Manipur: The Jewel of the East - History, Culture and Why It Is Called So (2026)
Manipur: The Jewel of the East - History, Culture and Why It Is Called So 2026 Abstract Author: Maibam Donna, PhD Scholar, Centre for Study of Social Inclusion, Manipur University, Researcher and Author of several journal articles and book chapters on Northeast India Manipur, a small state in India's Northeast that shares a 398 km international border with Myanmar, is habitually framed in national discourse through the lens of conflict, insurgency, remoteness, and underdevelopment. Such framing, while not without empirical basis, is profoundly incomplete. It obscures a reality that is far more complex and far more promising. This essay takes a deliberately different approach. It undertakes a systematic appraisal of Manipur's positive endowments—its globally significant ecology, its exceptionally long political and cultural history, its classical and folk performing arts that have attained national and UNESCO recognition, its distinctive and historically deep-rooted gen...