India > Manipur

About the state Manipur

Manipur is the twenty-third largest state of India with an area of 22347 Sq Km which placed in the north-eastern part of India. According to the census of India 2011, approximately 2721756 people reside here. The state share a international border with its nighboring country Burma to the East and its neighboring states are Nagaland to the North, Assam to the west and Mizoram to the South.

ukhrul city in manipur

(Ukhrul City villace of Manipur)

The capital city of Manipur is Imphal and it also the largest city of the state. Some other examples of big cities in Manipur are Churachandpur, Tamenglong and Ukhrul. According to the geographical features and landforms, Manipur can divided in two separate regions, namely the region of hills and narrow valleys (cover about 60% of total area) and the region of flat plain (cover about 60% of total area). These two regions combined with nine administrative districts like, Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Chandel, Imphal East, Imphal West, Senapati, Tamenglong and Thoubal Ukhrul district.  Read more...

Climate of Manipur

The climate of the state varies with its land elevations. Normally the weather of plain is similar to the other state of India but the regions of hilly area receive a low temperature and dry weather in winter season. The weather characters of Manipur mainly depend on the wind flows of Bay of Bengal and it produce a heavy rainfall during the monsoon season. The climate season of the state can be divided into three divisions namely, summer, winter and monsoon.

Weather in summer
Normally the summer season of Manipur is continued from mid of March to May. The average temperatures during this season is 28°C.

Weather in winter
Normally the winter season of Manipur is continued from November to February and the average temperature during this season is about 8°C. but some region of hilly areas temperature drop in freezing point.

Weather in monsoon
Normally the monsoon season of Manipur is continued from July to September and the average annual rainfall of the state is approximately 147 cm.

People and Culture of Manipur

Languages in Manipur:
The official languages of Monipur are Meiteilon and English. The people of Manipur basically divided into several regional or tribal community groups, among them the Meitei, Naga, Kuki and Meitei Pangal tribal are majority communal groups.

Meiti Tribal community:
this regional group resides at the plain area of the state in the districts of Imphal West, Imphal East, Bishnupur, Thoubal and Senapati. Near about 47% of Total population belongs to this tribal group and they mainly follow the Vaishnavs religion which is similar to Hinduism. This community group mainly uses Meiteilon or Manipuri as their first spoken language.

Meitei Pangal community:
this tribal group also resides in the plain areas of the state adjoining with Meiti community. Near about 8.33% of total population belongs to this tribal group and they mainly follow the Muslim religion. This community group mainly uses Meiteilon or Manipuri as their first spoken language.

Naga and Kuki tribal Community:
these two tribal groups reside in hilly terrain of the state and divided into twenty-nine sub-tribal community. Some of major sub-tribes are Kabui, Mao and Tangkhul under the Naga tribal group and Paite, Kom, Hmar, Vaiphei, Thadou, Gante and Zou belonging to the Kuki tribal group. These community groups traditionally bear their own religion, dialects and culture. They have 29 tribal spoken dialects some of them are Thadou-Kuki, Tangkhul, Hmar, Paite, Mao, Rongmei dialect and Kom dialect.

Besides of these, some other religion groups reside here with a less percentage population like, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism. Maximum of them were formally belongs to several tribal communities, but throughout the last century some of tribal gradually converted into Christian or Buddhist.

Festivals in Manipur
Manipur is state of several tribal communities. The culture and the festivals of the state are dissimilar to other states. Major festivals of Manipur are Lai-Haraoba, Yaoshang(Dol Jatra), Ratha Jatra, Ramjan Id, KUT ( Festival of Kuki-Chin-Mizo), Gang-Ngai ( Festival of Kabui Nagas), Chumpha (Festival of Tangkhul Nagas), Christmas ( Festival of Christians), Cheiraoba ( The Manipur NewYear), Heikru Hidongba, Ningol Chakouba (The social festival of Manipuris), Lui_Ngai_Ni and the festival of Kwak Jatra.