Bishnupriya Manipuri Language

History & Legend

As regards the name ‘Bishnupriya’, there is a story prevalent among the Bishnupriyas and found in the ‘Khumal Purana’. The story goes thus: During the reign of king Garib Nowaj (1714-1748 A.D.), Santadas Goswami, a wise saint and propagator of the Rämäuti school of religion, came to Manipur from the west. The king, inspired by the teachings of the saint, embraced the new religion, and directed the people to ‘purify themselves, by following the same path. Accordingly, all the people of the country assembled on a particular day, had their ablution in the lake Nongkhrang and adopted the new faith. A group of people, however, united under a tributary chief of the Khumal clan,did not follow the king’s direction on the ground that they were already purified by adopting Vaisnavism and needed no more purification.

And, from that time onwards, these people of the Khumal kingdom were known as the Bishnupriyas, i e, ‘the darlings of Visnu”. The name is explained in another way. It is said that these people were followers of the Visnu-cult from very ancient times. They installed the image of Lord Visnu at a place in Manipur, which was given the name ‘Bishnupur’. And, as the culture of these people had its head quarters at this Bishnupur, they were called the ‘Bishnupuriyas’ i.e. the inhabitants of Bishnupur, and ‘Bishnupriya’ is a contracted form of the term ‘Bishnupuriya’. This tradition is in harmony with the name ‘Bishnupuriya Manipuri’ recorded by G.A. Grierson.

On seeing some elements of Assamese and Bengali occuring in BPM, some hold that this language came to Manipur from Assam or Bengal. But it is a wrong contention. It is true that some of the elements of BPM agree with those of Bengali and some, with those of Assamese. But this does not necessarily prove that BPM, as it is understood today, came from Bengal or from Assam. BPM betrays some distinctive features which exist neither in Bengali nor in Assamese (see Article No, 10). A language with such distinctive features did never exist outside Manipur before it came into being in the land. In other words, BPM was formed on the soil of Manipur and nowhere else.

The orthodox Bishnupriyas hold that BPM was carried over to Manipur by some emigrants from Dvaraka and Hastinapura just after the Mahabharata War. It is further said that these emigrants were led by Babhruvahana, the son of Chitrangada and Arjuna, who brought a Vishnu-image from Hastinapura and installed it in Bishnupur of Manipur. (ii) Some are of the view that BPM was never spoken in Manipur, and that it was a product of those Meitei speakers who left Manipur and took shelter in Assam, Tripura and Sylhet towards the beginning of the nineteenth century. (iii) According to some, BPM was brought to Manipur by sixty five Bengali-speaking families led by a prince named Dhanapati Rajkumar, leter known as “Kaireng Khullakpa”, and was adopted by some Meiteis as their mother tongue. It is held that the said people came from the south east part of Bengal and took shelter in Manipur during the reign of king Garib Nawaj of Manipur. i.e. in the second quarter of the 18th century. (iv) In the view of some extreme beleivers of the Meiteis, the Bishnupriyas are the descendants of some low-caste Bengalee Hindus who were brought captive by some king of Manipur, and BPM is a language of those captives.

The first theory cannot be accepted on the following grounds: First, the story of migration from Dvärakã and Hastinapura does not occur in the Mahabharata. Secondly, there are reasons to doubt whether the present Manipur is that of the epic. Thirdly, It is not possible for a handful of persons to retain their language for such a long period in the heart of a land which was pre-eminently a land of the Tibeto-Burman speakers. Fourthly, the distinctive marks of the Magadhi Prakrta found in BPM and the striking similarities which BPM shares with Assamese and Bengali could not be explained, if it is held that BPM was carried over from Dväraka and Hastinapura and developed in a quite distinct atmosphere, having no relation to the Magadhi Prakrta.

The second theory is too hollow to deserve any consideration. First, historical works written by both the Indian and the European scholars bear irrefutable testimonies to the existence of BPM in Manipur before this century. ‘Khumal purana’ by Navakhendra, ‘An Account of the Valley of Munnipore’ by Major Mc. Cullock, ‘Ethno-logy of Bengal’ by Dalton, ‘Linguistic Survey of India’, by G.A. Grierson and many other works may be referred to in this connection. Secondly, there are about 50,000 people living in the valley of Manipur, who speak Meitei but are known as the Bishnupriyas. Their facial features complexion etc. are also quite similar to those of the BPM- speaking people living outside Manipur. These people, even now, hold that their original language was BPM. Thirdly, it is not possible for the speakers of Tibeto-Burman language to adopt an Aryan tongue with such distinct pronunciation as the Bishnupriyas do. Fourthly, this theory cannot account for the uniformity found in the speeches of the different groups of these people who took shelter in distant places and in distinct atmospheres outside Manipur.

The third theroy cannot be accepted on the following grounds: First, the Bengali-speakers entered in the middle of the 18th century. The Bishnupriyas, on the other hand, left Manipur during the first part of the 19th century (between 1806 A.D. and 1829 A.D.) with their fully developed language. It is not possible for a whole community to learn an entirely foreign language within such a short period, specially, in the absence of any political or economic pressure. Secondly, it is very difficult for a section of the Meitei- speaking people to adopt the phonetic peculiarities so distinctly as the Bishnupriyas do. Thirdly, it cannot be explained why some Meitei-speakers should adopt a language quite foreign to them in place of their own mother tongue. Fourthly, the descendants of the so-called Bengali speakers are barely 25 per cent of the total population of the Bishnupriyas. The rest of the population, according to the upholders of this theory, were originally Meiteis. But this cannot be supported, since the facial features, complexion etc. of these people are quite distinct from those of the Meiteis.

The fourth theory has nowhere been enunciated in detail. The upholders of this view simply quote a few lines from the ‘Linguistic Survey of India’ Vol. III, Part III to support their view. These lines go thus: “There is also a degraded class called Kalachaiya or Bishnupuri, which consists of the descendants of Doms and other Bengalis of low caste……. They speak a language….. closely allied to vulgar Bengali”. These lines have been quoted by Grierson from Gait’s ‘Assamese Census Report’, but, curiously enough, all the uphoders of this view ascribe it to Grierson. However, it seems that the low-caste Bengalee Hindus referred to here are those who were held captive by king Khagenba of Manipur in the beginning of the 17th century.

As against this view, the following arguments may be put forward. First, the remarks made by some person should not be taken for granted without scrutiny. It cannot be said that, ‘these remarks are true simply because Gait has said so’. One may as well quote a few lines from R.M. Nath’s ‘The Background of Assamese Culture’ and say that ‘It is quite probable that the Khalachais’ (Bishnupriyas) were the first cultured race in possession of the Manipur Valley’. In the opinion of the present writer, however, both these remarks are partial and none of them should be taken for granted to suit some presumption. Secondly, this view magnifies what actually happened. The Bishnupriya Manipuris are the desendants of some Indo-Aryan speaking people who poured into the valley of Manipur from various parts of India at different times, and the low-caste Bengalee Hindus who were taken captive by Khagenba in the 17th century formed but a small fraction of the whole community. And, to regard the whole community as the descendants of those low-caste Bengalees is nothing but an exaggeration prompted by some motive. Truly speaking, many low-caste people were absorbed among the Meiteis also, and such events occur in the history of every community. Thirdly, the said captives were brought from East Bengal. On the other hand, BPM betrays similarities more with the languages of Kamrup and West Bengal (Radha) of the 14th century than with that of East Bengal. These features could no be explained, if the Bishnupriyas are regarded as the decendants of the said low-caste Bengalees of East Bengal. Fourthly, the captives referred to here were only soldiers, i.e. only males, and consisted of both the Hindus and the Muslims. Of them, the Muslims fully adopted the Meitei language as their mother tongue, whereas the Hindus* ratained their own tongue, From this, we can surmise that the Hindus retained their language, because they were absorbed into a larger class of people speaking a language of the same or allied stock, whereas the Muslims married Meitei girls and consequently, lost their language.

Geographic Spread

BPM was originally confined only to the surroundings of the lake Loktag in Manipur. The principal localities where this language was spoken are now known as Khangabok, Heirok, Mayang Yumphan, Bishnupur, Khunau, Ningthaukhong, Ngaykhong, Thamnapokpi and other places. The people of these places are known as ‘Bishnupriyas’ even now, and are similar to the Bishnupriyas living outside Manipur in respect of their appearance and complexion. But, now, they neither speak nor understand BPM; they all speak Meitei. Foremerly, BPM speakers were very numerous in the above-mentioned localities, most of which were included in the Khumal kingdom. A great majority of these people fled away from Manipur and took refuge in Assam, Tripura and Sylhet, first, during the first few years of the 18th centuty, as the result of an internal conflict among the princes of Manipur and secondly, during the period from 1819 A.D. to 1826 A.D, as the result of repeated attacks by the Burmese. Consequently, it was very difficult for the small number of the Bishnupriyas remaining in Manipur to retain their language in the face of the impact of Meitei spoken by the majority. Accordingly, this language began to lose its ground in Manipur, till at last it disappeared from the land towards the beginning of this century. This language is now spoken in parts of Assam, Tripura, Manipur (Jiribam sub-Division) and Bangladesh. The number of the speakers of this language, according to a randam sampling held by the writer in 1966, was about 90,000 in India and about 45,000 in Bangladesh.

Dialects in Bishnupriya Manipuri Language

BMP has two dialects, namely, Rajar Gang (king’s village) and Madai Gang (Queen’s Village). Unlike the dialects of other languages, these dialects of BPM are not confined to distinct geographical areas, rather they exist side by side in the same localities. In Manipur, however, these two dialects were confined to well-defined territories. The Madai Gang dialect was spoken probably in the Khangabok-Heirok area and the Rajar Gang dialect, in the Bishnupur-Ningthaukhong area. From the viewpoint of phonetics, Madai Gang is more akin to Assamese and Meitei, whereas Rajar Gang is more akin to Bangali. In respect of vocabulary, Madai Gang is more influenced by Meitei, while Rajar Gang is more akin to Bengali and Assamese. Morphological difference between these two dialects is negligible.

Vocabulary of Bishnupriya Manipuri Language

No work has yet been done to represent the vocabulary of BPM. The present writer has, however, compiled a dictionary of this language, which now exists in the form of manuscript. In this dictionary, about 30,000 words of this language have been entered. Of them, from a rough calculation, tatsamas (OIA) number approx. 10,000; semi-tatsamas approx. 1,500; tadbhavas (i.e. words derived from OIA) found in other languages, such as, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese and others, approx. 8,000; tadbhavas peculiar to BPM. approx. 2000; Meitei, approx. 3,500; Perso-Arabic, approx. 2,000; English appox 700; Hybrid approx. 1,000; Desi and others, approx. 1,500; and words of obscure origin, approx 1,300. The most remarkable words of BPM are some hybrid words formed by the combination of words derived from OIA and Meitei.

Source of Bishnupriya Manipuri Language

BPM has developed from the Magadhi Prakrta and ranks with Bengali, Oriya and Assamese. This is clear from the fact that it has retained the dominant characteristics of Magadhi. Thus, (a) all the sibilants-, ș, and s (স,শ, and ষ) – are pronounced as s (শ), (b) ks (ক্ষ) is pronounced as kkh (কখ), (c) the ending of nominative singular of nouns ending in a (অ) is -e (এ) which sometimes becomes -y (য়), or -ye (য়ে), (d) the sibilants generally become h (হ),

Moreover, pronouns and declensional and conjugational endings are the most stable elements of a language; they undergo change very slowly. And, a study of the pronouns and the conjugational and declensional endings of BPM shows that most of these forms are same as, or are closely related to, those of Bengali and Assamese, which are derived from the Maghdhi Prākṛta.

It cannot be denied, of course, that there are some marks of the influence of Sauraseni on this language. As to these, our view is that Sauraseni being the source of Magadhi, the letter has inherited a few characteristics from the former, which were again transmitted to BPM and other cognate languages.

Earliest References in Manipur

Works of both Indian and European scholars bear testimonies to the existence of BPM in Manipur in the 19th century. We may give a few quotations to support the position:

“They (the Mayangs) amongst themselves speak their own language, which is a dialect of Hindee, but they all understand and most of them can speak Munniporee” – ‘An Account of the Valley of Munnipore’ by Major Mc. Cullock, 1849.

“There is, moreover, an Aryan dialect called Mayang still spoken in Manipur, the headquarters of which are two or three plain villages near Vishnupur, ……… the number of people in Manipur speaking this dialect is at present about 1000……” – Gait’s History of Assam’ by Padmanath Vidyavinode, 1908.

“Mayang, one of the languages spoken in the polyglot state of Manipur, may, however, be classed, as a dialect of this language (Assamese)“- Imperial Gazetteer of India’ Vol 1, 1907

“The present population of Manipur includes a tribe called Meiung who speak a language of Sanskrit derivation” – Ethnology of Bengal’ by Dalton-1872.

“There is also a degraded class called Kalachaiya or Bishnupuri…. They speak a language which is different from that of the true Manipuris, and is in fact closely allied to vulgar Bengali” – Assamese Census Report’ by Gait.

“A tribe known as Mayang speaks a Mongrel form of Assamese known by the same name. They are also known as Bishnupuriya Manipuris. The language possesses characteristics of both languages (Assamese and Bengali), but at the same time differs widely from both” – Linguistic Survey of India’ Vol, V, Part I, G. A, Grierson, 1903.

Src: The Bishnupriya Manipuris – Their Language, Literature & Culture, Dr. Kali Prasad Sinha