About the State

Manipur literally meaning “A jeweled land” nestle deep within a lush green corner of North East India. It seems much like an exquisite work of art executed by superb hands of Nature and is indeed a state of exquisite natural beauty and splendors, the beauty of which once inspired Mrs. St. Clair Grim wood described it as “A Pretty Place more beautiful than many show places of the world” Late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru paid a fitting tribute by describing it as “Jewel of India”. Surrounded by blue hills with an oval shaped valley at the centre, rich in art and tradition and surcharged with nature’s pristine glory. Manipur lies on a melting pot of culture. It is birth place of Polo. This is the place where Rajashree Bhagyachandra created the famous Ras Lila, the classical dance of Manipur, out of his enchanting dream by the grace of Lord Krishna.

Manipur is one of the Border States in the north-eastern part of the country having an international boundary of about 352 kms. long stretch of land with Myanmar in the southeast. It is bounded by Nagaland in the north, Assam in the west and Mizoram in the south. It has a total area of 22327 sq. kms. It lies between 23.80 N to 25.70 N latitude and 93.50 E to 94.80 E longitude.

Geographically, the State of Manipur could be divided into two regions, viz. the hill and the valley. The valley lies in the central part of the State and the hills surround the valley. The average elevation of the valley is about 790m above the sea level and that of the hills is between 1500m and 1800m. The hill region comprises of five districts viz. Senapati, Tamenglong, Churachandpur, Chandel and Ukhrul and the valley region consists of four districts, viz. Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishnupur. The hill districts occupy about 90 percent (20089 sq km) of the total area of the State and the valley occupies only about tenth (2238 sq km) of the total area of the State. Imphal is the capital city of Manipur.

Having a varied and proud history from the earliest times, Manipur came under the British Rule as a Princely State after the defeat in the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891. After independence of India in 1947, the Princely State of Manipur was merged in the Indian Union on October 15,1949 and became a full-fledged State of India on the 21th January, 1972 with a Legislative Assembly of 60 seats of which 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribe and 1 reserved for Scheduled Caste. The State is represented in the Lok Sabha by two members and by one member in the Rajya Sabha.

Source: http://manipur.gov.in/?page_id=3507; http://ssamanipur.nic.in/StateProfile.htm http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Data/Census_2011/Map/Manipur/00_Manipur.pdf; (Map Source). (Accessed on 26.08.2016)