Impact of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in Manipur: An Era of Manipuri Cultural Integration

The surrounding hill ranges of the present day Manipur bordered to divide mainland India in the northwest and Myanmar in the southeast. It also lies almost in the halfway between the tri-junctions of India-Burma-China. As such, since the bygone eras, the valley and the surrounding hill ranges of Manipur naturally became an important station of migration and trade route between South Asia and South East Asia. Alongside, it also became a cradle of civilization for various remarkable groups of people who came in search of land for better living and glory. So, the history of Manipur is the story of amalgamation of varied cultures and societies and shaping of an unique cultural tradition for an integrated society. Archeological evidences proved that the land of the present day Manipur had experiences of Paleolithic, Neolithic, ancient and medieval cultures which have affinity with the Hoabinhian and are of non-Hindu origin. However, in the courses of amalgamation history of Manipur which started from 33 A.D., by the turns of the 19th A.D., Gaudiya Vaishnavism of the Hindu emerged as the main integrating force especially among the groups of people so amalgamated and known under one nomenclature: Meitei, the major community of Manipur. In this paper, we try to analyze from the historical point of view, to overview the emergence of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism of Hindu religion in Manipur as an undoubted force of cultural integration among the amalgamated Meiteis to oneness with uniquely shaped refined cultural traditions. For the purpose, the following brief factual accounts of history are taken for a logical conclusion on the topic of this paper.