Manipuri in Myanmar
- Part 4 -

By: Mutua Bahadur *

Religion

The maximum number of Myanmarese Manipuri-Kates and Kate-Paonas who settled in Myanmar from Manipur were Hindus. Because of this, Manipuri-Kates and Kate-Paonas followed Hinduism. Even though they adopted Hinduism, but there was a tradition of preserving a place for umang lai (indigenous deity) and the accompanying celebrations.

There are temples of Pakhangba and Yumjao Lairembi at Dat Dale of Amarapura. Though some of the Manipuri-Kates of Nandawsae became Buddhists, they still practise the tradition of paying obeisance to Nongpok Ningthou (male deity) and Panthoibi (female deity). At Gaave village, people are found praying to Yumjao Lairembi and Marjing.

And a one-day festival in a year takes place for Yumjao Lairembi in the months of May-June. There was a tradition of offering prayers to Thangjing (deity) in Shwekyet.

Ancestral worship was performed at the sacred premises of Lord Thangjing, but such a tradition does not exist nowadays since the whereabouts of the idol of Lord Thangjing remained untraced from 1988. The spot is still identified as Kate Nat by the people of Myanmar.

Though some Manipuri-Kates of Mandalay are Hindus, there is a tradition of Apokpi Khurumba (ancestral worship) by offering shareng (fresh water shark, Wallago attu). Such a tradition is practised by the Kakchingtabams and Hajarimayums. In earlier times, there was a tradition of offering shareng to Umang Lai and distributing it among households of the village. But this tradition does not exist now-a-days.

Hindu Manipuri-Kates became Buddhists around 1917 due to casteism and discrimination among themselves. The 1931 census of Myanmar showed a visible increase of Manipuri-Kates having converted to Buddhism. They are known as Manipuri-Kate Buddhists even though they converted to Buddhism.

There are temples of Lord Radha-Krishna, Jaganath, Vishnu, Nityananda, Mahaprabhu, Rama-Sita, Narayana etc. in the locality of the Myanrnarese Manipuri-Kate Paonas. Offering is given once in a week. During the evening prayer sessions, elders, women and children sing devotional songs by beating drums and striking cymbals. In order to remember easily those Sanskrit devotional songs, panels, are fixed with the songs written in Bengali scripts inside the mandhav.

Icons The icons of Nongpok Ningthou and Panthoibi found in Nandawsae, which lies next to the palace of Mandalay, are of bronze fixed on wooden poles. Nongpok Ningthou is adorned with a dhoti, a turban on the head and chomlang (ear-ring) on the ears, while Panthoibi has a kajenglei (head ornament) on the head. She wears a pale-pink sarong and there are ear-rings. The image of Pakhangba at Dat Dale of Amarapura is like a snake in a coiled position on a lotus flower.

It's position has a similar resemblance to the Naga-Dragons which are found in the other parts of Myanmar. It is coloured with yellow on the body; the inside of the mouth is red and the tooth is white. The image is covered with a transparent green cloth. Just near Pakhangba, the presence of Leimarel is there in the form of an earthen pot filled with water. At Gaave village, there is a wooden image of Pakhangba in the temple of Yumjao Lairembi (meroji). In the midst of the

village is the temple of Lord Marjing, and the space used for ritual and dancing purposes still exists. There are two wooden images on a wooden platform inside the temple. One of them is round in form and is 20 cm in height. Just near it is another image having 45 cm in height and 50 cm in diameter. The identity of the first image remains unknown among the Kates and Kate Paonas.

A thorough study will reveal it as Lord Thangjing. Manipuris describe Lord Thangjing as 'Sana Kondum Yai Oiba'. It indicates a deity that is golden and round. So, the above image of the deity must be that of Lord Thangjing. The belief is helped by the presence of a 'Thang Yentok Saba' (sword) of the Moirang clan offered by the Manipuris.

The image can be divided into five symbolical parts starting from the upper portion to the lower part. The first portion has a prawn-like headgear on the head (Manipuri kings wore prawn-like headgears in times of coronation); the second portion has eyes and a long nose; the third portion consists of the frontal legs; the fourth portion is that of a torso and the fifth one stands for the two hind legs. It looks like a horse in totality.

A horse having a prawn-like headgear indicates that it must be a divine one. So the horse must be a sadong (mount of Lord Marjing). Here, the horse represents Lord Marjing. No one knows the details of this image, but it is looked at as an ancestral god. These two images have been with the Manipuris for a long time.

Most of the idols of Radha-Krishna, Narayan worshipped by the Manipuri-Kate Paonas were of metals. At Bamon khunjao, the image of Shri Shri Krishna is found to be bigger than the others and it is shown with the left hand hanging and the right hand is lifted upwards as if Govardhan hill is supported on the pointing finger. In the portrayal of Lord Nityananda.

He is found having the right arm lifted and the four fingers are closed with a pointing finger, while the left hand hangs, and as a whole he is in the 'Bhangi' position. Lord Mahaprabhu is in a standing position and the two hands are stretched out with the palms up in the posture of "Karma Mala'. The image of Lord Jaganath Date Dale, Amarapura is different from the ones found in the other pails of India and Manipur itself. The two arms

come out at the level of the end of the face and the two pointing fingers point outwards while the remaining fingers remain closed. The headgear is carved as a part of the whole body. The headgear of Lord Jaganath is not different from other headgears found in the paintings of Myanmar. The image is seen in a position where the legs spread out behind with the knees touching the base.

In a Manipuri Hindu temple of Dat Dale, different gods are worshipped by placing them together on a six-storied brick base. However, the brick base is very similar to the diamond throne of Buddhism. A pattern of lotus flowers is painted along the border of the upper-most part of brick-base. A painting of Lord Jaganath is worshipped by the Manipuri -Kates who are settled by the banks of the Ningthi (Chindwin) river.

There is a tradition among Manipuri-Kates that if there is any damage found in the image, it is not worshipped any more and thrown into water. In another incident, the image of Lord Jaganath worshipped at Takshikhong was isolated by keeping it inside another structure because a damage was detected.

There is no tradition of putting any of the images of the ten incarnations of Lord Buddha inside the temples of the Manipuri-Kate-Paonas. However, it is common a practice to keep the image of Buddha at the entrance of a temple or another part of the mandhav. Most of the images of Buddha are of marble in the 'Bhupmrasa mudra'.

See a gallery photo of Manipur and Myanmar here.

To be continued ....

Mutua Bahadur

* Mutua Bahadur contributes to e-pao.net regularly. This article was webcasted on April 11, 2011.