Manipur, the land of hoary antiquity with salubrious climate and healthy environs was once an independent Kingdom existing indomitably in the South-east Asia region.

She was indeed a Kingdom of her own, though significantly quite small in her geographical size but shining brilliantly like a "little jewel" in the region and once received the glorious Epithet - "a little Paradise on Earth and Switzerland in the East".

True, she had been a unique independent small kingdom for the last two-three thousand years with a people (the Tammis - the people of the valley and the Chingmis - the people of the Hills) once existing as an independent Nation which is defined as a people, the inhabitants of a specific territory, who share common a 'language', customs, origins and distinct 'History' of their own from the beginning of their existence.

Also it is defined as an "aggregation of people" organised under a single Government of an independent country. It also primarily signifies a Political Body rather than a physical territory under one independent (Sovereign) Government without close regard for their origins.

A people again means a group of tribes, clans or communities united over a long period by a "common language", culture and social ties and, a country means the territory (irrespective of size) of such an independent group of peoples, the nation.

According to the finding of some learned historians, the kingdom of erstwhile Manipur had two political nuclei, the first one was known as Kabow valley Manipur, and the second one as the Upper Iril valley Manipur.

The Kabow valley Manipur is said to have been established by one Abhi Raja, a Sakya king who probably came from Kapilavastu through Arakan Pass in the second century BC and the second political nuclei, the Upper Iril valley Manipur was established by one Poireiton, the younger brother of Thongaren, chief of a group of Himalayan Chakha (Sakya) tribes who ruled in Khamnung Sawa situated near the tri-junction of Tibet, Assam and Burma (now Myanmar), and who with a great horde migrated from far-away places of Southern China during the period of the beginning of the Christian era.

Thus the earliest settlers of the Kabow valley Manipur were the Sakyas and also the Moriyas who joined them later and who under their rulers, particularly one Moriya Phamballacha later on shifted his capital towards the north-west in the eastern part of the Khuga valley in the Imphal Plateau. The Moriya principality, also known as the Kege principality of the Keges (earlier known as Khekhes who later on merged with the Moirangs) preserved the culture and civilisation of the ancient kingdom of Manipur.

The settlers of the Imphal Plateau or the Iril valley Manipur and its surrounding hills were the different groups of people of the Himalayan Mongoloid groups, namely the Tibeto-Burmans, the neo-Burmese, the neo-Tibetans and Austro-Asiatic origins from whom sprang out the indigenous seven clans of the Meiteis of the valley and all of their -Cognate (related by blood, having a common ancestor, especially a maternal one) Tribes of the Hills, namely the Tangkhuls in the east, the Mao-Marams (the Mahuis) in the north, the Kabuis (now preferred to be called Zeliangrongs to indicate its composition by three sub-tribes, the Zemis, the Longmeis and the Rongmeis) in the west, the Funans-Marings-Khoibus in the South-east, the Chothes, the Chirus, the Koms, the Koirengs, the Hmars, the Mizos etc. in the south-west and the Anals, the Aimols, the Taraos, Moyol-Monsangs etc on the south and also all the Kuki groups of people who settled in all the hills.

All these groups of people migrated to the virgin land in different hordes and at different times from the North-east and South-west directions and settled initially under their own different principalities but later on united and formed an independent Kingdom, particularly from the time of the reign of Nongda Lairen Pakhangba (Javista) in 33 AD under his dynamic and able leadership.



— to be continued