Bishnupriya Manipuri Online

Topo Singha Ojha Brajakumar Sinha, fondly called as Pocha Ojha by his fans, rose like a phoenix from the ashes. The credit goes to Jolly Productions that made its maiden appearance at Shilpgram, Guwahati on April 26, 2014 when an audio and two video CDs on the performances of the late singer were released. The audio CD, a cultural showdown (fangna) between Pocha Ojha and Ojha Chandramohan Sinha, was released by nonagenarian Srimati Githanak Devi, mother of the man behind Jolly Productions, SP Pratap Sinha. The ceremony was quite simple yet redolent of the profound love and respect to a mother whose tender love and care are too important to be without for the all-round development of a child. While the video CD, Manshiksha, was released by none other than Srimati Pramila Sinha, widow of Pocha Ojha, the other video CD, Gosthalila, was released by public prosecutor Bhimsen Sinha. The function on the release of the three CDs and the discussion on rasakirtan were presid...

Topo Singha Bishnupriya Manipuri short story writer Prof. Smriti Kumar Sinha penetrated the Eighth Schedule roadblock on the road to Indian Literature yet again. ‘God for a Night’, English rendering of his ‘Rati ahanor Bhogoban’, was published in the January/February 2014 279 issue of prestigious Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi’s Bi-Monthly Journal. The story in question was translated into English by journalist Ramlal Sinha. Indian Literature, as Sahitya Akademi claims, is India’s oldest and only journal of its kind featuring translations in English of poetry, fiction, drama and criticism from twenty-three Indian languages besides original writing in English. Offering a feast of literature, Sahitya Akademi further claims, Indian Literature is also highly valued as a source of reference in India and abroad and is a must for libraries and for discriminating readers, researchers and students of creative and critical literature. ‘God for a Night’ is one among the five short stori...

Topo Singha Noted BM dramatist and short story writer of repute Indra Kumar Sinha had yet another feather in his cap on April 16, 2013 when the ‘Nuadristi Sahitya Puraskar – 2013’ was conferred on him at a litterateur-studded function at Gauhati Press Club. The editor of Nuadristi, Anjana Sinha, conferred the award on him at a function that was presided over by Sahitya Akademi award winner Atulananda Goswami who was flanked by poet Samir Tanti, BK Nath and top-rung Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mohasabha (NBMM) leader Rebati Mohan Sinha as guests of honour. Earlier, the dramatist had received the BR Ambedkar Award, besides a number of other awards.   Nuadristi has been rendering valuable services to the Bishnupriya Manipuri community, their language and literature for the past 23 year. In the run-up to its golden jubilee celebrations, Nuadristi Prokashan has had an offshoot in the form of Khuttal, a monthly BM magazine.   Receiving the award, the dramatist said: “...

Topo Singha Prerana , a little multi-lingual cultural magazine with no little vision, hit the shelves at a  very small and simple yet highly brainstorming session at Nilachal Kala Kendra, Beharbari,  Guwahati on Sunday (April 7, 2013) with former SCERT, Assam director Kumkum Singha in the  chair. Yes, it can rightly be termed as a brainstorming session as and when the line of  thinking, not without contrast, that emanated from some serious thinkers for the propagation  of an endangered language and literature is taken into consideration.  Releasing the magazine, Tezpur University professor and writer Dr Smriti Kumar Sinha spelt out  the way of bringing people, separated by the multiplicity of nature, together. “Translation  works can break the barriers or bridge the ditches that keep us apart from one another,” the  professor said. According to him, diversity is the gift of nature and it’s the man who has to  strike a chord in or...

Topo Singha   I s it necessary, in this cyber age, for one to guard against any qualitative fall of one’s ‘impressive pedigree’ going back to centuries? This question, if put up for a debate, is juicy  enough to make a hot topic for a never-ending discussion. On certain counts, some people  believe, one has every right reason to be jealous of one’s own pedigree, if that is an  impressive one. But to keep a status up or to scale even fresh heights, one needs to work hard  in all humanely possible ways as that helps a clan, a community and the nation as a whole stay  aloft. This is nothing but striving for the best, the maxim of all success. This, as I  assessed during a brief chat, is what the striving mind of Professor KM Sinha is impregnated  with for the development of his clan and the community as a whole. Success, according to him,  never comes from nowhere, and that one has to do his best to make that happen.  Prof. Sinha,...

Topo Singha SHILPGRAM (Guwahati), Feb 2 Rajya Sabha MP Biswajit Daimary has proved once again that a plain-spoken speech can do with  precision what a highly eloquent speech, often, cannot. He could spell the right mantra for  the survival of the Bishnupriya Manipuris who are characterised by their sparse distribution  on the globe. Delivering his inaugural speech at the seminar on ‘Ideology of Gitiswami Gokulananda and its  Impact on Bishnupriya Manipuri Society’ at Shilpgram in Guwahati on February 2, the MP said  that given the population distribution of the Bishnupriya Manipuris ‘their political future is  bleak. They, however, can make their importance largely felt in this highly competitive world  by developing their human resources.’ Citing the condition of the Chakmas in Arunachal  Pradesh as an example, he said: “The Chakmas are even denied citizenship by most of the states  in the Northeast. However, if one goes to o...

Topo Singha Their forefathers, apt in martial art (lathikhel or twin sticks), came to Assam from Manipur sometime in the 18 th century, settled at Katakhal near Salchapra in Cachar district, continued to live at a village called Nandirgang, and provided security to others who were under security threat, of course when hired. In the events of land disputes under British India when the win in an ‘open and declared battle’ between the warring parties was one of the deciding criteria in determining ownership of disputed lands, most of the zamindar s (landlords) used to hire the likes of Golapgiri and his sibling Chandra Kirti, all lathial s of repute of this clan called Chirua Lokei, a cousin clan of Lempa Lokei or Lempa Raja, so as to ensure the ownership of disputed lands. This is not all. As and when they were requested for help in the event of torture by others, the likes of Golapgiri among the Chiruas turned generosity incarnates so as to ensure security of the oppressed. T...