Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/435



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to commence this paper by a statement of the position of affairs. As regards religion in Manipur at the present time, I shall not, except incidentally, refer to the religion of the many hill tribes who live round the lovely valley. Manipur figures as a Hindu state in the list of the Feudatory states of India, and Hinduism is the State religion, but when we have said this we have by no means stated the whole case, for alongside of Hinduism we have the worship of the Umanglais or Forest gods and various other distinctly non-Hindu cults, which are practised by good Hindus as well as by those who have not yet abandoned the faith of their forefathers. As a matter of fact even the best Hindus in Manipur, except perhaps a few of the most holy Brahmans, cannot be said to have abandoned the ancient faith; rather, they accepted the Hindu Pantheon in addition to the old gods of their own country.