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Kom is not a well-developed language. They do not have the written records or history. They have the Oral literature or oral tradition passing from generation to generation. They are narrated to their children at their early age by the elders, mainly by their grand parents. This has been the tradition for ages but with the advent of Christianity and education, oral literature started acquiring the written form. Now there is a sizable amount of folk literature, which was in the oral form earlier, is in the written form. The history about their progenitor, origin stories, legends and other short stories are the most common forms.
Kapa kapu thuming lei-hri-chu hi-e. ten-lai-ah kapa kapu aleiriah ranai-ariah leika om Khava kanung ah anmani konung ah khurpiu ah in-khat-inkhat a hong kasuk hei ahumpui inkhat a-lai-hlua aleithat hei. Karungpa in pon-the a-si-a hong kasuk ah humpui khan niye in ang a ati a timre inching hei . Saichepa hong ka suk a humpui kha akap a humpui kha kathi yo. Humpui kha kathi a anmani aning kasa a yu leh hme ansak an ina a ning ka thai yo. Humpui kha Leivon pa khan amalei kha a –at ah a dir a a von a khan an inphut lei von pa a ron.Khana humpui karungpa tuning kafa ai mak, karangpan humpui kap-mak.
A piece of Kom folklore: We learnt from our ancestors, that our fore fathers lived in the neither world. Afterwards they came out one by one through a hole, which is in the fort of Manipur. A tiger lay in wait killed them as they issued. Karungpa came out wearing a striped cloth, and the tiger, because it resembled his skin, made friends with him. Then Shai-chepa came out, and shot the tiger. The tiger died, and in joy they treated every one with wine ate flesh, and rejoiced. Laivonpa cut out the tiger’s tongue and wrapped it in his loincloth. Hence he was named Laivonpa. On account of the old friendship tigers still refrain from eating Karungpa’s descendants, nor will they shoot tigers.
Shumse Hla (Hla- Kaya) Hmongvon chingtlang le Jothang Bungpi chu kamal hoi eh Bungpi abaak in atang jam san-na Hmongvon mingai oh Jothang Bungpi ti heirih ruh. Athang =Jothang, Hmongvon =Tonsen, Bungpi = Bungpui.
I, Athang, plant the banyan tree in the Tonsen range Let the tree grow large and spread its branches and When the wary revelers ask about the tree, tell to them, People of Tonsen that the tree belongs to Athang.
The Kom Rem people have no written record of history. Their traditional songs and incantations handed down from generation to generation-through verbal narrations form the main bulk of their history of origin.
The written literature in Kom is mostly based on the religious scriptures and hymns.
The pioneer of the kom literature was (LATE) Shri, Teba kelong who wrote Komrem primer for Kom. His contribution to the literature was not limited to the Kom-rem society alone. He wrote the Kuki primer three years ahead of the Kom. He was a writer, an educationist, a politician, social worker and missionary. For his contribution to the Manipuri society, the Manipuri Sahitya Academy during its silver jubilee honored him with the Padma Bhuhan. In recognition of his service and contribution to the society the Komrem highest civilian award KOMREM VERPA was conferred on him posthumously in the year 2000, millennium celebration of the Komrem Baptist churches association, Manipur. There are also individuals who have contributed immensely to the growth of the Komrem literature. After T.Kelong, there are few individuals who contributed to the literature of the language. Rev, S.Serto not only translated the holy Bible but also came up with the first Kom grammar “Kom-rem tong bihakaran inphutna”in 1960.He was also the editor of the news bulletin Tongsem and Amajong nasik Tlangon. Also, there were few individuals who started writing in Kom; among them the important ones include Mr.M.Telent who wrote the Dictionary of Kom in 1992. He also came up with the little booklet about the usage of the language and also with folk tales of Kom.
The most notable translation work done in Kom includes the translation of bible from other sources possibly from English.
Copyright CIIL-India Mysore