Bengali script loses its only outpost -

Bengali script loses its only outpost
KHELEN THOKCHOM
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050516/asp/...ory_4745125.asp


Imphal, May 15: The Bengali script will die in the only place outside Bangladesh and Bengal where it is used as the medium of writing.

After nearly 300 years, Meitei Mayek, the script of the majority Meitei community in Manipur, will replace Bengali with the cabinet in the northeastern state taking the decision in the wake of three months of agitation.

Meitei Mayek will come back into textbooks from the next academic session, the government of Okram Ibobi Singh decided last night.

Over 270 years ago, Bengali replaced the indigenous script on a decree by the then king Pamheiba (1709-48), who burnt all scriptures and other books written in the Meitei script. Since then, Manipuri has been written in the Bengali script.

The king’s action was influenced by Santidas Gossain, a Bengali missionary who came from Sylhet, now in Bangladesh, to spread Vaishnavite culture. Many protested. The protesters were either killed or exiled.

This time, too, the chief minister’s decision has followed protests and threats from organisations that wanted Meitei to return.

A month ago, demonstrators burnt down Manipur’s oldest library in the state capital. Lakhs of Manipuri textbooks written in Bengali were torched.

Last week, a team of leaders of the language movement met Ibobi and gave him seven days to take a decision.

It was not easy for the government to make up its mind as there was strong opposition from other sections of the population to the move, which they saw as imposition of Meitei on them.

To pre-empt another round of agitation from non-Meiteis, the government decided to use the Roman script for Manipuri textbooks for students from these communities, who are tribals living in the hills. Meiteis are plains people who live mostly in the Imphal valley, constituting over 50 per cent of Manipur’s population.

Meitei will replace Bengali in classes I to II from the 2006-07 academic session, moving up to higher classes every year till the university level.

The implications of the move are stupendous since new books have to be written in the Meitei script. The cabinet resolved to finish transcription from Bengali to Meitei by October to make books available ahead of the start of the academic session. Schoolteachers will undergo orientation programmes to become familiar with the script.

Still not fully satisfied, the organisation spearheading the agitation has demanded a white paper on the cabinet decision.

“We are yet to get a clear picture of the decision. The government should present a clear picture by Wednesday,” it said.

Following an appeal by language activists, all local Manipuri language papers have started using the local script in at least one news item every day.

The Manipur Assembly passed a resolution in 1980 to replace Bengali but no action had been taken until now.

Bengali to die slow in Manipur

OUR CORRESPONDENT
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050517/asp/...ory_4749266.asp

Imphal, May 16: The sentence has been declared but death will be slow for the Bengali script in Manipur.

Experts predict that it will take at least a quarter century to put a complete end to the tradition of nearly three centuries of writing Manipuri in Bengali script because of the huge task involved.

On Saturday night, the Okram Ibobi Singh government decided to replace Bengali with the Meitei Mayek script after a violent agitation that saw the state’s central library being burnt down.

“Since Meitei will be introduced in the next academic session only in the lower classes, by the time the entire process is complete, it will take not less than a quarter of a century (to complete the transition),” said an educationist, requesting anonymity.

The decision has been generally welcomed in Manipur, even by the hills people, whose leaders had initially opposed the change.

As a compromise, the government has decided that the hills people will use the Roman script.

Meitei Mayek is the script of the Meitei community, who form over 50 per cent of Manipur’s population.

It was abandoned under duress in the 18th century when King Pamheiba under the influence of the travelling Bengali Vaishnavite, Santidas Gossain, burnt all scriptures and other books in that script.

John Pulamte, the president of the All-Tribal Students’ Union, said: “We welcome the cabinet decision and particularly the resolution to allow use of Roman script by non-Meitei communities. We also welcome the idea of replacing the Bengali script.”

The only demand the hills people have made is that the government promote tribal dialects.

The United Democratic Front ministry of Youngmasho Seiza, a Naga, passed a resolution in the Assembly in 1980 to make the switch.

Two years ago, the government allowed voluntary organisations to teach Meitei in schools in Classes I and II. The experiment met with little success as learning the script was not compulsory.

At the request of language activists, vernacular newspapers have started writing at least one news report in Meitei.

But the newspaper industry will be among those fields where Bengali will die the slowest.

“People will have to first learn the script so that they can read a newspaper,” added T. Gautam, bureau chief of Naharolgi Thoudang, a leading vernacular paper.

The Bengali script was introduced in educational institutions after the British conquered Manipur in 1891.

“Bengali is virtually in the blood” of Manipuris, said the educationist.

Like him, Irengbam Arun, consulting editor of Ereibak, another vernacular daily, believes “it will take at least 25 to 30 years” to make the full transition.

Burning a library! What a bunch of idiots.

By the way, Assamese also uses the Bengali script. Some Maithilis still use it, but somehow Maithili, which is much closer to Bengali than Hindi, has been assimilated into the Hindi-speaking territory and now uses devanagari. Some of the tribals used Bengali scripts, but with the influx of Christian missionaries, most of them now use Roman, and a few Devanagari.

Ah, but the Bengali Vaishnavas started it:

They were idiots, too.

Google suggests that Santidas was a Ramanandi who failed to convert the Bisnupriya/Aryan Manipuris from the worship of Visnu to that of Rama so he turned instead to the Meitei, those of a more Mongolian descent.

BBC reported the burning of the library in April, see here.