ABSTRACT
Cultural history of any nation, region or community tells of politics of certain kinds. And the cultural history of Manipur tells of the politics of religion. Since the 17th century, the trajectory of religious developments in Manipur has not been without conflicts and contestations. To understand the politics of religion and the ensuing resistance against religious forces, a cultural reading of select Meitei folklores has been attempted in this paper. 1 Various forms of folklore have been selected as the premises of this study because folklore is considered the reservoir of culture. Moreover, when folklore is regarded as ‘autobiographical ethnography, a people’s own description of themselves’ 2 by Alan Dundes (quoted in Bronner 2007: 53), what could provide a deeper insight into the cultural politics of the Meiteis than their own folklore!
