Meitei literature or Meetei literature is the literature written in the Meitei language. The presence of writing among the Meiteis is assumed to go back to the Kangleipak state under king Loiyumba in the early 12th century. The Meitei script is a Brahmic abugida. It is known only from the Puya manuscripts discovered in the first half of the 20th century. Manuscripts of the 18th and 19th century used the Bengali alphabet. The existence of the Meitei script in the 15th century hinges on the authenticity of an inscription dated to the reign of Senbi Kiyamba.
Puyas
Meitei Puya manuscripts have been discovered by scholars, beginning in the 1930s. These are chronicles, and evidence that Hindus arrived from the Indian subcontinent with royal marriages at least by the 14th century, and in centuries thereafter, from what is now modern Assam, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Dravidian kingdoms, and other regions. Another manuscript suggests that Muslims arrived in Manipur in the 17th century, from what is now Bangladesh, during the reign of Meidingu Khagemba. Meitei literature documents the persistent and devastating Manipur-Burma wars.
Suppression of Meitei Literature
After the adoption of Hinduism as state religion under Gharib Nawaz, it appears that the Puyas were "burnt completely" at Kangla Uttra under royal orders, in either 1729 or in 1732. The Puya manuscripts discovered in the 20th century at best have a tenuous connection with the texts burned under Gharib Nawaz. Like the Hindu and Jain Puranas, the extant Puyas contain cosmology, genealogies of gods and goddesses, and royal chronicles.
Epic poetry
The Numit Kappa is a mythological text in narrative verse. It was published in English translation by T.C. Hodson. A translation into modern Meitei was published in 1908. Ougri is a poem written in archaic Meitei. Khamba Thoibi is regarded as the greatest epic poetry in Meitei literature. The work is composed by Hijam Anganghal of Samurou.
Chronicles
The Nigthourol Shingkak is a work written under Gharib Nawaz, written in the mode of "predictions" made during the rule of Khagemba and thus foretelling the birth and reign of Gharib Nawaz and his religious reforms. The Cheitharol Kumbaba or "Royal Chronicle" is a text written down in the early 19th century, under Jai Singh, the puppet king installed after the Burmese invasion, purportedly based on an older copy which was no longer available. It contains day-to-day transactions and occurrences the state.
