Khwairakpam Chaoba
Manipuri poet, essayist, novelist
Khwairakpam Chaoba Singh was a poet, essayist, prose-writer and novelist. He was born in 1895 in Uripok Sorbon Thingen Leikai, Imphal. He is regarded as one of the pioneer writers of modern Meitei literature. He founded the Manipuri Sahitya Sammelan of Meitei literature along with Lamabam Kamal Singh, Hijam Irabot and Hijam Anganghal.
Biography
He presented the first historical novel in Meitei – Lavangalata which is considered to be an outstanding work. This is perhaps one of the greatest novels in Meitei literature. His other prose works are Wakhalgi Ichen (Thought Current), Wakhal (Thought), Phidam (Ideal), Kannaba Wa (Useful Words) and Chhatra Macha (Student). He also wrote incomplete works Madhu Malati and Naba-Malika His published work includes:
Chhatra Macha, 1923
Kannaba Wa, 1924
Phidam
Wakhal
Wakhalgi Ichen
Thainagi Leirang, Poetry, 1933
Lavangalata, Novel, 1937
Recognition and reception
He was awarded the Sahitya Ratna by the Manipur Sahitya Parishad in 1948. Fellow author and poet Elangbam Dinamani Singh included Chaoba in his one of his books about criticism of poets. In Amaresh Datta's Encyclopedia of Indian Literature, Volume 1, he says of Chaoba: "By use of common language and very homely image, [he] could set a good example of elegy in Meitei through this single poem.
“Khwairakpam Chaoba” enters the record as manipuri poet, essayist, novelist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Khwairakpam, Chaoba and Manipuri can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6403405. VIAF identifies the subject as 295103559. The Library of Congress control number is n2012215475. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1895, 1923, 1924 and 1933.
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