The painstaking efforts of a social organization has brought to light that at least 393 worship places of the Meiteis have been destroyed in the ongoing Manipur ethnic conflict, which is fueled primarily by narco-terror and illegal immigration of Christian Kuki-Chin people from neighboring Myanamar where a civil war is raging

The Umanglai Kanba Apunba Lup (UKAL) organization based in Manipur conducted extensive research and investigation to identify the desecrated sacred sites, which include those dedicated to ancestral and local deities from the pantheon of Sanamahi religion, as well as traditional Hindu mandirs.

Working Committee on Protection of Meitei Temples (under the UKAL) informed that 393 Meitei temples and shrines were destroyed and burnt by Kuki militants. WCPMT convenor Mutum Maniton denounced that Kuki militants not only destroyed the shrines & temples but in some instances also humiliated the Meitei community by first kicking and spitting on the sacred sites before burning them.

While stating that the committee has been collecting the data of the temples destroyed by Kuki militants, he urged people to give information if some destroyed temples have been missed out, by visiting UKAL headquarters located at Konung Mamang and submitting evidence in form of photos.

Maniton further demanded authorities to take action and restore these sacred sites.

The Sangai Express reports that these worship sites have been vandalised, desecrated, burnt, razed to the ground etc in the course of the bloody ethnic clash; the count is not final, and the figure of 393 is what has been unearthed till now. No places of worship of the Meiteis seem to have been targeted in Naga dominated areas.

The full report in PDF form prepared by UKAL can be read here.

Out of 393 desecrated/destroyed sites, 223 Hingkhol Lai (homestead deity/Ishta devi in the pantheon of Sanamahi religion) shrines were desecrated: 41 in Kakching, 72 in Churachandpur, 20 in Bishnupur, 43 in Tengnoupal, 30 in Imphal East, 4 in Imphal West and 13 in Kangpokpi.

110 sites dedicated to Apokpa Laipham, the ancestral deity of the Meiteis, were also desecrated: 15 in Tengnoupal, 38 in Churachandpur, 22 in Bishnupur, 23 in Kakching, 9 in Imphal East and 3 in Kangpokpi.

44 laishang (holy shrines) dedicated to worship of forest deity Umang Lai were desecrated: 3 in Tengnoupal, 11 in Churachandpur, 4 in Kakching, 3 in Imphal East, 10 in Kangpokpi, 6 in Bishnupur and 7 in Imphal West district.

Apart from this, 16 Hindu mandirs – such as the ancient Shiva mandir (more tweets here, here, here) at foothills of Koubru Leikha (one of the most sacred mountains of Manipiur) in Kangpokpi district, or the Radha-Krishna temple in Churachandpur – were also completely destroyed or desecrated by Kuki militants. As per the twitter handle @porbotialora, a storehouse of knowledge, Bhagwan Shiva is equated with Lainingthou Koubru of the Sanamahi pantheon, who is worshipped by both Meiteis and Zeliangrong Nagas.

There have been past attacks too on Hindu mandirs and indigenous sacred sites in Manipur, such as this 2017 bombing of a Shiva mandir built by Tamil migrants in border town of Moreh.

The Sangai Express highlights that worship of the forest deity Umang Lai underlines the fact that the Meitei is one of the few groups of people in the North East who continue to worship nature to this day, a distinct tribal trait. This should in fact strengthen their demand to be included in the Scheduled list of tribal people under the Constitution of Bharat, something the Kuki-Chin ‘tribals’ are opposing.

While the European Parliament has been crying foul over the Kuki-Chin churches that have been damaged in the ongoing violence (although many of them were illegally built on protected forest land), the reality is that it is Dharmiks, including followers of indigenous native religions (which have so much in common with Hindu Dharma), who are facing an existential threat in Manipur and the rest of the North East.

There is a small proportion of Christians as well among the Meitei and even their churches have allegedly not been spared by the Kuki extremists. Incidentally, no Naga Churches have been targeted in Manipur thus far in the current bout of violence, although the state has witnessed bloody inter-Christian clashes between Nagas and Kukis in the past.