Laimacha : A Folktale of Maring Tribe
- Part 2 -

James Oinam *

An illustration for 'Laimacha'

Book Title: Manipuri Fungga Wari
Compiled and Edited by: I.R. Babu Singh
Publisher: Sahitya Academy
Printer: Jaishree Press, Calcutta
Year: 2005

The villagers felt offended. They discussed among themselves how Laimacha can be defeated. Finally, they mixed one bucket of paddy and one bucket of sand. After that they asked Laimacha to separate the paddy not leaving a single grain by the next day.

Laimacha came home putting his hands over his head. After much persuasion, he told his wife what the villagers have asked him to do.

“Do not worry dear. Leave it to me,” she assured him.

Then she went to her elder sister swinging the stick—hung, hung. The elder sister gave her two pigeons. Coming back, she tasked the pigeons to separate the paddy and the sand. The next day Laimacha called the villagers to let them check whether the grains have been separated properly. They were amazed at the work.

Again the village people met. They agreed there was no way to defeat Laimacha. Instead, they decided to kill him by putting him in a pit and making bonfire over it. Only then his wife can be given to the king. Laimacha was called and this decision was intimated to him.

Laimacha came back home crying. When his wife asked what was the matter, he did not even tell her at first but upon repeated questioning he told her, “Tomorrow I will surely die. The village people will throw me into a pit and make fire over it. And then they will bury me in it. After that you will be given to the king.”

“Don’t worry. I will take care of it,” said the wife.

At midnight the wife swinging the stick went to her sister and told her what the village people had planned. The elder sister gave her two porcupines.

The wife made the porcupines dig a hole from the bedroom of their house to the pit the village people had dug to bury her husband.

The next day, village was bustling with people. Women and children and all others gathered to see Laimacha being burned and buried. Some young men carried Laimacha to the pit.

Laimacha was made to jump into the pit. Then people threw in logs into the middle of the pit and made fire. A fearful fire started raging. Laimacha made to his bedroom through the burrow dug by the porcupines and happily rested there smoking his pipe.

Some young men came to fetch Laimacha’s wife. When they found Laimacha happily smoking his pipe at his house they ran away in fear.

The village people again sent some more young men, and they also confirmed that Laimacha was alive.

The village people were now convinced that Laimacha cannot be defeated or killed. So they decided to kill their king instead and install Laimacha as their new king. And thus Laimacha and his wife lived happily ever after.

Translator’s Note:

On Maring Tribe: Maring tribe belongs to Naga. Maring people believe their ancestors came out of a cave after pushing away a large stone that blocked their way. Many animals tried to push away the stone. Maring are believed to come from Kabaw valley originally.

Their name “Meiring” means those who keep fire alive. If you refer to Poireiton’s adventure (who is credited by some authors to have brought the knowledge of fire/sacrificial fire to the valley of Manipur) (also refer Poireiton Khunthok, my abridged translation available on this website), you will find remarkable similarities.

Moral of the Story: The young man asks about a lotus and the old man arranges a marriage for him with a beautiful girl. This seems illogical. Once in a discussion on depression a specialist said, a person in depression talks about purpose of life and the reason for being alive (interest in the esoteric), but a person who is not suffering from depression says, “That’s fine, but what are we going to have for dinner” (focus on the day-to-day life). However, this is only a conjecture of the translator and not necessarily the original intent of the story.

Concluded ....