History Binds Us, Can Break Us Too: Contention over Manipur’s Chivu Stone Inscription

ABSTRACT Monuments with inscriptions have always been an important source of history and are helpful for reconstructing the past. They recreate collective memories, as they were erected to commemorate significant events from the past. The historical process of state formation, especially among the former colonies, has bound different ethnic communities, which obliges them to initiate state nation-building processes. So, memories which are recreated, remembered, and forgotten have played a crucial role in shaping ethnic relations as well as relations between the state and various ethnic communities in a multi-ethnic state. This paper analyses the allegation about the Manipur’s Chibu stone inscription as a fabricated historical event, and the complaint asking that its status as a protected archaeological site be denied. It argues that in the name of the state nation-building project, the state has resorted to recreating collective memories with little consideration to the sentiment of ethnic minorities in a state.