Tribal hand woven fabrics of Manipur
- Part 8 -

By: Mutua Bahadur *

Gangte

Among the Gangte, there are three important customary cloths. Puandum (Fig. 33) is a shawl of the Gangte having bands of yellow, black and red colours. During festivals, important functions and ceremonies, it is generally put on by men of all ranks. Thansuohpuan (Fig. 32) is a man's shawl that confers status. It adorns only those who have performed the Chawng festival in which the performers have to kill a mithun and offer a community feast. It is also used by womenfolk.

On black base of this cloth, red and white thread are interwoven. Puonlaisen (Fig. 34) is a traditional wear of the Gangte woman. In the mid portion of the cloth, using extra weft, small designs denoting trees are crafted in blue and red colour.

Hmar

There are about eight traditional cloths of the Hmar. They are Puanlaisen (Fig. 35), Hmar-am (Fig. 37), Hmarpuan (Fig. 36), Ngotekher, Thangsapuan (Fig. 38), Mithipuan (Fig. 155), Thangsaopuanbat and Mgotlong (Fig. 39). Puanlaisen is worn by women at the time of dance and marriage ceremony. Red, blue and yellow thread are used to produce the extra weft design in the pattern of stripes found on the back of a tiger and the pattern is known in the Hmar dialect as Sakat zang zie.

Patterns signifying Disul (a small flag of distress on the occasion of death ) and Chouki (stool) are also crafted with extra weft in red, blue and yellow colours. Hmar-am is a black fanek having the extra weft design of Chouki. It is a dance dress. Another fanek, Hmarpuan which is in red and black colour, is decorated by Fangmamu (cucumber seed) and Feikibar (arrow head) motifs using extra weft. It is worn by females on the occasion of death.

Ngotekher is a stripped cloth in white and black colour and it has a wide border of black band. It lacks any designs. This is the fanek worn by close female relatives of the bride while escorting her to the groom's house. Men also sometimes wear it. Thangsapuan is mutatis mutandis similar to Hmarpuan

regarding designs and technique of crafting designs. It is the fanek worn while participating in funeral functions. If this cloth has no cucumber seed and arrow head designs in the mid region, it means the wear for heroes. Mithipuan is also known as Soupum or Thlanlam Puan. It has narrow white bands passing through the body of black warp. Small sized designs are made in extra weft on the white bands.

Mithipuan is worn by women in the procession for burying the dead. Thangsuo Poan Bat is a cloth in black and red and it is worn by men throwing over the shoulder and passing across the breast. In the mid region of the cloth, there is a row of small designs.

Ngotlong is a white cloth having extra weft design representing the head of mithun. The design is made throughout the whole cloth. This fanek is used extensively by Hmar women at festive events.

See a gallery photo of Tribal hand woven fabrics of Manipur here.

To be continued ....

Mutua Bahadur

* Mutua Bahadur contributes to e-pao.net regularly. This article was webcasted on November 13, 2012.