The uneasy tussle between Hinduism and the traditional Meetei religion persisted even as Garibniwaz emerged successful in converting majority of the people in the valley.

Resistance and opposition to Hinduism erupted in an unprecedented fashion with the assassination of Garibniwaz and Shanta Das in 1748 by a person non other than the King's own son Chit Sai.

As he grew old Garibniwaz retired as a sanyasi abdicating the throne in favour of Chit Sai, a son from his third marriage.

Chit Sai tried to expunge Hinduism from Manipur but he was short lived.

Much as the new religion gained ground, court intrigue and conspiracies associated with the ruling class, who had by now become staunch supporter of Hinduism, were against Chit Sai's attempts to restore the traditional Meetei faith.

His act of committing parricide was used meticulously to fan hatred and opposition against him. A powerful alliance of feudal lords and some members of the royal family succeeded in dethroning him and sending him into exile.

His exile marked the steady consolidation of Hinduism in Manipur.

Apart from historical importance of this clash between the indigenous Meetei faith and the alien Hindu faith, the nature of its impact on the collective experience of the people and its culture needs careful scrutiny.

It was essentially an encounter between two pre-modern, traditional worldviews An uneasy synthesis gradually emerged which lead western scholars like T.C. Hodson comment that Hinduism exist in Manipur solely in its esoteric form without its subtle metaphysical doctrine.[ 31 ]

It is perhaps natural to attribute the modern generation's quest for identity with the persisting tussle between Hinduism and the traditional Meetei faith.

Emerging debates in the arena of cultural studies underscore duality as a distinct feature of the existing Meetei cultural identity.

This duality is moulded by the continuous interplay of two forces -------- the forces of Hinduization on one hand and the indigenization on the other. [ 32 ]

Located at the level of discourse, the two different ontological experiences are woven together in a site simmering with tension arising out of a deep seated contestation.

Articulating in different languages or practices, the two paradoxically represents a riven terrain in contemporary Manipuri society.

It has been succinctly argued that the Hindu discourse articulates in a language placing itself in the 'great tradition' of the mainstream Indian Sanskritic culture while the traditional Meetei discourse reinforces rootedness in the pre-Hinduised state drawing its strength in oral history, written chronicles, native categories of thought and popular belief.

— Concluded