Puya (Meitei Texts)
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Puya (Meitei Texts)
The Puyas are archaic Manipuri manuscripts. They encompass a wide spectrum of themes including genealogy, literature, history, royalties, administration, creation and cosmology, philosophy, poetry, religious beliefs, etc. Saroj Parratt noted in 2005 that none of these Puyas were yet to be dated by professional historians or subject to serious textual-critical scrutiny. Consequently, she criticized the tendency of local authors to treat puyas as reliable sources in their reconstruction of Manipuri history. Scholars have noted that puyas had been forged by Meitei nationalists to support their reinvention of history and tradition. See also * Meitei literature * Sanamahism Sanamahism , also known as Meiteism , or Lainingthouism is an ethnic religion of the Meitei people of Manipur, in Northeast India. It is a polytheistic religion and is named after Lainingthou Sanamahi, one of the most important deities of ... * Puya Meithaba References Bibliography * * * * ...
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Meitei Language
Meitei (; ) also known as Manipuri ), 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 scheduled languages of India, constitutionally scheduled official languages of the Indian Republic. Meitei is the most widely-spoken Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language of India and the third most widely spoken language of northeast India after Assamese language, Assamese and Bengali language, Bengali. There are  million States of India by Meitei speakers, Meitei native speakers in India according to the 2011 census,  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, Assam (), #Tripura, Tripura (), #Nagaland, Nagaland (), and elsewhere in the country (). The language is also spoken by smaller groups ...
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Religious Belief
A belief is a subjective attitude that something is true or a state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some stance, take, or opinion about something. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take it to be true; for instance, to believe that snow is white is comparable to accepting the truth of the proposition "snow is white". However, holding a belief does not require active introspection. For example, few individuals carefully consider whether or not the sun will rise tomorrow, simply assuming that it will. Moreover, beliefs need not be ''occurrent'' (e.g., a person actively thinking "snow is white"), but can instead be ''dispositional'' (e.g., a person who if asked about the color of snow would assert "snow is white"). There are various ways that contemporary philosophers have tried to describe beliefs, including as repres ...
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Meitei Culture
The culture of Meitei civilization evolved over thousands of years in what is now northeastern India and surrounding regions, beginning in Ancient Kangleipak, continuing most notably into Medieval Kangleipak, while influencing the neighboring states and kingdoms, till present times. Animals and birds Dogs are mentioned as friends or companions of human beings, in many ancient Meitei tales and texts. In many cases, when dogs died, they were given respect by performing elaborate death ceremonies, equal to that of human beings. Being wise is appreciated in Meitei society, but cunning is treated with suspicion. If a person is very cunning, they may be pejoratively be called foxy. Foxes appear in a number of Meitei folktales, including ''The Clever Fox'' (), ''The Fox and the Jackal'' (), and ''The Fox's Trick'' (). Crows Goddess of doves and pigeons In Meitei mythology and Sanamahism, religion, Khunu Leima (), also known as Khunureima (), is a goddess associated wit ...
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Puya Meithaba
Puya Meithaba (''Burning of the puya''), or Lairik Meithaba, refers to the annual commemoration of a legendary 18th-century scripture burning in post-colonial Manipur by a neo-convert Vaishnavite King, or to the original libricide of Puyas itself. The commemoration, organised by the Meitei National Front and others since 1979, has been a critical tool in the spread of Meitei nationalism and has mainstreamed a particular reconstruction of premodern Manipur, which has come to be uncritically reproduced even in academic publications. Historical Background The Meiteis — including the royal house — traditionally followed an indigenous faith of worship that revered nature, ancestors, and fertility gods and goddesses, called ''lais''. Situated far outside Aryavarta, the region was immune from Vedic and Hindu influences; until at least the sixteenth century, the royal culture did not bear any signs of Hindu influence. In 1704, Charairongba, the incumbent King became the first ro ...
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Sanamahism
Sanamahism , also known as Meiteism , or Lainingthouism is an ethnic religion of the Meitei people of Manipur, in Northeast India. It 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 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 ...
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Meitei Literature
Meitei literature, also known as Manipuri literature, is literature written in the Meitei language of Manipur. An ancient institution of learning, the ''Luwang Nonghumsang'', later known as the ''Pandit Loishang'', collected sources of indigenous Meitei knowledge and philosophy until the 18th century. Writing by Meiteis is assumed to go back to the Kingdom of Kangleipak in the early 12th century. The Meitei script is a Brahmic abugida. It is known only from the ''Puya'' manuscripts discovered in the first half of the 20th century. Manuscripts of the 18th and 19th centuries were written using the Bengali alphabet. The existence of the Meitei script in the 15th-century hinges on the authenticity of an inscription dated to the reign of Senbi Kiyamba. The first printed Manipuri book, ''Manipurer Itihas,'' appeared in 1890 from the Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta. Though the kings of Manipur had established contact with the British from the middle of the eighteenth century onward ...
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Invented Tradition
Invented traditions are cultural practices that are presented or perceived as traditional, arising from people starting in the distant past, but which are relatively recent and often consciously invented by historical actors. The concept was highlighted in the 1983 book ''The Invention of Tradition'', edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger. Hobsbawm's introduction argues that many "traditions" which "appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin and sometimes invented." This "invention" is distinguished from "starting" or "initiating" a tradition that does not then claim to be old. The phenomenon is particularly clear in the modern development of the nation and of nationalism, creating a national identity promoting national unity, and legitimising certain institutions or cultural practices. Background A set of practices, typically ritualistic or symbolic, aims to instill values and behavioral norms through repetition, such as saluting a flag before class. These p ...
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Meitei Nationalism
Meitei nationalism ( Meitei: ꯂꯩꯄꯥꯛ ꯅꯤꯡꯕ) refers to nationalism among the Meitei people. In the Meitei context this includes various movements throughout history to sustain Meitei cultural identity, political boundary, ethnicity and history to regain sovereign state status of Kangleipak (presently known as Manipur). History Historically, the kingdom of Meitei also known as Meitei Leipak remained sovereign for at least 1951 years, although there were matrimonial alliance as well as wars with the neighbouring country or kingdom of Burma. Meitei kingdom (Meitei Leipak) lost its sovereignty in 1891 as a result of Anglo Manipur War and regained its sovereign status in 1947 but it was short lived due to the controversial Manipur Merger Agreement of 1949. In the 19th century Hijam Irabot was the pioneer of nationalism in Manipur who firstly revolted against monarchy rule demanding a democratic government for the people. Various demands ranging from self determin ...
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Poetry
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in place of, Denotation, literal or surface-level meanings. Any particular instance of poetry is called a poem and is written by a poet. Poets use a variety of techniques called poetic devices, such as assonance, alliteration, Phonaesthetics#Euphony and cacophony, euphony and cacophony, onomatopoeia, rhythm (via metre (poetry), metre), and sound symbolism, to produce musical or other artistic effects. They also frequently organize these effects into :Poetic forms, poetic structures, which may be strict or loose, conventional or invented by the poet. Poetic structures vary dramatically by language and cultural convention, but they often use Metre (poetry), rhythmic metre (patterns of syllable stress or syllable weight, syllable (mora) weight ...
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Genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives. The field of family history is broader than genealogy, and covers not just lineage but also family and community history and biography. The record of genealogical work may be presented as a "genealogy", a "family history", or a " family tree". In the narrow sense, a "genealogy" or a " family tree" traces the descendants of one person, whereas a "family history" traces the ancestors of one person, but the terms are often used interchangeably. A family history may include additional biographical information, family traditions, and the like. The pursuit of family history and origins tends to be shaped by several motives, including the des ...
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Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its methods and assumptions. Historically, many of the individual sciences, such as physics and psychology, formed part of philosophy. However, they are considered separate academic disciplines in the modern sense of the term. Influential traditions in the history of philosophy include Western philosophy, Western, Islamic philosophy, Arabic–Persian, Indian philosophy, Indian, and Chinese philosophy. Western philosophy originated in Ancient Greece and covers a wide area of philosophical subfields. A central topic in Arabic–Persian philosophy is the relation between reason and revelation. Indian philosophy combines the Spirituality, spiritual problem of how to reach Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlighten ...
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Cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the world". In 1731, German philosopher Christian Wolff used the term cosmology in Latin (''cosmologia'') to denote a branch of metaphysics that deals with the general nature of the physical world. Religious or mythological cosmology is a body of beliefs based on mythological, religious, and esoteric literature and traditions of creation myths and eschatology. In the science of astronomy, cosmology is concerned with the study of the chronology of the universe. Physical cosmology is the study of the observable universe's origin, its large-scale structures and dynamics, and the ultimate fate of the universe, including the laws of science that govern these areas. It is investigated by scientists, including astronomers and physicists, a ...
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