TOPIC |
1. INTRODUCTION |
2. EVERY DAY LIFE OF MANIPUR |
3. POLITICAL SCENARIO UNDER THE RULE OF THE RAJAs |
4. ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND GROWTH AFTER 1826 |
The Meiteis have been living in the manipur Valley at least since the
beginning of the first millennium. What was initially a small clan
principality grew into a powerful monarchal state comprising the valley
of Manipur and the surrounding hills inhabited by the Nagas(no nagas in
those year, name came into existence with British before that all are
called Angami, Tangkhul, Ao, Kabi) Kukis and a few other small ethinic
groups. The Meiteis have a rich cultural heritage. Their written
language and literature have a long history. In 1110 AD a written
constitution was promulgated by the ruling king. It codified the
customary laws, codes, conventions and defined Meitei polity embodying
the concept of absolute monarchy. The kingdom was divided into six
pannas for facilitating the organisation of the lallup system under
which every citizen with a few exception from the age 17 to 60 years was
required to work for the king for 10 days in every forty without any
wages. But each lallup worker was given 1 pura (roughly 3 acres) of land
for cultivation on payment of the usual land revenue to the Raja.
Manipuri men had indomitable martial spirit, they were skilled horse
riders and could fight as fierce cavalrymen in wars. Men could keep on
fighting wars being away from for prolonged periods because the women
were industrious, enterprising, business-minded, adept in weaving,
agriculture and horticultural farming and selling and buying of goods
inn the market. The favourable aspects of Meitei character combined with
a strong political structure and economy placed them quite ahead of the
other ethnic groups living in the surrounding hills in terms of social,
political, economic and cultural developments. Therefore they succeeded
in dominating over the hill people. But over the centuries there has
occurred the fusion of certain traits of Meitei culture and that of the
hill-dwellers. Ultimately the kingdom of Manipur emerged as one distinct
political entity with the territorial spread encompassing the Manipur
valley and the surrounding hills.
In the pre-industrial and pre-capitalist economy material life of people
represents 'the informal other half of economic activity, the world of
self-sufficiency and barter of goods and services within a very small
radius'(Braudel 1986:24). Destruction of the material life is something
like 'weighing up of the world' and comprehending the limits of what was
possible in the pre-industrial world. The material life of the people
was possible in the pre-industrial world. The material life of the
people was manifested in the images of daily life'.
1. Manipuris daily bread: rice, fish, and dal
2. Varieties and mode of rice cultivation: nineteen varieties: a few
were early and many late varieties of higher yield. Late varieties
cultivated by following the method of transport
3. The importance of rice: Culture of rice growing influences the
socoi-political and economic life and institutions of the people.
4. Salt: Manipur depended on the natural salt wells for indigenously
producing salt.
5. Meiteis balanced diet: rice, fish, pulses, beans, vegetables and
seasonal fruits.
6. Stimulants and drugs
7. Dwelling houses
8. Economics of the housing sector: it manifested as essential element
of Manipuri's self-sufficient economy
9. Dress and fashion: reflected the spirit of plain living
10. Hillmen's economy: The Nagas practised both shifting and settled
cultivation. The Nagas villages having locational stability could follow
land use planning in accordance with the communities perception of
sustainable use of land. Kuki villages were not stable as the Kukis
continued to migrate farther northward. The art of settled cultivation
was not acquired by them. The Kuki village chief was very powerful. The
hillmen's economy was not an insular subsistence economy. They produced
cash crops like oilseeds, cotton, pepper, ginger, etc.; parts of such
produces were traded with the Manipuris to procure salt, iron tools,
agricultural implements, fire-arms, glass beads, utensils, ornaments,
livestock, Manipuri quilts and cloth etc. The hillmen also exported to
the plains forest products and few household industry products like
cloth mats baskets, etc.
11. Sources of energy: (I) Animal power, (II) heat energy
12. Transport system
13. Manufactures: (I) cotton textiles, (II) silk textiles (II) iron
tools manufacture (III) leather manufactures (V) pottery (VI) jewelry
14. Professional skills of the Manipuris
15. Money and exchange
Economic performance of a society is influenced by the structure of its
economy comprising 'the political and economic institutions, technology,
demography and ideology
Until the occupation by the British in 1891, Manipur was
constitutionally a monarchal state. The Raja enjoyed almost absolute
power of rule. He dictated and enforced the terms and conditions of
enjoyment of civil liberty and of property rights by his subjects on the
different inputs of production, such as, labour supply including
self-labour, land and other natural resources, outputs turn out by them
as well as on different items of immovable and moveable assets as
individuals and groups of individuals. The nature, extent and
effectiveness of enjoyment of property rights largely determined the
peoples incentives to produce beyond the subsistence level. The king
benefited from increased volume of production of goods and services as
his monopoly rent thereby went up. He devised the administrative,
bureaucratic and military structure for keeping the system going and for
maximizing the extraction of monopoly rent in cash and /or kind, such
as, in the form of land revenue, taxes, duties, levies and free labour
services etc.
The absolute power of the king was limited by certain factors, three
important ones were: (1) He had to appoint agents- administrators,
judicial, and military functionaries to run the state structure and
realizes taxes, labour services, etc. on the king's behalf. It could not
be possible for any king to constrain his agents fully where interests
did not completely coincide with that of their master. No wonder , at
times the king's agent colluded with the subjects to divide up some of
the monopoly rents.
Secondly, the monopoly power of the king was limited by the threat of
invasion by neighboring states and/or potential rulers within his own
state.
Thirdly, in every state, the role of the civil society that is, peoples'
collective will in protecting at least by some measuring civil,
political and economic rights of the individuals acts as a limitation on
the powers of the state authority.
Burmese invasion from 1819 to 1826 severely disturbed the internal
organisation of the state. After becoming the king of Manipur in 1826
Gambhir Singh had to rebuild the system, of course, without any marked
deviation from the traditional system
1. The system of lallup
2. The Lois, the Kei-roi-thou
3. Slavery
4. Singlup(wood club) or village panchayat
5. Land system
6. The role of civil society in regulation the land system
7. Position of Women in society, economy and civil society
8. Property rights, debt settlement, etc
9. Ideology
10. Deficiencies of the political-economic institutional structure
Manipuri's economic recovery after the end of the Burmese occupation in
1826 proceeded along with streamlining of the administrative structure
and some liberalisation of modus operandi of economic transactions as
carried out under the British influence and even mild pressure at times.
The British policy vis-à-vis Manipur was shaped by the objective
of
putting on Manipur as a strong defensive base against aggressive designs
of Burma. They also sought to use the territory of Manipur to open up an
overland trade route to Burma and therefrom to Yuunan Province of China.
In pursuance of these objectives in nurturing closer political and
military ties with the king of Manipur and making agreements with him to
facilitate and promote flow of trade between British India and Manipur
and Burma with Manipuris co-operation.
1. British Manipur Trade and defense agreement of 1833
2. Manipur's parting with Kabaw Valley under British pressure
3. Posting of British Political agent in Manipur, 1835
4. Signs of growth since 1826
Eight years of peace and stability during the reign of Gambhir Singh
were the years of reconstruction of Manipur's economy. Many of those who
fled manipur returned to their homeland, increasing areas of land were
reclaimed for cultivation by clearing weeds, grass etc. The damaged
roads were constructed, old markets reopened and new markets opened,
trade flow between Cachar and Manipur and that between manipur and Burma
increased in volume as some of the trade restrictions were withdrawn.
The Nagas were freely allowed to bring down again their cash crops like
ginger, cotton, pepper, etc for exchanging with goods of their needs in
some designated markets. Construction activities were undertaken on a
wide scale as the destroyed villages were rebuilt. A new capital at
Langthabal about 8 kms south of Impala was built.
The signs of the growth were manifested in the growth of population,
increased degree of specialization and diversification of productive
activities, raising of new crops, increasing volume of monetization of
transactions, commercialization of agricultural production, increasing
volumes of internal and external trade etc.