Who are the Kukis and where have they come from? Have they always lived in the hills of Manipur or are they native to Myanmar? Or are they colonial “implants” brought in by the British to counter the aggressive Nagas? These questions may sound like they are based on anthropological curiosity but, raised in the background of the ongoing ethnic clash in Manipur, the responses to them have politically loaded implications on the current socio-politics of the hill state where Kukis and Meiteis are locked in a historic “clash of clans”. These questions, in fact, are being used by one group to question the very legitimacy of the other’s existence, let alone their fight for rights.