 From 2006 to 2012 Richard Hewitt presented several essays at academic conferences in Kyrgyzstan linking the Kyrgyz hero Manas son of Jakyp to biblical Manasseh son of Jacob.Hewitt also visited Dr. Milui Lenthang Khuplam of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo and found several links between the bnei Menashe of northeast India and ethnic Kyrgyz.Although "Machir" and "Gilead", as individuals, are described in biblical genealogies as father and son, and as son and grandson of Manasseh, in the view of some critical scholars "Machir" and "Gilead" are treated as the names of tribes which are different from one another in the Song of Deborah.