Religion - Friend or Foe
- Shantidas Goshai to Pamheiba -

By Dessert Leelee *

Religion has always been a subject in the hands of the kings and rulers and not a personal choice. If we look in the history of any part of the world, religion has always been enforced on the masses whether the masses liked it or not.

Not surprisingly enough Christianity,a religion primarily from the middle east has become the supreme religion in the western world thanks to the Roman emperor Constantine and his dream. ( Link here )

Buddhism an original religion from India becoming the main religion in China, Japan, Korea and other South Asian countries. Islam despite its Middle Eastern origin becoming a major religion in Africa and South Asian countries.

Despite difference in the language and the customs, all these religion have been accepted in all these different countries as they were enforced by the respective rulers.

If we start to question the purity and sanctity of these Christians, Muslims and Buddhists asking them that they are not true Christians, Muslims or Buddhists as they were forcibly converted in the past, imagine the level of chaos and doom it will create.

A friend once told me about a Norwegian man complaining about how they were converted by the British to Christianity, not realizing the fact that the British themselves were converted into Christianity by the Romans and the Romans were converts themselves!! All in all creating a funny situation but worth introspecting.

It is almost certain that Shantidas or Gopaldas or whoever Das it may be were converted into Hinduism themselves from their early Pre-Aryan Faith. Judging from the name and the place he came from, he couldnot have been an Aryan. Most of Bengal, Orissa, Assam and Tripura were formed by migrants and mixture of Mon-Khmers (Cambodia), Austroid, Dravidoid, Mongoloid and occasional mixture of Indo- Aryans.

The first generation of conversion may well feel aggrieved at the conversion itself but the next generation has every right to feel as the true one as he/she is a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindus by virtue of birth and not by choice.

The question of Hinduism is not as straight forward as it is being put up. Hinduism has its own allegations of being a racist Aryan centric religion where most Dravidians and Mongoloids are seen as Asura (hingchaba and hingchabi).

"The alleged continuous aryanization process targeted at destroying the pre aryan concepts and gods like Mahadeva Kali etc by destroying all temples and disciples of the faith.When unsuccessful they converted Mahadeva and other GODs as an Aryan GOD".

Mahadeva is a Mongoloid God ! ( 'Mahadeva', the phallic god of Tantrism (to be distinguished from the black Dravido-Kolarian Shiva), is based on a Bon 'Great God' of the mountains. His home is in the Himalayas, hence North Mongoloid .

Mount Kailash, 'Mahadeva's Home', is obviously in the Himalayas, near Lake Mansarovar. Hence, the home of the supreme Tantric God is itself located in Tibet; another clear indication of its origins). Link here

So was Gautam Buddha a Mongoloid king (incarnate)!

History will tell us how Manipur could easily have been a Muslim nation. As we know Garib Nawaz ( same as Nawaz in Nawaz Sharif) is a Muslim name. A title given to him by Muslim Emmissaries and Ambassadors from the Muslim rulers of India.

So is the title of Borot Sai, Chit Sai his followers to the throne. Sai is a corrupted pronounciation of SHAH a title given to Muslim Rulers ( such as Shah Jahan...etc).

The socio political circumstances are usually the most important reasons for changing a religion for a nation. It will be quite illogical to assume a King as powerful and intelligent as Pamheiba to be outwitted and forced into an Alien Religion by a 30 something missionary like Shanti Das Goswami or is it Adhikari (name sounds like an Assamese though he came from Sylhet in present day Bangladesh).

There is absolutely no reason to idolise or demonise an ordinary missionary .. he was just one of thousands of missionary who came to Manipur. As per the information gathered from our forefathers, Manipur was at a turmoil when Pamheiba came to the throne.

The society was a divided lot from all angles be it religion, culture or social norms. Even though called as Meiteis, the Moirangs, the Angoms, the Luwangs, Lois, the Keis felt isolated and.. did not feel themselves as true Meiteis .

It is alleged that Meieteis of those times were dominated literally by the Mangangs Ningthouja and Poirei descendents and even today most of the manuscripts available are about the Poireis, the Mangangs Ningthouja clans. The famous Cheitharo Kumbaba is basically supposed to be a record of the Mangnag Ningthouja clans.

If we go into the conflicts on socio-political and religious conflicts among these clans that will open another pandora's box. The rampant use of tantric and Black magic and superstitious beleifs were impediments to the unity and progress of the society so also the hygiene and living conditions.

The superstitious terror of the pre-pamheiba era clearly had much impact on all of us. The mystery of churaanthaba one of many such beliefs where human life (especially children) is sacrificed in the construction of bridges to appease gods for the smooth construction of bridges.

It is a traditional belief that Churaanthabas are group of people sent by people in search of child lifting. If the churaanthabas were not successful in getting a child, the punishments were so severe, they even have to sacrifice their own children giving rise to the saying "churaanthabana machaa haatlee".

Theres is no doubt as accepted even by the British, Pamheiba was a great reformer even though he hurt the sentiments of most Manipuris by forcibly converting to Hinduism and burning the "sacred puyas".

Before that Hinduism was strictly confined to the Royal family. There could well have been a trigger or Ee Haigatlakpa moment or a dream in King Pamheiba's thought process which made him burn the valuable puyas in addition to exhuming the remains of his forefathers and cremating them at the banks of Ningthi Turel.

The eventual conversion was greeted with huge resistance which led to the emergence of a "unique Hinduism" much different from the one practiced anywhere else in the world, followed by the inevitable natural instincts of temptations of greed in the minds of the Brahmins and the administrators of the new religion, many of which succumbing to it giving rise to the growing hatred against those in power.

Despite the setbacks and irrepairable damage and dectructions caused by the conversion, King Pamheiba managed to unite and create a new social reformation to some extent. Indeed Pamheiba could easily be considered as a complete Manipuri in today's context as he is alleged to be a Thangal Naga (if Thangal legends are to be believed also the reason why he was dressed as a Naga in his coronation?
* TC Hodson "The Meitheis", p-80.

In the famous prophecy of all "the wonder that would be" that was made to Khagenba, Pamheiba is given to the King Charairomba by the Khullakpa of Thangal - a Naga village in the north. Link here

A Muslim name (Garib Nawaz : garib-poor , nawaz-benefactor) with Hindu beliefs worshipping Sanamahi. He was probably the most influential king who ordered everyone including bamons to worship Sanamahi. Even today every family including those of bamons have a Sanamahi kachin.

Blunders committed in the past are no excuses for directing our anger towards a particular section of society who didn't have much role to play apart from obeying the orders of the powerful rulers.

Raising issues regarding religion is a very tricky task indeed and whoever raises the question should be careful enough not to hurt the sentiments of fellow manipuris and to respect the social fabric of the society.

As we all know our society is in an extremely volatile and inflammatory state and any provocations can trigger huge implosions which can ruin the social fabric of the society for good.

For everlasting peace
Long Live Manipur