Sankirtana in Manipur; Khamba Thoibi dance in Lai Haroba
Amazing may not be the first word that comes to mind when you
think of Manipuri. For many, the iconic floating costumes of the
Ras-Leela, arms waving over bobbing skirts, are both a charming image
and the beginning and end of what is known about this amazing classical
dance tradition of India; or rather traditions, as Manipuri dance
actually comprises not one but five forms of dance with Ras-Leela simply
being the best known outside of the state.
My entre to discovering the incredible depth and richness of this
lesser known performing art of northeast India began with a 2x2 inch
notice on a University of Michigan dance board announcing the
availability of Manipuri Dance classes at the local community centre.
That was in 1969 and I had never seen a Manipuri dance performance live
or on film, only photographs in dance books and I knew that it was one
of the four dance genres recognised as classical at the time of India’s
Independence. My first teacher, Minati Basu Roy, a senior disciple of
Guru Atomba Singh whom Tagore brought to Santineketan in the 1920s,
inspired my desire to come to India to learn more of this lyrical form. I
was fortunate to realise this dream through seven years of training
under Guru Singhajit Singh and in Manipur studying Maibi jagoi with
Ranjani Maibi and Kumar Maibi, Kartal Cholom with guru Thongjan Chaoba
Singh and classical Ras-Leela jagoi at the JNU Manipur Akademi.
Manipuri remains surprisingly misunderstood even by dance cognizati,
writers and artists of other genres, let alone the general public today.
The satvik, internalised abhinaya for which others value as the aim of
their art, is the core of the Ras tradition; yet there are those from
other traditions who believe that there is no abhinaya in Manipuri.
There are five principal Ras dances; of which four are linked with
specific seasons, while the fifth can be presented at any time of the
year. While outside of Manipur we see small slices of a Ras on the
stage, at home the emotional and spiritual import is huge. Every parent
would love to be able to afford to co-sponsor a performance as their
child would be trained to become Krishna or Radha for the event. Viewers
will lie prostrate before the child, as they are the deity for the time
being with professionals dancing as Gopis. Every traditional home has a
large open space for such performances, which are performed in the
round for the community. During the Bhangi Pareng, a pure dance piece of
intricate rhythms and patterns, no one in the audience can leave, as
this is sacred. You have to get your cup of tea earlier or wait till
it’s over!
Besides a few folk dances, Manipuri dances are devotional in a
society that is deeply religious. Manipuri dance is sustained by its
society; it is still part of religion, an unbroken religious practice,
rather than a revival or reconstruction or neo-classical tradition.
Because of this, artists from Manipur are reluctant to come out for more
than brief tours and few have been willing to live in other regions of
India to foster understanding of their art.
It is truly amazing that all forms of Manipuri, or Meitei, dance play
a vital living role in day-to- day culture. Despite Herculean efforts
by some dancers to recreate this sense of vitality in other parts of
India, with greatest continuity in Kerala, it is only in Manipur where
dancers work fulltime, performing as an essential part of life
celebrations. Besides Ras and the other leelas, the other main dance
forms of Manipur are Lai Haroba or Entertainment of the Gods and
Sankirtana.
Each stage in one’s life is celebrated with Sankirtana performances —
childbirth, upanayanam, marriage and shradha are all occasions for
singing and dancing in Manipur. The Sankirtana of Manipur is unique as
dance was added to Vaishnava singing of Sankirtana when it was added to
the Hindu and Pre-Hindu spiritual dance traditions of Manipur through
Bengali missionaries from the 15th century onward. What we see outside
of Manipur on stage are the spectacular dancing musicians spinning in
the air while playing the Manipuri pung mardala, or the drums of Holi,
turbans flying off, after dancing and playing a very few of their 90
rhythmic cycles. Pung cholom borrows elements from the Manipuri martial
arts Thang Ta and Sarit Sarak and also from the traditional Maibi jagoi
dance. Although Pung Cholom is traditionally performed by men, there are
women’s groups that are booked solid throughout the year as part of
life cycle events!
The magnificent Pung Cholom performances, impressive as they are, in
Manipur are most often seen as part of the Nupa Pala, or Kartal Cholom,
which encompasses passionate bhakti singing and dancing with heavy brass
cymbals by a circle of dancer-musicians accompanied by a couple of Pung
Cholom artists. The Nupa Pala acts as a prologue to the Ras Leela
dances, besides an independent performance too, in connection with
religious rites. Before the Sankirtana Cholom, artists lead a bridegroom
from his home to that of the bride and a messenger from the wedding
site at the bride’s home arrives to announce, “We still have the bride,
do you still have the groom?” as tradition accepts elopement if either
takes off before the planned marriage. It is quite a cacophony when the
groom arrives with the Sankirtana music to compete with the brass band
playing at the wedding venue! Even more amazing than the fact that dance
plays an essential role in daily life in Manipur is that everyone
dances! It is the norm to dance and during the festival of Lai-Haroba,
the dance of the shamanistic Maibi spiritual mediums will be preceded by
community dancing. In a long line dance one sees women from
grandmothers to small girls performing a subtle and sophisticated dance
that, along with the Maibi dances, was the base for creating the
classical Ras. As part of this pre-Hindu annual ritual festival,
teenagers from each neighborhood of the many festivals in honor of the
360 Umanglai ancestor deities of the Manipur valley compete as teams
with new choreography of the lasya and tandav dance technique to depict
the story of Khamba and princess Thoibi, the hero and heroine of a
legendary Moirang romance.
The Maibi dances of the Lai Haroba are essential for the preservation
of the world, or at least the world of Manipur! It is remarkable that
this pre-Hindu tradition has not diminished with the advent of
Vaishnavism, which coexists comfortably side-by-side. Maibis are both
women, and men dressed as women, who evidence signs of being a Maibi,
often as teenagers who have seizures that are not explained as epilepsy
by modern science and are then turned over to Maibi gurus who train them
in the ritual dances of the Lai Haroba as well as managing their
seizures that result in shamanistic trances that help guide the Meitei
people who come to them. This kind of shamanism can be seen only in
Manipur and across Southeast Asia. There is no dearth of Maibis even in
this day and age and it is not something one either wishes to become or
avoid if it is so. The Maibi ritual dances include the whole Meitei
cosmogony from creation through the creation of man, construction of
houses, weaving and other aspects of living. There is even a Maibi dance
of the deity playing polo, which originated in Manipur!
Thang-ta, the martial art of Manipur, may arguably be included as a
form of dance. Besides the thang or sword, and ta or spear, shields and
spears and other weapons are also used. Thang-ta can be practised as
ritual, demonstration or combat. The first way is related to the tantric
practices and is entirely ritualistic in nature. Demonstrations can be
converted into actual fighting practices and combat application.
Thang-ta is closely related to certain war-dances like thangkairol
(sword dance) and khosarol (spear dance). Many ritualistic dances in
Manipur were traditionally performed by martial artists such as the
spear dance for funerals or the sacred thengou dance. The first time I
saw the spire dance was shortly after the end of the war in Vietnam and I
was struck by the technique of stepping forward after first swiveling
the foot in front before stepping, which was clearly the wise way to
move through knee-high paddy fields that might have stakes hidden
throughout, as was the traditional practice used by the Vietcong.
The internationally acclaimed theatre of the brilliant director
Rattan Thiyam, and other fine Manipuri theatre groups, is supported by
actors, who have learned dance as part of their cultural ethos. Being
part of a society that dances has given a foundation on which to build
upon an incredibly evocative physical theatre. Manipuri dances use the
entire body for expression, comparable to western dance traditions but
with different aesthetics. Manipur is a land without stone for temples
of sculpted figures. The dance is never static, never stopping in frozen
poses, but rather subtle and elegant transitions of circles, curves and
figure eights. The ankle bells of many Indian classical forms that
clearly delineate rhythms through foot contact cannot be used in
Manipuri where the subtly of rhythms are syncopated and the off beats
may be demarcated by a bend of the knee or in the air besides by the
foot. This makes it less visible to the less observant eye, but the
reward of closer attention will reveal a world of ethereal nuance.
Sharon Lowen is a respected exponent of Odissi, Manipuri, Mayurbhanj
and Seraikella Chau. She has an MA in Dance from Michigan University
and 17 years of experience in Modern Dance and Ballet in the US.
Imphal, Sept. 9:
The Manipur government’s move to offer an olive branch to sponsors of
the indefinite bandh in Naga-inhabited areas by withdrawing additional
security forces from Ukhrul town took a hit this morning when suspected
NSCN (Isak-Muivah) militants sprung twin ambushes in Ukhrul district,
leaving one police commando dead and two injured.
