Cultural transposition of mythical surrender into Kabui-Rongmei dialect : A play from the periphery

Chingtham Diana Devi *

Star Kamei, the director of the adapted play 'Mythical Surrender'

The people of North-East India bear little cultural resemblance with the North and South Indians and so have different traditions, customs and habits. Manipur, a small part of this region is home to a variety of ethnic groups such as the Nagas, Kukis, Kom etc. Mythical Surrender, a play by Budha Chingtham bagged the prestigious M.E.T.A. (Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards) 2011 for best original script. The play is originally written in Manipuri which is later on translated into Kabui-Rongmei dialect by Star Kamei, a noted director and adapted in a different place and a different culture.

The paper tries to highlight the cultural transformation of the play in a new cultural context focussing on how the indigenous cultural elements of one’s tradition are transformed and adapted in a different culture. However, it should be noted that both the plays attempt to give a realistic picture of the miseries and pains inflicted on the common people in the name of counter-insurgency measures taken up in the North-Eastern region of the country. Thus, the paper also indulges on the fact that whatever differences are there in terms of culture and tradition, these different cultures of the same region share the same fear of threat of identity, existential angst pains and anguish, the same search for reconciliation, its roots and its indigenous essence which unite them in diversity.

The north-eastern part of India consists of seven states and these states are poetically called the “Seven Sisters”. The people residing in this region are different from the people of North India in terms of race, colour and anatomy. However, these people do not have a homogenous identity. They belong to a number of communities following different rituals, traditions, beliefs and cultures. Manipur, a small state at the periphery of India is itself an example of heterogeneity where resides a number of variant ethnic groups. The indigenous people of this area led a simple agrarian life before the influx of modernity accompanied by outsiders with armed forces and counter-insurgency schemes.

Mythical Surrender, which got the best original script at M.E.T.A. (Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award) in 2011, is an attempt to portray the lives of the people at the periphery whose peaceful existence is disturbed and threatened by the armed military forces. It shows the drastic effect of counter-insurgency operation being conducted at the fringe of India. The play is not just the portrayal of a story but a pictographic presentation of reality, a dark reality of the lives of these people. This can be considered as a reaction against the ‘imperial metropolitan’ grand narrative of North India. (Prateek& Krispa, 2013).

It depicts the encounter of tradition with modernity in the meeting between Sanarei, the main protagonist and her father-in-law, a retired army officer who is in search of his lost son and daughter-in-law. Despite of being constantly told by her father-in-law to go with him to the city, away from the troubles that had befallen on her, Sanarie remains firm in her small hut in the phumdis of Loktak lake. She repeatedly confirms her decision of never leaving her home which can be seen as sticking to her age-old tradition, her roots and her identity.

Mythical Surrender is based on the couple who lived on the phumdis at Loktak lake and how their lives are put upside down by the serpents. Here, the serpents are symbolic representation of the military forces whose c nducts resemble that of a serpent. In a conflict region, rape of women and killing of innocents are not new things. This play too deals with a conflict story where the woman is raped and her innocent husband killed Sanarei, a fisherwoman who grew up among the phumdis in Loktak lake at Moirang was raped by the serpents and her husband, Tachaothoi was murdered in the name of counter-insurgency operation.

The director has used cultural elements, tradition, folk songs, folk performing arts as techniques in showing the inner conflict in the mind of Sanarei, who was carrying the child of her rapist and murderer of her husband The child too turned out to be a serpent behaving the same way and joined the force. He started torturing the simple folks of the place, even killing Sanarie’s father-in-law. Not able to withstand it anymore, she killed her son whom she called as ‘enemy’s son’ with a gun. Her act of killing her monstrous son can be read as an act of exorcism of the eviL

Adaptations of drama, film and novels is not a new thing. It has been practised by many writers and directors. It can be categorised into collage, cultural transposition, domestication, reorientation, transformation etc. Star Kamei’s adaptation of Mythical Surrender was first premiered on December 7,2014 at M.D.U. (Manipur Dramatic Union). The play is adapted in a new cultural context i.e. in Zeliangrong culture.

Zeliangrong community is formed by Zeme, Liangmei, Rongmei and Puimei though Puimei is not in the nomenclature. The two plays with the same titles, one in Manipuri and other in Rongmei-Kabui dialect; can be discussed under cultural transposition. In the original play, the stage is set in Loktak Lake at Moirang; while in its adapted version, it shifted to Zeilad Lake at Tamenglong which is mostly resided by Zeliangrong people. The excesses of armed forces on the inhabitants are discussed in both the plays and again there is correspondence between the two plays. Both the two plays focus on the same theme and end in the same way with the mother killing her own illegitimate son to save her community. Unlike the original play, Star Kamei, the director of the adapted play has not symbolised the military forces as serpents. He puts the Indian Army in place of the serpents who raped Kazaklu and killed her husband, Gaithui. Again, the child is not born as a serpent but it wears a mask, an evil one to signify his evil spirit.

Star Kamei also used cultural elements like folk songs and dance to convey the anguish of Kazaklu. However, he omits some scenes like the Maibi dance, being performed by the fisherwomen, their acts of using ‘long’ (bowl shaped fish basket) to catch fish and the catching of dead bodies of infants and the appearance of ‘Maiba’ a well-versed priest driving the evils out. Here, it can be mentioned that ‘Maibi dance’ is one of the ritual dance of Meities performed at ‘Lai Haraoba’. In the olden days such kind of dances were only performed in religious ceremonies, particularly, ‘Lai Haraoba’.

However, lately there is a trend of de-contextualization of the ritual dances. (Otojit; 2011) These are used and adapted by theatre persons and dancers for different purposes. Although he omitted some of the scenes involving indigenous cultural elements of the original play, he adds his own cultural materials. For instance, there is Gaan-Ngai, a Zeliangrong festival in the play where the deceased Gaithui is remembered and honoured by his wife, Kazaklu. Gaan-Ngai is a festival during which the deceased of the previous year are given ritual farewell or departure by decorating the graves, giving feast and performing dance in their honour. It is a traditional festival by which the community sustains their cultural heritage and way of life thereby preserving the Zeliangrong culture.

The play tries to demystify the construct of North Indian nationalism. It is constructed upon the backdrop of military combing operations conducted as counter insurgency measures in the North Eastern region of the country. The unbearable effects of the excesses imposed by the military forces in the name of suppressing insurgents are depicted through the harassment meted out to the two couple. The main protagonist; Sanarei or Kazaklu can be said to represent the innumerable women who are victimised- raped, tortured and left as widows without any fault of theirs. Her son symbolises the product of that inhumane act carried on her and by her finishing whom she had brought on the earth, she tries to assert the victory of good on eviL Though the mother calls her son, her only son dearly, yet she still acknowledges his birth as a product of violence and impurity by calling him ‘my son, enemy’s son’.

In the play, the playwright uses a genre that is culture specific in approach and at the same time modern in theme. Here, the emphasis in more on performance than based oittext. The use of folk songs like ‘khulang eshei’ with Pena, a Meitei indigenous instrument in the original play and the setting of Loktak Lake indicate a return or rediscovery of tradition. The playwright looks back to tradition for inspiration to depict the unspeakable harassment and despairs of the masses in the modern age of conflict.

He has taken reference to many books on Meitei culture for example, Thanga Khunthok, Rajo Maibi’s Lang-on, W.Lukhoi’s Lai Haraoba, Moirang Sayon and Moirang Kangleiron. The search for roots or identity is the decolonisation of the way of living, social norms and cultural modes. (Prateek &Krispa, 2013) Sanarei’s father-in-law symbolises the modern man who has travelled all over the world returning to his root by his search of his son and daughter-in-law. Sanarei, on the other hand is the embodiment of age-old tradition and culture that remain unchanged or unaltered with the passage of time. She is the root and the indigenous identity that had been discarded in the onset of modernity.

Although the above discussed two plays of different setting show variations in terms of names, cultures and treatment of symbols, yet both show the same pains and despairs of the people from the periphery. The inhumane treatment meted out to those in the margins and the fear of losing one’s identity in this modern era of hybrid culture loom in the plays. Both the pbys .successfully depict the trauma that a rape victim undergoes through imagery, dream and fantasy. Thus, the existential angst, search for roots and the same reaction against military excesses shared by these different communities no doubt unite them despite of their differences.