MK Binodini Devi, a descendent of the Ningthouja dynasty, passed away in January 2011. A student of painting and sculpture at Shantiniketan’s Kala Bhavan from 1948 to 1950, she was greatly influenced by the works of Rabindranath Tagore. But it is through her writings that Imasi or the Royal Mother, came to be known in Manipur as its first educated woman and author. She went on to win the Sahitya Kala Akademi award in 1976 and the Padma Shri for Literature the same year.
Paul D'Amato is the managing editor of the International Socialist Review. His writing has appeared in CounterPunch and Socialist Worker. He is an activist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States
Ramnarayan S. Rawat is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delaware and the author of Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India.
Shad Naved teaches in the Comparative Literature programme, School of Letters, Ambedkar University Delhi. He is currently working on a monograph, Against Vernacularity: Historical Eros in the Urdu
