FROM WARRIORS TO JOURNALISTS: MEITEI PANGAL OCCUPATIONAL SHIFT IN HISTORY

The Meitei Pangal community of Manipur has undergone tremendous social change over the centuries. Among the factors responsible for the change in the community, the change in traditional occupations is one indicator of social change. From being honest professional soldiers in history to serving as journalists in the contemporary times, members of the Meitei Pangal community engage in a variety of activities as their occupation that supports their physical and emotional well being besides being symbols of their social status. The community has more than sixty clan titles given by different kings mostly based on their either occupations or inhabitations. The multi-occupational nature of the community is reflected in the diversity of these occupation-based clan names. But clan names and traditional occupations of the community have been drifting apart over the centuries even as change has taken place in many aspects of the society. Today members of the community are no more identifiable with their occupation after which their clans were named because their occupations have been diversified while clan names remain merely a group identity. The occupational change is observed in terms of changes in the distribution of activities in the socio-economic structure of society with social implications on the work force of the community. They diverged in various sectors even as the community registered late entry in media sector with some of its members practising journalism profession. Various factors like industrialization, scientific developments, changes in technology, social institutions, population, environment etc. over time play key role in bringing out change in occupations of the members of the community. As such, the shift in their traditional occupations in course of history from being honest professional soldiers to serving as journalists in the contemporary times, is one of the indicators of social change being taken place in the community. This paper explores the occupational shifts that have occurred in the Meitei Pangal community in course of changing times from the days of their founding warriorforefathers to the present day media practicing descendents in the digital technologydriven media profession leading to social change.