The miraculous tale of biggest drum and plate in Manipur
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Daniel Kamei

Tamenglong, July 12 2014 : It was on 13 December 1997 when Emmanuel Baptist Church (EBC) Tamenglong celebrated its Silver Jubilee.

On that occasion, Men Fellowship of EBC Tamenglong presented a memento to their church - a wooden plate and a traditional drum.

Made from wood and cow skin, the drum, which is seventy inches long and fifty- eight inches (70 x 58 inches) in diameter, is still used on special occasion of the church.

It is believed that this wooden plate and traditional drum are the biggest in Manipur that had been ever seen by the people.

The wooden plate and the traditional drum are kept and preserved till today at the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong as testimony to the unity and oneness among the church members.

In 1997, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong celebrated its silver jubilee from 12- 14 December under the theme "Keeping the Flame of Faith Burning".

From that day onward, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong has been proud owner of the biggest drum and the plate in Manipur.

The biggest drum and plate in Manipur at the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong

The wooden plate and the drum have been made from a particular wood known as "Chongrei" or "Laihao" wood in local dialect and Michalia Champaca in Botanical name.

This particular wood is also used by many carpenters for making different kinds of furniture.

Some 60 to 62 inches in dimension, a huge tree was cut down and curved for making the drum and the same wood was cut again for the plate.

The biggest plate was first used by Christian Ministers on Silver Jubilee celebration in 1997 during the tenure of Pastor G.Luatcham as pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong.

Narrating how the big tree was cut down and brought to the Church for the special purpose of making the plate and the drum, Rev.Dr. Guingopou Gonmei, Pastor and Board Members of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong, recalled that local church and neighbouring churches of Tamenglong helped the Men Fellowship in bringing the huge log.

They said that thousands of people were involved in carrying the huge log and it took two days to bring it to the church.

The log was brought a spot 9 km away from the district HQs bordering Chiulon and Cheangdai village.

It was first pulled up from a 2 km deep gorge to the main road of Tamenglong- Khongsang road.

Then it was finally carried to the church compound and started curving for making the drum and the plate.

"On the first day of pulling the log, heaves of bees sat on the log while some flew around and tried to prevent it from being carried away.

However, Pastor Luatcham offered a prayer and the bees flew away just after pronouncing 'Amen', just like a miracle," they recalled.

Rev.Dr.Guingopou Gonmei, Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong, said that people thought that "we were crazy but the church continued to work and finally the huge drum and the plate were curved out from the big log in time for the silver jubilee celebration".

"All these were possible because of unity and oneness among the members of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong," he added.

At present, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong has around 1700 members belonging to 252 families.

After the feat of possessing the biggest plate and drug, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tamenglong is constructing the biggest church in Tamenglong, which would stand 42 feet in height with 71 ft in breadth and 145 ft in length.

The construction work on the church is currently going on war footing with the target of completing it before its Golden Jubilee celebration in 2022 .