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Inclusion of Manipuri Language in the 8TH SCHEDULE: the revival of her indigenous religion and script*y: Isaac +, Hmar ./he first duty of a 0ise advocate is to convince his opponents that he understands their arguments" and sympathi1es 0ith their 2ust feelings. - 3amuel /aylor oleridge, 4ut of the $lue there 0ere great clamors and deci$els of 2oys and dance5 it is out of ecstasy that roses $loomed in every heart of Imphalites and also every Manipuri living else0here, )s a matter of fact" Manipur has $een a land of interdict" stri6es" 6illing spots $ecause of its scores of unsolved crisis and its past colonial corollary, Ho0ever" )ugust %'" (&&% $ecame a red letter day in Manipur $ecause the 78th onstitutional )mendment *ill 8*ill 9o, (:%; enacted the inclusion of Manipuri in the 8th schedule of the onstitution along 0ith 9epali and <on6ani, )s the inclusion of Manipuri language in the eight schedules is the epitome of the state" the government announced a state holiday and a partial holiday 0as also o$served in other states li6e )ssam 0here a good num$er of Manipuris live, In (&&%" during the height of 8th 3chedule demands" I 0as a student of =ohn stone Higher 3econdary 3chool 0hich is situated in the heart of Imphal and had 0itnessed mayhems" riots" $urning of Hindi cassettes and $oo6s 0hich 0ere 0ritten in *engali script and even $anning of Hindi movies, It 0as the heydays of the Manipuri +anguage #emand o- oordinating ommittee 8M+# ; demand for immediate inclusion of Manipuri +anguage in the eight schedule" under the chairmanship of Prof, M,3, 9ingom$a from the department of +inguistic" Manipur >niversity, In course of time in )pril ?'" (&&%" the M+# changed its place of struggle to 9e0 #elhi 0ith a strong open letter to then prime minister of India 3hri P,@, 9arasimha Aao 0hich reads as follo0s: .I 0ould li6e to dra0 your 6ind personal attention and sympathetic consideration to0ards Manipuri language since you came in the helm of administration as prime minister of India, )s you are fully a0are of the urge of the people in respect to their demand for the inclusion of Manipuri in the Eight 3chedule of Indian constitution" I need not remind you the gravity of the situation at the moment, )s far as I can understand and the situation demands me" I have to resort to an indefinite hunger stri6e for the 2ust cause of Manipuri language,

I start fasting from today at B p,m, ) $ig cheers and long live to Prof, M,3, 9ingom$a for his selfless patronage to our motherland and hope heCll 6eep up the good fight for any other good cause in the near future too,,! Drom historical vie0-point" the Manipuri language 0as claimed to $e a medium of communication 0ith foreign po0ers li6es *urma and the East India ompany during the (8th and (&th century, It is also said that Manipuri is the most developed language of /i$eto-*urman speech family of India" and #r, 3uniti <umar hatter2ee also said .Manipur +iterature is the most emphatically and advance Modern Indian +iterature. 8<irata-=ana-<irti" (&7:" P, (BB;, In fact" every language acts as a vehicle of thought and culture for the language group of people and in a$sence of due protection of the language" the time honor cultural and social heritage of the Manipuri in )ssam 0hich $ears a close affinity 0ith )ssamese may $e eEtinct5 and in due course" they may $e a community 0ithout the gro0th of its culture" customs and tradition, 9o0 Manipuri is a schedule language 0ith effect from %'th )ugust" (&&%, /he use as 0ell as promotion of the Manipuri language in the states 0here the said language is spo6en is desira$le in the interest of safeguarding the right to use oneCs Cmother tongueC, +i6e the Manipuris in )ssam" the Hmars living in Mi1oram are facing similar pro$lem on their linguistic-ethnic distinctiveness, /here are t0o factions of Hmars: those 0ho are completely Mi1oised5 and those 0ho are only partially assimilated $y Mi1o culture, /he Hmars in the first group have no0 totally forgotten even the Hmar language as 0ell as their cultural ethos and values, 4n the other hand" the partially assimilated Hmars are 0ell a0are of their distinct identity" traditions" customs and language, Ma2ority of those Hmars live outside Mi1oram, Even at >niversity degree course level they can no0 offer Hmar as MI+, It is among this group of partially assimilated Hmars that the search for a separate identity has gro0n deeper, /he inclusion of Manipur to the *ritish India Empire after the )nglo-Manipur !ar" (8&( and the su$seFuent grant of native statehood to it $y Gueen @ictoria did not affect the state language status of Manipuri, Ho0ever" the immediate post-anneEation era had gradually 0itnessed the emergence of Meitei nationalism, /here 0as a young Meitei $y the name 9aoria Phullo from achar 0ho 0as $orn in (8?8 of peasant parents, He entered police service right after he passed matriculation eEamination, #uring his student days he 0as insulted $y his fello0 students that Manipur did not have any scripts $ut $orro0ed *engali scripts, )s such" Phullo $egan to thin6 a$out his self-identity" racial consciousness of the Meitei nation and eventually founded the )po6pa Marup in achar in (&?', /his movement 0as essentially anti-*rahman" anti-*engali and also anti-Hinduism, Ho0ever" Phullo after a decade of hearty religious and scholarly life died on ?' =une" (&:(, It appears that he had invented or revived a script" 0rote religious hymns and treatises to $e used $y his follo0ers,

In the mean time" the 3anamahi movement also gained momentum in Manipur 0hen the Meitei Phurup 0as esta$lished on (:, May" (&:H and the meeting passed %8 resolutions 0hich among other things resolved to revive the cultural heritage" literature including the Meitei scripts" 3anamahi cult and the indigenous religion of the Meitei, )lthough they 0ere persecuted $y the strong *rahma 3ama2" they had $een ma6ing attempts to desans6riti1e Manipur and opposed the concept of Manipur connected 0ith Maha$hratta or the )ryans, )nd their la$ors had tremendous effects as the myth of the )ryan origin of the Meitei has no0 $een discarded, 9oted historian" I,P 3ingh" in his article ./he identification of Manipur depicted in the Maha$harata and Purunas in Ieographical and Historical perspectives. argues that" ./he traditional genealogy of the early 6ings of Manipur sho0ing the ancestry and offspring of *a$hruvahana and tracing the descent of a$out thirteen 6ings 8<shatriya princes; do0n to socalled Javishtha or Pa6hang$a directly from him in the line of succession is not 0orthy of our acceptance from purely historical point of vie0, 3uniti <umar hatter2i has correctly descri$ed it as a part of .early Manipur myths and legendary history., /he royal genealogy recorded in the @i2ay Panchali 8a chronicle of Manipur 0ritten originally $y <ritichandra in *engal under the patronage of <ing Iari$ni0a2 )# (7'&(7:8 and compiled $y #vi2a 3ita Aan 3harna; does not $ear the stamp of history, /hus it can $e proved $eyond dou$t that the t0o different Manipur eEisted in t0o different parts of India in ancient times" one in 4rissa and the other in the 9ortheast, /he former 0as the capital city of a 6ingdom and the latter 0as itself a 6ingdom, *oth had their o0n geographical and political entity, /he vie0 held $y some local scholars that the name Manipur 8in the conteEt of the 9ortheast; came into use for the first time in the eighteen century is not 0orthy of acceptance, In a map $earing the title .India as revealed in the Maha$harata. contained in a very valua$le historical atlas" Manipur has $een placed $oth in 4rissa and in the 9orth-eastern part of India, /he latter placement is evidently a mista6en, /hus the people in the valley of Manipur $elonging to the /i$eto-*urman family of the Mongoloid race have $een progressively accepted and authenticated, )s results" the 3anamahi movement gives strong emphasis on the national identity of the Meitei and there has $een a strong support from the students yet their religious consciousness and affection is not ya0ning, /hus its movementCs popularity and esteem depends on the anti-*rahmin misinformation and racial self-consciousness of Meiteis, /he 3anamahi culture 8Meitei indigenous religion;" revival of her script 8Meitei Maye6;" her rich culture and settled civili1ation and her linguistic-ethnic distinctiveness had contri$uted to the reassertion of Meitei national identity, Ho0ever" the most unfortunate thing 0as that 0hen the Meiteis and their 6ings accepted Hinduism" they $urnt most of the said hronicles, )nd no0 a strong movement is at this time going-on for the revival of Meitei indigenous culture, )s a matter of fact" the Meitei original script 8Meitei Maye6; is no0 $eing introduced in the primary educational institutions,

4f course" the concept of Manipuri nationalism encompassing all the indigenous peoples of the state is yet to emerge, !hat are internationally 6no0n are her dances and polo 83agol 6ang2ei; and these are in fact ManipurKs gift to the 0orld, /he hill people too have contri$uted to the enrichment of Manipur culture-the <a$ui 9aga dance and the $am$oo-dance as 0idely practiced $y the <u6i-Hmar-Mi1o-Lomi may $e referred to in this conteEt, /hus" loo6ing at the present atmosphere and situation arising out here" it is the need of the hour to $uild social and emotional integration $et0een the valley and the hill people over the maye6 issue, It is a high time that our intellectuals" social 0or6ers" 9I4s" political and spiritual leaders to come together and put their heads together to sort out our differences to achieve the desired goal, )nything that is imposed tends to have $oth negative and positive impact, Ho0ever" 0e seem to $e still continuing to eEploit our small state 0ith different 6inds of movement and ethnic chauvinism, /he Phoenicians in eastern Mediterranean invented the first alpha$et a$out ?"H'' years ago, +ater the Iree6s and Aomans developed their o0n alpha$ets 0hich 0ere improvements of the Phoenician script, In fact the 0ord Calpha$etC is derived from t0o 0ords alpha and $eta 0hich 0ere the first t0o letters in the Iree6 alpha$et, 9o0 most of the languages in the civili1ed 0orld have their o0n alpha$ets $ut the num$er of letters in the alpha$ets and their pronunciation differ from language to language, 3urprisingly" the Meitei maye6 itself has t0o factions of different num$er of letters, /he *ishnupur declaring ?B letters script as the original one 0hile other $elieves the %7 letters script are more authenticated, /he controversy over the ?B-%7 letters is also still hanging in the $alance and the court ruling must clear the dou$t of confusion and resolve to adopt the correct script, 9o dou$t" there are three options over the issue of the maye65 (,Meitei maye6 8Meitei script;, %, Manipuri 8Aoman script;, ?, Manipuri *engali script, !ith due respect and apology to MEE+)+ and no offence is intended as I 0ish to eEpress my personal point of vie0 in favor of the Aoman scripts" as it is glo$ally more useful for the ne0 generations, )nyone 0ho goes outside Manipur state to study 0ill also find it easier to cope up 0ith the pro$lem of 0riting and reading Meiteilon in roman alpha$ets, )s 0e are no0 living in the age of computer-0orld" use of Aoman letters instead of maye6 0ill $e more advantageous for all practical purposes, 3o 0ith the help of electronic e-mail system $oth typed and hand0ritten matters can $e transmitted, Electronic mail is very fast and saves time and paper 0or6s, 3o" $y introducing Meiteilon in roman alpha$ets 0ill $ring more mutual understanding and respect to the eEtend of upholding Meiteilon at large in the midst of the different minority

factions, +astly" I strongly $elieve that this may $ecome surely the strong foundation for the Integration of Manipur, Jes" 0e are all responsi$le for our integration, Isaac +, Hmar" a research scholar at #ept, of History M,>" 0rites regularly to e-pao,net /he 0riter can $e reached at isaacMintoateNyahoo,com /his article 0as 0e$casted on May %Hth " %''H,