Meitei Yek Salai System and Genetic Science

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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.

1. Wangam/Poirei/Meitei/Ningthouja
2. Nungban/Luwang
3. Nongban/Selloi-Langmai/Angom
4. Nongyai/Khuman
5. Ewang/Moirang
6. Thangyi/Chenglei/Sharang-Leishangthem
7. Khaba-Nganba

In course of time, it turns into ten principalities than again were merged into one group, ‘Meitei’.

1. NINGTHOUJAA (MANGANG)
2. ANGOM
3. LUWAANG
4. KHUMAN
5. KHAA-NGAANBA
6. MOIRAANG
7. CHENGLEI – (SARANG LEISANGTHEM)
8. Haorok-Konthou
9. Phantek
10. Heirem-Khunja

After forming the Meitei, A few years later it again Merge into 7 principalities of Meitei Yek Salai.

1. NINGTHOUJAA (MANGANG)
2. ANGOM
3. LUWAANG
4. KHUMAN
5. KHAA-NGAANBA
6. MOIRAANG
7. 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:

1. Yek Tinnaba
2. Sairuk/Sairup (Salai Lup) Tinnaba
3. Pee Tinnaba & Pen Tinnaba
4. Leinung Pen Tinnaba
5. Mungnaba
6. Ee-Omnaba
7. 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.