Meitei Mayek, according to the few old manuscripts that survived such as Wakoklon Thilel Salai Singkak, Wakoklol Thilel Salai Amailon, comprised of 18 alphabets. All the original 18 alphabets were drawn and derived from human anatomy. The names of the alphabets are the names of different parts of the body, from where the characters are drawn and derived. The philosophical, metaphysical, spiritual, cosmological and linguistic backgrounds of the origination, system and psychology of the characters are discussed in the old manuscript like Puyas “Eeyek Chakpalon” and “Wakoklon Thilel Salai Amailon Pukok”.’ According to Prof.Ng. Kangjia Mangang, in his book “Revival of a closed account” It states: “At the “talangmalang”( timeless state or antemundane Naught “Ama” (One without a second) evolved “Tingpanpa” (Cosmos) out of “One” being the Ultimate Cause of the cosmos. “Ama”, the “One” manifested as the qualified “Mapu” who is neither Male or Female, but an Absolute Being qualified as male-female Whole and “Sitapa” (Immortal) Omnipresent,Omniscient and Omnipotent. “Mapu”, again manifested Mapu’s “Ting” (Absolute power and potentiality) through the Astral Counterpart of the Cosmic Body. The 18 heavenly bodies and heavenly phenomena taken together are the animated seats of the “Ting” (Absolute power and potentiality) to govern the cosmic body.” He also describes that “the 18 seats of Ama’s manifestation are parallely depicted in the “Taipangpanpa”(World of Beings) of which the human body is the animated embodiment of the gigantic cosmos. These 18 seats are the eighteen parts, organs and segments of human body where the eighteen original alphabetical figures are winded, contorted, plicatd wreathed and drawn from.”

The most exciting concept is the origin of the numerical figures of the Manipuri Script. The numerical figures are all drawn and taken from the figures of a human embryo, which develops in nine months plus the tenth month of impregnation in which the child is delivered. Interestingly, the birth of the Phoon (zero) is also being claimed to be an origin of Manipur. When a leekla (spermatozoon) penetrates a female eelik (egg) and pierces it, the leekla develops into naowa (feotus) of the first month of Prenancy.of the first month of Prenancy.of the first month of Prenancy.The naowa (feotus) develops itself from the figure of leekla having its head, body and tail. Therefore, the cheising eeyek (numeral figure) represents the prestine form of leekla the figure being.The original text rightly relays- “langonki eeyek asina hailiye” meaning “Thus tells the story of this numeral figure in its embryonic birth”. It is a plain riddle of the fact that the numerals in quest tell themselves of their originations as their correlated forms and figures suggest themselves.During the first month of impregnation, the eelik has been fertilized and the fertilized eelik (ovum) lodges itself on naopham (Placenta)which nourishes it.

The eelik is nourished by food substance coming through the naopham (placenta) from the mother’s blood stream. The human embryo, then, grows by means of Khoiri (umbilical cord), into an angang (un-born child) stretching its semi-developed legs giving the birth of the numeral figure of ani (two).With the parallel background of the monthly developments of human embryo in its mother’s uterus, the numeral figures— ahum (three), mari (four), manga (five), taruk (six), taret (seven), nipal (eight), mapal (Nine) — have been coined. In the tenth month of impregnation, the angang (child) completes its course and it is, as time enforces, liberated from its uterus. When it is delivered, the born angang (child) leaves its mother’s naoyom (womb) vacant and apart forming Phoon (zero). This is the allegory of the birth of the letterform, Phoon (zero) in the history of Kanglei Arithmetic elsewhere in the world of Science. It is, further, written in the ‘Wakoklon Thilel Salai Amailon Pukok Puya’ that the nomenclature of ‘amata phoon’ meaning ‘phoon (zero), in addition to ama, one taken together’ is tara (ten).