He belonged to the generation which had grown up and saw the difficult times of Manipur in the socio-economic condition under the monarchic system of government shaped by the colonial rule of British Empire.

Minaketan engaged with every field of literature: poetry, prose, essays, translations, mythology, biography, autobiography, and criticism.

One inimitable quality which keeps Minaketan apart from other poets, which makes him occupy a special place in the annals of Manipur literature, is his invention of new words purely from Old Meitei languages spoken in the old days.

About Minaketan's style and choice of words, poet Shree Biren has this observation[clarification needed] – It is a fact that any reader will find himself a kind of push which violently thrown out at the very threshold.

Minaketan had the power of impressing the imagination by lines of spleen-dour and magnificence suggesting some half-expressed thoughts, some dimly shadowed emotions.

Ashangbam Minaketan Singh lived a fruitful long 89 years even having to see and play with his youngest grandson, encompassing the whole of the 20th century.