Bishnupriya Manipuri language - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Bishnupriya or Bishnupriya Manipuri (BPM) (বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Indian states of Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

, Tripura

Tripura

Tripura is a state in North-East India, with an area of . It is the third smallest state of India, according to area. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are...

, Manipur

Manipur

Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...

and others, as well as in Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Burma, and other countries.

History and development

Bishnupriya Manipuri is spoken in parts of Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

, Tripura

Tripura

in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, as well as in Bangladesh

Bangladesh

, Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, and in several other countries. It is different from many Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

, Assamese

Assamese language

Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...

, Oriya

Oriya language

Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...

, etc. The language originated and developed in Manipur

Manipur

and was originally confined to the surroundings of the Loktak Lake

Loktak Lake

Loktak Lake, the largest freshwater lake in India, also called the only Floating lake in the world due to the floating phumdis on it, is located near Moirang in Manipur state, India. The etymology of Loktak is Lok = "stream" and tak = "the end"...

. Other authorities such as An account of the valley of Manipore by Col. McCullock, Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal by E. T. Dalton and the Linguistic Survey of India by George Abraham Grierson

George Abraham Grierson

Sir George Abraham Grierson OM KCIE was born to a prominent Dublin family in 1851. His father and grandfather, both also named George, were well-known printers and publishers.-Biography:Educated at St...

mention that the language was in existence in Manipur before the 19th century. Dr. Grierson calls the language as "Bishnupuriya Manipuri", while some other writers call it simply "Bishnupriya". The principal localities where this language was spoken are now known as Heirok, Mayang Yamphal, Bishnupur

Bishnupur

-Kingdoms:*Bishnupur kingdom in what is today Bankura District, Bengal, India.-CD Blocks:* Bishnupur, Bankura - in Bankura district, West Bengal* Bishnupur I - in South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal...

, Khunan, Ningthankhong, Ngaikhong, Thamnapoxpi.

A great majority of speakers of BPM fled from Manipur and took refuge in Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

, Tripura

Tripura

, Sylhet

Sylhet

Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the main city of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District, and was granted metropolitan city status in March 2009. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma Valley and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills...

and Cachar during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries due to internal conflicts among the princes of Manipur and due to Burmese attack. Consequently, it was difficult for the small number of Bishnupriyas who remained in Manipur to retain their language in the face of the impact of Meitei, although in 1891 Dr. G.A. Grierson found the existence of a considerable number of speakers in two or three villages near Bishnupur, locally known as Lamangdong. The language slowly started losing its ground in Manipur against a vast majority of Meiteis and is slowly facing its decay in Cachar and Bangladesh against a vast majority of Bengali-speakers. This language is still being spoken in Jiribam (a sub-division of Manipur), Cachar (a district of Assam) and in some pockets in Bangladesh and Tripura.

Source and origin

The language is known to its speakers as Imar Thar (ইমার ঠার ), meaning "Language of my Mother." They call themselves and their language "Manipuri", and use the term "Bishnupriya" to distinguish them from other ethnic races of Manipur

Manipur

. The term "Bishnupriya" is most probably derived from "Bishnupur" along with the suffix "-iya", meaning "people of 'Bishnupur', the old capital of Manipur. Orthodox Bishnupriyas hold that the language was carried over to Manipur by some immigrants from Dvārakā and Hastinapura

Hastinapura

Hastinapur is a town and a nagar panchayat in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-History:Hastinapur was the capital of the kingdom of the Kauravas, belonging to the Kuru dynasty of kings. The throne of this city was the prize over which the Kurukshetra War of the epic...

just after the Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

war. It is further said that these immigrants were led by Babhruvahana, the son of Chitrangada

Chitrangada

Chitrāngada , was the elder son of Shantanu and Satyavati. Since his elder half brother Bhishma took a vow of not ascending the throne of Hastinapura, he became the king after Shantanu and was very successful. Unfortunately, his success angered a Gandharva king of the same name...

and Arjuna

Arjuna

Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...

, the third Pandava. Some scholars and history writers came to support the Mahabharata origin of Bishnupriya Manipuri

Mahabharata Theory of Bishnupriya Language

- Mahabharata, Manipur and the Bishnupriya Manipuris :Bishnupriya Scholars like Shri Mahendra Kumar Singha, Pandit Sena Singha and some other history writers hold that Babhrubahana and his descendants, consisting of many other colonies of Indo-Aryan stock, are called Bishnupriya, speaking a...

from observation of the morphology

Morphology (linguistics)

In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...

, the vocables, and the phonology

Phonology

Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...

of the Bishnupriya Manipuri language. They hold that BPM is highly influenced by Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

and Maharastri as well as Sauraseni Prakrit

Prakrit

Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...

s. Dr. K. P. Sinha, who has done considerable research on Bishnupriya Manipuri, disagrees with the theory and is of the opinion that the language was originated through Magadhi Prakrita. It is found from his observations that the language has retained dominant characteristics of Magadhi. According to Dr Sinha, pronouns and declensional and conjugational endings seem to be same as or closely related to those of Oriya

Oriya language

, Bengali

Bengali language

and Assamese

Assamese language

. These forms of Oriya, Bengali and Assamese are, on their parts, derived from Magadhi Apabhramsa coming from the Magadhi Prakrita.

However, the Bishnupriya Manipuri language is certainly not one of the Tibeto-Burman languages

Tibeto-Burman languages

The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....

, but is closer to the Indo-Aryan group of languages with remarkable influence from Meitei both grammatically and phonetically. At a different stage of development of the language the Sauraseni, Maharashtri and Magadhi languages and the Tibeto-Burman languages exerted influence on it as well. So it was probably developed from Sanskrit, Sauraseni

Sauraseni

A Dramatic Prakrit, Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries AD, though it was probably a spoken colloquial around the 5th century BC...

-Maharashtri

Maharashtri

Maharastri or Maharastri Prakrit, SIL: Mahārāṣṭri Prākrit , is a language of ancient and medieval India which is the ancestor of Marathi, Konkani, Sinhala and the Maldivian language as well. It is one of the many languages of a complex called Prakrit, and the chief Dramatic Prakrit...

Prakrit

and Magadhi Prakrita.The Sauraseni-Maharastri relation can be traced by observing some characteristics of pronouns. The Magadhi element is also remarkable, as the language retains many characteristics of Magadhi. It can further be noted that Bishnupriya Manipuri retains much of the old (15th century to 17th century A.D.) Meitei sound vocabulary, as the majority of speakers of the language left Manipur during the first part of the 19th century.

Dialects

Bishnupriyas have two dialects, namely Rajar Gang ("King's village") and Madai Gang ("Queen's village"). Unlike the dialects of other tribes, these dialects of Bishnupriya are not confined to distinct geographical areas; they rather exist side by side in the same localities. In Manipur, however, these two dialects were confined to well-defined territories. From the viewpoint of phonetics, Madai Gang is more akin to Assamese and Meitei, whereas Rajar Gang is more akin to Bengali. In vocabulary Madai Gang is more influenced by Meitei while Rajar Gang is more akin to Bengali and Assamese. The morphological differences between the two dialects are negligible.

Vocabulary

Like other Indic languages, the core vocabulary of Bishnupriya Manipuri is made up of tadbhava words (i.e. words inherited over time from older Indic languages, including Sanskrit, including many historical changes in grammar and pronunciation), although thousands of tatsama words (i.e. words that were re-borrowed directly from Sanskrit with little phonetic or grammatical change) augment the vocabulary greatly. In addition, many other words were borrowed from languages spoken in the region either natively or as a colonial language, including Meitei, English, and Perso-Arabic.

Inherited/native Indic words (tadbhava):10,000 (Of these, 2,000 are only found in Bishnupriya Manipuri, and have not been inherited by other Indic languages)
Words re-borrowed from Sanskrit (tatsama): 10,000
Words re-borrowed from Sanskrit, partially modified (ardhatatsama): 1,500
Words borrowed from Meitei: 3,500
Words borrowed from other indigenous non-Indic languages (desi): 1,500
Words borrowed from Perso-Arabic: 2,000
Words borrowed from English: 700
Hybrid words: 1,000
Words of obscure origin: 1,300

Meitei elements in Bishnupriya Manipuri

Bishnupriya retains the old eighteen sounds of Meitei. Of them, there were three vowels, such as α, i and u, thirteen consonants such as p, t, k, ph, th, kh, cʃ, m, n, ŋ, l, ʃ,h and two semi vowels, such as w and y. In later stage nine more sounds added to Meitei but Bishnupriya is not concerned with them, because the Bishnupriyas left Manipur during 1st part of 19th century. That is why Bishnupriya retains the older sounds of Meitei, whereas in Meitei itself the sound system has under-gone various changes.

Connection with Assamese & Bengali languages

Although there are a numerous dissimilarities between Bengali /Assamese and BPM, Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, a recognized Bengali phonetician, listed the BPM language to be a dialect of Bengali, whereas Dr. Maheswer Neog and Dr. Banikanta Kakti claimed it as a dialect of Assamese. Their assumptions later caused contradiction about the origin of Bishnupriya Manipuri language. But the assumptions were proven incorrect by scientific research and observation of morphology, vocabulary and phonology of BPM.

Script

The orthodox Bishnupriyas claim that they have their own script, that is, the Devanagari

Devanagari

Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...

script, which was used to write in the Bishnupriya language in its early years. However, on introduction of modern education during the British period through the Bengali language the Bishnupriya Manipuri writers began to use the Eastern Nagari script

Eastern Nagari script

The Eastern Nagari script is an Abugida system of writing belonging to the Brahmic family of scripts which use is associated with the two main languages Assamese and Bengali and other related variants such as, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Maithili, Mising, Meitei Manipuri, Sylheti, and Chittagonian...

. The alphabet has consonant letters with dependent vowel signs (matras) as well as independent vowel letters. Punctuation marks and numerals are also used.
Bishnupriya Manipuri is written from left to right and top to bottom, in the same manner as in English. Some of the consonants can combine with one another to make orthographic clusters.

Vowels: অ আ ই ঈ উ ঊ এ ঐ ও ঔ

Vowel Signs:

Consonants: ক খ গ ঘ ঙ ছ জ ঝ ঞ ট ঠ ড ঢ ণ ত থ দ ধ ন প ফ ব ম য র ল শ ষ স হ ড় ঢ় য় ৱ ং ঃ ঁ

Numbers: ০ ১ ২ ৩ ৪ ৫ ৬ ৭ ৮ ৯

Places where Bishnupriya Manipuri is spoken

In Manipur

Manipur

the language is still spoken in the Jiribam

Jiribam

Jiribam is a city and a municipal council in Imphal East district in the Indian state of Manipur.- Demographics : India census, Jiribam had a population of 6426. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Jiribam has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average...

subdivision. A large number of Bishnupriya Manipuri people settled in Assam ages ago, particularly in the districts of Cachar, Karimganj

Karimganj

Karimganj Town is a town in the Karimganj District of the Indian state of Assam. It is the administrative headquarter and main town of the district.-Geography:...

and Hailakandi

Hailakandi

Hailakandiis a town and a district in Hailakandi district in the Indian state of Assam.The Hailakandi district is one of the three districts of Southern Assam i.e. Barak Valley.-Geography:...

. These people are counted as one of the major groups of people in the Cachar and Karimganj districts. In Tripura

Tripura

, the Bishnupriya Manipuri population localities may be divided into a Dharmanagar sub-area, a Kailasahar sub-area, a Kamaipur sub-area and a West Tripura sub-area. In Meghalaya

Meghalaya

Meghalaya is a state in north-eastern India. The word "Meghalaya" literally means the Abode of Clouds in Sanskrit and other Indic languages. Meghalaya is a hilly strip in the eastern part of the country about 300 km long and 100 km wide, with a total area of about 8,700 sq mi . The...

, Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...

and Mizoram

Mizoram

Mizoram is one of the Seven Sister States in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the...

, there is a scattered Bishnupriya Manipuri population.

Outside of India, Bangladesh has the largest Bishnupriya Manipuri population. The main localities are Sylhet, Moulbivazar, Habiganj and the Sunamganj district. There are also a considerable number of the Bishnupriyas Manipuris living in local cities like Mymensingh, Rangamati of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and also at Tezgaon, Manipuri-para in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.

In Myanmar Tbangdut, Mawa Kalewa and Bumnuk etc. are the Bishnupriya Manipuri areas. And in case of the United States of America, Canada, Germany, Middle East and Austria, there are a considerable number of Bishnupriya Manipuris settled there.

Population of Bishnupriya Manipuri

295,000 in Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
121,000 in Tripura
Tripura
Tripura is a state in North-East India, with an area of . It is the third smallest state of India, according to area. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are...

, Maghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...

, Nagaland
Nagaland
Nagaland is a state in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur...

and Mizoram
Mizoram
Mizoram is one of the Seven Sister States in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the...
1,457 in Manipur (Imphal
Imphal
Imphal is the capital of the Indian state of Manipur.In the heart of the town and surrounded by a moat, are ruins of the old Palace of Kangla. Kangla Fort used to be the home of the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force and on November 2004 it was handed over to state of Manipur by Prime minister Dr....

, Bishnupur
Bishnupur
-Kingdoms:*Bishnupur kingdom in what is today Bankura District, Bengal, India.-CD Blocks:* Bishnupur, Bankura - in Bankura district, West Bengal* Bishnupur I - in South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal...

, Ningthoukhong
Ningthoukhong
Ningthoukhong is a town and a Municipal Council having 14 wards in Bishnupur district in the Indian state of Manipur.-Demographics: India census, Ningthoukhong had a population of 10,446. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Ningthoukhong has an average literacy rate of 67%,...

)
5,000 in Manipur (Jiribam
Jiribam
Jiribam is a city and a municipal council in Imphal East district in the Indian state of Manipur.- Demographics : India census, Jiribam had a population of 6426. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Jiribam has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average...

Subdivision)
5,000 in New Delhi,West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Sikkim and other Indian states
40,000 in Bangladesh
2,000 in Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, US, UK, Canada, Australia, Philippines, Middle-East countries and other overseas countries

Ancient literature

A good stock of folk literatures of Bishnupriya Manipuri, which are older in origin, are handed down to this day through oral tradition. The ancient literature of Bishnupriya Manipuri is represented by folk stories, folk-songs, folk-poems, rhymes and proverbs. A rain-invoking song called বরন ডাহানির এলা (Boron-dahanir Ela, 1450-1600A.D.) and a song relating to the conjugal life of Madai and Soralel known as মাদই সরারেলর এলা (Madai Soralel Ela, 1500-1600 A.D.) are sometimes considered the most important. The language of the songs are archaic and are replete with words of Tibeto-Burman origin. These two songs are very important for the study of the cultural and linguistic history of Bishnupriya Manipuri. Besides these, there are songs which are sung by women who work in the fields. Proverbs form another important part of BPM folk literature.

Modern literature

The Bishnupriya Manipuris have established Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Parishad, Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Sabha, Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Singlup, Pouri, Manipuri Theatre and many other organizations to encourage literary activities among the people. Serious literary culture of the BPM language began during the 2nd quarter of 20th century. In fact, the history of Manipuri literature began in 1925 with the literary magazine Jagaran (জাগরন) edited by Falguni Singha who was a Bishnupriya Social worker; this magazine published articles both in Bishnupriya and Meitei. The Manipuris of Surma valley formed their first formal association, Surma Valley Manipuri Society (later called Surma Valley Manipuri Association) in 1934. The members included the Meiteis, the Bishnupriyas and the Pangals (Manipuri Muslims). From 1933 a number of journals, e.g. Manipuri (1933), Mekhali (1938) and Kshatryajyoti (1944), fostered nationalism as well literary and cultural activities.A branch of modern BPM poetic literature, namely Vaishnava Padavali, based on Vaishnava philosophy, deserves special mention.

Bishnupriya Manipuri Wikipedia

There is a Wikipedia in Bishnupriya Manipuri with more than 23,000 articles as of August 2009. This makes it currently the language with the most articles in the Eastern Nagari script

Eastern Nagari script

(Bengali).

History and development

Source and origin

Dialects

Vocabulary

Meitei elements in Bishnupriya Manipuri

Connection with Assamese & Bengali languages

Script

Places where Bishnupriya Manipuri is spoken

Population of Bishnupriya Manipuri

Ancient literature

Modern literature

Bishnupriya Manipuri Wikipedia

See also

External links

Further reading