TODAY -

E-Pao! Opinion - Meetei Mayek and Unicode

Meetei Mayek and Unicode
- Making the Script Immortal -

By: Tabish Qureshi *



Meetei Mayek, the indigenous script of Manipur, has a history which makes an interesting subject both for a linguist and a historian. The destruction of the script by burning all the documents in the early 18th century and its resurrection, almost from the ashes, hundreds of years later, reminds one of the mythical bird phoenix which is supposedly consumed by fire, and then rises again from its ashes.

Meetei Mayek is back, and has been given its due place. However, one might surmise if the script is hundred percent safe today. What if some whimsical tyrant comes to power and decides to destroy the script again? Well, I will argue that in this era of new technology and digital information, it is practically impossible to carry out such a destruction.

Computers store everything as numbers - whether you write a story or type in a long proof of a mathematical theorem, the computer stores everything as just numbers. So, a research paper by Einstein or the epic of Khamba-Thoibi, are all stored as a sequence of numbers in a "file" in a computer. The computers in turn store these numbers on some storage devices like hard-disks, CDs, DVDs, floppies and now pendrives.

DVDs and pendrives are portable media, each of which can store several gigabytes of data. To give you an idea of how much space a fat book occupies, the whole Bible occupies only 4-5 megabytes (MB) of data. And one gigabyte is about a thousand MB! So, one can imagine that a tiny pendrive or a DVD can store thousands of books the size of the Bible.

Now, imagine if in the time of king Pamheiba, the technology were as advanced as today. People could have stored all the puyas that were ever written, on a single DVD or on a tiny pendrive, the size of a fountain pen cap! People could compress files of a puya and email it to some account in some other country.

The historical and holy text that was mindlessly destroyed by burning the puyas, could easily have been sent to "safe" places, where Pamheiba's rule did not hold In a matter of seconds, a thousand copies of a puya could be cloned. In such a situation, it would be humanly impossible for someone to erase every trace of a manuscript.

This would have been the scenario, had this technology been around at that time. Sadly, it did not exist then. However, this technology is around now and it is up to us to make the best use of it, in spreading the script, using the script, and popularizing it.

To popularize the script we don't need any library burning fanatics - we only need the internet, computers, and the power of digital media. We don't even need as many teachers, the online tutor programs can easily teach Meetei Mayek to anyone interested. One only has to be interested

The hotch potch of character maps

Now-a-days one can use Meetei Mayek on computers after installing appropriate software. So, have we done everything that needs to be done? The answer is no, and I will explain that in a moment. Those who visit E-pao site regularly must have frequently seen lines like the following:

Meitei Mayek Poem :: fHgd_ra samNyada



A newcomer wonders what it is, but a computer geek informs him that he doesn't have the right font installed on his computer. And if that it done, these strange words will actually be displayed as Meetei Mayek. Why does this happen? This happens for the following reason.

Computers store alphabets as numbers - so, there are certain numbers associated with the Roman letters A, B, C, D etc. The Meetei Mayek font provided by E-Pao maps the Meetei Mayek characters to the same numbers that are used by Roman letters. So, a newcomer who doesn't know that this text is to be viewed with E-Pao's font, sees some gibberish text.

The problem is made worse by the fact that there is not just one Meetei Mayek font, there are several, and each has its own mapping of characters. So, a document written in Meetei Mayek using one particular font, will appear as gibberish if seen using some other Meetei Mayek font.

So, as things stand now, if a document is typed in Meetei Mayek and sent by email to somebody else, he/she cannot make any sense out of it. So, the gigabytes of stored documents may just appear to be garbage. What one person writes cannot be easily understood by another - this is not a healthy scenario in this era of information technology.

The Unicode standard

So, is there a solution to this mess? Yes, the answer is Unicode (www.Unicode.org) which is becoming the de-facto standard for storing text in computers. Unicode provides a unique number for every character, no matter what the platform, no matter what the program, no matter what the language.

Once the Unicode standard is adopted, each character will be unique, it will not be replaced by mistake by any other character. A document typed using Unicode standard, will be understandable by everybody, without any ambiguity. Unicode aims to assign a unique number to every characater of every script that exists in the world.

Even the scripts which have died out, and are no longer in use, will be included in the Unicode standard. This will make storing of old documents in old scripts possible.

The Unicode Standard has been adopted by such industry leaders as Apple, HP, IBM, JustSystem, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Sun, Sybase, Unisys and many others. It is supported in all modern computer operating systems like Linux, Windows XP and MacOSX.

Most scripts of India, like Devanagari, Tamil, Malayalam, Urdu, Bengali, have already been included in Unicode. Now comes the million dollar question - has Meetei Mayek been included in the Unicode standard? The answer is, not yet.

However, the process is under way. The task of preparing a draft for assigning the numbers to Meetei Mayek characters is being coordinated by Michael Everson of Ireland, who is an expert in the writing systems of the world, in consultation with learned persons, and scholars who have done research on the script, both Manipuris and non-Manipuris.

The draft proposal for encoding of Meetei Mayek has been finalized and sent to the review board of Script Encoding Initiative (SEI). The SEI, established in the UC Berkeley Department of Linguistics, is a project devoted to the preparation of formal proposals for the encoding of scripts not yet currently supported in Unicode. So, everything is in the pipeline now, and it is only a matter of time before Meetei Mayek will become part of the Unicode standard.

One might wonder what difference it will make to a layperson when that happens. Once it happens, the computer you buy, which comes preloaded with Windows or Linux, will already have Unicode compatible fonts, capable of displaying Meetei Mayek characters, installed.

You will be easily able to type documents, send emails and chat in Meetei Mayek. And the documents you type and the websites you make in Meetei Mayek, will not appear as gibberish to others - they will appear faithfully as Meetei Mayek.

Which form of Meetei Mayek?

We all know that the controversy regarding which form of Meetei Mayek should be used, has not died out completely. The two camps have their own reasons to promote 27- or the 35-letter form.

One might feel apprehensive about which form of the script Unicode is going to adopt, and whether that will be the right thing to do. Well, the experts who discussed this aspect came to the conclusion that it will be best to include all the characters from all the forms of the script, in Unicode.

This will leave room for using any form of Meetei Mayek in the future. For example, if the currently adopted 27-letter form continues in the future, it will be fully Unicode compatible, and yet if there exist some old manuscripts, which were written in the 35-letter form, they can also be typed and stored using the Unicode standard, by using the extra characters encoded in Unicode. Encoding certain characters in Unicode doesn't mean that people have to use them - they can use those characters if they want to.


Figure 1: A schematic representation of the codespace. The code blocks for a few scripts have been indicated.



A wee bit of techincal stuff

Now that we have come this far in the discussion, we might as well take a peek at what this coding looks like.

The character codes are basically sequences of four hexadecimal numbers, prefixed with a "U+". Hexadecimal numbers are 16 in number (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F). Code elements are grouped logically throughout the range of code points, called the codespace.
Figure 2: The proposed chart of Unicode characters for Meetei Mayek.
The coding starts at U+0000 with the standard ASCII characters, and continues with Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Indic and other scripts; then followed by symbols and punctuation. Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of the codespace.

In the codespace chart in figure 1, the fourth number of the code-sequences has been suppressed. For example, the single upper left blue box represents numbers U+0000 to U+000F. One can see blocks of numbers representing various scripts. The numbers U+1C80 to U+1CCF have been reserved for Meetei Mayek.

The chart of Meetei Mayek characters proposed for Unicode is displayed in figure 2. It displays three numbers of the sequence as the column number, and the fourth as the row number. Thus, for example, "kok" will be assigned the code U+1C85 and "til" will be assigned the code U+1C94.

At this point the reader might have the feeling that this Unicode thing looks too complicated and how will simple users cope with it. The answer to that is that all this coding remains in the background and the user doesn't have to bother with it.

For example, for typing "kok" the user wouldn't have to use some complicated method of typing the code U+1C85. The software will take care of how the user types.

For example, while using a word-processor, one may just have to select the script "Meetei Mayek" from a menu, and then just press "k" to type a "kok". The word-processor will take care of translating the "k" to the Unicode character code corresponding to "kok".


* Tabish Qureshi contributes regularly to e-pao.net . The author can be reached by email at: tabish(AT)jamia-physics.net . This article was webcasted on January 06th, 2007.


* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.


LATEST IN E-PAO.NET
  • Konung Kang Chingba #1 : Gallery
  • Violence in Manipur 2023-2025 : Timeline
  • Manipur Iskcon's 25th Ratha Yatra 2025
  • Native Threshing machine made for farmers
  • COVID-19: Update 04 July 2025 : Manipur
  • Riso Ejang: Youth-led Transformation
  • Include males too in addressing HPV
  • Whispers from the past :: Poem
  • LPU opens permanent outreach centre
  • Raj Bhavan moving on the right track
  • Speculations over PM Modi's visit to state
  • Colonial Knowledge Production in NE #7
  • Make Yourself Visible to Opportunity
  • Orange bowl: tradition with ecological wisdom
  • 10 ways to keep a kitchen garden disease free
  • Between PR, military mandates & AFSPA
  • Allocation fund for MLALAD Fund during PR
  • Denounces Killing of KNA Deputy C-in-C
  • COVID-19: Update 03 July 2025 : Manipur
  • Cases of fake Aadhaar cards
  • Sincere dealing must for stricter Aadhaar
  • Archaeology: Culture of Manipur : Booklet
  • Wanna be a singer? Get Botox
  • A Central institute in Manipur
  • Nagging in the name of love
  • COVID-19: Update 02 July 2025 : Manipur
  • 'Benefits' of Indira's Emergency
  • Social Stigma :: Poem
  • Inking a peace pact: Why, how: SoO quagmire
  • Van Mahotsav under shadow of declining forest
  • 11th Th Kishan Memorial Lecture : Gallery
  • Shinthoibi, Jangvei, Tamphaton : eMing
  • Manipur crisis & the Left media's blind spot
  • COVID-19: Update 01 July 2025 : Manipur
  • Bombom RK : Musclemania Universe NYC
  • The Grief :: Poem
  • Music Concert & Quiz (MCQ) 2.0
  • SoO agreement unlikely to be scrapped
  • Regulating use of plastic carry bags
  • Mera Houchongba @Kangla #4 : Gallery
  • International Day of Yoga @JNMDA : Gallery
  • BD Behring: The inimitable Gentleman I knew
  • Violence in the name of patriotism : Misguided
  • Daily oral vs long-acting injectable for HIV
  • COVID-19: Update 30 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Smile :: Poem
  • Why was President's Rule imposed ?
  • BJP under pressure to forge unity
  • Kang @Leikai in Imphal : Gallery
  • July Calendar for Year 2025 : Tools
  • COVID-19 : A recurring crisis in Manipur
  • DC Kaith and Forestry in Manipur : Book
  • COVID-19: Update 29 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Longing for Peace :: Poem
  • Black badge, slogan protest by peeved scribes
  • Present the true picture before Delhi
  • Pung-Cholom @ Polo Tournament : Gallery
  • Life: A Journey Through Thought & Being
  • Khongjai Hills & Kuki claim to indigeneity
  • Master Time by Managing Information
  • COVID-19: Update 28 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Pride & patriotism in CCpur's army families
  • The Power of Poppy - 87 :: Poem
  • World Decarbonisation Day: green environment
  • Welcome Home - Nganthoi #2 : Gallery
  • Loss of two precious lives from Manipur
  • Balancing civil liberties with public safety
  • COVID-19: Update 27 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Gender equality & human rights are indivisible
  • Stay hydrated this summer season
  • Silent Half of the Sun :: Poem
  • Connecting the dots in the wishlist
  • Assembly record tampering claims by ex-CM
  • The immortal legacy of Pukhramba Kajao
  • International Day against Drug Abuse 2025
  • COVID-19: Update 26 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Black pottery from Ukhrul - tribal heritage
  • Program on "Mission-Drug Free Campus"
  • Play makes a better world
  • Urgent Appeal to the Honourable MLAs
  • Tribal Empowerment Campaign at CCpur
  • Talk doing the round: PM to come
  • 'Emergency' relief for under-fire BJP
  • Golden Jubilee Art Fair @Imphal : Gallery
  • Declaration: Meetei People Convention, Delhi
  • A Flower Among the Rocks :: Review
  • Book Donation Campaign
  • Improved road connectivity boosts livelihoods
  • To Have Great Dreams :: Poem
  • COVID-19: Update 25 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Regret vs Sorry: Technical & moral insight
  • Cocktail of inept Govt, selfish people
  • State trailing others in cleanliness
  • Colonial Knowledge in NE India #6
  • UHI effect & rising temperatures in Manipur
  • Frequent road blockades cripple economy
  • COVID-19: Update 24 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Unite Health with Community health services
  • NSU, Imphal, tops IIRF Ranking 2025
  • Endless conflict :: Poem
  • Pak nobel pish prize for Trump
  • May 3, 2023 - June 24, 2025: Failure of Delhi
  • Hotter days, sudden rainfall no more a rarity
  • "The Great June Uprising" #2 : Gallery
  • How to Build a Career, Lead with Purpose
  • 2nd Foundation Day- Karnataka Meitei Assn
  • COVID-19: Update 23 June 2025 : Manipur
  • NSCN-IM Amnesty threatens to isolate it
  • Sunset :: Poem
  • Intl Yoga Day for a healthier environment
  • Of clogged drains and plastics
  • Poor roads testify Govt indifference
  • Welcome Home - Nganthoi #1 : Gallery
  • The Silent Erosion of Manipuri Language
  • Design health services around people
  • Serene Hills Host Inspiring Int'l Yoga Day
  • COVID-19: Update 22 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Chopper services between Senapati & Imphal
  • High Court Judges interacted with convicts
  • Redyeing the Fabric :: Poem
  • Differences yet to be resolved stand
  • Border fencing rage as solution eludes
  • Radio E-pao: 14 new songs updated
  • Climate Adaptive Agroforestry
  • Manipur overlooked demographic shifts
  • Young designers shine on Fashion Stage
  • COVID-19: Update 21 June 2025 : Manipur
  • International Day of Yoga at Lamphelpat
  • International Day of Yoga at JNMDA
  • The Power of Poppy - 86 :: Poem
  • Keishampat Lairembi Haraoba #1 : Gallery
  • Crisis in Manipur's Contemporary Education
  • Best 8 Performances in Manipuri Cinema
  • Identity: Caught between China & India ?
  • COVID-19: Update 20 June 2025 : Manipur
  • To The Father Who Listens :: Poem
  • How does net suspension affect youths ?
  • Targeting farmers to cripple state's economy
  • The virus is back and spreading
  • Who is afraid of Manipur ?
  • A threatened lily growing at Shirui Hills
  • World Environment Day in Manipur : Gallery
  • Ambubachi Mela at Maa Kamakhya
  • COVID-19: Update 19 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Dolls made from repurposed vegetable refuse
  • Condemns Attack on Farmer & Killing
  • Abhorrent politics of SoO
  • Police arrogance on harmless drivers
  • "The Great June Uprising" #1 : Gallery
  • Solution from Buddhist & Jain perspectives
  • AI sparks employment concerns in Manipur
  • Greatest Foe :: Poem
  • Chief Justice at Relief Camp, Kangpokpi
  • Call for Recognition of a 3rd Category of IDPs
  • Jun 18, 2001- May 3, 2023: Seed of violence
  • Contract scam in hill districts
  • Colonial Knowledge in NE India #5
  • Spaced Out - Panthung Di Kadaaida! : Rvw
  • Condemns the Killing of Abdul Qadir
  • COVID-19: Update 17 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Thoubal aspirant makes Manipur proud
  • Tamenglong hospital brings quality healthcare
  • Chief Justice at Relief Camp, Mayang Imphal
  • Kuki CM & Sixth Schedule
  • Selective protests, selective silence
  • Nailing the culprits need of the hour
  • UK Meetei diaspora run for Myanmar : Gallery
  • Erwin Khundrakpam : NEET-UG 2025 topper
  • Will we rise to #endAIDS challenge or stumble
  • COVID-19: Update 16 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Appeal to Prime Minister: Manipur Crisis
  • Urges Action on Misinformation
  • Condolences : 2 young cabin crew
  • Grateful To Be Alive :: Poem
  • Making bonfire on the roads
  • Aggression yet again, inspite of playing victim
  • Aftermath of flooding @ Khurai #2 : Gallery
  • Zomia, geopolitics, & the struggle for unity
  • COVID-19: Update 15 June 2025 : Manipur
  • Condolences : Demise of 2 Manipuri Girls
  • Manipur unites in grief after Air India tragedy
  • Hail arms recovery as step toward peace
  • Cleanliness Drive at JNIMS Campus
  • Global Wind Day for a clean environment
  • First came the rain, then the heat
  • Rise in Covid-19 cases
  • Thang-Ta Day @Khuman Lampak #3 : Gallery
  • Meetei diaspora in UK runs for Myanmar victim
  • Manipur empower children with disabilities
  • COVID-19: Update 14 June 2025 : Manipur
  • World Blood Donor Day 2025
  • The Power of Poppy - 85 :: Poem
  • A Northeast Gin Makes Its Mark
  • Mera Houchongba @Kangla #3 : Gallery
  • Saluting Nganthoi, Lamnunthem : Joining hand
  • Condolence : Nganthoi & Lamnunthem
  • 50 years of Pebet #2 : Gallery
  • Indo-Naga Talks (From 2012) :: Timeline
  • Colonial Knowledge in NE India #4
  • Namphake Monastery @ Dibrugarh : Gallery
  • Protest @Checkon -AT arrest [Jun 9] : Gallery
  • Protests - AT arrest [Jun 8 night] : Gallery
  • Aftermath of flooding @ Khurai #1 : Gallery
  • /li>
  • Flooding at JNIMS Hospital #2 : Gallery
  • North East NSS Festival @ MU : Gallery
  • 27th Meira Paibi Numit : Gallery
  • Trump's tariff legacy & its global echo
  • Flooding at JNIMS Hospital #1 : Gallery
  • Flooding Imphal East [31 May] #3 : Gallery
  • Flooding Imphal East [31 May] #2 : Gallery
  • Flooding Imphal East [31 May] #1 : Gallery
  • S Nirupama @Miss Universe : Gallery
  • Protesters to Raj Bhavan [May 25]: Gallery
  • Human Chain @Airport road [May 26]: Gallery
  • Miss Shirui Pageant Contestant: Gallery
  • 48 hrs Bandh: protest security forces: Gallery
  • Protest Rally: Journalist harassment: Gallery
  • HSLC 2025: Full Result (Check Roll No)
  • HSLC 2025: Important Info & Grading System
  • HSLC 2025 : Compartmental candidates
  • HSLC 2025 : Comparative Statement
  • HSLC 2025 : Statistical Abstract
  • HSLC 2025 : District Pass Percentage
  • HSLC 2025 : Govt School Pass %
  • HSLC 2025 : Aided School Pass %
  • HSLC 2025 : Private School Pass %
  • People's Convention on 3rd May #2 : Gallery
  • Featured Front Page Photo 2025 #2: Gallery
  • Riya Khwairakpam : HSE Science Topper
  • Keisham Hannah : HSE Arts Topper
  • Warepam Lidia : HSE Commerce Topper
  • HSE 2025 Result : Science Full Result
  • HSE 2025 Result : Arts Full Result
  • HSE 2025 Result : Commerce Full Result
  • HSE 2025 Information / Abbreviation
  • HSE 2025 Topper : Science
  • HSE 2025 Topper : Arts
  • HSE 2025 Topper : Commerce
  • HSE 2025 : Pass Percentage
  • HSE 2025 : Result Abstract
  • HSE 2025 : Candidates with Highest Marks
  • Ougri Lirol :: Part 1 : Ooba Video
  • President's Rule in Manipur : 1967 - 2025
  • Downloadable Manipuri Calendar :: 2025
  • SPONSORED ADS