The Yek Salai system is the
classification or identification of various Meitei Clan families in ancient
times. The Salai system started during the Pakhangba period. It is believed
that the Salai started to consolidate from the early B.C. The present day Salai
classification still follows the early core rules of 7 Salai. All the Meitei
communities are said to be descendants of these 7 Salai. We can trace a person
with his most ancient or root ancestor in an unbroken lineage.
Example: -Let’s say a person who
is belongs to the “Laishram” then it means that he traces back his male
ancestry to the ancient “khuman”. So yek Salai refers to the Root Person in a
person’s male lineage. A Salai is the lineage clan assigned to a Meitei birth. The
Identities lineage clan of Meitei male is consider themselves to be the
descendants of the 7 great Salai . Below details explain a short history of Meitei,
Yek Salai and rule practiced by different sections of the Meitei Society.
Before the influence of Hinduism,
from the early period up to 1435 A.D. the structure of the salais or the
principal that rules the principalities of Manipur.
- Wangam/Poirei/Meitei/Ningthouja
- Nungban/Luwang
- Nongban/Selloi-Langmai/Angom
- Nongyai/Khuman
- Ewang/Moirang
- Thangyi/Chenglei/Sharang-Leishangthem
- Khaba-Nganba
In course of time, it turns into ten principalities than
again were merged into one group, ‘Meitei’.
- NINGTHOUJAA (MANGANG)
- ANGOM
- LUWAANG
- KHUMAN
- KHAA-NGAANBA
- MOIRAANG
- CHENGLEI – (SARANG LEISANGTHEM)
- Haorok-Konthou
- Phantek
- Heirem-Khunja
After forming the Meitei, A few years later it again Merge
into 7 principalities of Meitei Yek Salai.
- NINGTHOUJAA (MANGANG)
- ANGOM
- LUWAANG
- KHUMAN
- KHAA-NGAANBA
- MOIRAANG
- CHENGLEI – (SARANG LEISANGTHEM)
All Meitei’s yek evolved from one
of the above salai. It is believed that all the yumnak are descendants of the
above Salais. The total number of established Yumnak today is 1000s plus. However,
each of them can trace back to one of the roots Yek Salai. The word yek Salai
is formed from the two ancient words, “yek” is derived from the word “yekpa” Paint,
and it is associated with seven different colours of clothes worn by each yek
and the word “Salai” is derived from Sandokpa (Expansion of population). Yek
Salai referring to the system of maintaining individual male lineages seems
more appropriate.
Some of the strict rules obeyed
by Meitei people for Marries alliance before hindunization are taken into
account. Still the rules are followed by the people though the grip of cord of
the rules is not as stronger as before. The rules of avoidance of marries
alliance of the people are considered under the headings:
- Yek Tinnaba
- Sairuk/Sairup (Salai Lup) Tinnaba
- Pee Tinnaba & Pen Tinnaba
- Leinung Pen Tinnaba
- Mungnaba
- Ee-Omnaba
- Ngaknaba
1. YEK TINNABA
According to the rule of Yek
Salai system. A Bride and a Bridegroom belonging to the same Yek are considered
to be siblings and it is strictly prohibited for them to marry even if they
belong to distant families. They are believing to be descendants who are
transcending from the same common ancestor known as Yek Tinnaba descendants who
are in the same phurups, shagei and yumnaks. it will be like a brother marrying
a sister which is known to cause genetic disorders in their offspring. probably
the prevention of marriages within the same yek.
2. SAIRUK/SAIRUP (SALAI LUP) TINNABA
People who are believe to be
descendants from a common ancestor who have been separated into different
phurup by merging into different yeks are known as sairuk/sairup tinnaba
meaning ‘united through (the fold of) sairup. Sairup tinnaba is of two types,
viz., sairuk achouba and sairuk macha.
Sairuk achouba: Descendants of children of the parents
born to different mothers of a single father are classified under sairuk
achouba. The different mothers, one’s own and step mothers may or may not have
same yek, shagei, yumnak or phunga. Descendants who are fall under such a
sairuk achouba are prohibited for marries alliance. This is so prohibited so as
to check the hereditary line coming from a single ‘pater’. Genetically, the high
probability of surfacing homozygous lethal genes if married among such
descendants thereby causing harmful effects to the offspring.
Sairup macha tinnaba:
Descendants who have been descended
through mother’s line. This is known as “pee” tinnaba and “pen” tinnaba. The four shairuk tinnaba groups which are
prohibited for marries alliances among the Meiteis are, viz., moirang anouba
and angom yek, khuman and luwang, khaba-nganba and chenglei yek, and moirang
ariba and nganba yek.
3. PEE TINNABA AND PEN TINNABA
Pee: is
derived from ‘mapee’ meaning ‘mother’ and pee tinnaba (Descendants having same
Mother)
Pen: is derived from ‘mapen/maben’
(grandmother). pen tinnaba (Descendants
having same grandmother). Children born
to ego’s father’s sister’s children and ego’s father’s brother’s children are
pee or pen tinnaba groups. Marries from ego’s generation are not allowed up to
the third generation. It can be said that if one examines minutely, pee tinnaba
and pen tinnaba are forms of shairuk tinnaba.
4. LEINUNG PEN TINNABA
The descendants descending from
the distant mapen (grandmother) but not from the direct mapen are called
leinung pen tinnaba group. A woman if married to a man of a yek/sagei/yumnak or
different yumnaks of the same yek or different yumnak/sagei of a different yek,
then her son’s descendants are leinung pen tinnaba group. For instance, in
history,Pureiromba Angou’s sister, Pureilemnusu first married to a man and she
gave birth to Khamchingkon Haiheiba
Pureilmnusu again remarried to Khaba Yupuroi of Khaba phurup and she
gave birth to Krumkoiba. Khamchingkon and his descendants became nganba yek
shalai and Krumkoiba’s descendants became khaba yek shalai.Therefore, nganba
and khaba are in the fold of leinung pen tinnaba.
5. MUNGNABA
Mungnaba means something which
cannot be done and if breach bad consequences are bound to be happened. Of the
various forms of mungnaba, Ee-mungnaba (Ee means blood) is considered as the
most important one. Two sibling sisters after marrying to two respective men
who are in the same or different yek, shagei and yumnak and the children born
to such sisters even though their husbands belong to different yek, yumnak and
shagei are in the mungnaba fold and hence their descendants starting counting
from the two sisters’ generation cannot be marry up to fifth generations. The
descendants can marry from the sixth generation. On the one hand, the rule of
marries alliances between descendants who are a little farther away in kinship
bond have permission of a smaller number of generations for marriage. For
instance, children born to cousin sisters of two sibling brothers having same
parents or of step brothers (having common mother but different fathers) are
fall under the ee-mungnaba group. The descendants of the two cousin sisters are
not allowed to marry up to third generation counting from them i.e., the two
cousin sisters. The descendants can marry from the fourth generations
(Sambandha Niranoy, Ms). However, the general rules of marriage cannot be
ignored (for instance, if the descendants are in the same yek, they are not
allowed to marry).
6. EE-OMNABA
There are few yumnaks descending
from pee tinnaba and pen tinnaba groups. These yumnaks though fall beyond the
restricted generations of marriage is considered not to allow Marries
alliances. Such following of keeping exogamous relationship is known as
eeomnaba.
7. NGAKNABA
Two yumnaks who are not related
through kinship, though can marry, do not marry by keeping words by considering
themselves as having near kinship ties. For instance, teknonymous relationship
maintains ngaknaba relationship.
THE BASIC IDEA ABSTRACT FROM THE ABOVE RULE TO NORMAL
UNDERSTANDING WHY THE YEK OF A SON IS IMPORTANT IN YEK SALAI SYSTEM?
This Yek Salai system helps trace
a man's male lineage and is passed down automatically from father to son.
However, the Yek is not automatically passed from father to daughter. For
example, if a man from the Luwang group has a son, and that son marries a woman
whose father belongs to the Khuman group, the woman’s Salai becomes Luwang
after marriage—even though her own father was Khuman. In other words, a man's
yumnak (lineage or clan) remains the same, while a woman's yumnak changes to
that of her husband upon marriage.
Now, consider a man who has only
daughters and no sons. In this case, his yumnak ends with him because his
daughters will adopt their husbands' yumnak after marriage. This may be why
ancient Meitei societies preferred having at least one son along with any
number of daughters, ensuring that the father's bloodline would continue.
Questions arise: Why should only
sons carry their father's yumnak? Why do daughters change their yumnak just by
marrying someone from a different group? Why maintain only the man’s ancestry
and not that of the women as well? These questions puzzled me about the Yek
Salai system until I discovered the scientific reasoning behind it. You will
find the answer at the end of the page!
YUMNAK AND THE YEK SALAI
Yumnak is a list of the most
distinguished yek within a Salai lineage. As mentioned earlier, some
descendants of the original yumnak established their own Salai, but they
preserved a record of their most illustrious ancestors by including their
yumnak in the new Salai. For example, the Khuman Salai includes AHONGBAM,
HAOBAM, HEIKRUJAM, and LAISHRAM as its yek. This means that each yek in the
Khuman lineage carries these ancestral yumnak and can trace its roots back to
Khuman.
The purpose of the Yek system is
to ensure that derived Salai remain connected to their original root Salai.
This connection helps prevent marriages between individuals from different
derived Salai that share the same root yumnak. Every derived yumnak includes a
list of yek that reflects the prominent points where the new Salai branched off
from the original.
The main idea behind the system
is to avoid marriages within the same yek. Over time, people might forget that
two different derived yumnak actually come from the same root Salai because
their names have changed. To prevent this, the Yek Salai system requires that
even if a bride and groom belong to different Salai, they cannot marry if even
one of their yek matches. This rule effectively stops marriages between
individuals whose families share the same ancestral lineage.
RULE OF BROTHER YEK AND SISTER YEK
These are the simple general rule.
The Descendants of a brother and sister can intermarry when the blood has been
changed 3 times. The sister must marry out of her salai, and if she has
daughter that will be one change, that daughter must marry out of her salai and
if she has a daughter that is a second change and that daughter marries out of
the salai and has a daughter, thus the blood has been changed 3 times and the
children of the last marriage may intermarry with the descendants of the
brother in the same generation. if at any stage in the female line there is a
son instead of daughter, no change of blood occurs, because the son will be of
the same Salai as his father.
Example: - A= Angom, N= Ningthouja,
C= Chinglei, K= Khuman, Ba= Male, Bi = Female
Descendants of Two Families
(Epa Yek and Ema Yek)
When two families descend from a
brother and a sister without any change in blood (i.e., the bloodlines remain
unchanged), the following marriage rules apply:
- A male descendant from the brother’s line is not allowed to marry a female descendant from the sister’s line until the 7th generation.
- A male descendant from the sister’s line is allowed to marry a female descendant from the brother’s line in the 5th generation.
In both cases, the original
brother and sister are counted as the 1st generation. The first rule is called
Epa Yek, and the second is called Ema Yek. The Ema Yek rule also applies when
two families descend from two sisters.
Rule for Descendants of Three
Siblings
Suppose person A has three
children—one son and two daughters. One of the daughters marries a man named N.
The marriage restrictions for their descendants are as follows:
- The descendants of the daughter who married N are not allowed to intermarry with the descendants of her brother until the 5th generation.
- They are also not allowed to intermarry with the descendants of her other sister until the 4th generation.
For example, if we label the
descendants as follows:
- A.ba/Abi for the son’s line,
- C.ba/C.bi for one daughter’s line, and
- Y.ba/Y.bi for the other daughter’s line,
then the descendants from
C.ba/C.bi and Y.ba/Y.bi may intermarry with each other but not with those from
A.ba/Abi. By the 5th generation, individuals (denoted here as x, y, and z) are
permitted to intermarry.
This system helps maintain clear
boundaries between family lines to prevent marriages within the same ancestral
group.
Chromosomes and Genes
Humans have 23 pairs of
chromosomes, with one chromosome in each pair inherited from the father and the
other from the mother. This means that every cell contains a total of 46
chromosomes—23 from the mother and 23 from the father. Among these, one pair is
the sex chromosomes, which determine a person's gender. If a fertilized egg has
two X chromosomes (XX), the child will be female; if it has one X and one Y
chromosome (XY), the child will be male. The X chromosome is responsible for
female characteristics, while the Y chromosome influences male characteristics.
In an embryo with an XY combination, the genes on the Y chromosome suppress the
development of female traits, resulting in a male child.
Because only males possess a Y
chromosome, a son always inherits his Y chromosome from his father and his X
chromosome from his mother. Daughters, on the other hand, receive one X
chromosome from each parent. This means that the Y chromosome is passed down
intact along the male line (father, son, grandson, etc.), whereas the X
chromosome, which comes from both parents and undergoes mixing (a process
called crossover), is not preserved in a single female lineage.
When a mother passes on her
genetic material, she can contribute either her mother's X chromosome, her
father's X chromosome, or a combination of both due to crossover. In contrast,
a son always inherits his father's Y chromosome, which remains almost unchanged
because there is no corresponding Y chromosome to mix with.
Y Chromosome and the Salai
System
The Y chromosome’s unique pattern
of inheritance is closely related to the Yek Salai system. Since the Y
chromosome is passed exclusively from father to son, it plays a crucial role in
tracking male ancestry. The Salai system was created to trace the root Y
chromosome of an individual. For example, if someone belongs to the Kuman
lineage, it means that his Y chromosome has been passed down through the Khuman
Salai for thousands of years.
This also explains why, after
marriage, a woman is considered to belong to her husband's Salai. Since women
do not carry a Y chromosome, their sons inherit the Y chromosome—and therefore
the Salai—of their father. The ancient Yek Salai system essentially recognized
the significance of the Y chromosome in preserving male lineage. For instance,
Pakhangba belonged to the Ningthouja Salai, which indicates that Khagemba was a
direct descendant of Pakhangba.
The Weakness of the Y
Chromosome
Unlike other chromosomes, the Y
chromosome does not have a nearly identical partner. Its counterpart, the X
chromosome, is significantly larger—about three times the size of the Y
chromosome. Over the course of evolution, the Y chromosome has shrunk, losing
many of its genes and becoming much smaller. Scientists debate whether the Y
chromosome will survive for millions more years or gradually vanish,
potentially leading to the extinction of males, since the Y chromosome is key
to male development.
The main reason for the Y
chromosome's vulnerability is that it lacks a matching partner for crossover—a
process in which paired chromosomes exchange genetic material to repair damage
and generate diversity. In most chromosome pairs, if one chromosome is damaged,
the cell can repair it by copying genetic information from its partner. This
crossover process also helps eliminate harmful mutations over generations. In
females, the two X chromosomes allow for this beneficial mixing, but the Y
chromosome, which is paired with an X chromosome only in a small matching
region (about 5%), cannot benefit from extensive crossover. The remaining 95%
of the Y chromosome, essential for male development, does not have a partner to
assist in repair.
As a result, the Y chromosome
must rely on its own mechanisms, such as duplicating some of its genes, to fix
damage. However, some damage inevitably goes unrepaired and is passed on to the
next generation. Over long periods, this accumulation of damage may lead to further
gene loss on the Y chromosome. In contrast, other chromosomes are continually
refreshed and improved through the crossover process.
In Summary
The Y chromosome is vital for
creating and maintaining male traits, yet its inability to undergo significant crossover
makes it prone to accumulating damage over time. This weakness might eventually
lead to the extinction of the Y chromosome. Scientists are uncertain whether
such a loss would cause the extinction of males or whether another mechanism
could take over the Y chromosome’s role. Even if males were to become extinct,
humanity might continue through alternative reproductive methods, as females do
not require a Y chromosome. For example, it might be possible to create
offspring by combining the X chromosomes from two females, ensuring that life
could persist even in an all-female society.
This scientific understanding of
the Y chromosome also underlies the ancient Salai system, which was designed to
trace paternal lineages accurately.
