Arrival of Vaishhnavism in Manipur
The new king and arrival of Shantidas Goswami
In 1709 AD, Pamheiba became the king of Manipur after the death of King Charairongba. Under the rule of Charairongba, trade and cultural relationship flourished between Manipur and Burma. He even gave the hand of his daughther Chakpa Makhao Ngbabi to Taninganwe, the ruler of Burma. Pamheiba also known as Mayamba-a in the royal chronicle of Manipur assumed the title Garibniwaz. He had 19 sons by 10 Ranis.
In 1716 AD, a Vaishhnava preacher, Shanti Das Goswami, from Bengal arrived in Manipur. He came from Narsingh Tilla Akra of Sylhet across the hills of Jirigha. He along with his two disciples, Bhagavandas and Narandas first arrived at Langthaband about 7 km south of Imphal. Some account gives the year of his coming as 1711 or 1720. Nothing is sure about the early life of Shanti Das Goswami. It was him who first suggested that Manipur is the Manipur of Mahabharat where Arjuna met Chitrangada, the only daughter of King Chitrabhanu and left a son Babrubabhana. There are also theories to suggest that the Manipur of Mahabharat is in present day Orissa.
King Garibaniwaz welcomed and accommodated well the visitors in the palace. Shantidas spoke against the primitive religion of Manipur and told the king that there was an inward voice from indigenous God Sanamahi to call upon him to Vaishhnavise Manipur. His persuasive influence is fully described in the book “Sanamahi Laikal”. The king was first at first stiff opponent of the new religion. Finally Shantidas succeeded in influencing the king to a considerable extent. Garibaniwaz accepted the new religion and made up his mind to vaishnavise Manipur. According to Bhagyachandra Charit, he was initiated into Vaishnavism by one Gopal Das Guru, a follower of Gauriya Vaishnavism (later became Ramanandi) on Mera (Sept-Oct) 1717 AD. The epithet ‘Maharaja’ was first used as one of the royal titles by him.
The adoption of Vaishnavism and suppression of indigenous religion
The king started spreading the new religion in vast scale and suppressed the indigenous religion systematically with the help of his son Shyam Sai and brother-in-law Haobam Akong Senapati. He build temple of Sri Krishna on Wednesday, 22nd Thawan(July-Aug), 1722 and a temple for Kalika on Thurday, 7th Lamda (Feb-Mar), 1716. The practice of burning dead bodies and bone-gathering ceremony (Aasti) were introduced. On 20th Lamda (Feb-Mar), 1724, Sunday, he helped the ceremony of burning the bones of his forefathers with great escalation on the bank of the Ningthi river. His daughter was the first Manipuri woman to have visited Vrindavana,
On Wednesday, 11th Phairen (Jan-Feb), 1725, he ordered to dig a huge tank known as Ningthem Pukhri at Wangkhei Leikai. Images of Krishna and Kalika were kept in a temple near the tank. Under his directives, images of Rama, Lakhsmana, Bharata, Shatrughana and Sita were installed in Ramji temple by the side of Nigthem pukhri. On last day of Sajibu (March-April), 1726, the king stopped the rearing of pigs in every house of Manipur.
The king decreed to bury nine Umang Lai (Sylvan Deities) under a big tree in Mongba Hanba , later became Mahabali temple, near the bank of Imphal river on Saturday, 10th Kalen (Apr-May), 1726. He again broke the images of Sylvan Deities including Panthoibi, Sanamahi, Soraren, Huidrom pokpi etc on Monday, 10th Inga (May-June), 1726. He confiscated the ornaments of the deities and swept away the temples. Worshiping of Hanuman started from Wednesday, 11th Hiyangei (Oct-Nov), 1729 at Mongba Hanba. Shyam Sai was initiated with the sacred thread at Lilong about 10 km to the south of Imphal, on full moon day, Wakching (Dec-Jan), 1729. The king was against the use of Meitei scripts, song and prayers. At the instance of Shantidas Goswami, he introduced Bengali scripts and substituted Meitei songs by Bengali songs.
Hindu god replaces some of the indigenous places of workship. For instance Baruni hill (Nongmaiching*), Garok Mahadeva, Thongam Mondum etc. became a place of worship for Hindu god Maheva. There are historical evidences that indigenous God were worshipped in these places much before arrival of Hinduism.
*Nongmaiching (Nong=sun, mai = facing, ching= hill)
Puya Mei thaba
The king collected around 120 rare manuscripts and destroyed in the bon fire by a Ramandi (Vaishnavism sect) preacher with the help of the king at the historic place of Kangla on 23rd Wakching (Dec-Jan), 1729. Out of the 120 books 6 of them were prove to be fireproofs. They were (1) Nonglon (2) Pakhamba Nonglon (3) Simkhai Naoyom (4) Yambi Thiren (5) Taoroidi Naoyom (6) Sagok. Thus Manipur has been deprived of many valuable religious and historical books through Garibaniwaz’s fanatism.
Some of the parvas of Mahabharata and some cantos of the Ramayana were translated into Manipuris in between 1717 to 1748. Most of the pundits used Sanskrit words in writing Manipuri books. Moreover Lakshmi Gharit was translated from Bengali into Manipur. The authorship of this book describing the character of good wife was attributed to Garibaniwaz.
Resistance to the new religion
There was a great opposition from his subjects when Garibniwaz tried to introduce the new religion. Khongnangthaba was among the scholars who have given prominent opponent to the king’s decree. He along with his followers and other scholars secretly guarded their manuscripts and often concealed them underground. The people became unsatisfied with the oppressive measures of the king and his preachers. They publicly opposed the policy of the king and conspired to kill the king and preachers and his followers.
JC Hudson in his book mentioned that “Religious dissent was treated with the same ruthless severity as was to political opponents and wholesale banishment and execution drove the people into acceptance of the tenets of Hinduism. "
Another stiff resistance was offered by the Lois (the outcasts) and decline to take up the new religion. There was also another alternative theory that suggests that the Loi because of their lower status are not allowed to take up the new religion which is supposed to be precious. Whatever theory it was, the adoption rate was very poor among the lois. One can still see the old indigenous practice being followed in the erstwhile loi village such as Andro, Sekmai, Kakching etc.
Death of Garibniwaz and Shantidas Goswami
Garibniwaz nominated Ajit Singh as his successor. The king under the influence of his mother expelled Garibniwaz and Shayam Sai from Manipur. They finally went to Burma. Ajit Singh conspired to kill his father and elder brother on their return journey to Manipur from Burma.
The king Garibniwaz, Shantidas Goswami, Kishar Sai (king’s son) and 17 others were murdered by Tolel Tomba and his party – the emissaries of King Ajit Sai on 26th Poinu (Nov-Dec) 1757 at Tongphahithaten, when they returned to Manipur from the capital of Burma.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment