+Meitei

Elsewhere

  • Info on Meitei brAhmaNa-s is on a separate page.

Early hindu influence

  • Atombapu Sharma, 20th century sanskritist, argues that through the pu+++(=ancestor)+++ya+++(=agreement)+++-s tells us the religio-cultural rudiments of Hinduism in Manipur from the first century B.C. and more particularly during the reign of king Apanba. He notes that royal family was influenced by Vishnu swami sect of vaisnavism from an early date.
  • 6th century copper plate inscriptions are of a local Kamashastra in the Meitei language called the Yumbanlol.
  • By 8th century AD, archaeological evidences firmly support entry of Hinduism

Social structure

  • “According to the royal chronicle, Cheitharol Kumbaba, the Manipuri valley was ruled by 9 different clans or tribes, which later merged into seven. Between the 1st and 10th centuries, the tribes consolidated under a feudal system over time, owing to the military prowess of the Mangang or Ningthouja tribe. During this process, neighboring hill tribes were also absorbed into the seven clans through migration, a process that continued well into the 1800s.”
  • brAhmaNa-s immigrated in waves, starting with at least the time of king Kyamba (1467-1508). See brAhmaNa-glue page.

Aristocratic acceptance of Hindu religion

  • “King Kyamba, an adherent of the Vasudev cult of vaisnavism, constructed a brick temple at Bishnupur … and began worshiping of a little image of Vishnu riding on a Garuda which was presented to him by the Tai/ pong ruler, Choupha Khekhomba.”
  • “Because of his intense personal interest, king Khagemba( 1597 -1652) may be credited for extending the Brahma cult of vatsnavtsm that extolled the worshipping of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar at least to a miniscule aristocratic class.”
  • “Charairongha ( 1697 -1709) got baptized to the vaisnavite faith by a Brahman priest named Krishnacharya or Rai Vanamali from Sweth Ganga19, Puri, Orissa who arrived in Manipur in October 1703 and became the ancestor of the Brahman lineage, Guru Aribam. The king along with some of his nobles were initiated to the Nimbarka sect of Vaisnavism hat professed Radha-Krishna cult on the 6th (Thursday) of Sajibu (March-April), 1704. For this, the priest was rewarded Dakshina of a village, one hundred areas of paddy fields and a storied house. As a devotee to the new faith, Charairongha constructed a brick temple of Lord Krishna at Brahmapur, Imphal on the prototype of the Krishna temple at Vishnupur, Bengal. Still, the king continued to patronize the Meitei cult. He constructed the temple of Panthoibi (traditional Meitei goddess) and also made various idols of the traditional gods and goddesses.”

Coercive Hinduization of the masses

Soft propagation

  • “The glory of vaisnavisation reached its peak during the reign of Bhagyachandra or Jai Singh (1759-61; 1763-98). His reign was not only characterized by the flourishing of Gauiriya dharma of Radha-Krishna cult but he has also earned the fame of introducing Ras Leela, the highest spiritual expression of worshipping Krishna in dance form … and Rasheswari Pala (women group singing Sankritan).”
  • “The vaisnavite faith was subsequently solidified by Gambhir Singh (1825-1834), Nara Singh (1844-50), Chandrakirti ( 1850-86) and more unceasingly by Raja Churachand Singh ( 1891-1941 ).”

Traditional meitei resistence

  • “There. is a contemporary work entitled Ningthourol Shingkak and the readers will certainly find how this· anonymous author retaliated the anti-traditional attitude of the Maharaja Garibniwaj. The author has tried either to tarnish the image or lower the status of Garibniwaj by connecting him with Naga origin or at least brought up in a Naga village.”

brAhmaNa acceptance

  • “‘Rajputization’ as a Hindu ruling model at the top where the kings adopted the name and other paraphernalia of khatriya caste.” occured.
  • “The idealization of the Meitei kings as divine by the Brahman missionaries legitimized politically the hegemonic Meitei rule. … The theory that the Meitei royal clan have descended froin Babrubahan got rationalized with the _Meitei ruling superiority.”
  • “All the kings from Pakhangba to Charairongba were assigned-Hindu names. Pakhangba, the first historical ruler was given the Hindu name of Jabistha with a divine attribute projecting him as the son of the Sun God and hence the royal dynasty was being equated with the Suryavansa dynasty. … Garibnawaj was assigned a Hindu name as Gopal Singh while his queen was renamed-Gomati Devi. Charairongba was addressed as Pitambar.”
  • “The earlier title of the king Layingthou was replaced by maNipureshvara and Maharaja.”

vrAtya-saMskAra

  • “Conversion was carried out by adopting a ritual ceremony called Nongkrang Iruppa… The rite of ritual was administered by the Brahman priest wherein the performer underwent a dip into the sacred Nungjeng pond( river) holding a branch of the tree called nongkrang … followed by sacred thread investing ceremony with compulsory recital of gayatrimantra.”
  • “At the level of social transformations, the Meitei salais (clans) were assigned seven corresponding Hindu Gotras: Angom Kausika, Ningthouja Sandilya, Luwang Kasyapa, Khuman Maudgalya, Moirang Atreya, Sarang-Leishangthem Bhardhwaja, Khaba-N ganba Naimisya.”

varNa harmonization

  • “While the Brahmans formed a distinct caste of their own, Hindu Meiteis were assigned as kshetiya and those of the Lairikyengbam as Vaishya and the Loi as Sudras. Higher and lower castes were, hence, created.”
  • “The male Brahmans styled themselves as Sharmas while Singh was tagged to the male Kshetriya. Both Brahman and Meitei women were suffixed Devi.”
  • “Strict dietary rules of vegetarianism as pure were enforced against the traditional non-vegetarianism and consumption of liquor. Cigarette smoking was decried. The Manipuri vaisnavism abhorred eating of meat but allowed fish (dried or fresh).”
  • “Another aspect of cultural contact with the Hindu world of India was inculcation of ideal of Sati. Before, there was no practice of sati in Manipur. The State Royal · Chronicle contains instances of sati.”

brahma-sabhA and mangbla-sengba

  • “The Brahma Sabha, besides being a reactionary upholder of the Hindu codes, beliefs and practices, was also interpreter of Hindu Smiriti and final decider of religious fate of the Hindu Manipuris. No ceremony could be performed without the guidance of Brahma Sabha. No important religious matters could be settled without reference to the Brahma Sabha. No funeral ceremony was allowed without paying the funeral fees to the Brahma Sabha.”
  • Reaction: " One of the most significant factors, which led to the public fury and the central ideology of the reform movement, was the rampant misuse of religious authority by the Brahma Sabha on the complicated religious issue of Mangba-Sengba (profane and sacred). Any kind of defiance either in words or action caused a person or family or clan or whole village concerned as Mangba (ostracised). Any death in the outcasted family could not be cremated in the vaisnavite way. The practice of Mangba-Sengba created a popular fear psychosis. Any person or family contacted with a mangba person or family was bound to be mangba. The Brahma Sabha declared any religious ritual and ceremony as Mangba where a Mangba person participated. "
  • “The Brahma Sabha followed a rigorous conversion drive of the masses into the vaisnavite faith and after being baptized they were made mandatory to mark tilak on forehead to show as believers in the vaisnavite faith for which a religious tax called Chandan-Senkhai was levied by the Ratans (members of the Brahma Sabha) at five annas per house and refusal to pay led declaration of the family as mangba.”
  • “people who had been excommunicated were given chances to purify themselves though purification ceremony after the payment of purification fees. "

Nikhil Hindu mahAsabha

  • The brahma-sabhA excesses were opposed by contemporary reformers during the time of Maharaja Churachand Singh.
  • “One such social reformer was Hijam Irabot Singh revered still today as Jananeta. … The articulation of his ideas on social and political issues is expressed in his poems, songs and speeches delivered in the annual sessions of the Nikhi Hindu Manipuri Mahasabha.”
  • “The interplay of the king’s anti-reform stand and the reformist thought of some leading members of the Mahasabha brought a visible conflict situation on the eve of the third session of the Mahasabha at Mandalay (Burma or present Myanmar) in 1937. A final break took place in its fourth session at Chinga, Imphal in 1938 when the Maharaja not only jumped out of the Mahasabha but also warned the state employees and pensioners from taking membership of the organization. All the state employees and pensioners resigned from memberships excepting Irabot Singh and Tompok Singh who sacrificed their state jobs for reform activities in the state.”
  • “A significant aspect of the organized religious reform activity was the initiation of Sheedhi movement vis-a-vis the religious hegemony of the Brahma Sabha. Under the -programmes were brought persons, families and villages ostracized as impure by the Brahma Sabha as Sheedhi (pure) and they actively participated or rendered sympathy and support to the movement in large chunk. People went to the extent of voluntarily declaring themselves as Mangba (Impure).”
  • “The Mahasabha carried out the rites of funeral ceremony of the persons declared untouchables by the Brahma Sabha. The Mahasabha had gone even to the extent of recovering the dead bodies of the ostracized persons from the burial sites and performed the funeral ceremony accordingly. The Mahasabaha performed the funeral ceremony by ritual singing. The Manohar Sai group of the Mahasabaha solemnised the shradha ceremony by singing Kirtan.”
  • “The Mahasabha performed the marriage rituals of th~ members of the families ostracized by the Brahma Sabha.”
  • “Another effective mobilization medium was through staging of drama and sumang-leela (court yard play).75 Print media too mobilized the people on mangba-sengba issue. Dr. Leiren’s monthly newspaper Yakairol is one such example.”
  • “A social divide emerged between a microscopic minority of royal and elite members and the majority group ostracized by the Brahma Sabha. … "

Later resistence to christianity

  • Relatively more successful resistance to Christianity in Manipur (which is 46% Hindu, compared with a small minority in Nagaland is seen.
  • “American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS) was invited from Burma. They set up their office in Manipur in 1894, after an initial attempt in 1836 failed due to opposition from the local government, who had made Vaishnavite Hinduism the main religion by a royal edict in 1705 (Dena 1988: 31). This was followed by an autonomous mission society called Arthington Aboriginese Mission Society (AAMS) funded by a wealthy millionaire, Robert Arthington from Leeds, United Kingdom. Its minister, Rev. Pettigrew, was the first official missionary to receive full patronage from a British official (Mr. A. Porteous, the Political Agent of Manipur) in the region. Arthington’s concept was based on the idea that ‘every tribe in every land shall have the Gospel’ (Dena 1988: 32). Pettigrew’s intention was to penetrate the largely Vaishnavite Manipuri population. But the Manipuri people saw his intentions as imperialistic and connected with the British government policy. Due to this setback, he shifted his focus to the hill inhabitants, primarily the Nagas and Kukis.”

Meitei revivalism/ lemurism

  • See separate page on the hindutva site.