On the 200th Anniversary of M.K. Binodini Devi
L. Somi Roy *
Student edition of Boro Saheb Sanatombi in Meitei Mayek
Will there be an observance of the bicentenary of the writer who wrote as Binodini in 3022?
This question intrigued me while working on publishing this student edition of Boro Saheb Sanatombi in Meitei Mayek for my mother M.K. Binodini Devi's centenary this year.
Who will read, remember, or commemorate her a hundred years from now? Will Meiteilon be even spoken then, and by whom? Will there be Manipuri books, and what script will they be in, I also wonder.
For linguists estimate that half the 7000-odd languages in the world today will disappear by 2050, a mere thirty years from now.
Will Meiteilon be one of the survivors? Maybe, for Manipuri, to use its exonym, is a high resource language today, with half a dozen books published every month, a dozen or so newspapers, film and television, popular culture forms, and social media.
But in the following 50 years after that? I feel the question is wide open, with the ever-increasing globalization, digital communication technologies, social and geographical mobility, and intermarriage that we see today.
This edition of Boro Saheb Ongbi Sanatombi is the fifth in a series in Meitei Mayek of works by MK Binodini Devi. It follows Crimson Rainclouds (two language, three script publication of Asangba Nongjabi from Thema Books in 2012), Isei Binodinigi (Songs of Binodini, 2014, in Bangla and Meitei Mayek scripts), Churachand Maharajgi Imung (The Maharaja's Household, 2021), and Wari Macha Binodinigi (The Collected Short Stories of Binodini, 2022).
These Imasi Publications from Imasi Foundation - as well as Thema Books' publication - are by way of fulfilling one of the foundation's key missions: that of bringing Binodini's works to the reading public and keeping them in print.
In bringing out these special student editions of Binodini's works in their original Meiteilon in the revived Meitei Mayek, Imasi Foundation's objective is to bring her literature to Manipur's younger generations. For it is up to them and generations after them whether the writer Binodini will be read and remembered a hundred years from now.
The Meitei Mayek editions of Wari Macha Binodinigi and Boro Saheb Ongbi Sanatombi are available at
Ukiyo Bookstore on Sega Road,
The Readers Bookstore at Manipur University,
and for home delivery @keithelexpress.
See a photo slideshow on Jalakeli Offering at at Sri Sri Govindajiu Temple here
L. Somi Roy
Imasi: The Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi Foundation
imasifoundationarchive(AT)gmail(DOT)com
[email protected]
www.imasi.org
* L. Somi Roy wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer is with Imasi: The Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi Foundation
and can be contacted at imasifoundationarchive(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This Press Release was posted on 17 May 2022
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