The Birth of Seven Salai : Translated from "Manipuri Fungga Wari"
James Oinam *
An illustration for 'The Birth of Seven Salai'
Book Title: Manipuri Fungga Wari
Compiled and Edited by: I.R. Babu Singh
Publisher: Sahitya Academy
Printer: Jaishree Press, Calcutta
Year: 2005
Once upon a time, there lived seven brothers and their youngest sister in the mountain. As was customary in the hills, the brothers and the sister used to climb the hills for daily necessities led by their elderly father.
Unfortunately, one day while the sister was alone in the mountains, she met a python who swallowed her. The father and the seven brothers grieved over the fate of their only daughter and sister. They discussed the matter among themselves and decided to kill the python.
Thus, they started searching for the python. After searching many places, tall mountains and caves and dark forests, they finally found the burrow of the python in the deep gorge of Angamba mountain.
When they counted the burrows made by the python, they found that in total there were eight burrows. Each of them, including the father, stood in front of each hole holding their weapons and staying alert.
The father made the youngest son stand in front of the hole which was covered with spider’s web because in the father’s eyes he was only a child and weak.
He thought that the python would not come out from that hole and the youngest son would be safe.
However, instead of coming out of the other holes, the python suddenly came out of the hole that was filled with spider’s web which the youngest son was guarding.
The youngest son killed the python with the weapon he was wielding in his hand with great skill and courage. The father was pleasantly surprised to see the bravery of the youngest son and he was also happy that the death of his only daughter was now avenged.
All eight of them carried the dead python and started heading for their home, shouting on the way that all of them have together killed the python. Finally, they reached the gate of their village.
As they reached the gate of their village, the father, instead of shouting that they had together killed the python, started shouting that only his youngest son killed the python.
The six elder brothers were shocked at hearing this and became sad, thinking their father cared about his youngest son only.
They reached home but things were different from that day. The six elder brothers felt they cannot live together and left their home and each of them went their way to find a place of their own.
Thus, the seven salai were born.
* James Oinam wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer can be contacted at jamesoinam(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This article was webcasted on June 08, 2023 .
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