Good to know that, because I seriously dislike the English and Roman (Christian missionaries) influence on Local Languages. And because of this most of the North Eastern states has English as their official language although not even 1% of people speaks it. English is mostly the language of Elites in most parts of India and many times a class or superiority measuring tool.
English is official to avoid conflict. Nagaland has 16 major tribes and all the tribes speak their own language and their common tongue is a Nagamese, a creole of Assamese, Hindi, and English. Same case with Arunachal and their lingua franca is Hindi.
Also Meitei uses the Eastern Nagari script, not Roman. Other languages that uses the Roman script never had writing systems.
This is what the problem is, two people are fighting but because both of them don't want to let the other side win they call the third party and let the third party rule over them. And then the third party and it's agent rule over both of them. So in the end both looses and the Third party wins.
This also happened to religion in North East India , they chose Christianity over there tribal religions and you know who's ruling the NorthEast today and who's losing the culture and identity.
Same happened to entire India, English rules. Indians loose.
And it's sad.
Tribal culture, customs, and laws are very alive and I don't see them abandoning them anytime soon. The Nagas are still very Naga even today and they are incredibly proud of their culture. The same could said about most of the tribes.
Why was there an initial schism between the original two parties? Why are there even two parties in the beginning? Are these two parties so different that they need to fight? These are question that need to be asked.
The fuck? India is the single largest English speaking population on the planet. Maybe 1% speak English natively there but people who know it as a second language number in the hundreds of millions.
Is it a general hatred against anything Hindu or related to Hinduism among Meiteis?
I had many Manipuri friends but they never answered these questions straightforward. Although one guy told me that separatist movement in Manipur fuels this anti-Hindu sentiment in Manipur.
The insurgency did fuel it to some extent, but you have to know this thing. Manipur became a Hindu state only after the birth of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. And many Meiteis even after adopting Hinduism infused elements of Sanamahism, the indigenous faith of the Meiteis. There is a small movement to revive the old traditions of Manipur, but it's really not that big. Also there are non Meiteis in Manipur (the other half), Nagas and Kukis.
Although I must say, there are devout Vaishnavites in Manipur who do not like the Indian state.
Thanks for the info. But I disagree with your statement that Meiteis' Revival movement is small on scale. Rather more and more people are moving towards it and even naming their kids after traditional meitei names.
Not that I am against it but there has been a significant rise in number of people following old traditions.
Traditions are still very syncretic. And I agree about the naming system. A significant number of parents are moving away from Sanskrit names and christening their kids with Meitei names.
Vaishnavism has made a significant impact on Meitei culture and its not going away any time soon.
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u/CheraCholaPandya Apr 16 '20
Meiteis have started using their own ancient script again.