Amongst various tribes that have thronged the Manipur region, Anal Tribe is note to worth. In fact it is one of the ‘sixty six Naga tribes’ who are found in the ancient tribal homes of Nagaland. Among the twenty nine scheduled tribes of Manipur, this tribal community has the less population as per the Constitution of India. Apart, quite a lot of them are also found in the hilly region of Manipur state.

If one takes note of the places of Manipur where Anal tribes are frequently seen, these consist of the district of Chandel and also a handful of Anal villages in the adjacent districts of Thoubal and Churachandpur. In Churachandpur, Anal tribes dwell in three villages and two villages of Thoubal. Even two Assembly constituencies are also found in the Chandel district.

The origin of Anal tribes has a history behind it. The Anal is recognized as a tribe in Manipur since 1951. Therefore, Anal is one of thirty three tribes in Manipur state; to be specific, Anal tribe is one of nineteen Naga tribes of Manipur.

As far as religion of Anal tribes are concerned, they follow the primitive religion, falling in to the religious group of ‘animist’. However, beginning of the twentieth century onwards many of the Anal tribes have been converted to Christianity. Between the year 1910 and year 1920, there were only a handful of Anal Christians, which slowly rose to a huge number. At present, almost ninety nine percent of Anal tribes practice Christianty.

Though the cultural and traditional details of this tribe are unknown due to the lack of information but the wake of Christanity brought a drastic change in the traditional values of this community. The Anals believe in their traditional religion that is based on the atonement of Umang Lai, the forest god, Wangbrel. The Anals are the followers of Wangbrel and the shrine of this deity is worshipped by the people of this community. The non Christian Anals offer vegetables, clothes and other things to the deity. The Anal community is one of the ancient inhabitants of the mountainous areas in Manipur state. Archeologists also found the relevant evidences about it at Chakpikarong.

As per the ancient belief, the ancestors of Anal tribe came from Khul which is ‘from underneath the earth’. Later, they continued to lead a nomadic life for a long period before settling down in Tengnoupal areas of Chandel district, Manipur. Anal tribes also carry on social customs and rituals, each being unique in itself. One such trait is to segregate various tribal clans into two separate groups, better known ‘Moshum and `Murchal`. This demarcation was vehemently done so that marriages can be held between their individual groups and intra marriages can be prohibited.

The population of Anal communities is quite small in number. The little information found about this tribal community state that the culture of Anal tribes is also enriched during festivals and special occasions; Anal couple wears beautiful conventional dresses. They perform a variety of songs and dances that are associated with different festivals of their community. Among the well known festivals of Anal community are Phithala (hunting and fighting), Ikam, Mikhepemhan( collection of food or money), Inhla (building house), Sungkomlkham (fencing of village boundery) etc. Since Anal tribe is one of the ancient most tribes thriving in Manipur, the festivals that are integrated to Anal community life are also very old. Amongst them ‘Chavan Kumhrin’ festival has reached height of popularity .The Chavan Kumhrin festival of Anal tribes is feted on ‘23rd October’ annually.

The Anal tribes are quite liberal and democratic. Plain living and high thinking is their motto of life. To carry on administration in a better way, the Anal community has chosen a lead man of the village and general members. Simple election voting procedures are conducted where people need to either raise their voice or hands. Some scholars hold different opinions regarding the ethnic identity of the Anal tribal community. Some hold that the Anals are the subdivision of the Kuki tribe and some state that this community has a kinship with the Khongjais.

Like any other tribal communities of Indian subcontinent, Abnal tribes adopt agriculture as their main occupation. Needless to say, their economy would also purely agrarian. However, following the trends of modern times, Anal community is slowly accepting few customs and practices of modern society, thus leading themselves towards their own betterment. Young people especially are going to school, colleges which in the process increase the literacy rate of the Anal society. Some even claims that this positive trend if carried forth in coming years few remarkable changes can be noticed in this tribal community.