"Oral cultures and cultural activism – Challenges and responses"
- With special references to Liangmai Community -
- Part 1 -

Adibo Newmei *

Chagah Festival of Liangmai community celebrated at Taphou Liangmai village, Senapati on Oct 30, 2012 :: Pix - Popcha Yambem

Oral tradition enables diffusion of messages and testimonies, wealth of a culture by means of verbal transmission like folktales, sayings, songs, or chants. In this way, it is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law and other knowledge across generations without a writing system. The Liangmais have a treasure of culture, exceptional traditions and customs and unique religious practices that requires attention to minute details and nuances. It is amazing how all these miniscule processes involved in conducting a Liangmai traditional ceremony is still followed without any alteration and how oral tradition has played a major role in passing down the information.

About the Liangmai's:-

The Liangmais are one of the early settlers in the state of Manipur with their main centre of habitation in Tamei Sub-Division, Tamenglong District and Senapati District of Manipur. They are also found in large numbers in Peren District of Nagaland and they are recognised with Zeme as Zeliang tribe. The Liangmais and Zeme ethnic are recognized as Kacha Naga in the scheduled tribe list by the Govt. of Manipur. The Liangmai's and Zeme's urged the union govt. to modify or rename the tribe name. Recently, the govt. of India in its gazette have modified the Kacha Naga as Liangmai and Zeme in the state of Manipur by Ministry of Law and Justice, New Delhi, the 9th January 2012 Pausa 19, 1933 (Saka). The origin of the Liangmais and its kindred groups is still an obscurity. According to Liangmai Naga Council (LNC), the population of the Liangmai's is about 50,000.

Origin of the Liangmai (Myth):-

The Liangmai's alluded about Sinluang - this distant place. In one of their folk song children in the villages sing even today "Sinluang Sinluang Nap Biru tio… tio". When the song is ended, the boy or the girl the end of the line comes in front of the leader and says:-

Apeh! Akina tekbung kabuina kabamija
Akina tekbung leng pilosua

(Grandma! A Mithun has broken my little brother/sister bowl,
so give me one again).

It is said that this songs speaks of a place of abundance. There is no chronicle to prove this Singluang has any reference to the present Sinlung in China. The songs and stories are handed down from generation to generation orally. In course of their migration that took them a long time and encountered hostile peoples and cross many waters and mountain ranges. They arrived at the place somewhere near a sea in the east. Their penchant for conch, shell and beads which are found only in the proximity of the sea is an indication to their distant stop there. And it is therefore certain that they live near the sea shore once upon a time. Their fancy for marine shell may point to a bygone home on the sea. From there, they journeyed towards Makhel.

Early Settlement:-

It is a common belief and acceptance among the Liangmais that at one time they lived in Makhel (Makhiang in Liangmai Dialect). However, there is no record available in writing, nor sayings narrating their arrival in Makhel. Many writers considered Makhiang where all the Naga tribes lived together before a major dispersal took place. It is presumed that they spoke only one language there. Interestingly, there are similar or near- similar words in various dialect they speak. E.g. English word "Ten" is kariu in Liangmai dialect and Kea in Angami. Then, Sepoumaramth calls "god" orah and "man' omai while in Liangmai dialect they are chara and chamai respectively. The roots words are noticeably the same and only the suffixes and prefixes vary.

They lived in Makhel for a long time until they dispersed perhaps because of over population, search of new pastures, adventurous spirit etc. Before, their separation, they planted the banyan tree. It is said that if a branch of the tree, which still stands today, dries up, the people living in that direction are having trouble. The tree stood as portend (omen), so Genna was declared. They also erected a big rock as a commemoration of their dispersion and also an indication that all the brothers who were separated from there will one day live together again.

The Liangmai's call the rock "Tadmarato" (Tad-go, Mara-Scatter, to-stone). A believed that if paddy is left to dry on the stone overnight it doubles its quantity in the morning. One day, an old woman laid out some paddy to dry on top of the stone but it rained that day. In her anger she took off her sarong and whipped the stone which is a taboo henceforth the stone's magic died. Then, bidding farewell to each other they took to different direction clan by clan, tribe by tribe.

The ancestors of the Liangmai under the leadership of Merou left their abode in Makhel and moved south ward. They crossed many mountains and survived hostile conditions. After a long time they reached a safe place call Ramting Kabin. Ram means land, ting (Kating) means old, Kabin (Kabinbo) means squeeze. After sometime, they settled in a place called Chawang Phungning (Chawang-king ruler; Phung-Plot; and Ning region). They were able to set up a well planned settlement. They divided the land for clans under the supervision of the elder who knew the land best.

The chosen chief was to govern the settlement and he was given the best land. They called him Chawang meaning king/ruler and he was the final authority and binding on the people. They celebrate and made merry to mark the creation of their village and composed special songs and dances. It is said that their songs, incantations (magical formula, spell, charm) and libation (drink offering to god) were developed at Chawang Phung Ning. From Ramting kabin to Chawang Phuning, they spent a long time sojourning. During this period many kindred clans were formed.

The people at Chawang Phung Ning continue their west-ward movement until they came to a place called Makuilongdi. Some elders also called it Nkuilongdi (nkui-round in Liangmai and longdi- 'big hill'). Nguibou was the chief of Makuilongdi. He had neither a son nor a daughter. Therefore his wife urged him to marry another girl. Finally, Nguibou married a second wife who begot a son called Namgangbou. His First wife also gave birth to a son call Kading and later another son and he was named Rembangbou. Makuilongdi became a very big village. It is said that at its zenith it had 7777 houses. The king's decree could not be reach immediately because of vastness of the village, over population, adventurous spirit, jealousy among the sons and queen and other varied reasons the likeminded group dispersed in different direction.

According to tradition the eldest son inherits his father. In the case of Nguibou his first wife was the legal wife. Therefore, Kading who was younger than Namgangbou became the legal heir to his father. A long evolution of traditions in the Liangmai Community in its long history led to the custom of the youngest son inheriting the property of his father which is still inexplicable. The community also accepts this tradition as fait accompli.

Feast of merit:-

Rich people performed many feast of merit to seek God's blessing. All the villagers and friendly neighbouring villages are invited to the feast. Some of the important feasts of merits are:-

* Miukeng jaohubo (Harvest Feast):-

It is a feast of merit where a person who is able to harvest the highest amount of grain in a year has the right to perform Miukeng jaohubo (one who gets the highest number of grains in a year feeds the entire villages). It elevates his status in the village. It is belief that god has blessed his family, it is a bound duty to feed the entire villager at least a meal to get god's blessing for future prosperity.

* Kariudungbo (One who accomplished ten times Miukeng jaohubo):-

A person who has accomplished Miukeng Jaohubo ten times in his life can perform Kariudungbo which is a very rare occasion. It is a feast of merit in which the villagers are fed for more than 3-5 days. He invites neighbouring villages and peace will prevail during this feast. Even friends and foes are reconciled for this festival. A huge tree is cut down to make a trough (Malikuang) in which a virgin lady will lead in pounding the rice beers which are stored for the grand feast. This is the highest status a man could achieved in his lifetime

* Karingin gibo (Blessing ceremony)

A person who has performed various feast of merit may invite his near and dear ones, even from far off villages to performed Karingin gibo with a grand feast. The main objective is to bless his kin towards the end of his life and narrates the history of his family, village, folk lore, folk tales etc. and bid them adieu to lead a good life.

"This paper was presented at the National Seminar on "Recovering the Oral Histories of North-East India" at Dimapur on October 31 and November 1 2012 organised by Indian Institute of Advance Studies (IIAS) and INTACH".

To be continued...