The Rise of Yawol Poetry in Manipuri Literature

Abstract

The Manipuri term yawol or ya-ol means ‘a new awakening or beginning’. It is a term primarily associated with the Manipuri insurgency movement known locally as yawol eehou. Apart from the impending political turmoil and the polarising nature of this movement, there was a passionate, phenomenal boom of literary products in the Manipuri language since the 70s issuing from this insurgency movement. Yawol poetry is both a poetic movement and a literary period, much like the Mizo literature ‘Rambuai’ and Naga literature of the ‘troubled times’. The urge to adopt a new style of writing based on lived experiences rather than some poetic fancy or nostalgia for a bygone era by the Manipuri writers, especially in poetry, coincided with the rise of the insurgency movement in the state. Names such as ‘violent literature’ or ‘blood literature’ that have characterised Manipuri literature sometimes overshadow the ‘non-violent’ yet rich poetic expressions intrinsic to the state. However, not addressing the widespread prevalence of violence and anarchy in Manipuri literature will be historically and aesthetically incorrect. In this paper, the author shall explore the rise of such a distinct poetic style adopted by scores of Manipuri poets across four decades and explain why the poetics of blood and violence have been a significant mainstay in Manipuri poetry.