Thongjao Village - Village And People - Land Of Pottery
- Part 2 -

Molung Angjoy *

A film clip from "The Coil Pottery of Manipur in Andro and Thongjao"

THE PEOPLE

3.1 INTRODUCTION The present record is based on the sociographic information collected from various information of the Meitei’s of Thongjao village. The demographic and sociographic information under this field report is related to the people of Thongjao village

3.2 ORIGIN OF THE PEOPLE

Form the book, The Lois of Manipur: Andro, Khurkhul, Phayeng and Sekmai written by Lairenlakpam Bino Devi that the origin of the Meitei including Lois is obscure. There is no historical record of where they came from or when they settled in Manipur. Scholars have different views as some traced its origin to the Mahabharata, some to China and some to east Asia some Scholars try to prove that the Meitei’s were the Hindus from the prehistoric time thereby claiming to be of Aryan blood. The Meitei’s including the Lois who is the original settlers must be a mixture of Aryan and Gandharvas.

The elders of the villagers believed that they have been migrated from Thongjao Lok (a land of pottery), Beshempur. From the very beginning their main occupation was pottery and sericulture. During the time of king Garip Niwas, the state was in need of people who deal with pottery for manufacturing salt at Waikhong.

So the people of Thongjao Lok were sent for the proposed. From the very day they start settlement for first time near Waikhong but in 1705-1748 due to unfavourable condition and over population so they have come to the present area, the Thongjao village.

3.3 PHYSICAL CHARACTERS

The people of the village predominant show the general Mongoloid characters. They are of medium stature. Body is well built and possesses scanty hair body and face with broad and medium nose.

They have a brown skin complexion, distinct eye fold and wavy hair. They also possess broad and medium nose and epicanthic folds of eye. The colour of the iris ranges from dark-brown to black colour. Nasal root is commonly medium. Body hair is spare in quality, abundant is very rare cases. Slope of forehead is mostly absent.

3.4 SOCIAL DIFFERENCE

Being a patriarchal society the family is ruled by men while women folk follow the rule laid by them. Women enjoy respectable position as members of the society. They take part in agricultural, pottery activities and remain important work partners to their male counter parts.

Widows are respected and entitled to the property of her deceased husband. Orphans children are also well treated. They are not discriminated by the society. Earlier illegitimate children were neglected by the society.

The main role of the men is to provide needs of the family and even in agriculture whereas the women of the Thongjao village mainly lies their occupation in pottery activities and remain important in household works.

1.5 LANGUAGE

Linguistically, the language used in Thongjao village is called Meitei-lon. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. But for some time now, it has been known as Manipuri.

Since 1992, the language is in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution. Commonly the text is written in the Bengali Script. The original script, called Meitei-mayek, has been out of use for a long time but revived recently.

The script and language is taught in the schools and colleges at this time in Manipur and has been implemented compulsory with an aim to replace the Bengali script completely within few years. This much improvement was strongly gained after the Meetei leader Mr. Chingshubam Akaba, who was murdered in connection with the development and popularity of his name in the state on the 31st midnight of December 2006 at his resident gate in Imphal.

The Loi (Chakpa) is one of the five Manipuri Hindu castes. The Loi are considered to be Sudra and are having status lower than that of the Meitei. Many people found to speak and write Hindi as well as English. Though it is a rural area, there are well-qualified persons holding matriculated and graduate degrees. So, most of the young boys and girls can speak and write Hindi and English.

3.6 DRESS AND ORNAMENT

In olden day’s men and women of the Thongjao village use Khamen Chatpa Phi (a printed cloths with seven different colours) a traditionally very important cloth during the ritual ceremonies. These cloths are in form of Shirts (kurta) and cloths (kumis). There are seven different colours of Khamen chatpa with a single colours in each Cloths based on the colour code of seven clan of the Meetei.

These types of cloths are rare and keep with care. And for the casual Meetei women created their designs in the form of Wangkhei Phi, Moirang Phi etc.

3.7 RELIGION

The people of Thongjao village were Hindus while some profess the traditional Meitei religion. They celebrate the festival associated with the Hindu religion. Yet these people worship the Sanamahi God who is no less important.

Apart from these there is Christian in the village. They also celebrate the festival like Christmas, New Year, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday etc. So, a mixture of Hinduism, traditional Meiteism and Christianity prevail in the village.

3.8 DIVISION OF LABOUR

There are two main types of division of labour are there in the village. They are:-
(i) Division of labour by sex and age and
(ii) Results from the obvious biological fact.

The first is based on the physiological difference between a man and a woman whereas the second results from the obvious biological fact that a human being undergoes three major periods of development, that is, childhood, adulthood and old age.

Both man and woman are engage in the agricultural activities. They also engage themselves in fishing and fire wood collection. But woman are not seen working as carpenters or drivers in the village. Though the technology and individual skill of the village are relatively simple, not everybody is engage in all kinds of economic activities.

3.9 SETTLEMENT PATTERN

Traditional House
Thongjao the field site is a Meitei community located at a distance of about 50 kms from Imphal, the capital city of Manipur in Thoubal District among the Southern side of the Sugnu Imphal road. The field locality is mainly dominated by Samjetsabam and Leimapokpam lineages but other lineages are also found in least number as compared to Samjetsabam and Leimapokpam.

Almost all the houses are located in a closely cluster to one another while some houses are scattering here and there in the hill areas. Modern, slightly modern and traditional type of house and some are in modern type.

Slightly Modern House

Modern residential houses are made of brick wall with CGI sheet roof and brick wall with R.C.C roof which contributes something to the sense of better well being. Some houses are made of mud wall with thatch roofing. Most of the houses consist of court yard and provided a place for Tulsi plantation as a part of religious culture. Regarding sanitation, different types of latrine namely kutcha, pucca and open space are used.

People used tape water for drinking purpose and ponds water for other domestic purposes. Due to difference in their sources people show different mode of living standards. Some are living luxurious life and some are in miserable condition. Moreover the household’s assets may be considered as most important indicators of socio economic conditions of the society. The high standard of living may be assessed with the level of goods and services used by those households which in turn reflect the well being.

3.10 FOOD AND DRINK

The stable food is rice and is supplemented by vegetables, chatni and champhut (boiled vegetables without salt). Fish and chicken serves as delicious meals for the people. They take twice meals a day, one in the morning and one at night for adult individuals. Children generally have thrice meal in a day. Using alcohol is strictly prohibited by their elders and even by their Religion.

3.11 MARRIAGE

Marriage is an important duty for every people in this world. Though marriage is accepted, marriage is taken as permanent and consider seriously. Hence number of divorcee is very rare among this people.

There are two kinds of marriage are found in the village. They are:-
(a) Elopement marriage :-
Elopement is common practice among the people of Thongjao. If a boy elope a girl, on the next day boy’s relatives along with two elderly persons goes to the family of the girl’s to inform about the elopement. It is known as Nupi Haidokpa. If the both parties agree with each other, they fix an auspicious day for Hijingpot a ritual ceremony, a day or two earlier to the wedding day is performed.

(b) Engagement marriage :-
In this type of marriage, the decision lies to the elders of the family of two sides. Mutual consent of either the boy or the girl is not necessary. If the proposal of groom’s side is accepted by the bride’s family, a date is fixed for formal proposal.

In Thongjao village clan exogamy is the rule of marriage and it is prevalent in the village. Members of the same clan are prohibited to marry with each other. Monogamy is the general rule but some exceptional cases of polygamy are also found. Polygamy is mostly found in conditions such as if the wife did not bear a child or a son. Proper marriage ceremony is not observed when a man marries for the second time but some formalities are strictly maintained. Other conditions of polygamy other than the above mentioned are not encouraged and allowed by the society. Despite the restrictions few cases are found in the village.

Child marriage is unknown among the Thongjao people. But teenagers in their early stage are observed stepping into married life. Engagement and elopement are the two possible and approved ways of acquiring a mate among the people of Thongjao. Sometimes surrogate and levirate is also sanctioned.

3.12 ECONOMY

Pottery is their primary occupation of the village whereas Cultivation is another important form of economy next to pottery. They cultivate seasonal vegetables, edible fruits, etc. Traditionally the people of Thongjao are potters and their economy mainly revolves round pottery. 3.13 FAMILY Family is the smallest unit of the society. Nuclear families are the most prevalent type of family though extended families are also common. A married son generally establishes his own family of procreation after having an issue. Most of the parents live with the youngest son. However there is no definite rule that the youngest son must be customarily lives with his parents after his marriage. Among the sibling anyone of the son can lived with his parents.

Inheritance of property followed male as well as female line. There is no strict and definite rule that properties should only be inherited by the sons, daughters can also inherit. It is upto the wish of the parents or family. But more of the properties will be inherited by the son who is living with the parents.

INFERENCE:-
The above table no. 111 shows the age and sex wise distribution of the population. In case both sex the age groups 10-14 year has the highest number of individuals in male has 94 individuals and 126 individuals in female. According to the present census report the total population of the study area is 1876 (one thousand eight hundred and seventy six) out of which 684 are males and the remaining 1012 (one thousand and twelve) are female.



To be continued.....

Video Related to Thongjao and Andro

• jourNE to Andro - Part 1 :: Ooba
• jourNE to Andro - Part 2 :: Ooba
• The Coil Pottery of Manipur in Andro and Thongjao :: Part 1 :: Ooba
• The Coil Pottery of Manipur in Andro and Thongjao :: Part 2 :: Ooba

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* By Molung Angjoy (Anthropologist, Field Research) contributes regularly to e-pao.net. The sender can be contacted at mljoyakanshowa(at)gmail(dot)com
This article was webcasted on Ocotber 20, 2011.

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