# Folk-Lore/Volume 21/Manipur Festival

COLLECTANEA.
Manipur Festival.
(With Plate VII.)
The chief interest attaching to certain ceremonies performed in Manipur on the Bijoya Dhasami, the fourth day of the Durga Puja, lies in the manner in which customs prevalent before the conversion of the people to Hinduism have been adapted to the requirements of the new faith. I will begin by describing the ceremonies as I have just seen them performed.
The site of the performances is chosen after consultation with the Panji-sang or College of Soothsayers, who declare which direction is favourable to the Raja and the State. This year (1909) the west was declared to be the lucky direction, and so the ceremony took place at Gwa Kaithel (the Betel-nut Market), two miles from Imphal on the Silchar Road. The festival is known as the Kwak Jatra (Crow Festival). About 2 p.m. a procession started from the palace. First came a long line of litters, each containing some person of a certain amount of importance, carried by hill men, some five hundred of whom were summoned for this purpose. Each worthy was attended by various persons, carrying, one his hookah, and another his betel-nut dish, or, if the occupant be entitled to it, an umbrella. Each litter contained a looking-glass, which the occupant made frequent use of After the litters came a crowd of spearmen and swordsmen, and the pony of the State Arrow-thrower, last representative of the dreaded Manipur horsemen. Behind this motley crew came the Senaputti (Commanderin-Chief), on an elephant, and behind him came the Raja on another elephant. All along the route every householder stood at ​the gateway of his garden, beside his offering,—a stem of sugar cane or plantain stuck in a lump of mud, some betel-nut, rice, water, and sometimes a few pieces of sugar cane and a piece of burning pine wood. This is said to have been the continuous custom since the days of the king Khagenba. In the Manipur Chronicle, under the year A.D. 1628-29, we find,—"He (Khagenba) went to inspect the village of Laiching, and on this occasion the villagers throughout the whole route crowded on both sides of the road to pay respect to their sovereign, and throughout the route the residents on both sides of the road cleaned the ground in front of their houses, and planted a plantain tree at each door, and a burning lamp with some fruits was kept there to worship their king, and from this time this was the established custom of paying respect to the king when he was out."
At the site selected some grass sheds facing inwards had been erected in the form of a hollow square. The Raja and his following took their seats within, and the spearmen, swordsmen, and others showed off their skill in the open space in the centre. Directly the Raja had taken his seat, some five or six horsemen started off to the scene of the special ceremonies, which was about a quarter or half a mile further on. For some months past rice had been daily thrown out under a certain tree, and consequently a considerable number of crows had become accustomed to waiting there for their daily meal. When the horsemen had arrived the rice was thrown down, and the crows swooped down on it. Then a man with a gun crept up, and from a few yards' distance fired a blank round. The birds of course took flight, and the direction of flight of the first bird to rise decided the future of the Raja and the State for the next year. The bird took a northerly direction, which was said to foretell cheap rice.
Plate VII.
RĀVAN THE TEN-HEADED.
To face p. 80.
​disturbances in the country, and lives lost in war and by the attacks of wild beasts; if east, happiness for the Raja. I have failed to ascertain why these meanings are attached to the particular directions.
As soon as the birds had flown, the horsemen galloped off to inform the Raja. The next performance was the shooting of Rāvan. Rāvan, the ravisher of Sita, was represented by ten be-turbaned earthenware pots placed on a long bar (Plate VII.). The fifth pot from the right was larger, and from it depended a white robe. The State police provided the firing party, each man firing in turn. A hit to count must be on the bigger pot, or in the region of the heart of the robe. A hit on the cheeks, throat, chin, or top of the head of the biggest pot, or in the heart, was considered to presage good luck, while a hit on the forehead, eyes, or mouth meant misfortune. In case of a hit on one of the lucky spots, the firer received a reward. While I was watching, no hits were scored, and, fearing that my presence might prevent the firers from approaching the figure, I left, and within a short time a satisfactory hit was achieved. The news was conveyed to the Raja by the horsemen, and the proceedings terminated, the procession was reformed, and the Raja returned to his palace.
The following is the explanation given me, by two of the most learned pundits in the state:—Pakhangba, the mythical ancestor of the Manipur Rajas, who is said in the Chronicle "to have assumed the form of God by day, and by night he used to be a man," had a son Khui, who rebelled against him, and for a time was successful, but eventually Khui was slain by his father in single combat in the palace, and his head cut off. His spirit entered a certain somewhat rare bird called wakhembam. To celebrate his victory, Pakhangba instituted a festival on the anniversary of the fight. Those skilled in warlike exercises showed off their skill before the Raja, while a wakhembam was shot at with arrows. In the year A.D. 1726-27, the Raja Gharib Nawaz, the first convert to Hinduism in spite of his Mohammedan name, altered the festival to its present form, and ordained that crows should be substituted for the wakhembam, on account of their being so common. It is only since this change that the flight ​of the birds has been considered prophetic. The crow is supposed to be a hing-chā-bi or witch (hing, alive, cha, to eat),—and therefore it knows the future, and, being frightened, foretells it. I suppose the bird which flies first is the most timid, and therefore the most likely to tell the truth. Gharib Nawaz also instituted the shooting at Rāvan, and combined it with the earlier festival, which is said to have taken place at about the same time as the Durga Puja. Gharib Nawaz also had an image of Ramchandra made, and placed it near to a large tank which he caused to be dug and consecrated, in the same year as he revised the Kwak Jatra. Some years back this tank was cleared out, and in the middle were found the images of Krishna and Kali the submersion of which is described in the Chronicle. It is interesting to note that Kali, who, it may be presumed, represented the sculptor's ideal female, was given the huge earrings which are worn now only by the hill tribes of Manipur, but, I infer, at that time were in common use by the Manipuri ladies of the highest degree.
The Manipur story of how Rāvan came to have ten heads is as follows. My Hindu friends say that it is new to them. Bissha Sharba, afterwards father of Rāvan, deserted his wife Nikasha, and joined certain saints in a forest. After nine months a hostile influence made itself manifest, and the saints informed Bissha Sharba that his wife, resenting his prolonged absence, was by charms interfering with their devotions, and they directed him to return home. On arrival at his house, Nikasha protested against his nine months' desertion. On the advice of the saints, Bissha Sharba gave a certain drink to Nikasha which had the effect of nullifying the spell she had thrown over them. Before returning to the forest Bissha Sharba stayed some time with his wife, and in due time Rāvan was born with ten heads, of which one was much bigger than the others.
By the time of Gharib Nawaz, Khui had come to be looked on as an arch fiend, and, therefore, to a convert to Hinduism, it would seem very appropriate to make a festival to commemorate his defeat, and also to commemorate the defeat of Rāvan.
J. Shakespear.