Skip to main content

The Unique Rituals…

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 of same Gurukul named after several mythological Rishis namely, Shandilya, Atraya, Bharadwaja, Baiyagra Padya, Kashyapa. etc which can also be noticed in other communities.

Adding to that, the uniqueness in Bishnupriya Manipuri community is the lokei system. The community is divided into clusters respective to lokei they represent like Raja lokei, Khulakpa lokei, Amungo lokei, Lempa lokei, Nenthangkpa lokei to name a few. There are more lokeis. There is not a definite history that describes the evolution of these lokeis but it is believed it originated with respect to their location, common habits or after the name of their respective ruler of the ancient Bishnupriya Manipuri inhabitants.

There are various unique norms Bishnupriya Manipuri community follow which exists in the lokei system as the people of same lokei are also known as sakeis. There are several occasions which every sakei performs together. Various obligations and rules like in Bishnupriya Manipuri marriages the lokei and gutra both have to different between the bride and groom. There is also a typical Bishnupriya Manipuri custom prevalent in the lokei system which is known as “Ghar Mangoni”.

Ghar Mangoni is basically a time period in which members of specific lokei irrespective of the territory they belong can not perform any kind of auspicious celebration or performing of puja etc. The unique nature of Ghar Mangoni is that it occurs only when a person is born or when someone dies. There are various norms and rules need to be followed at the time of Ghar Mangoni , which restricts their daily life styles and food habits. It is so prominent and of intense importance that even the 21st century urban Bishnupriya Manipuris also have not forgotten to follow these norms.

But as the whole mankind move towards the sci-fi century, all the typical customs started plummeting from all the communities including Bishnupriya Manipuri. The 21st century individual wants to be more logical and scientific and sets his own norms and rules considering the aspects of “ demand and supply” which is definitely for the betterment of mankind and the system as a whole.

But is it always justified to disobey all the old social norms and customs may be unscientific or shall we need to study the evolution of all these norms or shall we quietly follow all those norms prevalent in order to conserve the unique community customs?

I definitely need to be enlightened…..

Read more:

Biography of Pandit Motilal Sinha
Amar Ela
What are We Waiting for?

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE BISHNUPRIYA MANIPURI BLOG.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Sri Bhubaneshwar Sadhu Thakur

By Ranita Sinha, Kolkata Sri Sri Bhubaneshwar Thakur, the great saint of the Bishnupriya Manipuri Community was born on 26th October, 1871, in a remote village of Cachar district called Baropua in the state of Assam. He was born to a Xatriya Manipuri family. His father Sri Sanatan Pandit was a Sanskrit teacher and mother Srimati Malati Devi, a house wife. Sadhu Baba from his childhood was indifferent to all worldly happenings. He was engrossed in chanting the name of Lord Krishna. Along with other students of his age, Sadhu Baba started taking lessons of grammar and other spiritual literature from his father. At a very young age he lost his mother but he was brought up with utmost love and care by his step mother. At the age of eighteen, Sadhu baba lost his father, so, to continue his spiritual education under the guidance of Rajpandit Mineshwas Swarbabhwam Bhattacherjee, he went to Tripura. But within one year he made up his mind to visit all the holy places and as such he took permis

Assam Search Engine: Bisarok

Exclusive search engine on Assam Manash Pratim Gohain, TNN Jun 16, 2012, 01.46PM IST NEW DELHI: Assam got its own search engine ' Bisarok '. The search engine has been launched to get results exclusively on queries and information related to Assam. 'Bisarok', means 'to search' in Assamese language, has been launched and has been linked to various websites of the Government of Assam and departments, educational institutions and media. The search engine is likely to give a new online experience related to searches on Assam. Built on Google custom search engine, the search engine would be collating and building a database of web properties exclusively of the state in the North East region. 'Bisarok' has been developed by RK Rishikesh Sinha, who had earlier created a similar custom search engine ('Bisarei') on Bishnupriya Manipuri. According to Sinha, apart from Google there was no link to get results particularly on Assam. Any web entity related

The 'Star' Krishankant Sinha of Space City Sigma

By RK Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi It is a myth that the all-knowing Internet knows everything. One such myth relates to old television stuff aired on Doordarshan before 1990. Search in Google “Space City Sigma”, the search engine would throw up reminiscent results from the people who still long for those days. Those days were really golden days. Krishankant Sinha in the role of Captain Tara in Space City Singma For those who have watched Doordarshan some 15 to 20 years back, am sure they will have nostalgic memories of it. The days when possessing a now ubiquitous looking television set was a luxury. It was a neighbour’s envy product. It was a visual product to showoff, to flaunt that we have a television set . Those were the days when black and white, locked television was rarely found in homes. The days became immortal for teleserials like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Swami’s Malgudi Days (Ta-Na-Na-Na…), Ek-Do-Teen-Char (Title song: Ek do teen char, chaaro mil ke saath chale to