Bishnupriya

Manipuri language

The Manipuri Bishnupriya[2] or Bishnupriya Manipuri

(BPM) (িব ু ি য়া মিণপুরী) is an Indo-Aryan
language[3] spoken in parts of the Indian states of
Assam, Tripura and others, as well as in the Sylhet
region of Bangladesh, Burma, and other countries.
It uses the Bengali script alphabet as its writing
system.
 Bishnupriya Manipuri
িব ু ি য়া মিণপুরী

Region Northeast India, Bangladesh,

and several other countries
Ethnicity Bishnupriya Manipuri people
Native speakers 120,000. (2001–
2003)Census of India 2001
Language family Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Eastern
Bengali–Assamese
Bishnupriya
Manipuri
Writing system Bengali script

Language codes
ISO 639-3 bpy
Glottolog bish1244 [1]
History and development
Bishnupriya Manipuri is spoken in parts of Assam
and Tripura in India, in the Sylhet region of
Bangladesh, and in several other countries. It is
different from many Indo-Aryan languages like
Bengali, Oriya, etc. The language originated and
developed in Manipur and was originally confined
to the surroundings of the Loktak Lake and is
similar to the Assamese language.[4] Other
authorities such as An account of the valley of
Manipore by Col. McCullock,[5] Descriptive
Ethnology of Bengal by E. T. Dalton[6] and the
Linguistic Survey of India by Dr. George A.
Grierson[7] mention that the language was in
existence in Manipur before the 19th century. Dr.
Grierson refers to the language as "Bishnupuriya
Manipuri", while some other writers call it simply
"Bishnupriya".

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),[8] 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 groups of Manipur. The term
Bishnupriya is most probably derived from
Bishnupur along with the suffix -iya, meaning
"people of Bishnupur".[9]

Orthodox Bishnupriyas hold that the language was

carried over to bishnupriya Manipuri by some
immigrants from Dvārakā and Hastinapura just
after the Mahabharata war. It is further said that
these immigrants were led by Babhruvahana, the
son of Chitrangada and Arjuna, the third Pandava.
Some scholars and history writers came to support
the Mahabharata origin of Bishnupriya Manipuri
from observation of the morphology, the vocables,
and the phonology of the Bishnupriya Manipuri
language.[10] They hold that BPM is highly
influenced by Sanskrit and Maharastri as well as
Sauraseni Prakrits. Dr. KP 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 Maithili,
Oriya, Bengali. These forms of Oriya, Bengali are,
on their parts, derived from Magadhi Apabhramsa
coming from the Magadhi Prakrita.[11]
However, the Bishnupriya Manipuri language is
certainly not one of the Tibeto-Burman languages,
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-Maharashtri
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.[12]

Dialects
Bishnupriya Manipuri 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. 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 and Assamese while Rajar
Gang is more akin to Bengali. 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 Manipuri retains the old eighteen
sounds of Meitei. Of them, there were three
vowels, such as ɑ, i and u, thirteen consonants
such as p, t, k, pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, c͡ʃ, m, n, ŋ, l, ʃ, h and two
semi vowels, such as w and j. 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 Manipuri retains the older sounds
of Meitei, whereas in Meitei itself the sound
system has under-gone various changes.[13] The
most distinctive influence of Maitei language over
Bishnupriya manipuri is formation of words starting
with vowel soung ঙ 'aung' such as ঙা, ঙৗবা,
ঙারল.

Connection with Assamese

language
Although there are numerous dissimilarities
between Assamese and BPM, Dr. Suniti Kumar
Chatterji, 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 indigenous
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 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 Bengali script. This 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 (named conjuncts).

Vowel Signs:
Signs ◌া ি◌ ◌ী ◌ু ◌ূ ◌ৃ ◌ ◌ ◌া ◌ৗ
Other diacritics:
diacritics ◌ং ◌ঃ ◌ঁ
Independent vowels:
vowels অ আ ই ঈ উ ঊ এ ঐ ও
ঔ
 Consonants: ক খ গ ঘ ঙ ছ জ ঝ ঞ ট ঠ ড ঢ ণ
Consonants
তথদধনপফবমযরলশষসহড়ঢ়য়ৱ
Numbers: ০ ১ ২ ৩ ৪ ৫ ৬ ৭ ৮ ৯
Numbers

Speakers
Distribution

In Manipur the language is still spoken in the

Jiribam subdivision. A large number of Bishnupriya
Manipuri people settled in Assam ages ago,
particularly in the Barak Valley. These people are
counted as one of the major groups of people in
the Cachar and Karimganj districts of Barak
Valley. In Tripura, the Bishnupriya Manipuri
population localities may be divided into a
Dharmanagar sub-area, a Kailasahar sub-area, a
Kamalpur sub-area and a West Tripura sub-area. In
Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, 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. As per records, there were
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 Burma the Bishnupriya Manipuri areas are

probably Mandalay, Amarpura etc. In case of the
United States of America, Canada, Germany,
Middle East and Austria, there are a considerable
number of Bishnupriya Manipuris settled there.

Statistics

295,000 in Assam[14]
121,000 in Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal
Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram[15]
1,457 in Manipur (Imphal, Bishnupur,
Ningthoukhong)[16]
5,000 in Manipur (Jiribam Subdivision)[17]
5,000 in New Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra,
Jharkhand, Sikkim and other Indian states
40,000 in Bangladesh[18]
Literature
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 Boron-dahanir
Ela (বরন ডাহািনর এলা, 1450–1600 A.D.[19]) and a
song relating to the conjugal life of Madai and
Soralel known as Madai Soralel Ela (মাদই
সরােরলর এলা, 1500–1600 [3] ) 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 the

apex literary organization of the community Nikhil
Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Parishad (1955),
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
25,085 articles as of 16 March 2019. This makes it
a little under half the size of the Bengali Wikipedia,
and more than five times larger than the next-
largest Bengali-script Wikipedia, Assamese.

Notes and references

1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert;
Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Bishnupriya
Manipuri" . Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max
Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
2. "Archived copy" . Archived from the original on
10 February 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
3. [1]
4. "Mayang, one of the languages spoken in the
polyglot state of Manipur, may, however, be
classed as a dialect of this language." – Imperial
Gazetteer of India, Vol I, 1907
5. "They (Mayangs) amongst themselves speak
their own language, which is a dialact of Hindee" –
An Account of the Valley of Manipore by McCullock,
1849.
6. "The present population of Manipur includes a
tribe called Meiun who speak a language of
Sanskrit derivation. They are now in a servile
condition performing the duties of grass-cutters to
their conquerors." – Descriptive Ethnology of
Bengal by T.T. Dalton, 1872, page 48,49.
7. "A tribe known as Mayang speaks a mongrel
form of Assamese known by the same name…
They are also known as 'Bishnupuriya Manipuris' or
'Kalisa Manipuris' " – Linguistic Survey of India,
1891. Compiled by Sir George Abraham Grierson, Vol
V, page 419.
8. E-pao.net
9. Dr. K. P. Sinha. The Bishnupriya Manipuris and
Their Language, Assam 1977,page 5,6
10. Singha, Jagat Mohan & Singha, Birendra. The
Bishnupriya Manipuris & Their Language. Silchar,
1976
11. Dr. KP Sinha, An Etymological Dictionary of
Bishnupriya Manipuri,Silchar, 1982
12. Tribals and their Culture in Manipur and
Nagaland by G. K. Ghose. Page 167.
13. Dr. K.P. Sinha, The Bishnupriya Manipuri
Language, Calcutta, 1981
14. "Archived copy" . Archived from the original on
12 August 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
15.
http://lakhipuronline.blogspot.com/2009/07/maha
sabha-census-indicates-416-lakh.html
16.
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001
/Census_Data_Online/Language/partb.htm
17. Cultural Heritage of North-East India/ Bidhan
Singha,1999
18. "Archived copy" . Archived from the original on
5 July 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
19. [2]

See also
Bishnupriya edition of Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia

Bishnupriya Manipuri Society

List of Bishnupriya Manipuri poets

Further reading
1. Vasatatvar Ruprekha/ Dr. K. P. Sinha, Silchar,
1977
2. Manipuri jaatisotta bitorko: ekti niropekkho
paath /Ashim Kumar Singha, Sylhet, 2001
3. G. K. Ghose / Tribals and Their Culture in
Manipur and Nagaland, 1982
4. Raj Mohan Nath / The Background of Assamese
Culture, 2nd edn, 1978
5. Sir G. A. Grierson / Linguistic Survey of India,
Vol-5, 1903
6. Dr. K. P. Sinha / An Etymological Dictionary of
Bishnupriya Manipuri, 1982
7. Dr. M. Kirti Singh / Religious developments in
Manipur in the 18th and 19th centuuy, Imphal, 1980
8. Singha, Jagat Mohan & Singha, Birendra / The
Bishnupriya Manipuris & Their Language, silchar,
1976
External links
Bishnupriya Manipuri: A brief introduction
Details on Bishnupriya Manipuri Language
The Manipuri Blog
Archive of Bishnupriya Manipuri Literature
Bishnupriya Manipuri forum
Bishnupriya Manipuri society
A Weblog on Bishnupriya Manipuri people and
culture
BishnupriyaManipuri Online Blog

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