Fictitious history a bane for indigenes: COCOMI
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 11 2023:
Distorted and fictitious history, not based on facts and actual past, threatens indigenous identity and culture.
Intellectuals and people of Manipur should know and propagate history that is based on facts, said Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) .
In a statement it released to the media today, COCOMI said the recent speech of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a public function at Moirang on December 7 which drew connection between Mahabharata and the State of Manipur was misleading.
Speaking at the public event, the Home Minister had said that Arjun, one of the five brothers in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, had married a Manipuri woman and their son fought in the Mahabharata war.
While Mahabharata is a legendary epic of the Hindus, it has no connection whatsoever with Manipur.
Many historians had also concluded that the Mahabharata has no connection with the present day Manipur, COCOMI said.
Explaining, the committee said, there are more than 45 places in India which share names similar to Manipur.
While Vedavyasa's epic Mahabharata was written in Sanskrit in the 400 BCE - 400 CE, the present day Manipur did not have the same name.
The present day Manipur was given the name in 1762, it said.
"Vyasa Dev's Mahabharata is a religious book of the Hindus written in Sanskrit in 400 BCE - 400 CE containing 1.18 million words with 200,000 verses and 18 Parvas.
When the book was written, the present day Manipur did not have the same name.
The name Manipur was given only in 1762.Before this, she had different names...
At the time when the book was written, there were no other religions in Manipur other than the religion of the Meitei," COCOMI said.
It lamented that this distortion of history could have been avoided if historians and intellectuals in Manipur had not written fictitious history based solely on their personal imagination and make-believe fantasies.
It is high time, intellectuals and people of the State check such writings, COCOMI added.
The committee emphasised that for the sake of the future generation, intellectuals and historians should teach and propagate only history that is based on factual events of the past.
Future generations should not be taught distorted and fictitious history.
They should be taught history that is based on facts.
Visiting officials and persons from outside the State should also be taught and briefed only on factual history tc avoid confusion and misleading the public.
Only this would help preserve "our indigenous culture, identity and origin" said COCOMI.