Vol. 8, Issue 1, Part A (2026)

The paper is divided into three parts. The first part examines how male Manipuri poets imagine Manipur through the images of mother, wife, and sister. The second part examines how women poets such as Memchoubi and Moirangthem Borkanya show that women's voices are more concerned with the state of their selfhood, challenge patriarchal norms, articulate female autonomy, and explore the complexities of identity. Despite being situated during a period of political instability and increasing militarization within the state, their perspectives on the overall political situation remain muted and vague. Women's poetic discourse serves as a potent lens, enabling the assertion that their self-representation transcends mere autobiography and is intricately woven into personal political conflicts. Selfhood should not be viewed as a fixed essence; rather, it is a fluid negotiation that exists between the personal and the political, the intimate and the collective, and the inner and outer realms within the frameworks of power, culture, and memory. The poetics and politics of testimony demonstrate that testimony is not neutral. Its structure can be political, challenging prevailing narratives, while its acceptance is intertwined with power dynamics that can either endorse or reject it. In the context of Manipuri history and the poets under discussion, the poetics of metaphor, lament, and silence intersect with the politics of resistance and counter-narrative, showing how testimony becomes both an aesthetic strategy and a political weapon against forgetting.