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Meetei Mayek

MeeteiMayek

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Jay Karta
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2K views5 pages

Meetei Mayek

MeeteiMayek

Uploaded by

Jay Karta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Meetei Mayek

1 of 2

http://arbornet.org/~prava/eeyek/

L2/00-259

Meetei Mayek
Meetei-Mayek is the script which was used to write Meeteilon
(Manipuri) till the 18th century. The script nearly became
extinct as a result of a mass burning of all books in Meeteilon
ordered by Ningthau Pamheiba who ruled Manipur in the
18th century. The main person behind this atrocity was
Shantidas Gosain who had come to Manipur to spread
Vaishnavism, on whose instigation the king gave the order.
The king embraced Vaishnavism, took the name Garibnawaz
and made Vaishnavism the state religion. Subsequently,
Bengali script was adopted to write the language and is being
used till date. Recent research has resurrected this script, and
it is now being given its due place.

The Script
History of Meetei Mayek
We introduce the Meetei Mayek TrueType Font, which allows you to do everything you are used to doing in English,
in the Meetei Mayek script! This means, you can
Type documents in Meetei Mayek using MS-Word, or any Windows word processor of your choice
Create WebPages in Meetei Mayek
Send and Receive Emails in Meetei Mayek using any email software of your choice
Do desktop publishing in Meetei Mayek
and much more.
This font is free!
(because some of the best things in life are free) :-)
The main idea behind creating this font is to make Meetei Mayek popular, by giving everybody a simple way to use it on the
computer, without having to learn and use any new software. This font is also intended to introduce Meetei Mayek into the
world of internet and World Wide Web, by paving a way for creating Web pages and exchanging emails in Meetei Mayek.

Download and Install


Meetei Mayek Font

How to use the


Meetei Mayek Font

Key Map for


Meetei Mayek Font

You can see Meetei Mayek on this page because it is put as images, and not text. In normal usage, the matter has to be displayed as text.
For viewing Meetei Mayek text in webpages, you need to download and install the Meetei Mayek font.

SITES OF INTEREST
E-PAO: News about Manipur
The Story of Manipur

4/8/2003 4:05 PM

Meetei Mayek

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http://arbornet.org/~prava/eeyek/

The Manipur Page


North-East News Agency
Manipur Update
Manipur Homepage
The Manipur Page
Manipuri Culture
Have you got the Meetei Mayek font installed? Enjoy Manipuri in the original script, at the following site:
(Prose and Poetry)
Update: In this Prose and Poetry page we use a dynamic version of Meetei Mayek font, so that if you are using a later version of
Netscape or Internet Explorer, you do not even need to download and install the font to view the page. The font downloads and
displays automatically when you access the page.

If you create a page using the Meetei Mayek font, do tell us. We will give it a link here.

Meetei Mayek True-Type font.


Copyright (C) 2000 Pravabati Chingangbam and
Tabish
This font is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation.

The Meetei Mayek Font, and this Site created by


Pravabati Chingangbam and Tabish
Send your comments to: prava@arbornet.org
Meetei Mayek font was created using the Font Creator Program

4/8/2003 4:05 PM

History of Meetei Mayek

1 of 1

http://arbornet.org/~prava/eeyek/history.html

History of Meetei Mayek


It is indeed difficult to trace the exact period of the origin of the Meetei Mayek. The burning of vital historical
documents or the Puyas of Kangleipak (Manipur) written in Meetei Mayek during the reign of King Pamheiba in the
early 18th century, made the effort all the more difficult. However, Meetei Mayek experts and authorities say the script
dates back as early as 3900 years ago. (Kanglei Eeyek Wari, Kangjia,1996).
According to the very few Puyas that survived, such as, Wakoklon Thilel Salai Singkak, Wakoklol Thilel Salai Amailon,
Meetei Mayek comprised of 18 alphabets. Even during the reign of King Pamheiba (1709-1748), all documents were
written in these 18 alphabets. Pamheiba embraced Hinduism in 1717. Few years after this, he ordered the destruction of
pre-Hindu places of worship and the burning of all the Puyas of the Kangleichas or the citizens of Kangleipak. After
the massive destruction of the pre-Hinduism records of Meetei philosophy, literature and history, the king and his
descendents tried taking total control over the cultural, literary and religious affairs of the people. But the official effort
of the Konung or the Royal Palace to impose a concoction of Bengali, Devnagri and Gurumukhi script on the people
was not welcomed by one and all. Between 1709 to 1941, Bengali script replaced Meetei Mayek and subsequently
became the official script of the Konung. During this phase, there were many voices of dissent.
The most strident voice of dissent came from a Meetei scholar, Laininghan Naoria Phullo (Naorem Phumdrei). Naoria
started the movement to revive Kanglei or Meetei tradition in 1930 from a village called Jaribon, Laishramkhul in
Cachar in Assam. He developed a script and named it after him. The Naoria Mayek challenged the script imposed and
propagated by the Konung in Kangleipak (Manipur). It had 24 alphabets. The voice of revivalism and the new script
soon spread to the entire Kangleipak.
An organization called the Meetei Marup was formed in 1947 in Kangleipak to propagate the Naoria Mayek. Serious
debates on the script began in 1950. A state level committee called the Mayek Lupteen Committee (MLC) was formed
in 1958 to conduct a study. A sub-committee of the same group concluded that there are only 18 alphabets in the Meetei
Mayek. Though the effort of Naoria Phullo was appreciated, another conference on Mayek in 1969 discovered that some
of the alphabets of the Naoria Mayek were Bengali and Devnagri. The same conference also found out that not a single
ancient Meetei Puya was written in Naoria Mayek. After a thorough study of an original Puya called "Wakoklon Thilel
Salai Amailon Pukok" the participating judges recommended that the actual genuine Meetei Mayek had only 18
alphabets.
The most significant development in the history of the Meetei Mayek happened in 1976. During the "Writers
Conference" in the same year, all the groups working towards the development of Meetei Mayek officially endorsed the
18 alphabets and urged the government of Manipur to popularize the script. The supporters of the Naoria Mayek did not
oppose the move. Thus the present Meetei Mayek re-emerged with new vigor. The nine letters called the Lom Eeyek,
which are derivatives of the previous 18 were added so as to incorporate additional phonetic sounds present in
Meeteilon as a result of historical changes. On the 19th of January, 1983, the Education Department of the Government
of Manipur, prescribed "Meetei Mayek Tamnaba Mapi Lairik" as text book for students of class VI.
-- Dhiren Sadokpam
sadokpam@yahoo.com

4/8/2003 7:18 PM

Meetei Mayek: The Script

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file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/rick@unicode.org/Desktop/Me...

Meetei Mayek: The Script


Interestingly, the letters in Meetei Mayek are named after parts of human body. Meanings of these names are indicated
with the letters below. Sounds which the letters denote are indicated within brackets.

Eeyek Eepee
(Original Letters)

kok ( ka )

sam ( sa )

lai ( la )

mit ( ma )

pa ( pa )

na ( na )

head

hair

forehead

eye

eyelash

ear

chil ( cha )

til ( ta )

khou ( kha )

ngou ( nga )

thou ( tha )

wai ( wa )

lips

pharynx

chest

navel

pham ( pha )

atiya ( a )

placenta

sky

saliva

throat

yang ( ya )

huk ( ha )

backbone

lower spine

un ( u )

ee ( ee )

skin

blood

Lom Eeyek
(Additional Letters)

gok ( ga )

jham ( jha )

rai ( ra )

ba ( ba )

jil ( ja )

dil ( da )

ghou ( gha )

dhou ( dha )

bham ( bha )

Lonsum Eeyek
(Letters with short ending)

kok ( k )

lai ( l )

mit ( m )

pa ( p )

4/8/2003 7:17 PM

Meetei Mayek: The Script

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file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/rick@unicode.org/Desktop/Me...

na ( n )

til ( t )

ngou ( ng )

ee ( ee )

Cheitap Eeyek
(Vowel Signs)

atap ( aa )

inap ( i )

yetnap ( e )

otnap ( o )

unap ( u )

sounap ( ou )

cheinap ( ei )

nung ( ng )

Cheising Eeyek
(Digits)

Khutam Eeyek
(Punctuation Marks)

"joining" underline

question mark

comma

fullstop

References:
1. Meetei Mayek Tamnaba Mapi Lairik by Ng. Kangjia
2. Kanglei Eeyekki Wari (History of Kanglei Eeyeks) by Ng. Kangjia

4/8/2003 7:17 PM

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