Khutlang : Genesis of all women's organisation of Manipur

By: Dr Wahengbam Sushma Devi *

When we glimpse through history or look at the contemporary period, we find that social life is moulded to a certain extent by social institutions. Institutions are structures of relationships, obligations, functions, roles and act as a mechanism of maintaining social order and cooperation among members of a particular society.

Dictionary of sociology defines institutions as social practices that are regularly and continuously repeated, are sanctioned and maintained by social norms and have a major significance in the social structure. It is believed that social institutions fulfill the needs of the individual or societies and every society has its own institutions whether it be political, economic, religious etc. Khutlang practice in the agricultural sector of Manipur is one such economic institution.

Agriculture is the main occupation and the largest productive unit of Manipur, a State in Northeastern corner of India. Agricultural activity is usually a family enterprise with both men and women taking part in the agricultural activities with the heavier work of ploughing etc in the hands of men and lighter work like transplantation, weeding etc being carried out by women.

Agriculture in Manipur is highly dependent on seasonal cycles. Agricultural works of transplantation, weeding, reaping etc has to be completed within a short period of time before the favourable climatic conditions change and when the weather conditions are appropriate. Huge labour force is required during the peak period, which a family as a unit of production finds itself insufficient to meet.

Consequently, to meet this shortfall in labour, women started reaching out for help to other women folk holding out the promise of repaying back with the same services in agricultural work. This mutual agreement of reciprocity of services eventually evolved to form the Mutual Manual labour exchange or the economic institution of Khutlang in Manipur.

Khutlang in Meiteilon is a multiple synonymous term, literally, Khut means hand and lanba or lanthokpa means to lend out expecting something in return. Khutlang in agricultural spectrum, consist of a group of women of different age groups who agree to pool their labour and work together in agricultural activities.

Women Mutual manual labour organisation is usually known as Nupi Khutlang and women who works in such a system is known as Khutlang Nupi. In this mutual exchange of labour or Khutlang, each member gets the benefit of the work of the whole members. Agricultural work for each member is done in rotation. The members of the team are not paid for the services rendered by them rather they received help in similar services from her teammates.

On other free days, when there is no work to be done for the member team, a Khutlang team would invest their labour in other's field for monetary return individually or for the team as a whole. The networking of Khutlang is based entirely on the norms of loyalty, obligations and reciprocity.

Besides the Manifest function of organising a group for economic production, Khutlang as an institution also delivers some latent function. According to Robert Merton, Manifest functions are the consequences that people observe or expect. It is explicitly stated and understood by the participants in the relevant action and the latent functions are the unconscious and unintended actions.

Robert Merton who have coined the concept of latent and manifest functions of social institutions is of the view that both manifest and latent functions of social institutions have positive consequences for society and adds that reflections on the latent functions of a social institutions helps in understanding the society more.

As a latent function, Khutlang act as a recreational and entertainment platform where women members would work and sing together, while carrying out their work of transplanting, sowing etc, for instance, we are familiar of words like Louta Eshei, Lou meaning field, tanba or taba sow and eshei meaning song, so Louta eshei is a kind of song sung by the women on the eve of ploughing the field, similarly Phoukaron is the song sung at the time of harvesting.

Khutlang members after their long, weary and strenuous work would sit together, share the joys and sorrows of their personal life and at times the traumas of being under the Patriarchal hold. Meitei society like any other patriarchal society follows patriarchal norms, values and practices and women are often placed at a disadvantageous position in spite of their active participation in economic activities. Women often succumb to the authority and unreasonable demands of the male members of the family.

Not bowing to the male authority and not giving in to their whims and dictates would often invite serious reprimand and in most cases severe form of physical violence. To fight against unwanted abuses at the hands of male members, Khutlang members in all probability, might have bonded together to fight against social vice like alcoholism in the name of Nisha Bandh organisation.

In Khutlang, women find a way out to ease their pain, their woes, by sharing with their team mates who can easily empathise having gone through similar experiences. Sometimes Khutlang members organize Marup (monthly collection of money) to help one another when faced with a financial shortfall especially at the time of marriage, death or any other eventualities in the family.

Khutlang team regularly organizes a grand-feast after every peak season, thus binding the Khutlang members into a close bond, guarantying each member team service not only in agricultural activities but also support in times of need. Khutlang is associated with agricultural activities, and it is often said in history of human civilization that man began to lead a settled life when they learnt the art of cultivation.

It can be said that Khutlang of Manipur has been in existence since time immemorial instilling among the womenfolk the spirit of working in collectivity. Working together not only lessened their workload but also gave them the confidence to withstand any kind of hardship in life, gave them the opportunity to learn from one another, to empathise and motivate one another.

This latent function of Khutlang inculcates a sense of loyalty, cohesiveness and solidifies women as a conscious group aware of the happenings in and around them. This newly acquired sense of identity must have trickled down to other spheres of life resulting in the coming up of such other organization based on the norm of mutual cooperation, abiding to work together for one another.

These various women's organization are a medium of empowering women both economically and socially by increasing their participation in traditionally male dominated areas and maybe because of the presence of such women's organization we find that whenever there is any protest movement in Manipur, women are always in the fore-front, be it the two well-known Nupilan (women's war/agitation/movement) of 1939 and 1904 or the more recent protest of July 2006.

Meitei women as a group have always been a strong, resilient, stoic force, ready to fight for justice. The legacy of Khutlang – of working in unison, still persists to this day in rural areas and in the urban areas, Ema Keithel or the Market place could be said to be a replica of Khutlang organization as it serves both the manifest function of fulfilling the economic needs and latent function of solidifying the women as a homogenous group.

This existence of women collectives have made it possible for women to come out in groups to fight against any kind of injustice, assuaging one another in times of sufferings. This could be one of the main reasons why women always are in the forefront of any kind of large scale protest movement in the state.

Khutlang - arguably, the foundation of all other organization of Manipur, has been acting as a kind of empowering institute for women of Manipur consciously or unconsciously and this institution can further be enhanced by providing educational facilities to the members of the Khutlang team so that they are able to keep pace with the changing time. Khutlang members can be motivated to join the educational programmes by giving them financial incentive for every class they attend. Equipping members with modern knowledge can go a long way in strengthening this unique institution.

Key words: Social institutions, Khutlang, Nupi lan, Manifest functions, Latent functions, Marup, Organisation,

Base Notes:-

1. Similar type of Mutual exchange labour is prevalent in South India.
2. Mutual Exchange labour organization of men known as Nupa Khutlang or sampot (sampot in Meeteilon means plough) Khutlang also exist in Manipur. Where a man as hired labour work in group or singly depending on the size of the field or as desired by the landowner. Nupa khutlang is different from Nupi Khutlang as they are organized mainly on monetary basis and do not work in close bonding as the Nupi Khutlang. So, when one talks of Khutlang one generally means the Nupi Khutlang.
3. Nisha Bandh organization: Organization formed by women in different localities to fight against liquor consumption. This movement gained momentum in 1970's, with different Nisha Bandh organizations coming up in almost all the localities of Manipur.
4. Nupi Lan of 1939: This protest was against the export of rice by the British administration, at a time when the region was experiencing shortage of rice.
5. Nupi Lan of 1904: This incident of agitation by the women took place when the people of Manipur especially the men folk were ordered to bring teak wood from Kabaw (now part of Burma) to construct the house of the Assistant Superintendent.
6. Protest of 2004: Protest made by the women in front of Kangla, the then headquarters of the Assam rifles stationed at Manipur, where they stripped themselves to protest against the rape and killing of Manorama by the Assam Rifles personnel.