Frantic and desperate measures aimed at obliterating traditional Meetei faith included not only persecution of those who opposed conversion but blatant attempts to destroy and efface the shrines of the traditional deities or Umang lais.

An instance is the destruction of nine Umang lais and their shrines by an official dictat in 1723. Calculative moves by the King's new preceptor Shanta Das resulted in widespread vandalism and destruction of the Umang lais.

In 1726, the Cheitharol Kumbaba mentions further large scale destruction of sacred Umang lai shrines. Razed to the ground the ashes were buried in the newly built Hanuman temple near the Palace.

In 1724, the King ordered the opening of the tombs of former kings and members of the royal family. He exhumed the bones of his ancestors and cremated them on the banks of the Chindwin River popularly known as Ningthee River to the Manipuris.

The ashes were scattered in the river in vindication of the newly acquired Hindu faith. Considered a sacrilege by the Meeteis, the opening of the tombs agitated the people intensely.

However, the despotic ruler spared nothing to repress the swelling dissent. The Cheitharol Kumbaba records that cremation was introduced and made mandatory from that year.

Another frantic measure was the burning of books in Meetei script by Shanta Das and his Brahmin followers.

Manuscripts and texts in the indigenous script were confiscated and burnt in full public view in ceremony dubbed 'Puya Meithaba' or 'Puya Burning'.

Altogether, a total of 123 books in manuscripts were burnt on this occasion. [ 24 ]

Use of the indigenous script was banned with dire consequences for those who attempted to resist. It was to be replaced by the Bengali script.

Shanta Das went to the extent of composing an entirely different chronicle in Bengali known as Vijay Pancholi, which was a deliberate attempt to efface the history of the people.

It projected the land as the Manipur of the Hindu epic Mahabarata and traced the lineage and genealogy of the first king of Manipur to Chandrabhanu whose daughter Chitranganda was married to Arjuna, the Pandava archer.

Babrubahana was the son born of this wedlock. His son Yavistha was then identified with Nongda Lairen Pakhangba who first ascended the throne in Kangla in 33 AD.

Imported art forms like the Natya Sankirtan actively encouraged by the royal power gained popularity. Corruption in language became the order of the day as the elite and aristocratic class got increasing exposure to Indo-Aryan language like Sanskrit and Bengali.

With the restrictions on the practice of the indigenous faith and the widespread patronage to the newly imported alien faith, a sudden influence of literatures in the Indo-Aryan languages, especially Sanskrit and Bengali, was felt by the people. [ 25 ]

— to be continued