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I was keen to see the Royal Palace of Manipur for many reasons. It was the place where the king was converted to Vaishnavism. It was the place from where Rash Lila and other Radha -Krishna love story related dance and musical forms emerged in the distant Northeast. The Manipuri kings possibly came from Tibet via Thailand and Burma about six hundred years back .The ethnic population had their own religion.
It so happened that the palace coup compelled the crown prince to flee and take shelter in the mountains way back in 17th century. After many years, the prince by then a mature adult, came back and re-occupied the throne. However, he faced a lot of resistance from the people of ethnic main group (They were possibly the Maiteis).Then the Bengali Pandit (Gosain as they called him) came and preached Vaishnavism which the king embraced as a defense mechanism to face the opposition. Like European Churches, the Vaishnav Pandits stood by the king to protect the monarchy and enjoy all the benefits.
It is on record that people at the lower strata of the society were not allowed to come to the fold of Vaishnavism, for people of the upper caste, the Maiteis in due course compromised with the king and took the lead in spreading the new belief .Virtually; they made it distant from the commoners. History is the witness that common people were never allowed to mainstream unless they revolted like French Revolution. In India, unfortunately, it never happened and people, who enjoyed good will of the king, always enjoyed the resources. They were from all religions and all castes, opportunists are a class themselves!
I had heard about a place called Andro which has an immortal fire in a place of worship. On reaching Manipur, I first went to see the place. The place is not maintained like all historical monuments. More significantly, the fire appeared to me to be not a part of History, it appeared as if a group has created it a few years back and popularized it as Immortal Fire.
I jokingly said to me after seeing it....Some of our street hotel kitchens around Sri Jagannath Temple, Puri are also Immortal Fires. The Rosa Ghara (Kitchen) of Sri Jagannath Temple is also an Immortal fire itself. And, it has survived without any Government Grant, with people's support for centuries. Alas, now a days people in power do not move an inch without support from the government, more prominently in the tribal belt throughout the country. That has created a disparity in the society and is one of the reasons for Naxalism or Maoism in tribal states like Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
But my disillusion ended, when I found the deity. The priest said that it is the Guru of the God. Interesting, all of us go to God for our vested interests, but why to go to God's Teacher ! Will he advocate for us before the God... I was amazed.
To read the further articles please get your copy of Eastern Panorama August issue @http://www.magzter.com/IN/Hill-Publications/Eastern-Panorama/News/ or mail to contact @easternpanorama.in
