IMPHAL, Feb 4: Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network and India International Centre had jointly organized a panel discussion on Manipur – Past And Present and book launch of “Cheitharol Kumbaba: The Royal Chronicle Of Manipur” written by Nepram Bihari.
The event took place at Conference Room No 1, India International Centre, 40 Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi on January 30 last.
Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, member of Parliament, was the chief guest of the event while B G Verghese, renowned writer, chaired the event. Shri Pradyot Deb Burman, Head of Royal House of Tripura and Editor, The Northeast Today was the guest of honour. The panellists include Dr.Aparna Basu, professor, Delhi University(retired) and Ms Priyanka Thakur, lecturer, Delhi University.
The “Cheitharol Kumbaba: The Royal Chronicle of Manipur” is a monumental work covering the history of Manipur, right upto the modern period. Providing a detailed month-by-month record of the rule of no less than 76 kings, it is a formidable reference history of this colourful state, which continues to remain in turmoil. The subject covers every aspect of Manipur and throws much light on relation with neighbouring areas.
According to ON Shrivastava, former Governor, Nagaland & Manipur, “Dealing chronologically with the life, times and event during the reign of 76 kings-from lord Pakhangba (33 AD) to Maharajah Bodhchandra(1955 AD) it is by any standard an exhaustive compilation, replete with footnotes, glossary, references and agreements including the one between Maharaja Bodhchandra and government of India. The book fills a historic void and needs to be valued as integral to the continuing cultural freedom of our country. The author by translating Manipur’s history from the Meitei script into English has made almost 2000 years of developments in Manipur available to the global reader”.
B G Verghese, renowned writer who chaired the session and gave a welcome address and said that the Northeast India was rich in indigenous chronicles which dates back 2000 years back like the “Cheitharol Kumbaba” (Manipur), “Rajmala” (Tripura) etc. which were not taught as history as they should be. He suggested that eminent historians addressed the issue to the historical congress to start a discussion of Northeast history and let those books be brought forward.
Kapila Vatsyayan, member of Parliament, addressed that she was there to talk about Manipur and its importance. And added Manipur was an important state of India having rich tradition and culture. She talked about the bonfire of religious manuscript .And added that those were the records of Manipuri history and its religion and that eventually led Manipuri people to adopt Vaishnavism culture. She addressed that the work taken by Bihari was important to highlight the necessity of eminent scholars to find solutions and truth.
In his own words the author said, “With due obeisance to the Almighty on this important occasion of “Discussion of Past and Present of Manipur with book launch of “Cheitharol Kumbaba(the Royal Chronicle of Manipur)”, I consider myself supremely fortunate to make my dream a reality by launching a traditional history book. Thinking- past history of ancient people should be a lesson for the present generation and also for enabling people of other races could understand the culture, custom, foreign and internal development policy. This book is a record of past event dealing on political, economic, social revolution sectors, on foreign relation with neighbouring countries.”
Pradyot Manikya Deb Burman, Head of the Royal House of Tripura stated that the history of Northeast was very little known to the rest of the world but also within northeast India region. And called upon several Northeast states to start exploring history of their neighbours order to understand each other better. He said that Manipur was always been close to him since his grandmother was from Manipur.
Dr Aparna Basu, Lecturer, Delhi University(retired) addressed that “Cheitharol Kumbaba” was like a dairy of the then kings of Manipur for their achievements, politics, diplomacy and lifestyles which majorly emphasised on 18th , 19th and 20th century. She said that it would be a good source to know more about Manipur and its culture and tradition which was not much known to the rest of the world.
Priyanka Thakur said Manipur remained at the periphery of history and have not been discovered and discussed much. She said the main reason of it would be the lack of sources and the way the history of such area had been interpreted. She said that the book gave a new way to look at Manipur and its culture.
The event ended successfully with meaningful notes and views from the panel as well as from the participants. Most of the panel agreed that the history of Northeast India is till little known to mainland India as well as within the Northeast region itself and suggested that it is high time for north-eastern people to start including its history in shortened version in NCERT syllabus as it is lacking it as well as to start research and documentation of history of their neighboring states.