Meepham and along with Tokpam Thawai Lelpa , Hodam Leirak as Convener of the Meepham, decorated the Dais of the Puya Meepham on the day.
Ladies' participation representing different organizations : Luwang Leima, Meitram; Langmai Lembi, Kakwa Naorem Leikai; Chanu Priya Khunailembi, Kairang; Wairokpam Susila, Chinga Makha; Hijam Phajabi, Keisamthong Longjam Leirak; Chanu Victoria and Chanu Pemton, Patsoi II; Ayekpam Naobi Leima, Tera; Chanu Sonia and Chanu Pooja, Top Leirak; Naorem Chanu Bandana, Heiranggoithong; Chanu Bina, Moreh; Chanu Ayang Leima, Sekmaijin.
Names of organization supported the selection of Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Ama Ilol Pukok Puya, participated in the Puya Meepham on 04-10-2009 :
1. Kangleipoak Historical and Cultural Research Centre, Sagolband Thangjam Leirak
2. Kangleipak Loina Sillon Lup, Yailipok
3. Kangleipak Meetei Mayek Academy, Khurai Konsam Leikai
4. Panthoibi Irat Thougal Lup, Wangkhei Thawanthaba Mutum Leirak
5. Ireipak Inat Kanba, Takhel Panthoibi & Nongpok Ningthou Lai Manak
6. Khurai Kongpal Ningthoubung Meetei Inat Lup, Ningthoubung
7. Ningthem Pukhri Mapal Sanamahi Laining Lup
8. Thanga Meetei Mayek & Cultural Research and Inat Chaoukhat Sindam Sanglen
9. Moirang Naranseina Inat Laining Chaokhat Sanglen Lup
10. Tronglaobi and Tera Khongsangbi Laining Lup
11. Ningthoubung Meetei Mayek & Inat Lup
12. Meitram Sanamahi Pakhangba Laining Lup
13. Sangai Parou Meetei Leikai Inat Chaokhat Lup
14. Patsoi II Inat Khongkul Leeba Lup
15. Lairenkabi Inat Ngakpa Meetei Loisang
16. Awang Khunou Achumba Thiba Inat Loisang
17. Meetei Phurup
18. Malem Yaiphasang
19. Ikal
20. Khwai Meetei Thoukal Langkal Malup
21. Sanakon
22. Mannaba Apunba Marup
23. Keisampat Meetei Singlup
24. Natum Chingjin Huidrom Laining Lup
25. Chingarel Sanamahi Pakhangba Laining Lup
26. Kangla Sangomsang Meetei Laining Lup
27. Tera Loukrakpam Leikai Meetei Laining Lup
28. Dimapur Meetei Union
Important personalities who participated in the intense discussion and heated interaction :1. Indrajit Waheng Khuman Panthoibi Thougal Lup
2. Keisam Ibomcha, Keisampat Mannaba Apunba Marup
3. Kangleinganba Kuleswar, Khurai Lairikyengbam Leikai
4. H. Ibotombi Khuman, Haobam Marak
5. Chingtam Luwang, Sagolband
6. Akham Langol, Sagolband
7. Luwang Leima, Meitram
8. Sagolsem Jila Leibak Macha, Sagolband
9. Oinam Bijen, Thanga
10. Ngangkham Prameswar, Khurai Chairel
11. Iboyaima Louthiba, Khurai Ningthoubung
12. Tokpam Thwailenpa, Hodam Leirak
The personalities participated in the discussion were of different mindset in matters of scripts (Alphabets) and Puya.After intense discussion and heated interactions for more than 4 hours, the Puya Meepham selected almost unanimously Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Ama-Ilon Pukok Puya written in 18 alphabets of the ancient Meetei Race of Kangleipak as the Holy and most Ancient Puya (scripture) of the Kanglei ancestors, concluding 23 years old trouble some journey of seeking a Holy Puya (scripture) of the Enlightened Ancestors of Kangleipak.
The most memorable second day in the journey of the indigenous 18 alphabets of Kangleipak happened on 31-12-2009 (Thursday) by releasing a book called Kangla Warep at Press Club, Mejorkhul by The Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup. The book contains the decisions of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup accepting 18 indigenous Kanglei Alphabets as the correct alphabets (scripts) of Kangleipak (Manipur), as asserted by some of the expert/custodians of Puyas and by some of the Seven Judges, with a firm decision of the Thoupuloi Kanglup to persuade the Government to accept the decision recommendation of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup.
Composition of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup :
1. Karam Pakchao, Wangkhei - President
2. Chabungbam Ibotombi, Tera - Vice-President
3. Heikujamcha Ibotombi Khuman, Haobam Marak - General Secretary
4. Pebam Boy, Takhel Leikai - Joint Secretary
5. Hongnemcha Laiching Nganba, Kongba - Finance Secretary
6. Oinamcha Kiranjit - Publication and information Secretary
7. Mangangcha Keisam Ibomcha, Keisampat - Auditor
Advisors1. Tokpam Thawai Lenpa, Hodam Leirak
2. Moirangthem Putun, Khurai
3. Moirangthem Naodalen Khomba, Thangmeiban
4. Kangjam Dhananjoi, Nongpok Sekmai
5. Hidam Dhananjoi, Keirao Langdum
6. Hemam Labango, Moirang
7. Soram Mangi, Takhel Leikai
The above personalities composing the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup, though they are qualified and intellectual persons, are patently not experts of the Meetei Eeyek (Kanglei Meetei Scripts).As a first step, the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup called by advertisement in the Local News Papers etc. the experts and custodians of Puya to submit written statements in matters of the following :
1. To decide (to give) the Real name of the land (now called Manipur since 18th century)
2. To decide the true and real racial name of the peoples (now called Meetei, Meitei, manipuri)
3. To decide the real / true alphabets (scripts) of the ancient Kanglei ancestors.
4. To discus the real/true name of the language spoken by the Meetei/Meitei/Manipuri now.
5. To decide how to write their names of the Kangleichas.
The Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup requested the experts/custodians of the Puya to submit written evidences etc, and Puyas supporting their statements along with the written statements submitted by them.In response to the call of the Thoupuloi Kanglup, 13 (thirteen) experts/custodians of Puyas submitted their written statements along with Puya etc.
The following are the personalities selected by the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup as Judges to give their written opinion on the matters mentioned above after examination of the written statements/Puyas submitted by the experts/custodians of the Puyas etc.
1. Ahanthem Nilmani, Senior Advocate - Ahanthem Leikai
2. Dr. Langpoklakpam Bhagyachandra, Sr. Grade Lecturer, Pishum Thong
3. Ayekpam Chandramani, Rtd. Head Master, Tera
4. Wangkhemcha Chingtamlen, Advocate, Sagolband
5. Irengbam Lukhoi, Rtd. Principal, Khagempali
6. Nepram Bihari, Executive Officer, Sanamahi Temple Board, Sagolband
7. Sapam Bhagya, Superintendant, Archaeology Department, Tera
The personalities selected by the Thoupuloi Kanglup as Judges are by no means experts in matters of Kanglei Cultures, history, scripts etc. Ahanthem Nilamani is a highly professional legal expert and the last one, Sapam Bhagya is a top Government bureaucrat. Others are professional teachers etc.(During the 17 years period interval between 1992 and 2009, two of our colleagues, Dr. Langpoklakpam Bhagyachandra and Ayekpam Chandramani who sat with the writer as judges in 1992 when the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup started their investigations and discussions selecting Judges, only concluded in 2009 had gone to the heaven forever, the writer expresses extreme shock and prays to the Almighty Father to receive them lovingly).
The seven judges, after examinations of the written statements and Puyas submitted by the experts/Puyas custodians, submitted their written opinion in matters of the real name of this land now called Manipur, the real racial name of the indigenous peoples of this land, the indigenous alphabets (scripts) developed by the indigenous ancestors of the land in deep B.C. etc. to the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup . (The writer takes up only the indigenous scripts (alphabets) only in this article.)
The Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup , after examinations of the written opinions of the Seven Judges along with the written statements of the experts/Puyas custodians, after several sittings and discussion, gave the clear opinion that 18 alphabets (scripts) are the Alphabets (scripts) developed by the Ancient Kanglei Ancestors in deep B.C. All papers relating to the discussions and decisions including the opinions of the 7 Judges were released in the form of a book called Kangla Warep only on 31-12-2009.
In a meeting of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup on 20-12-2992 at Sanamahi Lainingthou Sanglel, Manipur Rifles Compound decided that 18 Alphabets (scripts) are the correct Alphabets (scripts) of the Ancient Kanglei Ancestors, to use their own words in the decision 
:
:Page 206 of Kangla Warep
The decision of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup, a two tier decision, examinations and decisions, opinions of the 7 Judges over the written statements of the experts/Puya custodians, and further examinations and decision of the Areppa Thiba Thoupuloi Kanglup over the written statements of the experts/Puya custodians and the written opinions of the Seven Judges, selecting 18 Alphabets (scripts) of the Ancient Kanglei Ancestors, along with their correlated numerical signs etc. is so clear as a decision given by the highly intellectual and common sense peoples of the land in matters of the subject assigned to them without any bias and prejudice. Really plausible and commendable decision.
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