Bishnupriya Manipuri Online

By Ranita Sinha, Kolkata One day on an usual visit to a Bishnupriya Manipuri house, my eyes fell on a book. A small thin white coloured book with the title- “ From Bilbari to Paris - Professional Biography of an IITian”. The book is written by Upasana Sinha. Amidst curiosity I picked up the book and started reading it. It was about Sri Amar Sinha, a Bishnupriya Manipuri IITian in the 50's. I got so thrilled after reading the book that i thought of sharing what ever little I can with all of you. As I believe, like me most of us are not aware of this jewel of our community. We all know what Indian Institute Technology is all about, and what the status it carries in India and abroad. But before writing about Sri Amar Sinha, I would like to write a few lines about Smt. Upasana Sinha, the author. Upasana Sinha, wife of Sri Deepak Sinha and eldest daughter-in-law of Sri Dilip Sinha and Smt. Promila Sinha of Kailashar, Tripura is a faculty in the Department of Chemistry, Nagaland Universi...

By Ranita Sinha, Kolkata One fine winter afternoon in Ballygunge , Kolkata , two years back, at around 2 o’ clock, me and my daughter were returning after seeing a doctor. We were walking along the footpath to go to the bus stop. My daughter was insisting for a packet of potato chips. Since she was not well, I, promised her to provide her one the next day. But she was adamant to had one. At that time I saw a rag picker passing us. I all of a sudden told my daughter in Bishnupriya Manipuri language: “ archa bosta alla go, chips khaeile doriya niya jitoiga ”( look a rag picker, if you have chips he will take you along with him). Though my daughter cannot speak our language but she understands it very well. So, those words were enough to stop her. The rag picker was of medium height of age around 35-40 years. His complexion was whitish yet he looked dark because of dart all over him. He wore a torn out black and white stripped trouser and a brown sweater and torn out canvas shoe put by de...

I failed to stop myself jotting down my instant feelings when my eyes saw the first uploaded videos of Bishnupriya Manipuri in the Google’s You Tube . I was happy literally like a child. Like the Bishnupriya Manipuri Language page in the Wikipedia.org , presence of our community in this Broadcast Yourself site is of great importance. Now we are not only available in the internet in the form of text but in the form of vedios. Those who are interested in our community, can now have the options to understand the Bishnupriya Manipuri community much better and in much better medium. It will definitely give a new insight in the understanding of the community. The credit of uploading the first Bishnupriya Manipuri vedios in the You Tube goes to Mr. Uttam Singha. I don’t know about others how they are taking the news, but in personal front I am feeling proud of him. Speaking the truth, it was in my mind to upload something related to Bishnupriya Manipuri in the You Tube. But anyway I am feeli...

By Ranita Sinha, Kolkata, India Khuttei (towel) can rightly be denoted as the trademark of a Bishnupriya Manipuri. It is an inseparable part of a Bishnupriya Manipuri house. It has a distinctive feature of its own. The texture of a Bishnupriya Manipuri house is not complete without a khuttei put in the courtyard to dry in the sun. Khutteis are mainly used by the male members of the Bishnupriya Manipuri family to wrap around as a dhoti or lungi at home. It is also used by the male and female lot to dry their body and hair. It is very convenient to use as it is very light and does not take time to dry. Khutteis in earlier days were weaved at every Bishnupriya Manipuri house by the female members for their own use. At present, as khutteis are available in the market; many houses have stopped weaving at home and soon this custom of weaving khutteis is loosing its popularity. But for many it has become the source of income. As our khutteis are convenient to use, it is in demand not...

WORD OF THE DAY: boisterous - wild and noisy The dressing room atmosphere became boisterous with the arrival of the team manager. WRONG TO CORRECT : WRONG : I don't understand how she could treat him so bad. CORRECT : I don't understand how she could treat him so badly. GRAMMAR : When we want to say “how”, we normally use an adverb. Most adverbs end in “ly”.

By Ranita Sinha, Kolkata Sri Kunjo Singha Sri Kunjo Singha, one of the renowned names in the field of Bishnupriya Manipuri dance, is one of the most dazzling and talented disciple of Guru Bipin Singh. He is a very renowned teacher of Manipuri dance and drum dancing, and has reached the peaks and heights of it. Born on 31st Dec 1951, Kunjo Singha was the youngest amongst five siblings - one sister and four brothers. As he lost his father Late Shri Sangam Singha and mother Late Smt. Tambi Devi at an early age, he could not continue his studies and thought of mastering in the art of Lathi Khela. But Pandit Vijay Mukherjee ( Rashdari) asked Sri Kunjo Singha to get training of Manipuri Dance and thus he started his initial training from Pandit Vijay Mukherjee. Once Guru Bipin Singh, on one of his usual visit to his village (Singari) asked Shri Bangshi Singha ( Dakula ) to arrange a Bishnupriya Manipuri boy to accompany him to Manipur, who would help him in his daily chores...

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...