Bishnupriya Manipuri Online

By BN Sinha The time of celebration has arrived again; we all are geared up for the event. This time also it is expected to have an euphoric time with fun, food, music and dance.  Yes the Sadhu Thakur Utsav is round the corner. Today in every part of the country, wherever Bishnupriya Manipuri people reside, there is a presence of Sri Sri Sadhuthakur, likewise if there are Bengalis there must be a Kalibari.  This particular phenomenon is not very old and started only in last five six years back.  However there were only five persons from the villages Bhakatpur and Singari who were instrumental to get a land of six bigha for Saduthakur Ashram in Silchar in the year 1965 from the then Revenue minister of Assam Mohendra Mohan Choudhury. The group were headed by Late Shri  Setobahon  Rajkumar (Kalasena eiga) with  Late Pt Matilal sinha (Bhakatpur), Sh Mani Kanta Sinha (Bhakatpur), Sh Ramani Mohan Sinha (W Singari) and Late Abanti Sinha (W Singari). ...

B N Sinha, New Delhi In the year 1989, in a joint meeting of NBMM, BMSS and Samaj Sanstha Guwahati held at Bhakatpur malthep, it was decided to take up the issue of Manipuri suffix to fight against the case filed by Manipur Govt against the use of the word “Manipuri” by us after the word "Bishnupriya". (Find the original documents of the Supreme Court of India decision on Bishnupriya Manipuri identity ) Kh Nobin Singha, the advocate from Imphal Bar was representing the Manipur Govt.  Three representatives from each Bishnupriya Manipuri group were selected to take up the case on behalf of the community. They appointed Advocate Sukumar Sinha of Silchar to file objection to lower court in district court.  In the same year, the case got transferred to Gauhati High Court where for Bishnupriya Manipuri community the advocate who fought in Gauhati High Court was Dr Niloy Dutta whose assistance was Adv Bishwadev Sinha from Halflong.  As per the court "Ej...

BN Sinha I always had the privilege growing up with the belief that we are enriched with culture and dogmas which we have inherited traditionally. From the very childhood I have had the advantage to be brought up seeing people of Bishnupriya Manipuri community who are believed to be the idols of Bishnupriya Manipuri music and literature. Keeping an interest in music was obvious being neighbors of maestros like Pt.Matilal Sinha and Late Suronath Sinha apart from schoolmates of various communities who also used to engrossed with art and music. In my younger days,  western classics like “Material Girl, Hotel California, Sultans of Swings, Another brick in the wall, Final countdown etc.. were dictated youngsters along with the Hindi film songs of Kishore Kumar, which the then generation used to be fond of. Nevertheless, the enticement for Bishnupriya Manipuri music was never diminished.   Historians say that the evolution of Bishnupriya Manipuri song took place with “Bo...

BN Sinha I wish to extend many thanks to Mr B P sinha for such an unbiased piece of depiction of the history  (Read History Repeats Itself ). Few points to applaud which are more than truth, that division is in our DNA and jealousy is an integral inherited character for the people of this community. Sometime I wonder , in a poorest of poor community like ours where we are still struggling for our identity and existence when rest of the world is fearing an extinction of human civilisation.. why are we still love to be engrossed with cheap and malicious activities?.. why can’t we digest neighbours success? If we introspect, I am sure we will find hell lot of malign particles in the DNA of every individual of this community. I wonder, is it because of the rotten black shit like material we are dying to consume every day meal .. I know, I am sounding something very erratic but I assume traditionally our human character are like those we are practiced to eat as favorites like Long...

By BN Sinha & RK Rishikesh Sinha November 2nd, 2008 will always remain fresh in the memory of people who had attended the celebration of Abhirbhav Tithi of Sri Sri Bhubaneshwar Sadhu Thakur at Shiv Mandir, New Delhi. Those who didn’t participate for any reason had really missed something. However, those who were the part of the celebration will always remember the day, perhaps for many reasons. The day wore an altogether different look and vibrancy. Why not? This was a day where Bishnupriya Manipuri people residing in Delhi and surrounding areas were pouring in at a particular place, at a particular time, for a particular purpose. The day came as a golden opportunity to meet friends, far and near relatives, and those whom we tag as out-of-sight, out-of-mind ... It was indeed a special day. In the congregation of above 300 to 400 Bishnupriya Manipuri people, one could see and feel a clear sense of euphoria in the air. Eyes of the people were wandering, as if they were searching for ...

By BN Sinha, Kolkata Among the many festivals we observe, there is always a controversy or difference of opinion which is the major festival observed by us or our community, may be Shree Krishna Janmastami , Raas Utsav or Rath Yatra , it is rather very easy to confess that the most celebrated festival in Bishnupriya Manipuri community is Durga Puja. Reason may be any or many; the fact is that Durga puja always witness us to visit our native place, as often it becomes the official visit to home for the people who are out of their native places. While acknowledging every individuals wish list I must add another that holds good every year when most of us declare " Ebosor te pujat gore jitouga" ( I will go home puja this year). As I belong to the city Silchar, Assam, I have always witnessed Durga puja as the most celebrated among all the Hindu festivals. Puja always meant homecoming. In the childhood days we used to anxiously wait for the autumn to arrive that we may receive the ...

By BN Sinha, Kolkata We all know that the Bishnupriya Manipuri community is spread mostly in the northeastern part of India especially in Barak and Kushiyara valley of Cachar and Karimgunj districts, in Assam and places in Tripura apart from few places in Bangladesh. Among all the places in Barak Valley, especially Silchar is the place which is most significant. Silchar can be termed as the hub for all the Bishnupriya Manipuri think tanks, may it be the Bhasha Andolan or any other Brishnupriya Manipuri social renaissance or convention like Mahamel, Silchar has definitely witnessed the most. It is a fact that more that 90 per cent of Bishnupriya Manipuri population live in villages. There are many villages in the Cachar region which has its significance and vital role in all the socio political activities, namely Bhakatpur, Singari, Chengcoorie in Meherpur region and Santipur, Bekirpar, Katakhal in Sonai region and also villages like Bihara, Mohanpur etc in Kalain region are few among p...

With a clear sense of uncertainty in the air, maybe, we Indians need another struggle of freedom in order to get rid of all the caste and religion based politics.... By BN Sinha, New Delhi Today on the 15th of August 2008, India is celebrating its 61st Independence Day and as usual all the Government authorities have organized various functions to celebrate, so also the school children will be accumulated in their respective schools to register their presence for the Independence Day celebration. But all will take place in an official way. So far the common Indian is concerned, especially the urban Indian, it is just another holiday to relax. This time it is a bonus as it falls on the weekend and two more holidays follow the Independence Day. So Indians are on a real jubilant mood and euphoria. It can be noticed that after sixty years of Independence, the socio political scenario in India has significantly plummeted. There is a clear sign of lack of harmony as more of differences have...

Life is full of ups and downs with many transition periods in between, economist say life is like the product life cycle. There is continuous change in ones lifestyle and living habits with respect to the state of mind. Even in our daily life we experience various state of mind as day proceeds, sometime somber, sometime sublime. By BN Sinha, New Delhi Nevertheless we are all concerned about our duty, duty towards ourselves, to our associates, guardians and also to our peers. There are times we just go blank as if mind is in a vacuum and at that particular moment it becomes difficult to concentrate or contemplate on any specific matter, and we are inclined to do what we often avoid in our daily life like taking out the old garments from the wardrobe, the decade old audio cassettes which are no longer in use, going through the old photo albums etc. Recently I also had gone through the same state of mind and as I was wandering my eyes got rested in few of my old diaries which I used to wr...

Any mode of communication is to express oneself, but this mode sometimes may create rift in the life of a budding relationship. Read By BN Sinha, New Delhi Who says that the 21st century urban Bishnupriya Manipuri coterie do not escalate the socio-cultural ethos of the community? Unfortunately, it is not correct to the perception the elderly Bishnupriya Manipuri s have about the educated modern Bishnupriya Manipuri  youths that they are culturally less inclined to the community norms and are lackadaisical to its values. A recent experience with one of my close Bishnupriya Manipuri  mate illustrates how sentimental and concerned the modern Bishnupriya Manipuri  youth are to their cultural identity and its uniqueness. It's an unpleasant fact that the urban educated Bishnupriya Manipuri  youths had to sweat hard in the barren land of marriage to find an ideal match in their own community. Lack of openness in communication is considered one reason. Though there is no dearth of suita...

Solemnizing a marriage in the Bishnupriya Manipuri community calls for an acid test from both the parties. How? By BN Sinha, New Delhi It is said that marriages are made in heaven and performed on earth. Then why this hue and cry about the matchmaking, why don’t we sit idle and wait for the occasion to happen to us automatically. Well, it is a fact that considerable amount of luck plays a role in finding a soul mate or a better half. A marriage in one’s life is supposed to be the most auspicious and important incident in ones life. There is no fixed time frame for a person to get married as it depends on many issues related to personal and social aspects and also there are strict rituals and customs in every community to perform a marriage. Even in the 21st century sci-fi era, instead of all those modern lifestyles people still love to follow all the typical community customs or norms when it comes to performing a marriage. As we know that in love marriages the partners are adequately ...

The Bishnupriya Manipuri language is at a very pathetic stage. Their own people living in the far off places are disrespecting their mother tongue by not using it in the day-to-day communication with their own fellow. By BN Sinha, New Delhi The Bishnupriya Manipuri language has got many resemblances with few of the languages of east and north east India like Bengali, Assamese etc. The script used to write the Bishnupriya Manipuri language is mainly the Bengali script which is already in the use in the primary level of the education in Assam. Though the language is not very rich with respect to literature and grammar but it is very fondly termed in the community as " Amar Thar " or few say " Emar Thar " . Till last decade the language was widely spoken by all the Bishnupriya Manipuri people but unfortuntely it started plummeting with the passage of time even in the rural areas. The impact of the other community culture and language is much prominent in the Bishnupriy...

Like any other Hindu community, the Bishnupriya Manipuri has its own customs and rituals, more appropriately societal systems. One among this systems are Lokei and Ghar Mangoni. By BN Sinha, New Delhi The population of Bishnupriya Manipuri community is very small in size and is widely spread in the north eastern part of India in Assam, Tripura and Bangladesh. We all believe that we are Aryans and considerably rich with respect to ethnicity and dogmas. The community as a whole is considered as peace loving and devotional and claim itself as Vaishnavaites as it worships Lord Krishna. There are some distinctive rules or norms prevalent in the Bishnupriya Manipuri community with respect to customs and rituals. Though Bishnupriya Manipuri community is blessed of not following the system of casteism other communities in India. However, the community is segregated into various numerous clusters with respect to their origins known as Lokeis , and Gutras . Though gutras are said to be the fleet...

The Bishnupriya Manipuri women are giving tough competition to their male counterpart. This fact reveals the status of women in the community. By BN Sinha, New Delhi The social values in India have changed a lot in the last two decades with the change of people’s lifestyle. We are all witnessing a rapid transition of social norms and practices in India, especially in the urban sector. Social values include practicing of the traditional cultures, customs and habits in one hand and adopting the cosmopolitan culture on the other. The sex ratio in employment, education also in other areas like politics etc have significantly plummeted as the ratio is close to unity. Even in case of home making the modern India couples expect equal contribution. However, the rural sector have not witnessed much change as far as escalation of female ratio in developmental sectors is concerned. Our Bishnupriya Manipuri community is also not far behind in all the developments that are taking place. Our women s...

It is very sad that now people (read Bishnupriya Manipuri guraipei and purigelai ) don’t assemble in community temples ( Mandaps/ Malthep ) for khechuri paali, kapak pali etc. By BN Sinha, New Delhi More than 80% of the population of India lives in the villages. The post liberalization era leads a major transition in the villages of India, especially the city suburbs. The Bishnupriya Manipuri villages are also not exempted from the effect. ( Photo by Amit Sinha ) If we analyze a Bishnupriya Manipuri village in the suburb of Silchar we will observe that many infrastructural developments have taken place. We can now find wider concrete roads with street lights. There is water supply system in every village from the public health department. Gone are the days when women used to make a queue in the near by pond for water. Petty shops are on the roadsides make an absolute rendezvous for the youths, where there are shops for latest film CD, DVD. Food joints offering noodles and other snack...

Have we achieved something substantial in education, employment, health etc to all our Bishnupriya Manipuri brothers? The answer is - of course "Not". Then what our socio-political organisations are doing and are egging on it? Have they been smitten by the "complacency" bug? By BN Sinha, New Delhi Complacency is a very common phenomenon, especially when going is smooth and comfortable. It’s a human characteristic; unfortunately we Indians have been smitten by this bug – again and again. And the community Bishnupriya Manipuri is not an exception. It is a fact - we generally don’t wake up with consolidated aggression to achieve a target until we feel the heat. Coming to the Bishnupriya Manipuri community we also have a lackadaisical, complacent attitude to take things lightly and in the simplest possible way. We cherished with the fact that the Bishnupriya Manipuri is known as peace loving community. But the word “peace loving” can always be criticized and can be term...

I felt a pleasant surprise and a peculiar euphoric sense ran over. Immediately I intended to ask them and disclose my identity. But suddenly I decided to stop and hear what more they say.... by BN Sinha, New Delhi Henceforth, I came to Delhi I felt as if every year the winter days are getting more chilled. This year is really an exception. Though the mercury did not drip below 2 degrees yet the cold is unbearable and to attend a meeting early morning 45kms away is a matter one would never wish for. I had to attend an on site meeting at 8.30am at Manesar, Gurgaon, approximately 45kms away from the place I reside. I woke up at 6 in the morning, to make sure to leave home by 7am. It was a foggy January morning. I was driving along NH8 towards Gurgaon. The morning traffic was not so heavy as compared to the daytime traffic. I traveled almost 35kms in just 35mins. Only 10kms more was left and I knew it would take merely 15 more minutes to reach. So, I thought to pamper myself by having a cu...

India is celebrating its 59th Republic Day, this special day is marked by several special events being organized by government as well as by the private institutions. This special day of our country holds a special place, since more than fun and frolic the day is witnessed by culmination of sport activities which takes place in the rural Bishupriya Manipuri villages. By BN Sinha, New Delhi It's a fact that there is cultural and sports club in most of the Bishnupriya Manipuri villages. These clubs generally organize all kind of sports activities in the respective villages; and the who is who of these clubs also holds some sort of power or authority in all the village issues. These clubs also play a significant role in the marriages taking place in the villages specially if the marriage is of a bride as it is a custom for groom party to pay some amount to the local club for developmental purpose , the term is known as " clubor chanda " though groom also has to pay on other ...

A visit to home that is after a decade evokes cornucopia of emotions and tons of reminisces. The village is not the same that it had been when I left... By BN Sinha, New Delhi It was probably first time in twelve years that I visited my native village in winters. Being in cities for livelihood make us very busy confining us to office to home culture, and finding time for vacation form the busy schedule is a bit tough. So visiting back home is always a once in a year affair and that too either in family occasion or in the time of durga pujas. And I always missed the feel of other seasons as for being gone only in a specific season. However , this time I got a chance to visit my home in the winter season , reason for was not very good though. Bit of excitement was running on my head especially after reading Ranita’s article “ Hot potato ”. I was expecting to experience a fair amount of childhood days lost in villages. Days in my village are quite different now especially the winter noons...

There are many luminous artists of Bishnupriya Manipuri who have enriched the art and culture. Especially in music, in the galaxy of artist, Pandit Motilal Sinha's name comes first. By BN Sinha, New Delhi With conceit I could say that there is no dearth of people who are associated  with art and culture in our Bishnupriya Manipuri community. We have a rich cultural background especially in the field of dance and music. And whenever there will be any discussion about the contribution in Bishnupriya Manipuri music it will not be completed without mentioning the one of the greatest in the Bishnupriya Manipuri legends, Pandit Motilal Sinha's colossal contribution to enrich the Bishnupriya Manipuri art and culture. In my recent visit to Bhakatpur, my village, I had a close tete-a-tete with him. Pt. Motilal was born in Bhakatpur, Silchar, Assam, in the year 1923. He was the third child of the then great Mridanga Badak , Sree Deveshwar Sinha and mother Smt. Kusum Leima Devi...