Bishnupur – In search of an old Mandir
- Part 1 -

S Balakrishnan *

Temple of Vishnu, Bishenpur District, Bishnupur, Manipur in June 2015 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

Bishnupur was the next target of our inquisitive tourism in Manipur. Yes, we were investigating about an old Vishnu Mandir there. About this temple the tourism brochure says ... "The 15th century Vishnu Temple, built of peculiarly small bricks – supposedly of Chinese influence – during the reign of King Kiyamba, is of historical importance. Interestingly, the district itself derives its name from the Vishnu Temple located at Lamangdong."

So we were really curious to visit that temple, though not very pious, I should confess. As self-styled naturalists we had already explored Loktak Lake and the Keibul Lamjao National Park for Sangai deer on the previous evening and early this morning.

Bishnupur was next in the list. And the avatar we had to assume was that of archaeologists. When we asked Mr Krishna, our guide, about the old temple, he gave an assuring all-knowing smile. 'Talk Less, Walk (Travel) More' was his style. It had been raining off and on since morning. The previous day, even we Chennaites had felt the searing heat. So the shower was a welcome one!

On our way from Sangai Sanctuary to Bishnupur, we took a detour to visit INA Museum at Moirang, a historical site in India's freedom struggle against the British. Now we had to don the costume of history scholars. But, alas, it was closed! It was closed for Yaoshang holidays and that was the beginning of such impacts of Yaoshang on hapless tourists like us. There was nobody around, not even a bit notice, to announce the closure; we had to presume so, it was left to our imagination.

The INA Museum there, adds the tourism booklet, has a collection of letters, photographs, badges of ranks, and other war memorabilia, reminding the visitors of the noble sacrifices made by INA soldiers under the charismatic leadership of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose'.

I really felt dejected because I have connection with two significant places in the life of Netaji – Cuttack in Orissa where he was born, and Port Blair in Andamans where Netaji hoisted the Tricolour for the first time on a patch of free Indian soil liberated from the British.

So I was eager to visit Moirang, the third place connected with Netaji, to make a hat trick achievement. Now I had no option but to console myself that I could at least touch the soil of the historical Moirang. We saluted the heroic Netaji by taking a snap of his statue there. Well, never mind, let us change our costume from historians to that of archaeologists and get on with our next mission, we thought.

That was on 30 December 1943, some 3 1/2 months earlier to the Moirang incident of 14 April 1944 of unfurling of INA flag for the first time. During the course of World War II, the Japanese had captured the Andaman & Nicobar Islands from the British without firing even a single shot, on 23 March 1942. Later, the Islands were handed over to INA's Provisional Government of Free India (PGI). As Head of PGI, Netaji visited the Islands in December 1944 and hoisted the Tricolour in Port Blair on the 30th December.

As we were travelling with a sad and long face out of disappointment, something made us smile a bit. A bunch of little girls held our car for Naka Theng fund drive. They were quite alert & brisk; they did not want to miss the vehicles coming from the opposite direction either. Milk as much as possible during the opportune time, seemed to be their fun motive. They finished off the collection business with us as quickly as possible without any haggling and started facing the other direction as hurriedly as they could manage.

We could not help smiling at these naughty kids for their smartness. A little earlier at Thamnapokpi we saw a rally (or was it a mini marathon) that was part of Yaoshang milieu. Members of TYWC (I guess this abbreviation stands for Thamnapokpi Youth Welfare Club and how clever of me!) were sprinting in sparkling white & white.

As we neared Bishnupur, it started pouring cats & dogs. I suppose Manipuris would have loved had it rained fish and more fish because of their insatiable craving for fish. Krishna drove us straight to the bazaar and goaded us to a nearby Vishnu temple. The moment I saw, I knew it was not the one we had come searching for.

Anyhow, that was the first temple we were entering in Manipur, so we had darshan of the Lord there. I had to pray for a bandh-free travel during our stay, as Manipur was increasingly gaining a name for bandhs, road rokos & strikes, and counter bandhs, road rokos & strikes. We got an insight into how devotees are blessed in a Manipuri temple besides the temple structure, the idols, the ambience, etc. Indeed, quite different from the Dravidian-style South Indian temples.

One mandap in the sanctum sanctorum has the idols of Puri Temple – Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra. The Vaishnavite link between Manipur & Puri, separated by 2,000 kms., struck me. The other wooden mandap has the statutory statues of Radha & Krishna with a few more idols. Both the mandaps have beautiful landscape painting as a backdrop.

The mandaps are decorated with designed cloth festoons, unique to Manipur. Such festoons designed out of metal were found in the outer surface beautification of the temple of Lord Ibudhou Pakhangba within Kangla Fort complex. In the evening, as we visited Ima Market, we found many Ima tailors busy preparing such cloth festoon for the Yaoshang season.

To be continued....