55-528: Sanamahism ( Manipuri : ꯁꯅꯥꯃꯍꯤ ꯂꯥꯏꯅꯤꯡ , romanized: Sanamahi laining , transl: Sanamahi religion, lit. ' liquid gold religion ' ), also known as Meiteism ( Manipuri : ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯂꯥꯢꯅꯤꯡ , romanized: Meitei laining ), or Lainingthouism ( Manipuri : ꯂꯥꯢꯅꯤꯡꯊꯧ ꯂꯥꯢꯅꯤꯡ ) is an ethnic religion of the Meitei people of Manipur , in Northeast India . It
110-760: A "first language" subject at primary level in 24 schools throughout the state. In December 2021, Tripura University proposed to the Indian Ministry of Education and the University Grants Council (UGC) , regarding the introduction of diploma courses in Meitei, along with international languages like Japanese, Korean and Nepali. The exact classification of the Meitei language within Sino-Tibetan remains unclear. It has lexical resemblances to Kuki and Tangkhul . The Meitei language
165-462: A compound from mí 'man' + they 'separate'. This term is used by most Western linguistic scholarship. Meitei scholars use the term Meit(h)ei when writing in English and the term Meitheirón when writing in Meitei. Chelliah (2015: 89) notes that the Meitei spelling has replaced the earlier Meithei spelling. The language (and people) is also referred to by the loconym Manipuri. The term
220-573: A final consonant ( /ŋ/ ) diacritic. The names of the twenty-seven letters are based on parts of the human body. Regarding epigraphic records, Meitei script appears in the Yumbanlol (Yumpanlol), composed in the 6th century C.E. It was a group of copper plate inscriptions about an ancient Meitei language literary work. The Old Manipuri script also appears on coins issued during the reigns of Meitei Kings, Ura Konthouba (c. 568-653 CE) and Ayangba (c. 821-910 CE). These coins are presently preserved in
275-514: A household. The Khencho ( ꯈꯦꯟꯆꯣ ), an early Meitei work of poetry was composed by the beginning of the 7th century CE. Although it is obscure and unintelligible to present-day Meiteis, it is still recited as part of the Lai Haraoba festival. One of the best-preserved early Meitei language epigraphic records is a copper plate inscription dating to the reign of King Khongtekcha ( r. c. 763 – 773 CE ). During
330-669: A male deity, the terms Lainingthou, Ebhudhou or Epa are used while the terms, Lairembi, Ebhendhou or Ema are used to refer to a female deity. Lairembi is mostly used for the Umang Lais. The first mentions are found in the Cheitharol Kumbaba , the Court Chronicles of the kings of Manipur , starting from the king Nongda Lairen Pakhangba , who traditionally ruled for more than a century, from 33 to 154 CE, though modern scholarship, including Sujit Mukherjee , give
385-658: A range of 21 years, from 33 to 54 CE. The collective effort of the revival of Sanamahism is often referred to as the Sanamahi movement. The earliest accounts can be traced back to the formation of the Apokpa Marup by Laininghal Naoriya Phulo in 1930 at Cachar (present day Assam, India). The movement spread to the Manipur Valley by 1934. Although the movement did not gain momentum due to the Japanese invasion in
440-699: A resolution to record the Sanamahi religion in the census data with a separate unique code as an officially recognised minority religion of India. In the past, on 31 July 2002 and on 1 August 2003, the Manipur State Legislative Assembly had adopted similar resolutions to allot a unique code for the religion but did not get approved by the Central Government of India . In the previous decades, many social, religious and political activists, associations and organisations struggled through violent agitations and protests to include
495-624: Is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India . It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam . It is one of the constitutionally scheduled official languages of the Indian Republic . Meitei is the most widely-spoken Tibeto-Burman language of India and the third most widely spoken language of northeast India after Assamese and Bengali . There are 1.76 million Meitei native speakers in India according to
550-412: Is a tonal language . There is a controversy over whether there are two or three tones. Meitei distinguishes the following phonemes : Consonants Vowels Note: the central vowel /ɐ/ is transcribed as <ə> in recent linguistic work on Meitei. However, phonetically it is never [ə], but more usually [ɐ]. It is assimilated to a following approximant: /ɐw/ = [ow], /ɐj/ = [ej]. A velar deletion
605-514: Is a 3rd-century narrative work describing the establishment of a colony in Kangleipak by a group of immigrants led by Poireiton , the younger brother of the god of the underworld. The Yumbanlol , a copper plate manuscript was composed in the 6th century or 7th century CE for the royal family of Kangleipak. It is a rare work of dharmashastra , covering sexuality, the relationships between husbands and wives, and instructions on how to run
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#1732772707294660-488: Is a polytheistic religion and is named after Lainingthou Sanamahi , one of the most important deities of the Meitei faith. Sanamahi is the eldest son of the supreme god Sidaba Mapu and the supreme goddess Leimarel Sidabi . Traditionally every Meitei household, irrespective of the religion, worships Sanamahi and Leimarel Sidabi. Sanamahism does not have a religious head but has a body, the Maru Loishang, that oversees
715-696: Is also believed to date to time of Ura Konthouba. This inscription is presently kept in the Manipur State Museum , Imphal. Another early copper plate Meitei inscription dates to the 8th century CE, inscribed during the reign of King Khongtekcha ( c. 721 AD ). It was discovered by scholar Yumjao from Phayeng in 1935. It is one of the earliest known examples of Meitei literature . A stone inscription found at Khoibu in Tengnoupal district , of current Manipur state, contains royal edicts of king Senbi Kiyamba (d. 1508), representing
770-555: Is derived from the name of the state of Manipur . Manipuri is the official name of the language for the Indian government and is used by government institutions and non-Meitei authors. The term Manipuri is also used to refer to the different languages of Manipur and to the people. Additionally, Manipuri, being a loconym, can refer to anything pertaining to the Manipur state. Speakers of Meitei language are known as "Kathe" by
825-594: Is first known from engravings on 6th century CE coins and copper plate inscriptions . as verified by the various publications of the National Sahitya Akademi . It was used until the 18th century, when it was replaced by the Bengali alphabet . A few manuscripts survive. In the 20th century, the script was revived and is again being used. Beginning in 2021, the Government of Manipur began to use
880-648: Is noted to occur on the suffix -lək when following a syllable ending with a /k/ phoneme. Meitei has a dissimilatory process similar to Grassmann's law found in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit , though occurring on the second aspirate. Here, an aspirated consonant is deaspirated if preceded by an aspirated consonant (including /h/, /s/ ) in the previous syllable. The deaspirated consonants are then voiced between sonorants. /tʰin-/ pierce + Meitei script The Meitei script ( Meitei : ꯃꯩꯇꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ , romanized: Meitei mayek ), also known as
935-812: Is the eldest son of the supreme god Sidaba Mapu and the supreme goddess Leimarel Sidabi . The deities in Sanamhism can be classified as principal deities, ancestral deities, or apokpa , regional deities called Lam Lai or Umang Lai, and the ancestral deities worshipped by particular Meitei clans (Yek Lai) and families (Saghei Lai). There are five main deities in Sanamahism: Other important gods and goddesses include Panthoibi , Lainingthou Nongpok Ningthou , Lainingthou Koubru , Ibudhou Marjing , Thongalel , Wangbren , Eputhou Thangjing , Kounu , Nongshaba , Nongthang Leima , and Irai Leima . The Umang Lais are often regarded as aspects or incarnations of
990-753: Is the official language of the Government of Manipur as well as its lingua franca . There are nearly 170,000 Meitei-speakers in Assam, mainly in the Barak Valley , where it is the third most commonly-used language after Bengali and Hindi. Manipuri is also spoken by about 9500 people in Nagaland, in communities such as Dimapur , Kohima , Peren and Phek . Meitei is a second language for various Naga and Kuki-Chin ethnic groups. There are around 15,000 Meitei speakers in Bangladesh mainly are in
1045-484: The Bengali script . By contrast, Tomba (1993) claims that the script is a development of c. 1930 , with all supposedly older documents being deliberate forgeries. According to K.S. Singh and Mahoharan (1993), as per the modifications of the phonemic distributions of Meitei language , the script belongs to the Tibetan group of scripts. The earliest stone inscription, found in the village of Khoibu, Manipur,
1100-679: The Burmese people , "Moglie" or "Mekhlee" by the people of Cachar , Assam ( Dimasas and Assamese ) and "Cassay" by the Shan people and the other peoples living in the east of the Ningthee River (or Khyendwen River). "Ponna" is the Burmese term used to refer to the Meiteis living inside Burma . The Meitei language exhibits a degree of regional variation; however, in recent years
1155-509: The Ethnologue , the alternative names of Meitei language are Kathe, Kathi, Manipuri, Meetei, Meeteilon, Meiteilon, Meiteiron, Meithe, Meithei, Menipuri, Mitei, Mithe, Ponna . The name Meitei or its alternate spelling Meithei is preferred by many native speakers of Meitei over Manipuri. The term is derived from the Meitei word for the language Meitheirón ( Meithei + -lon 'language', pronounced /mə́i.təi.lón/ ). Meithei may be
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#17327727072941210-540: The Manipuri Sahitya Parishad (Manipuri Language Council). It also invested ₹ 6 crore (equivalent to ₹ 7.1 crore or US$ 850,000 in 2023) in the creation of a corpus for the development of the Meitei language. The Department of Manipuri of Assam University offers education up to the Ph.D. level in Meitei language. Since 1998, the Government of Tripura has offered Meitei language as
1265-600: The Manipuri Sahitya Parishad and the All Manipur Students' Union demanded that Meitei be made an official language for more than 40 years, until Meitei was finally added to the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India in 1992. Meitei became an associate official language of Assam in 2024, following several years of effort by the Meitei associate official language movement to protect
1320-755: The Moirangs , the Angoms , the Luwangs , the Chengleis ( Sarang-Leishangthems ), and the Khaba-Nganbas . Each had their respective distinct dialects and were politically independent from one another. Later, all of them fell under the dominion of the Ningthouja dynasty , changing their status of being independent "ethnicities" into those of "clans" of the collective Meitei community . The Ningthouja dialect
1375-429: The 2011 census , 1.52 million of whom are found in the state of Manipur , where they represent the majority of its population. There are smaller communities in neighbouring Indian states, such as Assam (168,000), Tripura (24,000), Nagaland (9,500), and elsewhere in the country (37,500). The language is also spoken by smaller groups in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh . Meitei and Gujarati jointly hold
1430-563: The All Manipur Working Journalists' Union and the Editors' Guild, Manipur agreed that Meitei language newspapers would switch from the Bengali script to the Meitei script from 15 January 2023. One of the unique features of this script is the use of body parts in naming the letters. Every letter is named after a human body part in the Meitei language . For example, the first letter " kok " means "head";
1485-561: The Kamarupan group—a geographic rather than a genetic grouping. However, some still consider Meitei to be a member of the Kuki-Chin-Naga branch . The Meitei language has existed for at least 2000 years. According to linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterjee , the ancient Meitei literature dates back to 1500 to 2000 years before present . The earliest known Meitei language compositions is the ritual song Ougri ( ꯑꯧꯒ꯭ꯔꯤ ), which
1540-572: The Kanglei script ( Meitei : ꯀꯪꯂꯩ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ , romanized: Kanglei mayek ) or the Kok Sam Lai script ( Meitei : ꯀꯣꯛ ꯁꯝ ꯂꯥꯏ ꯃꯌꯦꯛ , romanized: Kok Sam Lai mayek ), after its first three letters is an abugida in the Brahmic scripts family used to write the Meitei language , the official language of Manipur , Assam and one of the 22 official languages of India . It
1595-789: The Lubak Tabu and abandon Hinduism as state religion and recognition is hereby withdrawn by the Royal Customary Law of the Country, instead the Royal Customary Law revives the Lainingthouism as the state religion and do herby give recognition as state religion." The 2011 census of India places the Sanamahi followers to be 8.19% of the total population of Manipur, India. On 5 August 2022, the Manipur State Legislative Assembly re-affirmed
1650-546: The Meitei alongside the Bengali-Assamese script, per the Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021 . Since Meitei does not have voiced consonants , there are only fifteen consonant letters used for native words, plus three letters for pure vowels. Nine additional consonants letters inherited from Indic languages are available for writing loan words. There are seven vowel diacritics and
1705-526: The Mutua Museum in Imphal . The origin of the official script of Manipur is derived from religious book Wakoklon Puya . But, there has been some controversy regarding the origin of the Meitei script. The Meitei script is a Brahmic abugida. According to Singh (1962), an archaic form of the script had developed by the 11th century, and it was in use until the early 18th century, when it was replaced by
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1760-474: The Sanamahi religion as an officially recognised minority religion of India. Many Sanamahi practices are focused on food offerings to deities, combined with hymns, as well as oracular ritual in which priestesses become possessed by a god or goddess. An offering formula to call up the gods, uttered by a priestess over a body of water during the Lai Haraoba festival, goes: Incarnate Lord, Lairen (Lai- God, Len- Supreme) Deity Pakhangba, O golden one, Goddess of
1815-497: The Second world war, plans were initially made to intensify the movement under the leadership of Takhellambam Bokul (Sanamahi Bokul). Phullo died in 1941. Three years after the death of Phullo in 1944, the movement finally started gaining momentum in Manipur. Resolutions were made to denounce Hinduism and to revive Sanamahism in Manipur. Mass campaign were held to popularize Sanamahi religion at various places in Manipur. On 14 May 1945,
1870-503: The broadening of communication, as well as intermarriage, has caused the dialectal differences to become relatively insignificant. The only exceptions to this occurrence are the speech differences of the dialects found in Tripura, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The exact number of dialects of Meitei is unknown. The three main dialects of Meitei are: Meitei proper, Loi and Pangal. Differences between these dialects are primarily characterised by
1925-649: The districts of Sylhet , Moulvibazar , Sunamganj and Habiganj in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. In the past, there was a Meitei speaking population in Dhaka , Mymensingh and Comilla also. Manipuri is used as a second language by the Bishnupriya Manipuri people . Myanmar has a significant Meitei speaking population in the states of Kachin and Shan and the regions of Yangon , Sagaing , and Ayeyarwady , among others. According to
1980-639: The earliest portion of the Chietharol Kumbaba or Royal Chronicle of Manipur. It is one of the primary texts in the Meitei script. In 1980, a modernized version of the writing system was approved by Manipuri law for use in educational institutions. The modernised version of the Meitei script was encoded in Unicode in 2009. in 2022, a joint meeting consensus of the Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillol Apunba Lup ,
2035-763: The educational institutions in Manipur. It is one of the 40 instructional languages offered by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), controlled and managed by the Ministry of Education . Meitei is taught as a subject up to the post-graduate level in Indian universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University , Delhi University , Gauhati University , and the University of North Bengal . Indira Gandhi National Open University teaches Meitei to undergraduates. Meitei language instruction has been offered in
2090-470: The extensions of new sounds and tonal shifts. Meitei proper is considered to be the standard variety —and is viewed as more dynamic than the other two dialects. The brief table below compares some words in these three dialects: Devi (2002) compares the Imphal , Andro , Koutruk, and Kakching dialects of Meitei. Meitei is the sole official language of the Government of Manipur , and has been an official language of India since 1992. Meitei language
2145-407: The identity, history, culture and tradition of Manipuris in Assam. The Meitei language is one of the 13 official languages of the India used to administer police, armed services, and civil service recruitment exams. The Press Information Bureau of the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting publishes in 14 languages, including Meitei. Meitei is a language of instruction in all in
2200-530: The lower primary schools of Assam since 1956. The Board of Secondary Education, Assam offers secondary education in Manipuri. The Assam Higher Secondary Education Council of Assam offers both Meitei-language schooling and instruction in Meitei as a second language. Since 2020, the Assam Government has made an annual grant of ₹ 5 lakh (equivalent to ₹ 5.9 lakh or US$ 7,100 in 2023) to
2255-660: The main deities. The worship of Umang Lais and the ritual that this entails, referred to as the Umang Lai Haraoba, is one of the main religious festivals in Sanamahism. The Umang Lais are associated with sacred groves , also called Umang Lai . There are similarities between the Umang Lais and the Nat deities of Myanmar. All the deities are denoted by the universal term Lai which means "god" in Meithei. When referring to
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2310-715: The main religious activities and governs all affairs of the religion, including the conduct of priest and priestess. The Maru Loishang also acts a court for religious disputes. There are three main departments under the Manu Loishang, namely, the Amaiba Loishang, the Pena Asheiba Loishang, and the Amaibi Loishang. These departments have existed since the reign of King Meidingu Hongnemyoi Khunjao Naothingkhong of Manipur in 662 CE. Sanamahi
2365-830: The popular Meitei Marup was formed. This marked the beginning of the revival of Sanamahism and the Meitei Mayek , original script of the Manipuri Language among other things. The term Sanamahism and Meitei Marup are often used interchangeably. The Brahma Sabha strongly opposed the movement and formally outcast 38 members of the Meitei Marup. By the 1970s and 1980s, the Sanamahi Movement attracted more activists. Massive drives were held reclaiming shrines of deiteis and adverting Hindu practices or worship to ancient old traditions of Sanamahism. Notable movement
2420-466: The same time period, Akoijam Tombi composed the Panthoibi Khonggul ( ꯄꯥꯟꯊꯣꯏꯄꯤ ꯈꯣꯡꯀꯨꯜ ), an account of the romantic adventures of the deified Meitei princess Panthoibi . In 1100 CE, a written constitution, ( Meitei : ꯂꯣꯏꯌꯨꯝꯄ ꯁꯤꯜꯌꯦꯜ , romanized: Loyumba Shinyen ), was finalised by King Loiyumba ( r. c. 1074 – 1112 CE ) of Kangleipak . It
2475-611: The same time, the Hinduised King Pamheiba ordered that the Meitei script be replaced by the Bengali-Assamese script . In 1725 CE, Pamheiba wrote Parikshit , possibly the first piece of Meitei-language Hindu literature , based on the story of the eponymous king Parikshit of the Mahabharata . The majority of Meitei speakers, about 1.5 million live in the Indian state of Manupur. Meitei
2530-444: The second letter " sam " means "hair"; the third letter " lai " means "forehead", and so on. This association appears in the book Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Amailon Pukok Puya , which details how each script originated received its nomenclature and which is widely considered to be the source of the Meitei script. Some letters have a second form (lonsom) that is used at the end of a word and are used to indicate stop consonants. In
2585-685: The seven days of the week. We offer you the khayoms as they are tied thus. Lord and Lady, we beseech you, Ascend from within the khayoms, riding along the hiris. Some esoteric practices are also a part of Sanamahism, such as the use of mantras for various purposes. The mystical text Sanamahi Naiyom provides several formulas, such as a mantra that is believed to stop rain. Manipuri language Meitei ( / ˈ m eɪ t eɪ / ; ꯃꯩꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ , Eastern Nagari script : মৈতৈলোন্ , [mejtejlon] ( IPA ) , romanized: meiteilon ) also known as Manipuri ( ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔꯤ , Eastern Nagari script : মণিপুরী , [mɐnipuɾi] ( IPA ) ),
2640-404: The third place among the fastest growing languages of India , following Hindi and Kashmiri . Meitei is not endangered : its status has been assessed as safe by Ethnologue (where it is assigned to EGIDS level 2 "provincial language"). However, it is considered vulnerable by UNESCO. The Manipuri language is associated with the Ningthouja dynasty ( Mangangs ), the Khuman dynasty ,
2695-398: The traditional Meitei religion of Sanamahism Meitei letters and numerals are believed to be the creations of the supreme God. ꯑꯇꯤꯌꯥ , atiya Syllables are written by adding vowel diacritics (cheitap eeyek) to consonants. Meetei Mayek (Meitei script) was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2. The Unicode block for the Meitei script
2750-429: The waters, Ruler of the rivers: Golden Goddess (Laisana) fair and beautiful one: For you, Lord and Lady, in order to call up your souls, We have poured the rice on the finest of banana leaves, And on it have placed the fertile egg and the langthrei buds. We do not offer you the ordinary khayom (offering packet), we offer you your own khayoms, And we have tied them with the seven bamboo strips. Which (represent)
2805-420: Was a codification of the proto-constitution drafted by King Naophangba in 429 CE. Before 1675 CE, the Meitei language experienced no significant influence from any other languages. Beginning in the late 17th century, Hindu influence on Meitei culture increased, and the Meitei language experienced some influences from other languages, on its phonology , morphology (linguistics) , syntax and semantics . At
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#17327727072942860-738: Was predominant, and received heavy influences from the speech forms of the other groups. Meitei is one of the advanced literary languages recognised by Sahitya Akademi , India's National Academy of Letters. Meitei belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages. During the 19th and 20th centuries, different linguists tried to assign Meitei to various sub-groups. Early classifier George Abraham Grierson (1903–1924) put it in Kuki-Chin , Vegelin and Voegelin (1965) in Kuki-Chin-Naga, and Benedict (1972) in Kuki-Naga. Robbins Burling has suggested that Meitei belongs to none those groups. Current academic consensus agrees with James Matisoff in placing Manipuri in its own subdivision of
2915-459: Was the court language of the historic Manipur Kingdom , and before it merged into the Indian Republic. The Sahitya Akademi , India's National Academy of Letters, recognised Meitei as one of the major advanced Indian literary languages in 1972, long before it became an official language in 1992. In 1950, the Government of India did not include Meitei in its list of 14 official languages. A language movement , spearheaded by organisations including
2970-464: Was the seize of the idols of Sanamahi and Leimarel Sidabi from Hindu Brahmins which are now presently installed in the temple at First Manipur Rifles Ground, Imphal. On 16 February 1974, mass convert to Sanamahism was held. The event is coined, Nongkhang Parei Hanba, symbolic to reversing the forced mass baptism into Hinduism in 1729, referred to as Nongkhang Iruppa . On 23 April 1992, the then Maharaja of Manipur, Okendrajit Sana declared that "I open
3025-425: Was used in religious and coronation ceremonies of Kangleipak . It may have existed before the Common Era . Numit Kappa ( Meitei : ꯅꯨꯃꯤꯠ ꯀꯥꯞꯄ , transl: The Shooting of the Sun), a religious epic that tells the tale of how the night was divided from the day, was also composed in the first century. Poireiton Khunthok ( Meitei : ꯄꯣꯢꯔꯩꯇꯣꯟ ꯈꯨꯟꯊꯣꯛ , transl: The Immigration of Poireiton)
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