1. The Name and the First Impression
Manipur – “the land of jewels” – is a name that feels almost too beautiful for the pain it has carried in recent years. When the aeroplane descends over Imphal in the early morning, the valley appears like a small, perfectly oval mirror of water and paddy surrounded by dark, forested hills. From the air it still looks like the postcard everyone fell in love with: Loktak Lake shimmering with its floating islands, the polo ground a patch of emerald in the heart of the capital, and the blue ridges marching away toward Myanmar. Only when the aircraft banks sharply to line up with Tulihal runway do you notice the scars: entire hill slopes blackened by fire, clusters of tin-roofed relief camps, and long brown gashes where villages once stood.
That contrast – exquisite natural beauty and raw human anguish – defines Manipur today.
2. Geography: A State in Two Worlds
2.1 The Valley (10 % of land, 60 % of people)
The Imphal Valley is only 2,238 km² – smaller than Luxembourg – yet it cradles almost two million people. Altitude 780–820 m, almost perfectly flat, drained by eight major rivers that finally merge into the Chindwin in Myanmar. Annual rainfall 1,467 mm, soil rich in alluvial silt. Double-cropped paddy, fish ponds, lotus marshes, and vegetable fields give the valley the appearance of a giant garden. Four national highways enter through narrow gaps in the hills; when any two are blocked, the entire valley is effectively under siege.
2.2 The Hills (90 % of land, 40 % of people)
Five parallel hill ranges rise abruptly from the valley rim to 2,000 m within 20–30 km. Geology is young – folded Tertiary rocks, still seismically active (Imphal lies on a major fault line). Forests are subtropical broadleaf below 1,200 m, pine and oak above, and alpine meadows near the highest ridges. Rainfall climbs to 2,800 mm in the south-west. The international border with Myanmar runs for 398 km through these hills, porous, forested, and almost impossible to police.
2.3 Loktak: The Floating World
Loktak Lake (286 km² in monsoon, 249 km² in dry season) is the largest freshwater body in eastern India. Its phumdis – heterogeneous masses of soil, vegetation and organic debris – can be as thin as 30 cm or as thick as 3 m. Athaphums, the circular fishing enclosures built on phumdis, look like green doughnuts from the air. Keibul Lamjao National Park (40 km²) is the only place on earth where the sangai deer lives. In 2024 the deer population stood at 261 – a small miracle given the gunfire that has echoed around the lake since May 2023.
2.4 Climate and Seasons
Four distinct seasons:
- Spring (February–April): Shirui lilies, wild orchids, rhododendrons
- Monsoon (May–October): 85 % of annual rain, leeches, landslides
- Autumn (October–November): clearest skies, Sangai Festival
- Winter (December–January): fog in valley, frost on hilltops, occasional snow on Mount Iso (2,994 m)
3. The People: Three Major Communities and Many Smaller Ones
2023 estimates (no census since 2011):
- Meitei (including Meitei-Pangal Muslims): 1.9–2 million (59–62 %
- Naga tribes (Tangkhul, Mao, Maram, Poumai, Zeliangrong, Anal, etc.): 7,50,000–8,00,00024–26 %
- Kuki-Zo tribes (Thadou, Paite, Hmar, Vaiphei, Zou, Kom, Simte, etc.): 5,50,000–6,00,00018–20 %
- Others (Gorkha, Bamar, Marwari, Sikh, etc.): ~60,000
Religion: Valley – 70 % Hindu (Vaishnavite), 15 % Sanamahi, 12 % Muslim, 3 % Christian Hills – 95 % Christian (Baptist dominant, some Catholic and Presbyterian)
Languages spoken daily: Meiteilon, Thadou, Tangkhul, Paite, Hmar, Poula, Rongmei, Mao, Vaiphei, Zou, Komrem, Hindi, English, Nepali, Burmese dialects.
4. Ancient History: From Myth to Chronicle
4.1 The Cheitharol Kumbaba
The Royal Chronicle begins in 33 CE with Nongda Lairen Pakhangba ascending the throne after emerging from a cave at Kangla as a divine serpent. Whether Pakhangba was historical or mythical is debated, but the chronicle was maintained without interruption for almost 2,000 years – longer than any other Asian royal record except perhaps the Japanese emperor list.
4.2 Early Contacts
- 1st century CE: “Mekhli” mentioned in Greek Periplus
- 7th–9th centuries: Trade with Yunnan via the Yu River valley
- 11th century: First recorded Burmese raid
5. The Medieval Kingdom
5.1 The Age of Expansion (15th–17th centuries)
King Kyamba (1467–1508) allied with the king of Pong (Shan States) and defeated the Kyang Shans; the pineapple was introduced as war booty. King Khagemba (1597–1652) built the brick wall of Kangla, invented the modern polo mallet with a longer handle, and fought off Ming Chinese mercenaries hired by the Ahoms.
5.2 Garib Niwaz and the Hinduisation (1709–1748)
Pamheiba, after adopting Gaudiya Vaishnavism from Shantidas Gosai in 1717, took the title Garib Niwaz. He launched the Puya Meithaba – the burning of ancient Meitei manuscripts – in 1729, an act still mourned as cultural genocide. The Meitei script was replaced by Bengali-Assamese letters. Upper-caste Hindu surnames (Singh for men, Devi for women) were imposed on the population.
6. The Burmese Invasions and the Seven Years’ Devastation (1819–1826)
King Bagyidaw of Ava sent seven successive armies. Manipur’s population fell from ~5,00,000 to barely 1,00,000. Princes Gambhir Singh and Nara Singh fled to Cachar, raised a levy with British help, and finally expelled the Burmese in 1826. The Treaty of Yandabo made Manipur a British protectorate in all but name.
7. The Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891
The war that still defines Manipuri nationalism.
Timeline:
- 22 September 1890: Palace coup; Maharaja Surchandra flees to British protection in Kohima
- March 1891: British column under Political Agent Quinton arrives to arrest Tikendrajit
- 24 March: Quinton and four officers beheaded at Kangla after surrender talks fail
- 27 April: Three British columns converge; Imphal falls
- 13 August: Tikendrajit and Thangal General publicly hanged at Pheida-pung
- 18 August: Churachand, an 8-year-old descendant, installed as puppet king
13 August is observed as Patriots’ Day; the polo ground is renamed Bir Tikendrajit Park.
8. The Women’s Wars (Nupi Lan)
1904: Protest against forced labour to rebuild a British officer’s bungalow. 1939: Triggered by rice exports causing rice scarcity. Thousands of women stormed mills, forced a ban on exports, and compelled the Maharaja to hand power temporarily to a popular council. One of the earliest mass women’s movements in Asia.
9. World War II: The Turning Point of the Burma Campaign
March–July 1944: Battle of Imphal-Kohima. Japanese 15th Army and INA reached the outskirts of Imphal. The siege was broken; the road to Burma opened. Casualties: ~15,000 Allied, ~55,000 Japanese. 14 April 1944: INA hoists the tricolour at Moirang – the first Indian soil liberated from British rule.
10. The Controversial Merger (1947–1949)
Manipur had its own constitution (Manipur State Constitution Act 1947) and an elected assembly. 21 September 1949: Maharaja Bodhchandra signs the Merger Agreement in Shillong. Many allege he was kept under duress. 15 October 1949: Manipur ceases to exist as a state and becomes a Part-C state under a Chief Commissioner. Armed resistance begins almost immediately.
11. Insurgency: Six Decades of Fire
1964: UNLF formed by Oinam Sudhir Kumar 1970s–80s: PLA, PREPAK, KNF, KYKL 1990s: Peak of Naga insurgency spillover 2000s: Kuki militant groups under KNO and UPF umbrellas AFSPA imposed statewide 1980; Irom Sharmila begins her 16-year fast in 2000 after Malom massacre.
12. The 2023–2025 Ethnic Conflict: A New Low
12.1 Immediate Trigger
April 2023: Manipur High Court asks state government to send recommendation on Meitei ST status. 3 May 2023: “Tribal Solidarity March” in ten hill districts. Violence breaks out in Torbung, Churachandpur. Within 48 hours arson, shooting, and mob attacks spread to Imphal, Bishnupur, Kakching, Moreh, Kangpokpi.
12.2 Two Years of War (May 2023 – December 2025)
- Official death toll (Dec 2025): 258
- Independent estimates: 350–400
- Displaced: 60,537 in 312 relief camps
- Houses destroyed: 4,786
- Places of worship destroyed: 350 churches, 120+ temples/meitei shrines
- Weapons looted: ~5,500 (including 2,500 modern rifles, machine guns, mortars, RPGs)
- Internet suspended cumulatively for 213 days
- Economy loss: estimated ₹18,000 crore
The fighting has followed a clear ethnic-geographical pattern: Meiteis driven out of most hill districts, Kuki-Zo driven out of the valley. A 10–15 km “no-man’s land” buffer now exists along the valley rim, patrolled by central forces.
13. Culture That Survives Fire
13.1 Ras Leela
The Manipuri dance-drama of Radha-Krishna is performed only on full-moon nights in temple mandaps. The five canonical Ras are Maha Ras, Kunja Ras, Basanta Ras, Nitya Ras and Diba Ras. Gurus: Amubi Singh, Atomba Singh, Rajkumar Singhjit Singh, Jhaveri Sisters.
13.2 Lai Haraoba
The pre-Hindu festival of the sylvan deities (Umang Lai). Four major styles: Chakpa, Kanglei, Moirang, Kakching. Dancers spend up to ten days reenacting cosmogony.
13.3 Thang-Ta, Pung Cholom, Pena
Thang-Ta: complete martial art with 108 empty-hand techniques and dozens of weapons. Pung Cholom: acrobatic drum dance performed by men in white dhoti and turquoise turban. Pena: single-string bowed instrument; the pena singer narrates epics that can last all night.
13.4 Handloom
Manipur produces 60–70 % of India’s hand-woven textiles by value. Famous designs: Moirang phee, Leirum phee, Wangkhei phee, Lashing phee.
14. Festivals
- Yaoshang (5-day Holi with sports and Thabal Chongba moonlight dance)
- Cheiraoba (Lunar New Year, April)
- Kang (Rath Yatra of Govindaji)
- Kut (Kuki-Chin post-harvest festival)
- Chavang Kut, Mim Kut, Christmas among hill tribes
- Ningol Chakkouba (married daughters invited home)
- Heikru Hidongba (boat race on moat)
- Sangai Festival (November tourism festival)
15. Women: The Spine of Manipur
- Ima Keithel: 5,000+ women vendors in three buildings in central Imphal – the only market of its kind in the world.
- Meira Paibis: torch-bearing mothers who have confronted armed militants and army columns alike.
- Highest female workforce participation in India (43 %), yet only two women MLAs in 2022 assembly.
16. Sports Capital of India
- Polo: oldest polo ground (Hapta Kangjeibung), 22 national titles
- Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu (Olympic silver 2021), dozens of international medals
- Boxing: MC Mary Kom, L Sarita Devi, 6 world amateur titles
- Football: Manipur players have formed the backbone of Indian women’s team for two decades
- Sepak takraw, mukna (wrestling), kangjei (field hockey variant)
17. Economy and the Perpetual Blockade
GDP ₹37,000 crore (2023–24) – among India’s lowest. Agriculture 32 %, public administration 25 %, handloom 8 %. Chronic shortages whenever NH-2 (Dimapur route) or NH-37 (Silchar route) is blocked – which happens several times every year.
18. Education and the Great Exodus
Literacy 77 %, but only 12 % graduate. Over 1,20,000 Manipuri youth work outside the state – hotels, spas, airlines, security guards. Many face racism; several murdered in Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru in recent years.
19. Possible Roads Ahead (December 2025)
- Political dialogue leading to disarmament and power-sharing
- Separate administration for Kuki-Zo areas (a “Southern Manipur”
- Prolonged frozen conflict with buffer zones
- Major central forces operation to recover looted arms
- Spillover into Mizoram and Nagaland
20. Epilogue: The Sangai at Dawn
In late November 2024, a forest guard at Keibul Lamjao filmed a lone sangai stag on a phumdi at sunrise. The deer lifted its forelegs in the characteristic “dance”, silhouetted against the mist while, ten kilometres away, fresh gunfire crackled in the hills.
That image has gone viral among displaced Manipuris on every side: the sangai still dances while the land burns.
Manipur has been invaded by Burmese, British, Japanese, and now its own children. Yet every evening in relief camps you will still hear the pena, see women weaving under tarpaulin roofs, watch children playing football with a plastic bottle because the real ball was lost when their village was torched.
The jewels are blood-stained, but they have not lost their fire.
One day, perhaps, the land will remember it is called Manipur because it was always meant to shine.