PANGAL: The Muslims of Manipur –I (History of origin)

The Muslims of Manipur are locally known as “Pangal”. They are believed to be migrated from Bengal. The word “Pangal” comes from the word “Bangal”. But officially they are recognized by the name “Meitei Pangal”. They are the follower of Islam, constituting about 8% of the total population of Manipur. They had migrated to Manipur in different historical periods and settled down in different places of Manipur, primarily on the fertile river banks in the Imphal valley.

As recorded in the royal chronicle, the settlement of the Pangal population started in 1606 AD during the reign of king Khagemba. But the migration Pangal can be traced earlier as evidenced by the Puya (Anal) like Sakok Lamlen Ahanba (1992) and Kangleilangba Pakhangba (1955). The said Puyas assert that certain Muslim immigrants came to this land during the reign of king Naophangba (594-624 AD). Some local Muslim historian such as MA Rahman and K Khullakpam mentioned that Muslims began to settle in Manipur during the reign of king Mongyamba (1562-1597 AD), with the coming of three Musalmans (Muslims) from Sylhet as gun makers in the middle of 16th century. They had been regarded as the earliest Muslim settlers in Manipur who took Meitei’s sub-clan know as Aribam (Rahman, 1995 and Khullakpham, 1997). But these are not recognized as being part of the official recorded (Singh, 2007).

The most accepted history of Muslim coming to Manipur is recorded in the Royal Chronicle of Manipuri King. At the beginning of 17th century, there was a dispute between Khagemba Maharaj and his younger brother Sanongba on the issue of a broken boat of the later. Sanongba fled to Cachhar with his mother Changpombi. She requested the then king of Cachhar Pratha Phinanda to help them and attack Manipur. He agreed and requested Nawab Muhammad Nazir or Bayajid Karrani of Taraf (Sylhet) which is at present Bangladesh for help. Agreed to the request of Cachhar king, Nawab Nazir sent a Muslim contingent consisting of 1007 soldier under the generalship of his younger brother Muhamad Shahni in 1605.

Along with the troop of Cachhar, Muslim troop reach Manipur in early 1606.Cachhar troop make their camp on the upper hill slope of Khoupum, while Muslim troop stayed on the banks of Sarel Yangoi, which is now at Lamangdong (Bishnupur) (Singh, 1988). The Manipur king had well prepared for the battle (Sanahal singh, 1985). Knowing this, the Cachhar troop retreated back home without informing the Muslim troop in the plain. But on the way they were defeated by the Manipuri soldier. After the battle the king of Manipur realized that the strength of the Muslim solders could not be met with the force at his disposal and so he decided to defeat the Muslim troop through diplomatic maneuver. The two parties came to an agreement of withdrawing both their respective troops. But the soldiers of Manipur judiciously surrounded the Muslim troop and asked them to surrender or to die (Bhogeshor and Khan, 1973). The Muslim leader replied that instead of being killed they would rather settle in Manipur. The king of Manipur accepted their proposal; they were given Meitei ladies to marry to facilitate their settlement and integration into Manipur society (Pukhrimayum, 1998). The migration of Muslims in Manipur continued till the reign of king Chandrakriti (1850-1886 AD) (Singh, 2005).

Reference:
· Kh. Chandrashekkar (ed) Sakok Lamlen Ahanba, Imphal 1992. (Manipuri version)
· Kokngangsana Rajkumar, Kangleilangba Pakhangba, Imphal, 1955. (Manipuri version)
· Md. Abdur Rahman,: Asuppa Mityengda Manipuri Muslim”’ Ningshing Chephong, ICRA Award, Imphal, Nov. 1995
· Kheiruddin Khullakpam, Turko Afgan Chada Naoda, Lilong, Manipur, 1997.
· Oinam Ranjit Singh: History of migration in the valley of Manipur, (extract from the lecture in two day national seminar), Maram, Manipur, September 2007.
· Kayamuddin Pukhrimayum, manipurda muslim khumthorakpa, Manipur amsung Meitei Pangal, ed., A Somorendro Singh, Imphal, 1988.
· RK Sanahal singh, Pangal thorakpa, imphal, 1985.
· O. bhogeshor and Janab Khan (ed), Nongsamei, imphal, 1973
· N. Debendra Singh, identities of the Migrated people in Manipur, centre for Manipur studies, Manipur university, Imphal, 2005

The changing dimension in anthropology

With the introduction of new molecular (DNA) techniques in biological research, the direction of the research has changed. Anthropology is not an odd one out in these changes. With the adoption of these techniques, a new area of study has introduced in biological (Physical) anthropology-‘MOLECULAR ANTHROPOLOGY’ or better term as ‘ANTHROPOLOGICAL GENETIC’. In no time, instead of just sticking to the borrowed techniques, anthropology has developed its own principals and methods of study in this field. Moreover, Anthropology also gives the concept of ‘homogeneous population’ to the other non anthropology biological researchers. No two individuals are genetically identical but a population have a common gene pool which are different from others. So, the frequencies of any mutation are not likely to be same in all the populations. Here comes the importance of the concept homogeneous population in molecular studies. Again, defining a population is purely and anthropological concept.
The main aims of the molecular anthropology are:

tracing the evolutionary history of human being and understanding of gene-environment interactions and contribution of populations to the detection of genes in common and complex diseases.

To achieve these aims anthropologist had used classical markers like proteins and blood groups. This phase, we can called as yesterday’s anthropology. But today’s anthropology is utilizing DNA analysis for the reconstruction of human population structure, histories and evolution. The potential benefits from this research are vast and valuable including; a better understanding of the genetic and evolutionary factors that influence populations; an understanding of genetic architecture of common and complex diseases such as diabetes mellitus, Pregnancy complications, heart diseases, etc.

The human genome consists of 3 billion base pairs of nuclear DNA (nDNA) and around 16.6 Kb of extra- nuclear mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The completion of the Human Genome Project and its descendant, the HapMap project, has provided researchers with enormous opportunities and genetic markers for disease, population and evolutionary studies. It is now well established that less than 5% of nuclear genome codes for proteins and the remaining nuclear genome consists of unique or low copy number sequences and moderate to highly repetitive sequences. This non-coding genome, whose biological function is still not clearly defined, is equally vulnerable to mutations and has become a goldmine for anthropological and population genetic studies. These newly defined DNA markers not only gave a new look to the investigation of human genetic diversity, but initiated a new and important era in the application of anthropological genetics to the field of forensic genetics and molecular medicine.

Future direction: Technology never ends! With ongoing development in technologies, scientist has brought in another area of study/research in biology-‘EPIGENETICS’. In the simplest term epigenetic can be defined as alteration in gene expression without a change in nucleotide sequence. DNA methylation, an epigenetic phenomenon has become a hot area of research because of its role in gene regulation and cellular differentiation.

So, importance of anthropology is not going to fade up rather it will take a key role in the future molecular studies. We have the techniques. We have the concepts. Why should other people do our job????? ……Let’s remember the first lesson that we learnt:

“anthropology is the study of man and its totality”