A study on Naorem Sanajaoba

By Saikhom Menjor *

Naorem Sanajaoba was a lawyer. He was a teacher. He was a learned man. He was a guide. Some say that he was a professor of Law. He might be a doctorate holder. But he is a simple teacher to me. He is a good guide to me. The simple author hates the doctorate holders, but he loves Naorem Sanajaoba greatly. It has good reasons.

There are a lot of doctorate holders in Manipur. But what do they discover? What do they invent? What are they doing? To me 'doctorate' is really meaningless, but Naorem Sanajaoba is meaningful to me. I love as a man who loved the farmers, the workers, the poor and the downtrodden. I don't love Sanajaoba as a professor.

That's why I drop such a decorative word to appreciate him. It is my simple entreaty. Many scholars may disagree with me, but the God will agree with me. The heaven will agree with me. Because God is not in the temples or Mosquer or Charches. God is in the hearts of the poor, the weak and the downtrodden.

Long before I heard of Sanajaoba. I was unlucky, because I could not meet him while he was living. I heard some of his activity. I heard of his Manipur: Past and present. I wanted to read the book, but I couldn't buy it. I heard of some of his books. I could not buy them long before.

Recently I bought 'Manipur Puwari' and it was read and digested I was happy to get one of his books. I bought the new edition of the book too. I have read some of the contributions made by Khelchandra, Ashoka and others. Those articles cntain some of the facts of the past of the land. But it is costly and so the poor cannot read it easy.

The author heard that Sanajaoba was a regular columnist of many local papers. I think he wrote a lot of political articles on the global scenes, the Asiatic problems and mainly on the conflicts of Manipur. He write on the history of the process of the independent countries which became the members of the United Nations' Organisation.

He write on the conflicts of East Timer. It is a small country, but won independence whereas Manipur is left behind. He was not happy with such failure. He felt that there is something wrong with the leaders or the people.

Naorem Sanajaoba was not a historian. He was a man of law. He studied law and knew law. He perhaps read history, but he was not a historian. He did not write history in the true sense. There were many historians in Manipur in the past, they wrote history wrongly. They deceived the simple people. But the author loves the real history of the people of Manipur.

Whereas Sanajaoba wrote his books as a lawyer. No doubt, he was a man who loved the poor and the weak. That's why he wrote his books. He spoke loudly. He shout forcefully. For whom? For the suppressed, oppressed, the deprived . He stood for the indigenous people. He speak for the rightful people.

Naorem Sanajaoba agrees that the Manipur civilization represent one of the civilizations of South-east Asia. He agrees that it is closes to the South-east Asia. He emphasizes that Manipur is longer than Israel. He says that the book does not tell the stories of the courts of the kings. He says that he does not write about Kangla. He does not write about 'Konnung' and feudal Lords.

Everyman is not perfect. As such, Sanajaoba was also not perfect. The author appreciate Naorem Sanajaoba for his bold words and bold sentences. But as the author writes a critical study of his works, he has to write some of his weakness. Pakhangba founded a great state in 33/34 AD and it is seen to day. We have to appreciate the 'king' for his great achievement.

We will be ungrateful if we don't appreciate him. Khagenba and Mun-Yang-ngamba conquered the vast Kapo valley. Shall we forget them? Kyamba first conquered Kyang Khampat. It was history. We can live in this land preserved by them. Above, Pakhangba, Kyamba, Khagemba and Mungyang-ngamba were not capitalists. They were not faudal Lords who oppressed all the people. Do you find any Puya which records that Khagemba was a capitalist? Was there any case of bribery and corruption during the time of those kings?

They were good kings. They ruled the land with the mandate of heaven. They made history. We are proved of the history of 2000 years which they made . There will be no history without kings. More over, we learn from the history a lot. We learn the bravery, wisdom, the political maturity of the ancient kings. We learn a lot from their wars and battles.

Naorem Sanajaoba neglected this aspect. He held, top of a wood and tried to fling. We have to hold the root or the stem. We have to imitate the ideals of the kings, nobles and the ordinary people of the past. They inspired us a lot. That's why a famous philosopher once said that history is the unending dialogue between the past and the present.

There are limited monarchies in Britain, Japan, Thailand, Butan and other countries who will care of the culture? The Royals are in care of the culture. The Britain keep the 'Royalties' for the sake of history and culture. The Thais keep the kingship. For the sake of history and culture. The Japanese do so. What is the status of our culture in Manipur?

All are in Chaos, because they do whatever they like. But such cannot be done in Japan. The whole Japanese respect their emperor and so preserve their culture. But what happens in Manipur? The author does support limited monarchy but supports it for the sake of history and culture. We one of 'Cheitharon Kumpaba'. Then who introduce it. Kyamba introduced it. Then 'Ningthouron Lambuba'. Then who wrote it. The kings' scribes wrote it. Look we cannot easily abandon the works of the kings, the nobles and the others.

But Naorem Sanajaoba wrote on the inter national states of Manipur. He wrote out of the insurgent movements and their success and want. He wrote on the movements of the people of the hills. He expressed his love for the hillmen. It was great. He embraced the 36 groups of the people of the hills.

He argued convincingly the political leaders of the hills exploit the hillmen and not by the people of the valley. Sanajaoba was a drag on. He spat fire. He fired some people. He wanted a Washington or Lincoln or Lenin or Maosetung in Manipur. But he could not get such a great politician-commander while he was living.

Naorem Sanajaoba is no more. In Lamabam Kamal's time, there was no great man in the land which is now called 'Manipur'. So he lamented that there grew no tree in the Imphal valley could grow higher than the surrounding hills. But Naorem Sanajaoba was born. A great man was born. In history, the present will be the past in future. Naorem Sanajaoba will be one day, in the history of the land as Roussan of France. We will not ungrateful if we donot appreciate him.