Meitei people
The Meitei people, Meetei people, or Manipuri people is an ethnic group native to Manipur. They speak Meitei language as their native tongue and are best known for their Meitei civilization.
Quotes
[edit]- The Meitheis, who constitute the dominant race of Manipur, in Assam, are a Mongoloid people speaking a Tibeto-Burman tongue. Although by blood and language they are akin to the wild hill tribes which surround them, they have advanced to a higher degree of social culture, so as to form a singular oasis of comparative civilization and organized society in the midst of a wilderness of barbarism.
- Manipur is home to the Meitei people, who are concentrated in the fertile Imphal valley, through which flows the Manipur river. The Meiteis are culturally rich, and an ethnic group distinct from others in the region, such as the Naga and the Kukis.
- Of course, there were exceptions in this scheme of things. For instance, to the British colonial eyes, the Manipuris, particularly the Meiteis, stood as "a singular oasis of comparative civilization" amidst "a congeries of barbarous people", an exception that nonetheless validated the oriental view of the Asian people.
- Meiteis are fair-coloured and attractive people of medium height. The beauty of Meitei women is well-known. It is no surprise that they were favourite queens of the Ahom and Tripura kings. The men are equally handsome and sturdy.
- There are numerous references in the recorded history of Manipur of relations with the Naga tribes, of tributes being paid by Naga tribal chiefs. Nagas were regularly recruited in the army of the Manipuri kings. Many of the Naga tribes spoke Meitei, the language of the Meiteis. Many Naga villages had Manipuri names in addition to their own. Whenever a Manipuri visited a Naga village, he was treated as an honoured guest, at a time when a British subject could not venture into the interior without risk of being murdered. Many Naga villages paid annual tribute to the Manipuri kings.
- The Meiteis constituted majority of Manipuri people. They were comparatively prosperous, possessing as they did the fertile valley. Consequently, it was only natural for some of them to consider themselves superior and civilised compared to their hardy and indigent tribal neighbours of the surrounding hills. Due to a variety of reasons, mainly difficult terrain and consequent sequestered existence of the tribesmen of the hills, there were not too many social and cultural contacts between the two over the centuries. The Meiteis were exposed to outside world and its progressive ideas, hence they are better off compared to hill tribesmen.
- "Thirty-five-year-old 'Abeyma’ Laicharam Ichan Devi's wails envelop the cavernous open halls of the Khoyol Keithel relief camp in Moirang, where about 400 Meitei families from neighbouring border villages have taken shelter. She says that every time she tries to shut her eyes and sleep, she gets nightmare of fires—of the fire that consumed not only her house, but her entire village. She recalls how mobs descended upon Torbung, located on the border of Churachandpur and Bishnupur, and started looting and burning houses…."
"Her husband, along with other men from the camp, helps the local people to guard the village against further attacks at night. Such armed vigils by volunteers and civilians are, at the moment, common across the violence-stricken districts. Ichan Devi and others in the camp nevertheless live in constant fear of another raid. “I have not taken a bath in eight days; my children are surviving on biscuits. Soon, they won’t even have that,” she adds, pointing at her oldest son, who is six years old."
"None of these women have any homes left to go back to. “They burned them all and have declared our ancestral lands in Churachandpur as tribal land. It is rightfully our land, which belonged to the Meiteis. Churachandpur is my home,” she states."
- The initial clashes were triggered by the Meiteis' demand to be granted "scheduled tribe" status, which would give them landowning rights, as well as access to educational and employment opportunities — benefits that are already enjoyed by the Kuki community.
