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Boundaries Blurred? Folklore, Mythology, History and the Quest for an Alternative Genealogy in North-east India1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2014

SOHINI RAY
SOHINI RAY*
Affiliation:
Santa Monica College, ray_sohini@smc.edu
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Abstract

This paper analyses the use of religious folklore among the Meitei people of Manipur in northeastern India in the creation of a racial identity. After the Meiteis, who are ethnically Southeast Asian, were forced to convert to Hinduism in the early eighteenth century by the Manipuri king Garibniwaz, they were provided with a number of folklores regarding their origin that combined Hindu and indigenous Meitei deities and myths. Recently, the rise of anti-Hindu sentiment in Manipur—spurred by a movement to revive the indigenous Meitei religion and a strained political relationship with India—has led to the questioning of the validity of these stories by Meitei academics. As a result a new cannon of literature is being developed by scholars that link the origin of the community to its Southeast Asian roots. Discovering the racial identity of the Meitei people has motived this movement. This paper analyzes the multiple meanings that mythologies concerning origin hold in contemporary Meitei society and challenges the modern notion that historical consciousness is absolute truth.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 247 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2014 

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Footnotes

1

I dedicate this article to the memory of Professor Stanley Tambiah, who had invited me to take part in his “Thai Ethnography” seminar at Harvard University in Spring 2001, and encouraged me to pursue this project for publication. My earnest gratitude to Michael Herzfeld, Satadru Sen, Saipin Suputtomangal and Timothy Tangherlini for their incisive insights at various stages. In my 25 years of field research in Manipur, many people have braved curfews and bandhs in assisting me, and several scholars have shared their thoughts, especially K. Ruhinikumar Sharma, Kh. Ratan Kumar, B. Kulachandra Sharma, Gangumen Kamei, Ng. Kangia, R.K. Jhaljit, John Parrat and the anonymous reviewers. Sanjib Baruah cited this article when still in manuscript form. Alicia Andro and Lauren Hersch provided invaluable editorial support. However, I am solely responsible for all errors, and unless otherwise mentioned all translations are mine.

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