It is not that uncommon in the rest of the country or the world to change names, as nations and peoples endeavour to assert their ancient heritage or pre-colonial ethos. The change from Ceylon to Sri Lanka, Burma to Myanmar, Peking to Beijing would be prominent examples. In India, examples can be given of the names of three important metropolitan cities which had been changed from Calcutta to Kolkata, Bombay to Mumbai and Madras to Chennai. However, the original names still remain in the case of its High Courts.
Nearer home, the spelling of Gauhati had been changed to Guwahati. In recent times with BJP coming to power, the urge to change the name of the country into Bharat has become more intense. They have succeeded in changing the names of a few holy cities. A common factor in these changes is the procedure adopted through proper legislation. In our state also, the name ‘Manipur’ is still in dispute as sections particularly the revivalists prefer a pre-Hindu name like Kangleipak or Meitrabak. Throughout its history, Manipur has been known by various names to its neighboring regions. The Shans or Pongs referred to it as Cassay, the Burmese as Kathe, and the Assamese as Meklee. The British East India Company's first treaty in 1762 recorded it as Meckley.
The name of the present state, Manipur, was given to this land after the declaration of Hinduism as the state religion. It was during the reign of Pamheiba whose Hindu name is Garibniwaz, in the beginning of the eighteenth century that the name 'Manipur' came into being. According to researchers of ancient history, Manipur had different indigenous names such as Tillikoktong Ahanba, Mira Pongthoklam, Hanna Semba Konna Loiba and Muwapali Mayai Sumtongpan etc. Some of the names suggested by revivalists were Meitei centric and it had been rejected by many.
It is known in history that the legacy of the Meiteis which began in the valley spread far and wide and its suzerainty encompassed a large swathe of territory from the Barak valley to Kabo valley which fluctuated with the might of the Meitei Kings. So, the name change of the state is still to find acceptance among the majority.
In the last few decades, we have seen groups with homeland or separatist aspirations have a tendency of naming or changing names of places. The Naga insurgency was one when it tried to change the names of some important towns like Senapati and Chandel etc. On the other hand, the Kuki-Zo fraternity have a knack of changing names in the hill areas and even to the extent of naming villages in the Imphal valley. This could be seen in the spurt of several names with ‘Veng’ as a suffix.
It began with the effort to change the name of Churachandpur into Lamka and it gained momentum during the Meitei-Kuki clashes. They even had the audacity to change the location of Imphal airport with Lamka. Interestingly, when letters and parcels which had been changed to Lamka address failed to reach them, they relented and called it a strategic retreat. They also changed the name of Thangjing hills into Thangting and Mt Thangjing, a sacred place of the Meiteis into Mt Olive by erecting a cross amid a ceremony of sorts.
They even tried to assert the name Thangting through an administrative order. The latest effort is of naming Kangpokpi as Kanggui and Churachandpur as Songpi in a complaint to the National Commission for ST/SC. Such instances had led to the Manipur assembly unanimously passing the Names of Places Bill, 2024.
The Bill makes using names of places not authorised by the state government punishable by a prison term that could extend to three years and fines of up to Rs 2 lakh. According to the Manipur government, there have been multiple instances in which unauthorised names of places were used with “possible malafide intent which had the potential to create confusion in the administration and disturb the social harmony in the state”. It said that certain administrative challenges also emerge because of unauthorised names of places being used.
