Reminiscence on Folk culture

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Reminiscence
A review of "Folk Culture of Manipur"

By: Jenni *

I tend to dwell in the present and live for the future. But I was lucky enough to get a copy of the priceless book "Folk Culture of Manipur" by Dr. M. Kirti Singh ( ISBN: 81-7049-063-4 / 8170490634 ) . It recapitulated my childhood memories all in one go. I found the book so enriching that I wanted to share with whoever I can reach out to.

The first chapter "Manipur Folk Tales" talks about mythological tales, etiological tales, legends, humorous tales etc. All that we know about Manipuri "Phunga Wari".

Telling of folk tales (Phoonga Wari Leeba)
Photo Courtesy: RKCS Art Gallery

We never had a hearth or fire place, there was the use of so called LPG when I was a small kid but my grandmother never failed to engage in her story telling every night.

The author mentioned about step mother tales like Uchek langmeidong, Haosi nameinu, Kauthap Leima, Kunja mala of which Uchek langmeidon has always been my favourite.

I used to wonder how she collected feathers from the birds and stitch it on her body and wonder why she never came back when her father called her back with tempting food and clothes all with pangs of emotions.

Then funny stories of foolish son-in-law like Hentak kangsoi, stories of foolish son-in-law mistaking the crops for bees and thrashing away from morning till evening, tasting all the bananas when his mother in law asked him to buy only sweet ones.

But the most fascinating one for me is the story of this foolish son-in-law releiving himself on a tortoise on the bank of a river and thought his dung moved when the tortoise did. And how he did the same in the kitchen and trashing the motionless excreted stuffs much to the surprise of his wife and mother-in-law. Had always given me a nauseating feeling.

Then there is the stories of animals and birds, most favorite for every children including me being "Tapta" and "Kabui keioba".

How I used to dream about being Thabaton, the only sister of seven brothers. Most favourite part when Thabaton gave Kabui keioiba an empty bamboo tube and asked him to fill water so that she can escaped. The dailogues of Kabui keioba when he mimicry Thabaton's seven brothers's voice and compelled her to open the door echoed in my ear till now.

I dont know if "Tapta" is still the scary being for the new century kids but I always thought he must be a black beast with powerful muscles and large canines though the story centered around the thief and the tiger, how they listened to the mother pacifying the weeping child with a meaningless word taken from the sound of the falling rain "tapta.... tapta"

Then there is the story of prince and princess. My most favourite one being "Shanarembi and chaishra". The beetles near the river banks during autumn already immoratlised these two ladies I guess.

Then the scary stories of "Lai Khutsangbi" and "Soirels". I had always been scared of red spots on sugarcane when I was a kid as my grandmother used to tell me those are bloods that had oozed from the hands of Lai Khutsanbi. And we were forbidden to mention the word "soirel" at night.

As the author had rightly said that these tales had been passed on from generation to generation with morals inserted at suitable places. I would not miss a chance to unwind these priceless tales to my grandchildren.

In the chapter "Life and notions reflected in folk songs" the author mentioned about children"s games and songs.

I was reminded of the game I used to play everday with my cousins which had already faded from my busy mind. The game of "kwak kwak" when the children perform the game of contest between "mapa sabi" and "mapi sabi".

Then the evergreen lullaby "tha tha thabungton" which always made me wonder if there is "theibong tree " growing there on the moon whenever my mother used to sing the song every night.

In the following chapters the author talked about manipuri proverbs, riddles, ballads, rites, rituals etc. which helped me learn more about our rich culture and folklores, certain terms and practices.

I had always heard about "Khomjong Parve Sakpa" but never knew the "hows and whats" about it.

Now I came to know that it is a new style of singing to the beat of dholak originated by Dhobi Leinou (a washerman) who happened to be an eyewitness of Khomjong War in 1891. It is the song of the glory of Khongjom war, of heroism and patroitic sentiments.

I feel that this book is a treasure for me and the best part about it is that it reminds me of bygone days, specially the first two chapters which i have discussed here briefly.

I hope that my generation and my succeding generation will be able pass these rich culture, stories, plays, lullaby of ours amidst new fashion trends, films, video games, super hit songs etc so that our great great grandchildren will play "kwak kwak" and our daughters will sing "tha tha thabungton" to our grandchildren.

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* Jenni, Delhi university, contributes to e-pao.net regularly. This article was webcasted on August 02nd 2007.

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