Lai Haraoba Practices 2

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Lai Haraoba
- Discursive Practices & Cultural Contestations -
Part 2 (The Lai Haraoba)

By: Rekha Konsam *

Sociologically festivals constitute a break from the normal, the mundane everyday existence. It thus has a temporal dimension to it.

As a festival of an agrarian society, it marks a break from the agricultural cycle—the closing in of the previous cycle before the commencement of the next, for it collides with the agricultural slack season (March-June) and the onset of the monsoon. [⁶]

As a religious event, the Lai Haraoba marks the coming together of the world of lai and of humans. The rituals venerate not one particular deity but deities under the generic category of umanglai. [⁷]

Lai Haraoba in progress

These include certain ancestors, tutelary deities besides some deities of non-Meitei origin. Characteristically they are guardian deities of delimited areas which venerate them annually alongside their spouse as a couple (a male and a female). Propitiation of deities in Lai Haraoba is a step away from ancestor worship Apokpa khurumba though undeniably rooted in it.

Variations can be noted in the observance of Lai Haraoba rituals across the valley of Manipur. This prompts the question — ‘why is it that a common name has been allotted to something that exhibits distinct differences?’

As a mode of worship, the rituals follow a particular structure: it commences with descent of the deities (lai eekouba) and concludes with their departure in lairoi [⁸] .

Daily rituals observed in between similarly follow a particular structure. Thematically, the festival celebrates the essence of living—of life itself, fulfilment of the purpose of living and continued existence through procreation.

Its rituals revolve firstly around the origin myth enfolding within it the various ethos that shape the Meitei cosmic universe. Secondly, any celebration of the ongoing process of living cannot do away with the idea of procreation; but it is neither the biological fact of reproduction nor motherhood that is being upheld, rather it is sexual congress that is celebrated.

To paraphrase an informant, Lai Haraoba is the outward expression of the inward state of fulfilment. Thirdly, as a festival of an agrarian community, fertility, both human and agricultural, is a prominent aspect.

Lai Haraoba has been classified into three variants — Kanglei, Moirang and Chakpa — each claiming a different origin. The use of the term ‘variant’ should not be taken as suggesting a notion of one true form of which the others are variations. [⁹]

The variants reflect the settlement pattern in the valley which groups different categories of people possibly indicating different stocks of knowledge. This calls for the need of mapping them out in view of the fluid nature of the Meitei identity formed out of a conglomerate.

In other words, none of its constitutive groups of people necessarily share a common history beyond a certain point. [¹⁰]

Related Articles/Pictures:

Lai Haraoba- The Merry Festival of the Deities - P. Kunjo
An Experience Beyond Time - Christel Stevens
Gallery on Lai Haraoba - Various Sources
Laihui - Center for Research on Traditional and Indigenous Arts - Gallery
Lai Haraoba at World Music Institute, New York - Announcement

to be continued ...

* Rekha Konsam wrote this article for Eastern Quarterly . This article was webcasted with written permission from Eastern Quaterly on August 07th, 2007.

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