Classical Meitei | |
---|---|
Classical Manipuri | |
Region | historically in Ancient Manipur (Ancient Kangleipak) |
Ethnicity | Meitei ethnicity |
Era | 15th century BC - till present; continued as a liturgical language of Sanamahism (Meitei religion), spoken with a modernized pronunciation |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Meitei script[1] | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | None |
Classical Meitei or Classical Manipuri is the standardized literary form of the Meitei language (Manipuri language), used most notably in the Puya (Meitei texts), and is also the liturgical language of Sanamahism (Meitei religion). It represents the development of the rich literary sources of the present day Meitei literature (Manipuri literature). It is around 3500 years old.[2]
It reaches the criteria for being a classical language[3] as it has attained the following four criteria:
The presently available volume of ancient literature is actually lessened due to the dark historical event of Puya Mei Thaba (literally, "burning of the manuscripts") in the 18th century AD. At the same time, many of the ancient folklore and poetic works are still preserved in its oral traditional form linking with the Lai Haraoba festival.[3]