Illustrated Manuscripts of Manipur
- Part 2 -

By: Mutua Bahadur *

In 1825, Manipur's Maharaja Gambhir Singh took refuge for some time in Sylhet (now in Bangladesh). Near his residence three temples were constructed to worship Meitei gods, the Pakhangba and the Nongsaba, and also the goddess Yumjao Lairembi.

On the left wall of the Pakhangba temple, there is an engraved picture of the Paphal with many heads and of a prostrate figure under each head. It signifies a synthesis of the Meitei indigenous cultural tradition and the Hindu religious tradition (Fig. 4).

This tendency is also noticeable in a few indigenous martial arts manuscripts where both the Paphal and the names of Radha and Krishna are put together.

Traits of Austric culture which came into contact with the Meitei culture through the Mon culture of Myanmar can be seen in various Paphal illustrations. The Mons are believed to have settled in Manipur around 2000 BC and their traditions got assimilated into those of the Meiteis.

They, in turn, added some more dimensions, characterized by more intertwining of the body of the python, to the Paphal illustration. The Khmers, or the Khamarans as the Meiteis call them, are believed to have migrated to Manipur around 1000 BC. They also enriched the Paphal tradition by contributing more designs of their own.

There are some similarities between the Paphal and the snake motif of the Meenakshi temple at Madurai in south India. The differences are also obvious. In the Paphal, the tail of the python is almost always inside its mouth while it is not so in

FIG 4

FIG 5

" This work originates from seeing the scattered illustrated manuscripts, which I found in the custody of our local Pundits. Since 1973 I have been working for these manuscripts by collecting from various sources. Some of them are already published in the Book entitled the Manuscript Paintings of Manipur in 1978. Even the second reprint issue is also produced in this year. But unfortunately it could not be printed in colour due to financial constraint. All the paintings consisted in the earlier publication are coloured by freehand.

I have the opportunity to exhibit some illustrated manuscripts in the 2 day seminar organised by Manipur Folklore Society held from 26 to 27 September 1982 at G. M. Hall, Imphal. This exhibition attracts many scholars from different parts of India. Then in 1991, published another book entitled Subika Laisaba (A Manipuri illustrated Manuscript on Astrology).

The present work on illustrated Manuscripts is a bunch of paintings collected from different parts of Meitei inhabited areas like Bangladesh, Myanmar etc. It will incorporate 364 faces of Paphal and other unpublished manuscripts.

I would like to convey my thanks to the Ministry of Culture, Government of India for the financial assistance to the task of publishing it. I hope that without this support it could not have been possible to materialise the things.

I alone am responsible for any remaining errors and infelicities for they are of my own construction. I always welcome suggestions and criticisms for further development in future."

Mutua Bahadur

* Mutua Bahadur contributes to e-pao.net regularly. This article was webcasted on February 11th 2010.