The Six Royal Houses of the Ningthemchamayums of the Meiteis

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The "Ningthemchas", which means "Prince/Princess", and are known nowadays as “Rajkumar/Rajkumari” or “Maharajkumar/Maharajkumari”, are descendants of princes or kings that came from Pamheiba (1709 - 1748). "Shija" is another title for the princess (crowned/uncrowned) of the family.

The Ningthemchas are divided into six main houses, which are House of Karta, House of Nara Singh, Mantrimayum (House of Minister), Lourungpurelmayum (House of Chief Collector of Revenue), Urungpurelmayum (House of Chief Conservator of Forest), and Senapatimayum (House of Commander).

The other houses except for the House of Nara Singh are all extended royal families, while the ones belonging to the House of Nara Singh except for the relatives of the current king of Manipur are half-extended and half-immediate royal families. This is because the current king of Manipur and his blood siblings are the ruling descendants of King Nara Singh and are immediate royal family.

A Maharajkumar/Maharajkumari is the Ningthemcha title given to those whose father was a king if they are not heir to the throne. If the Ningthemchas descending from King Nara Singh are not Maharajkumar or Maharajkumari, then they are half-immediate and half-royal blood.

Whereas, Rajkumar or Rajkumari is the Ningthemcha title given to those who belong to the rest of the houses and to those belonging to the House of Nara Singh who are not Maharajkumars or Maharajkumaris.

ANCESTORS OF THE SIX ROYAL HOUSES: All of the Ningthemchas are descendants of King Pamheiba but each royal house has their distinct ancestor.

1. House of Karta – Descendants of King Bhagyachandra, the second son of Prince Shyam Sai, and a grandson of King Pamheiba.

2. House of Nara Singh – Descendants of King Nara Singh, the second son of King Bhadrasing and the second grandson of Prince Ngoubram Bir Sai, and a great-grandson of King Pamheiba.

3. Mantrimayum – Descendants of Prince Ananta Sai, a son of King Pamheiba who served as the Prime Minister of his nephew King Bhagyachandra.

4. Lourungpurelmayum – Descendants of Prince Haricharan Sai, a son of King Pamheiba. However the Lourungpurel department was held by three princes of King Pamheiba, i.e, Prince Haricharan Sai himself, Prince Durlabh Sai, and Prince Gadadhar Sai. Prince Haricharan Sai was the lower chief collector of revenue.

5. Urungpurelmayum – Descendants of Prince Satrughana Sai (aka Tolon Tomba).

6. Senapatimayum – Descendants of Prince Gadadhar Sai, who was the highest chief collector of revenue (Lourungpurel) among the two collectors of revenue. Prince Durlabh probably had no more descendants.

On another note, Some people belonging to the last four houses can also choose either their house name or Ningthemchamayum, or both, because the members of each house used their house name as their last name before they merged into the royal family when the first two houses were founded.

Some people also say that Ningthemchas are Indo-Aryan blood which cannot be true. Because Ningthemchas are descended from King Pamheiba and if we go back up further, we also descend from King Nongda Lairen Pakhangba.

This means that Ningthemchamayums are Mangang but not within the Mangang clan. This is because royalties were not given surnames, but when the population of Ningthemchas grew, we started using Rajkumar/Rajkumari or Maharajkumar/Maharajkumari . We were the last ones to be given surnames. Like us, Ningthemchas, most of, if not, all the surnames of the Mangang clan are descended from the Ningthouja royal lineage, i.e, descendants of King Nongda Lairen Pakhangba, as per the Sagei Salairol book." 

Some say that Pamheiba was the son of Vishnu Gousammi and Nungthilchaibi, which is also a lie. Charairongba was her father who one day, went to collect the tribute from the Chothe village. He saw the beautiful Nungthil Chaibi and brought her to the royal palace.

She then gave birth to Pamheiba later but she had to hide it because there was a rule that children born from the other wives of the king except for the Rani are to be killed. Nungthil Chaibi did not inform Charairongba about the birth of Pamheiba, however, she realised that the other queens had not given birth.

So, she brought Pamheiba back to the palace and he later became king. The narrative that Vishnu Gousammi was the father of Pamheiba and that she stayed in the residence of Nungthil Chaibi when she was away from the palace and that after, they gave birth to Pamheiba, is false.

As I said earlier, Charairongba brought Nungthil Chaibi to the palace and later, she got a son and then hid out of the palace after she had given birth. However, Pamheiba later switched to Hinduism as he believed that converting to Hinduism would make him a "Divine King".

I hope that this article clears some people's thoughts and misunderstandings from the lies spread by others. This was not made to offend others but to clear some things up.