The Liangmai people, are a

Tibeto-Burmese The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak ...

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

that inhabit

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

and

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

states of

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

. Their villages are mostly spread across the Peren district in Nagaland and

Tamenglong Tamenglong ( Meitei pronunciation:/tæmɛŋˈlɒŋ/) is a town in the Naga hills of Manipur and the district headquarter of the Tamenglong district. Geography Tamenglong is located in western Manipur lying on the hilltop from which descends ...

Senapati Senapati ( , ''sena'' meaning "army", ''Pati (title), pati'' meaning "lord") is a title in ancient India denoting the rank of general (military), General. It was a hereditary title of nobility used in the Maratha Empire. During wartime, a ''Sar ...

in Manipur. They are a part of the larger

Naga tribes Nagas are various Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups native to northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar. The groups have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority of population in the Indian state of Nagaland and Naga Self-Administere ...

and have a similar language and culture. A majority of the Liangmais practise

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

while a small section in Tening village of

still adheres to traditional

Heraka Jadonang Malangmei (1905–1931), popularly known as Haipou Jadonang, was a Naga spiritual leader and political activist from Manipur, British India. He established the ''Heraka'' religious movement, which was based on the ancestral Naga religio ...

religious practices.

Ethymology

The word “Liangmai” is a compound word made up of ''liang + mai''. Here, ''liang'' is construed as kyliang means a ‘sector in a village’ and ''mai'' means people, which is best translated as “a group of people from one sector”, probably referring to a group of people from one segment of Makuiluangdi village. Secondly, ''liang'' is interpreted as north, which means people from the north. The interpretations are closely connected and possibly accurate as the Liangmais settled in the Northern part of the present Hamai (Zeliangrong or Luangdimai) territory. At the same time, the Liangmai people might be a number of people from the same kyliang or sector in Makuiluangdi village who lived there as the ruler of the land. Liangmai Dance

References

www.nambon.com
– Zeliangrong Community Website {{authority control Naga people Ethnic groups in Manipur Ethnic groups in Northeast India Ethnic groups in South Asia Ethnic groups in India People from Nagaland