The Valley of Manipur

Akham Bidhanchandra *

Breath-taking landscape of Manipur taken by Bullu Raj :: 2011

Manipur is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, with all the charms the nature has endowed it. The beautiful rows of the hills, the pearl shaped central valley and lovely fresh water of Loktak are the enchanting combinations which has drawn attention of many travellers.

It has been known by various names, Kathe, Moglai, Meckeley etc. It also earned a number of titles and descriptions. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru called it Jewel of India.

Lord Irwin who visited Manipur in 1931 called it Switzerland of the East, perhaps due to rows and rows of misty blue hills, merging with the blue sky in the yonder. It is also called Kashmir of the East, the Japanese army termed it as 'flower of the lofty heights". Its name attracts many people all over the country.

It has a long checkered history of over two thousand years. It was a nation with a distinct culture and civilization, which underwent a series of changes, very few to its advantage. It had an early British connection in the form of a treaty in 1762 during the time of reign of Maharaja Gourashyam which was ratified by his successor also later.

The attempt by Mr Verelest to send an army to help the king of Meckeley (the name known to British in the beginning) was not successful and ended prematurely, his army returning back from Cachar. However, after that treaty the official connection with British has been lost and there has been a bad phase in the history of Manipur.

The British connection of Manipur could once again be seen in the form of Major Grant and Capt Pemberton who were parts of the Manipur Levy in 1826. Since 1835, the Britishers used to keep an officer as Political Agent and it continued till independence, the first Political Agent being Capt. George Gordon. These political Agents and other officers have written a number of accounts which are basis of study of Manipur by various scholars, historians, students etc.

Somehow, those Europeans were fond of the term valley. So they used the term liberally. When Lieut. Percy Eld used the phrase "valley of Manipur", it could not be known whether he meant the central plains of Manipur or the country, it is possible that be meant the country of Manipur. Colonel Mac Culloch wrote a book about Manipur; but the name of the book is "Valley of Munnipore".

One may think that the book is about the central plains portion of the country but, in the very first page itself he goes on to use to term "This valley and mountain territory", but everybody, who have a look of the book will certainly will find that the book "Valley of Munnipore" is about the country of Manipur and that valley of Manipur is the country of Manipur.

In fact the phrase Valley of Manipur has been used by most of the authors synonymously with country of Manipur or state of Manipur. The plain portion of the state has been specifically, termed as central valley or valley proper and many a times as Manipur valley. It is therefore; clear that Mac Culloch used the name valley of Manipur to mean either the country as a whole or the central valley as per requirement of the narration.

Another reference may be made to the annual report of the Munnipore Political Agency of the year 1868-69 published by the Foreign Department of the Government of India in 1870, and Manipur was not under the British Rule in those days. The part I of the report is titled "Descriptive Account of the valley and its inhabitants' and in this description, the total area has been given as 7 to 8000 sq miles with that of valley proper about 650 sq miles. It means that here the term valley has been used to connotate the entire country.

To some, it is strikingly charming, to a few not so charming and they have described it differently. Dr Brown described it as uninteresting, but to Mrs St. Clair Grimwood "It is a pretty place, more beautiful than many of the show places of the world". To us Manipuris, it is sanaleipak the golden land. Let there be hundreds of names for it, what is in a name? Let it be called by any name, it will be as dear as it is.