Manipuri Society and Its Art & Culture
Contemplation of a Victim Artist
- Part 2 -

Heisnam Kanhailal *

4th Dr Thingnam Kishan Memorial Lecture by Padmashree Heisnam Kanhailal at Hotel Imphal on June 30 2013 :: Pix - Sanjeev Thingnam

Next, let's have a look at the practice of education and culture in the state. For one, this was not created by us for our own. This was a new credo developed by the so called developed countries of the west, which are considered to be progressive. Our intellectuals and artists have not given much thought on these issues. Even if they do, they are rendered helpless.

In such as situation one is bound to follow the same. But it does not mean that the new credo has been accepted by one and all in the West. Few who are genuinely concerned about facing the challenges of the time, intellectuals and artists, oppose it. They fearlessly express their thoughts and art forms in creative excellence, and thus becomes rebels. Their efforts are to examine from a right perspective and instruct one on the right path.

Education provides a knowledge system. At the same time, culture is the embodiment of traits and characters of man towards the preservation of the true image of humanity. Commonly understood, it can be said that there are three characteristics of culture: means of production (material), reproduction of knowledge and wisdom to the subsequent generation of mankind, and finally, interpretation of the life-world (giving meaning of the existential condition). In the stages of development of a society, the most important aspect is the third characteristic of culture, which is about giving meaning of the existential condition. One needs to be careful or cautious about this aspect.

What have been happening across the world from the late 20th century are the phenomena of making education and culture reductive. This has resulted in making the vital elements of the body, chiefly the spirit and soul, go into distant exiles. Our physical body has no relation with them. Moreover, what signifies humanity is its soul. And soul has two powers such as the cognitive and the normative. Cognitive power has been rendered impotent as we have discarded our senses, the critical element of cognitive power. Along with it, the sanctity of the essence of living, too, has vanished.

As a result, what we are confronting toady is the invading, at the same time inevitable, waves of "mass culture" from the developed west. This has transformed our knowledge system into capsules. Our culture and tradition has been swallowed up by consumer culture. Education and culture has actualised as the best means of profiteering.

Incredible to the fullest and discontent in every direction is what Manipur is. There are strikes and protests against AFSPA. On one side, there is the movement against the entry of non-locals. On the other, there is the movement for the preservation of culture and tradition. Then there are hues and cries against the issue of drug abuse and smuggling of illegal drugs. On a daily basis there are bandhs and ceaseless economic blockades for more than 100 days. All this happens in the midst of armed-conflict between the State armed-forces and armed opposition groups. All of us are living leading the lives of victims. I am reminded of the sayings of our fore-fathers, "Ha Urok namangsu Lang Natungsu Ten" (Oh stork, a trap in front you and an arrow behind you)! Shall we perish away as victims? How do we overcome the challenges?

After this, let me grapple with another issue for a moment. It relates to the nature in which Manipuri arts and culture manifested in the 20th century. Today, what we popularly regarded as drama was practised in the early part of the 20th century by the Bangali Babus and subsequently we adopted. This form of drama, which arrived from the West, is known as proscenium theatre. Even today this art form is continued to be performed in India and Manipur through the establishment of theatre halls.

What prevailed in Manipur in the initial phase was the in toto adoption of Bangali style in terms of play writing, acting, etc. "Narsingh" written in 1925 by Lairenmayum Ibungohal was the first Manipuri drama. Through the establishment of MDU (Manipur Dramatic Union), Aryan Theatre and Roop Mahal from the beginning of the 30s, drama was propagated in Manipur. This movement was grounded in the foundation of melodrama. Just before the outbreak of World War II, by establishing Society Theatre, the plays written by GC Tongbra began to be staged. By keeping aside the genre of melodrama, GC Tongbra, also known as the GB Shaw of Manipur, incorporated wit and humour in his plays and depicted the society and politics of Manipur in a didactically satirical manner. It occurred during the time of the first generation intellectuals.

What is interesting is that two vibrant forms of performing arts (lila) developed from our soil. These are Phagi Lila (a genre of comedy) and Moirang Parba (narration of Moirang Chronicle). Both are performed in the court yards. Those genre of written plays performed on the stages were led by the fashionable and leading men of letters of the time. It showcased the so called refined and elitist culture. On the other hand, Shumang lila was developed by the unlettered commoners. In fact the latter can be described as folk theatre.

Shumang lila is a pure and original product of the soil, which believes in rendering the spirit of our life-world in art form. It depicts the real culture of the Meiteis. Unfortunately, it met an untimely demise in the later part of the 50s. Since then Shumang lila has been overtaken by the lettered playwrights, written in the mould of drama and driven by the text.

Today, Shumang lila is completely immersed in the illusion of drama and Hindi film. Oh! How much I envy the elders of the yore, although they neglected you to be illiterates, sheer true blood of arts that ran in your veins could give a healing process to the spectators that watched your skillful production, could give them blissful satisfaction. How much I envy you!

Today's theatre, across the world as well as in India and Manipur, has become an art form, a marketable production, solely dictated by reductive and consumerist tendency. There are many who succeeded and many who failed in this venture. However, one cannot see a genuine or true art today. Their production thrills the eyes as long as one is inside the hall. Once outside, everything vanishes except that it was beautifully presented, skillful and smooth, etc.

It can be said that Manipuri theatre is the pioneer of this form of production. Developed countries of the world received it with admiration. In the west this form of theatre has been termed as "Theatre-as-Industry" and is appreciated as an art form suited for popular consumption. Experts of India ear mark this as export quality. However, none regards it as a true cultural production. My theatre works are beyond this tradition.

Today, dance and thang-ta, which have been internationally acclaimed, are being transformed into visually thrilling items, deviating from the original forms, keeping in mind the outside audiences. Our pung-cholom has been transmuted into acrobatics. The outside audiences are delightfully gratified. On the other hand, audiences of the soil who know the nuances of our art forms are furious, with disgruntlement they assert that such entertainments cannot be appealing and cannot instill a sense of interest.

On one side we are happy that America is fascinated with our art. But the moot question is for whom our pung-jagoi was created? Birth of art can be attributed to the efforts of our artists when they transformed, for its own society, the natural into artificial, as an enabling tool to depict the new image of mankind. Born on this soil, our fore fathers who lived in that universe diligently created the beautiful image of humanity for its denizens. It was a treasure meant for the future generations.

Preservation of the same is our bounded duty. Every art, every tradition will become a living entity only when there is unity between form and spirit. It is like the human body – from body to the soul. Garcia Lorca, the noted Spanish writer and poet, said, "It is not the form or figure, what matters is the marrow and a flower is appreciated not for its external appearance but by virtue of its inner beauty."

What has been a part and parcel of our civilizational trajectory, and which was created on the basis of religious rituals and ceremonies and martial arts practiced in the battle fields such as the Lai haraolol and thangrol-tarol, respectively, remain intact in their true forms. After we embraced Hinduism, Lai haraoba, thang-ta and folk songs formed the backbone or otherwise provided the vital energy and human resources towards the creation of subtle art forms such as Raas Lila, Sanskritan and others.

From an erstwhile war field our society was transformed into a land of Bhakti-prem (devotion and love). Let me not transgress if the religious development was bad or good. What I see is the art in its creative heights. Even if Hinduism is an alien religion, my appreciation pertains to the development of our own arts and culture and in fact the creativity grounded in it.

My exposition is on the creative art or otherwise the process, that form of art was not plucked like a flower, and my attempt is to imbibe the essence. Although the form of art differs from one nation to another, the underlying process of creation remains the same. To put it in a simple way, natural artifacts and traditions as we see, when transformed by human interventions, become arts.

How the transformation comes about varies from culture to culture, and is determined by the state of mind or body of the land, its tradition, climatic and physiographical conditions, etc. and accordingly varied distinct forms of art emerged. Local sensibility and ecological system of a specific culture influences the language of movement. In Manipur, riding on this language, which was created by the inhabitants of the land and influenced by the surrounding environment, we have been developing our art forms. Only fear is what if the treasure-like art forms so diligently and so proficiently created by our forefathers gets drowned in the currents of time and drifted away along with the debris.

The issue that emerges in this context is how do we preserve them. I don't believe the Brahma Sabha of the Royal Palace, Pandit Loishang, J.N. Dance Academy and other dance-song organizations can preserve them. What we lack during our time are scholars of the performing arts. Until now, in our society there has not been even a single person who by viewing sympathetically analysed in detail in an academically and scholarly manner.

When one looks at India or others, be it Kathakali, Bharat Natyam, Odissi or Kathak, we witness that new scholars of the soil act as the supporting mechanism of the Gurukuls by giving relevant meanings and meticulously preserves the art forms. One cannot be an artist and a scholar at the same time; even if possible it is rare. In Manipur, in the field of theatre as an art form, too, the situation is the same. Critics who write in our newspapers are only as good as the reporters.

When society, economy, politics and arts and culture in their current conditions bombard against our or humanity's character and tradition as a powerful alienated force, our lives have become fragmented and directionless. Lost is the pristine image of humanity, exiled far away from us. What we have become today is, "Vulgar tricksters who can suck own blood like a vampire and sinister characterless individuals devoid of empathy, the "I". From this condition we have been helplessly evolving, "[I]nto artists who lack imagination and strength, heartless imposters who act to love the humanity, soulless rational beings, ones who cannot respect someone belonging to a different nationality or tribe, leaders and statesmen of nations who cannot honestly dream and faithfully complete a mission or any task."

This is the decadent condition of mankind. In such a scenario true art can never exist. It is bound to disappear from our midst. The condition that we encounter is akin to the sufferings and pains one bears during a horrific war. Over and above, pains inflicted by urbanization, capitalism, mass culture and new technology, a heady mixture, make our condition worse. If we do not carefully confront what is perceived to be development then the condition of man will be transformed into a dreadful form.

Transformation has already begun. Let us examine the following example. Development presents to us a fast moving gift of the time known as "speed". We have to realise that it is not a gift but a powerful force sweeping over us. The important issue is how do we confront or move along with it, since it will be impossible to evade. At this juncture we are reminded of the popular debate on "Science versus humanity".

To be continued...