A very beautiful lush green corner of the north eastern series of seven sisters, Manipur is a land which is known for its divine beauty that has been gifted to it by the almighty and makes the soul quench its thirst for a scene of beauty that is a joy forever. The literal meaning of the word Manipur is “A Jeweled Land” and after looking at the amount of varied flora and fauna one can actually understand how the Mother Nature has decorated this place withjewels of scenic beauty and aesthetic pleasure.

Every year many tourists visit this place for their vacations in order to take a break from their monotonous city life that is deprived of any kind of space and time to live and witness marvels of nature. Not only common people, but many significant and historical people have visited this place and were mesmerized by its beauty and charm. Mrs. St. Clair Grimwood said that this is a pretty place which is beautiful than those innumerable show places present in different other parts of world. The first prime minister of independent India, late Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru added that this place is a real “Jewels of India”.

The added advantage of this place is its geographical location that is blue hills all around and an oval shaped valley at the main centre. The place is extremely rich in art and tradition and even the tribal people living in this place make it culturally very rich as the values, the way of living life, respecting nature and its forms and thanking the almighty for being so kind to its natives, is still alive in people’s heart. It is the birth place of Polo and the famous classical dance form of Ras Lila is created by Rajashree Bhagyachandra by imagining the beauty of love and grace of Lord Krishna through an enchanting dream. During the World War II , the Battle of Imphal with the simultaneous Battle of Kohima became one of the most important turning points in the Burma Campaign. On June 1997, the Imphal district was divided into Imphal East and Imphal West. When it comes to connectivity, the city of Imphal is having an airport, Imphal Airport, where flights are available to almost all parts of the world. There are even flights available from New Delhi and Kolkata to this place facilitating easy movement of people from all across the nation. The railway system of this place was constructed with a lot of difficulties as the topography of this place is quite rough for such facilities. There have been a lot of projects proposed in the region for better connectivity and the central government has recently approved the extension of Jiribam-Imphal road line. Though the place has many beautiful landscapes to watch out but the other places worth visiting are Shree Govindaji Temple which is considered to be the highest place to be highest point of cultural activities during the time of Maharajas.

There were poets, artists, dancers, musicians, etc, from all across the country that used to come to this place and share a common platform. The temple is 16.95 m in length and 18.63m in breadth which is quite large in itself. The Temple of Shri Krishna, which has a very typical Bengali architecture resembling to that of a hut is also very popular among the local people. Thangal General, a temple attributed to Kangabam Chitananda Singh , popularly known as Thangal General in Manipur history is beautifully constructed and maintained.

How To Reach

Air

The airport is present in Imphal which has daily flights from Delhi to Guwahati and then from there to Assam. There are also flights to Kolkata.

Railways

There are also many railway lines which keeps it connected to other places.

Places To Visit

Shree Govindaji Temple

Considered to be one of the most pious places since ancient times, this temple in length is 16.95m and in breadth is 18.63m.

Temple Of Shri Krishna

The temple has a beautiful architecture built like a typical Bengal hut. People from all parts of the world come here to visit it as they have firm faith in this temple.

Thangal General

Another important temple which is beautifully built and which witnesses so many worshippers every year.

Weather And Best Time To Visit

The total area of this temple premise is 650 sq km. the place has a humid sub tropical type of climate which means the summers are warm and the winters are cool with the monsoon in between bringing rain to the crops and the heating land. Due to global warming the place has started witnessing more extreme temperatures in the recent years. Therefore the best time for a tourist to come to Imphal is October and March as the flowers are in full blossom, especiallythe orchids.

Language And Culture

The language used for conversation is commonly here is Hindi or English. The culture of this place has also been a significant crowd puller as the people still feel proud of their traditional dance and festivals.

Festivals And Activities

Some of the most important and well celebrated festivals of Imphal include Christmas, Ningol Chakkouba, Lui-Ngai-Ni, Id, Gaan Ngai, Lai Haraoba etc. All these festivals are beautifully celebrated by the people of Imphal. All the people of all the religions celebrate all these festivals together as one big family.

Celebrated in the month of February, Yaoshang is celebrated for complete 5 days. In this festival young girls and boys dance together holding each other’s hands. This is an important phase for all the youngsters.

Kut is a thanksgiving festival which is celebrated on 1st November by everyone in Manipur. On this festival people from all backgrounds and religions come together to celebrate it with each other with great joy and happiness.

Id is also celebrated not only by the muslims of Imphal but also by everyone. People are very tolerant towards other religion and stay together as one big family celebrating each others festivals together with great joy.

Christmas is also celebrated with great joy and excitement by the Christians. Everyone is in a festive mood during the time of Christmas.

Ningol Chakkouba is another beautiful and unique festival of Imphal. During this festival all the daughters who have been married and stay away from their parents come to home with their children and the entire family re-unites. This festival is celebrated in the month of November and all the families celebrate it with great zeal and enthusiasm.

Get Out

Tengnoupal

A good place to visit with your friends and family. It is famous for trecking and people come here for the same. Mostly tourists come here during monsoon as at that time it looks very romantic.

Silchar

The largest city of Assam it is a must visit city. It has a good population and is well built. It plays a good role in the economy of the state.

Shopping

Khwairamband is one of the most famous and must visit market of Imphal. Tribal women run this market in which mostly shawls and household stuff is sold.The handicrafts of Imphal are very famous and everywhere one would get to see things like dolls, jewelry, decorative ivory etc etc.

Location Map

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