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Shame!

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 Bishnupriya Manipuri people living in the urban areas. They love to indoctrinate the alien cultures they are surrounded by to their children.

Though it is quite inevitable for the children to adopt the local language and cultures they are grown up with. So, the children grown up in the northern part of India adopt Hindi, like Assamese in Guwahati, and Bengali in Kolkata, Silchar or Agartala etc.

The Bishnupriya Manipuri community has a unique characteristic that they can easily adopt or merge with any culture or creed that they are associated with. The ironical part of the whole story is that a considerable number of people hesitate to express themselves in their mother tongue and they take it as a pride to not follow the social norms. Sorry part is that they love to ridicule or reprimand the fellow brothers of the community.

It is always an advantage to know as many languages, cultures as possible but to know and respect its own mother tongue is also very important. Its become a common phenomena both in rural as well as urban sectors that the language is diminishing so also the core community traditions. Since Bishnupriya Manipuri community is very small in size and also not confined to a specific territory, it becomes indispensable to not to forget our Emar Thar and also should encourage our Gen-X to accumulate at least as second language or otherwise it won't be too far when we could see our beloved "Amat Thar" along with the community in the endangered list.

Critics says that it is wise and justified to respect ones own culture and mother tongue at least for the reason that the word "mother" is associated with it and by disrespecting, one disdains his mother and the DNA he carries. Few also say that those who do not teach their children the culture and dogmas they inherited are vilifying their ancestors and are cynical.

However, on the contrary, there are also examples where a Bishnupriya Manipuri person is born and brought up in a place like Punjab or Kashmir but still very much comfortable with the mother tongue and its dogmas and also there is 21st century band which sings ……

Aaho aaho amar emare mingal korik,

habihane jat hanore tulia goje korik….


More articles:

Bishnupriya Manipuri People in Tripura

Bishnupriya Manipuri Vs Bodo

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Comments

  1. I agree with what you said. Bishnupriya Manipuri society needs a lot of change. If you know a bit about our long history of strugle over identity and language issue, you will find out that all this was not really meant to be this way. Let us not forget, "DONT FORGET YOUR OWN MOTHER JUST BECOS SHE IS POOR AND LAME, YOU CANT BE THE SON OF OTHER MOTHER AS THAT MOTHER HAS SONS OF HER OWN"

    ReplyDelete
  2. I kind of liked what you wrote, cause its very true....
    We usually are not on the same page.
    But i wont hesitate to appreciate your thoughtful writing.

    Infact i can't speak a word of BM language and to be honest i never got a chance to converse with anyone.
    Yes there were ackward situations where i thought i should have known the language.
    For me what pains the most....that we are almost on the threshold of losing our identity....no doubt language makes a big difference.....but the root of all is education and the rigidity of our people not to go for any change with the time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mr. Sandy ....
    Thanks for the appreciation.As u said we usually are not on the same page or like minded... despite, u have admired my words .. it shows ur professional dexterity.
    U said it correctly that proper education may inversely proportional to the rigidity. Adaptability should always be for the betterment of the individual so also of the community.
    As name doesnt matter said that there was a long struggle and sacrifice over our identity and language, so its the responsibility of the Gen-x to shield our small community as I believe that , in order to live with honor we have to be distinctively identified with respect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. this is true. very true.
    we are forgetting and giving down to our language.

    but we must bite the bullet that depending upon the fluency in any language. everybody would communicate whether it is english, hindi, bengali or assamese oR BM.

    we are much scattered. so such division will be there. but we must know our language.

    i remember rahul bose the actor is so flunet in bengali his mother tongue, hindi [of course]and english - the professional language.

    thanks BN

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