Ms. Haokip, the woman who was beaten by a mob, is recovering in a hospital in the hills where Kukis predominate. She worries that she will not be able to return to Imphal to finish her nursing studies.

Another Kuki, Chamelen Hangshing, 30, said he and his fellow villagers had exchanged gunfire earlier this week with Meitei vigilantes. A 7-year-old boy was hit in the head by a stray bullet while taking shelter with his family in a government camp. An ambulance tried to take him to a hospital across the Meitei lines, but it was stopped, and three of its passengers, including the boy and his mother, were beaten and burned alive, according to the boy’s uncle, Jeffrey Hangshing.

Meiteis, too, have shared some of the hardship. Robita Moirangthem, a 30-year-old teacher, and her mother fled their home and spent a night hiding in a latrine. “Everything is finished. We don’t have a home anymore,” Ms. Moirangthem said.

“Let us live our lives where our homes are,” she pleaded. “Why take out animosity against us ordinary people?”