Papers by Prof. Mayanglambam ManiBabu
Patterns of the Subsistence-Adaptation a Case Study in a Nepali village in Manipur
The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-annual International Journal of the Science of Man
Man's unique ability to exist in a variety of ecosystems, as well as to adapt himself to vary... more Man's unique ability to exist in a variety of ecosystems, as well as to adapt himself to varying external condition, is clearly demarcated by a migrant population, who settled down in a new area away from the ancestral, home environment. The paper aims at delineating certain aspects of subsistence-adaptation pattern of the Nepalis settled at the Kanglatongbi village, Manipur, who have their ancestral origin in Nepal, and who are the migrants in the state of Manipur. Since, the Nepalis of Kanglatongbi find themselves in a new environment, they have to adapt to the changed circumstances. They reflect myriad changes with many aspects of lives, including the economical and occupational patterns. The Nepali community representing a population in the state of Manipur seems to have gone through a good number of changes in terms of their socio-economy and technology over a few decades. This paper is an attempt to examine the yet unexplored character of Nepali's subsistence adjustmen...
Making Mute Lithic Artifacts Speak Genetic Epistemology and Reduction Strategies of the Pleistocene Stone Tools in Manipur
The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-annual International Journal of the Science of Man
The present discussion aims at the exposition of the nature as well as the communicative insights... more The present discussion aims at the exposition of the nature as well as the communicative insights of the Pleistocene stone artifacts reported so far from different Paleolithic sites in Manipur, at two levels; first, an assessment of the intelligence level of the authors who made these lithic artifacts is attempted by employing Piagetian theory of genetic epistemology; and secondly, a simple endeavor to surmise the reduction strategies of the Paleolithic artifacts. It is likely that the authors of the Paleolithic core tools (especially bifacial/s) in Manipur applied both the pre-operational means of organization and operational spatial organization in making the tools. The Mode 1 to 4 technologies in all the Paleolithic assemblages are relatively simple and characterized by the less-refined form of core and flake (including blade) reduction technologies, geared towards attaining greater control over either the debitage or faconnage operational systems.
Marriage type and marital distance among the Phayeng (Manipur)
Man in India, 1997
Marriage type, incidence of village endogamy/exogamy and distribution of marriage distance of the... more Marriage type, incidence of village endogamy/exogamy and distribution of marriage distance of the Phayeng population is reported; and the mean marital distance recorded is 3.56 0.46 km. The population under study has a high rate of village endogamy and consanguineous marriage, which may probably be due to the mate availability, social pattern, geographical distributional pattern of different loi/chakpa group. The MMD of consanguineous and affinal types of marriage show very high significant difference. The population reveals positively skewed and leptokurtic marriage distribution.
Archaeology Through Ethnography: An Academic Treatment with the Study of Human Past
Tribal Studies in India, 2019
This chapter introduces to the growing scope of the discipline of archaeology in terms of the eme... more This chapter introduces to the growing scope of the discipline of archaeology in terms of the emergence of ethnoarchaeology as one of the growing sub-discipline; and aims at developing better explanatory models of past human culture through engagement with living societies; recording observable behaviour and consequent residues. It conceptualizes theoretical paradigm of ethnoarchaeology as it rests on the construct of ethnographic analogy and the principles of uniformitarianism; with a premise that living ‘premodern’ indigenous population acts as proxies for the people in the past and are deemed appropriate to be compared with archaeological contexts; and thereby forms important sources of interpretative information for the archaeologists. In view of this; the chapter is designed to throw light on the significances of pursuing such an endeavour on the indigenous tribal populations; particularly of Manipur and their counterparts of other northeastern India in general; as one of the i...
The present study, employing the cybernetic model of systems paradigm as a theoretical frame for ... more The present study, employing the cybernetic model of systems paradigm as a theoretical frame for analysis, has attempted to formulate an ethnographic generalization about the relationship of ceramics to environment and culture in the context of a scheduled caste community of Manipur - the Andros, who inhabit a village of the same name situated on the downslopes of the eastern foothills of the Nongmaiching hill, Imphal East District, Manipur, and among whom pottery is a part-time, women-oriented occupation.
AbstractData on the sex-linked colour vision deficiency are presented for 202 Maring males of Man... more AbstractData on the sex-linked colour vision deficiency are presented for 202 Maring males of Manipur, and the results of the region show a total number of defective colour vision persons of 1.98%.
Ethnoarchaeology of Ceramic Reuse and Discard Behaviour of the Andro of Manipur
The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-annual International Journal of the Science of Man
Ethnoarchaeologists are keenly interested in the observation and study of the universal human phe... more Ethnoarchaeologists are keenly interested in the observation and study of the universal human phenomena of discard pattern and residue formation in order to establish relationship between human behaviour and material residue in contemporanJ societies, which may be posited as propositions for cross-cultural testing and comparison with prehistoric human residues. This ethnoarchaeological orientation is, most often, enhanced with the middlerange theoretical framework, which reveals that archaeological residue formation is related with mundane behaviour that removed materials from the systemic to the archaeological context. Within the ceramic ethnoarchaeological perspective, the present study employing the flow model proposition of durable objects' cultural life cycle (Schiffer, 1972) so as to outline middle-range theonJ has attempted to formulate an ethnographic generalization about the practices of reuse and discard behaviour of ceramics of a scheduled caste communihj of Manipur, the Andros, who inhabit a village of the same name situated on the down slopes of the eastern foothills of the Nongmaiching Hill, Imphal East District (Manipur) and among whom pottery is a part-time, women-oriented occupation. By studying the adaptive behaviour of usage, reuse, and discard, it is seen that ideational factors do affect patterns of ceramic residue formation. And, the middle-range systemic processes, relating to the transfer of Andra ceramics to the archaeological context, thus, have significances in making meaningful interpretations of ceramic patterns in the archaeological record.
Red-Green Colour Vision Deficiency Among the Kabui Nagas of Manipur
The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-annual International Journal of the Science of Man
The incidence of defective colour vision among 219 Kabui males is being reported in the present p... more The incidence of defective colour vision among 219 Kabui males is being reported in the present paper, giving a colourblind percentage of5.94,-and the result is compared with some populations of the State which shows homogeneity in the distribution of protan-deutan sub type of colour blindness. The data have also been discussed in the perspective of comparison with other population of the region for the intergroup variations in the values of the percentages of the trait. Introduction T he X-liked red-green colour blindness is one of the widely used genetic marker in the study of human variation . In demonstrating polymorphism in man, it is also used a physiologic method for studying phenotype (McKusick 1972) This sexliked autosomal recessive disorder can be classified as protanopia (red deficiency), deuteranopia (green deficiency) and tritanopia (blue deficiency)the conditions of which are caused by three seperate recessive genes with multiple alleles located on the long arm ofX-chromosome at 28th region (Gates 1946, Stern 1973, McKusick 1983). Since it is a sexliked trait provoked by the hemizygous sex chromosome complement in male, most individuals affected with this defective are males (Rothwell 1978). The present study on the incidence of colour blindness has been carried out among the Kabui Naga population of the valley of Manipur. The Kabuis, who form an important constituent subgroup of the Zeliangrong of the Naga group (Kamson 1977}, are mainly inhabited along the rugged hills of the Tamenglong district of the State. However, they are also settled sporadically in the valleys of Manipur, Assam and Nagaland. The partioriented Kabui people strictly follow clan exogamy and tribe endogamy; and the rule of matrilateral cross -cousin marriage (KaneiKadoimei) is the most preferred form in the society (Das 1985:37). In the valley of the State they are settled *Maymrglambam Sunitibala is the Faculty Member of tire Departments of Anthropology, Biramangol College, Sawombullg, Mallipur (llldia). **Maymrglambam MmriBabu is tire Faculty Member oftlte Orielltal College, lmplral, Manipur (lmlia). The Oriental Anthropologist 2003; 3(2): 129-133 Tlte Oriental Anthropologist in pockets with distinct village boundaries. Majority of the plain Kabuis practised wet cultivation.
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science
The present paper tries to gives an account of the manufacturing process of pottery by the people... more The present paper tries to gives an account of the manufacturing process of pottery by the people of Oinam, who inhabit the same named village in the Senapati District, Manipur (India), among whom the art of potmaking is still a continuing craft since early days the significance of Oinam ceramic technology lies with the fact that this female-oriented craft is excelled with the naked hand by using molding and paddle-beater technique duly decorated with cord-marked impression at the body part of the vessels. Both these ceramic attributes bear archaeological significances in terms of their probable spatial distribution and continuity throughout Southeast Asia and beyond since Neolithic times or earlier.
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science
Megalithic monuments are not the simple resultant anthropogenic structure but are the immovable m... more Megalithic monuments are not the simple resultant anthropogenic structure but are the immovable media that embody deeper set of meanings relating to how the material themselves are perceived and understood to the builders within a social system. Hence, their significant manipulation as external symbolic storage is well connected with the peoples' cultural mundane deportment. And the collective and complex cultural identities of the builders may be perceived through cultural channels intentional treatment of these monuments that allow us for a better identification of different layers of social identity. The present paper is an attempt to explore such domains related to the living megalithic tradition among the Poumai Naga tribes who inhabit the Oinam village in the Senapati District, Manipur (India). It is seen that the Poumai traditional way of erecting large stone monuments is related with their materialization as external symbolic storage, manifesting one's wealth and attainment of social status, and thus acts a material means to communicate and manipulate ideas to the viewers.
Researcher: A Research Journal of Culture and Society, 2013
Post-cremation-urn-burial of the Phayeng (Manipur): a study on mortuary behaviour
The Eastern Anthropologist, 1994
Résumé/Abstract Avant que le corps phayeng (Manipur) ne soit incinéré, il subit toute une prépara... more Résumé/Abstract Avant que le corps phayeng (Manipur) ne soit incinéré, il subit toute une préparation. La procession crématoriale est clairement définie. Les participants, de retour chez eux, se purifient par un bain et la hutte temporaire qui avait abrité le corps est brûlée. ...
Pottery of the andros of Manipur: a case study on Ethnoarchaeology: a case study on Ethnoarchaeology
The Art of Using Sound: Pengkul (Trumpet) and Its Role in Traditional Kuki Society
The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-annual International Journal of the Science of Man
The unique way of timekeeping strategy, involving pengkul (a traditional bamboo trumpet) as a com... more The unique way of timekeeping strategy, involving pengkul (a traditional bamboo trumpet) as a communication or signalling device within the Lom institution demonstrates the early Kuki people’s technological adaptability and cognitive development. Pengkul has been an important musical instrument of the early Kuki people since time immemorial. It plays a significant role in traditional Kuki society as a means of public communication and conveyor of time and event rather than a mere instrument of merriments. Firstly, the article focuses on the procurement of raw materials, manufacturing process, uses, maintenance, repairing, and discard pattern of the pengkul. Secondly, the article focuses on the role of pengkul as a communication or signalling device within the organization of the village workforce called “ Lompi.” Wherein, pengkul remains as a guiding element of the socioeconomic survival strategy adopted by the traditional Kukis. Thirdly, the article further analyzes the myths and t...
The spatio-temporal distribution of Southeast Asian crude lithic typo-technology during Pleistoce... more The spatio-temporal distribution of Southeast Asian crude lithic typo-technology during Pleistocene and later has long been mooted with the " Bamboo hypothesis " concept. In archaeological contexts evidence of bamboo as artifact is a rare phenomenon and it is agreed upon by archaeologists that tracing the genesis of its exploitation by early humans must be appraised through indirect endeavour particularly in the regions where there occurs major diversity of bamboo species, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. The present discussion aims at highlighting some of the issues related with the genesis of hominin use of bamboo in prehistoric Southeast Asia. One of the myriad concepts on this debate is that large, crude, cobble Hoabinhian artifacts or even of the earlier Pleistocene ones were used in making other material items, more particularly bamboo. It is also commonly held that Southeast Asian Hoabinhian foragers did not developed a more advanced lithic technology than the earlier ones because of the fact that bamboos were amply available in the surroundings and was more efficient than their lithic counterparts in consonance with the prevailed humid tropical environment. The Southeast Asian Pleistocene archaeologists hold that the distribution of bamboo roughly overlaps with Movius " (1948) " Chopper-Chopping Tool Culture " and that Pleistocene hominins to the east of Movius line in eastern Asia used bamboo pertained with their subsistence activities as cutting tools rather than relying on knapped-lithics. Attempts made by experimental archaeologists to differentiate bamboo cut marks from those of chert flakes toward identifying presence of bamboo in eastern Asia (West and Louys 2007), or by replicating stone tools to produce strips of thin bamboo enough for weaving baskets (Bar-Yosef, et. al. 2011)-are the new endeavors in this regard. Moreover, the issue of bamboo hypothesis can be embodied within the syntactical paradigm of archaeological grammar which aims at endeavoring relationship between artefacts and attributes at every level of their organization related with the designata, percepta, and concepta of the artifact (Clarke 1968).
It is generally agreed that ethnoarchaeological discourse on the life cycle of pottery, from the ... more It is generally agreed that ethnoarchaeological discourse on the life cycle of pottery, from the selection and collection of potting raw materials to the stage of its discard -through production, distribution and use -can make a valuable contribution to archaeological research. The aim of the present paper includes -one, to provide a summary and critical assessment on the cultural patterning of procurement of Andro ceramic resources within the ceramic ecological perspective of ethnoarchaeological paradigm, and two, to give a short information on the mineralogical characters of the resources. The present study reveals that the channelizing process of rituals performed by the Andro pibas, to the exploitation of ceramic resources manifest an important resource-procurement strategy which explains linkages between economic subsystems, maintenance of environment equilibrium of resource sites and elite's control over the resource exploitation. The present ethnoarchaeological discussion provides an example of how a combination to the study of the aforementioned areas contributes the understanding of objective parameters within a behavioral context of a potmaking population that may yield archaeological insights at a finer scale of resolution than is often attempted.
Ethnoarchaeologists are keenly interested in the observation and study of the universal human phe... more Ethnoarchaeologists are keenly interested in the observation and study of the universal human phenomena of discard pattern and residue formation in order to establish relationship between human behaviour and material residue in contemporary societies, which may be posited as propositions for cross-cultural testing and comparison with prehistoric human residues. This ethnoarchaeological orientation is, most often, enhanced with the middle-range theoretical framework, which reveals that archaeological residue formation is related with mundane behaviour that removed materials from the systemic to the archaeological context. Within the ceramic ethnoarchaeological perspective, the present study – employing the flow model proposition of durable objects " cultural life cycle (Schiffer, 1972) so as to outline middle-range theory – has attempted to formulate an ethnographic generalization about the practices of reuse and discard behaviour of ceramics of a scheduled caste community of Manipur, the Andros, who inhabit a village of the same name situated on the down slopes of the eastern foothills of the Nongmaiching Hill, Imphal East District (Manipur) and among whom pottery is a part-time, women-oriented occupation. By studying the adaptive behaviour of usage, reuse, and discard, it is seen that ideational factors do affect patterns of ceramic residue formation. And, the middle-range systemic processes, relating to the transfer of Andro ceramics to the archaeological context, thus, have significances in making meaningful interpretations of ceramic patterns in the archaeological record.
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Papers by Prof. Mayanglambam ManiBabu