FEMALE SPIRIT-POSSESSION RITUALS

AMONG THE MEITEIS OF MANIPUR

SAROJ N. ARAMBAM PARRATT

AND JOHN PARRATT

This original version of this paper was accepted for and delivered at the annual conference of
The British Association for the Study of Religions at Harris Manchester College, Oxford in
1997. That year the theme of the association’s conference was Religious Experience

Introduction
The Indian state of Manipur is situated on the north eastern border with Myanmar. It
comprises around 8,500 square miles, the heartland of which is a fertile valley, the home of
the Meiteis. Unlike the Christianized Naga and Kuki groups to the north and south, the
Meiteis were Hinduized some two and half centuries ago. They have a highly developed
culture: Manipuri dance, based on pre-Hindu ritual, is one of the schools of Indian classical
dance, and there is an extensive written literature in the ancient Meitei script.

The Hinduism introduced into Manipur during the 18th century CE was mainly of the Bengal
Vaishnavite type, and it gained power largely through the patronage of the kings of Manipur.
Resistance to Hinduization was fierce during the earlier period, and centred upon the pre-
Hindu Meitei religion.1 This religion was never extinguished and eventually reached a modus
vivendi with Hinduism. In recent times Meitei religion has undergone something of a revival,
partly due to its role as one focus of resistance to the policy of integration pursued by
successive Indian governments.

Meitei religion2 centred on the veneration of deities known as lai (the same term being used
for both male and female, as well as for the singular and plural: here the anglicised ‘lais’ will
be used to denote the plural). The lais bear some general similarity to spirit beings in other
Asian cultures, such as the nagas of the Indian subcontinent, the Thai phii, Buddhist yaksas,
and especially the nats of Burmese religion. Lai is usually regarded as an abbreviated form of
umang lai, literally ‘deities of the forest’ (u = tree, mang = in the midst of). There is some
evidence (especially with regard to certain rituals) to indicate that some of the lais may have
been associated with trees, but this seems to be a residual element from a very early period,
and today none of the most important lais has such a connection. Lai has no exact
equivalent in English, but ‘divinity’ or ‘deity’ would be a better rendering than ‘god or
goddess.’ The emphasis is upon the numinous, the supra-normal in contrast to human world.
This qualitative distinction is made explicit in the multiple praise names which are given to
the lais.
Although there is a lai who may be regarded as a ‘high god’, associated with the heavens,
Atingkok or Atiya Sidaba, he is almost a deus otiosus. For the purposes of ritual, his female
counterpart, Leimaren (‘queen, chief goddess’), is much more important. In the utterance
associated with the spirit possession of the maibi (the leihourol: see below) Leimaren is
associated with the deep waters. She is also, however, an earth goddess. In this capacity she
is called Malem Leima (‘Mother Earth’) and is offered gold coins symbolising the colour of
the soil.3

The most important male lai is Pakhangba, who is the serpent deity. As he was originally the
ancestor-god of the Ningthouja clan, which eventually gained ascendancy over the Meitei
people, he has become accepted as the deity of all Meitei.4 His spouse is Laisana (‘the
golden lai’). In the invocation of leihourol she is also associated with the waters. It seems
clear that there has been some conflation between the two female lais, Leimaren and
Laisana, probably as a result of the fusion of two originally distinct religious systems.

Some lais are associated with natural phenomena, but the most important group is that of
the four ‘guardians of the directions’. These are invoked by name in many of the ritual
prayers of the Lai Haraoba (the ‘Pleasing of the Gods’) festival which will be described more
fully below. The lais always appear as a male-female duality. Each male lai has his female
consort, ‘from whom he is never parted’ according to the Yakeiba (‘awakening’, the morning
lyric of the festival).

The Maibis
The religious functionaries of the traditional Meitei religion are the male maiba and the
female maibi. These terms were translated by the earlier British writers on the Manipuris as
‘priest and priestess’, but this is not entirely accurate. As well as functioning as priests and
priestesses, invoking and making offerings to the lais, they are also expert singers and
dancers who preserve the oral religious traditions and rituals. The female maibi is more
important than her male counterpart.5 She plays a more prominent role in the rituals and it
is only the female maibi who becomes possessed by the lai and can deliver the oracle.
Traditionally any male maiba who did experience spirit possession had to dress in the
women’s clothing of the maibi,6 would be spoken of as a ‘male maibi’ and would be
addressed as ima maibi (‘mother maibi’). The practice of cross-dressing is now becoming
eroded, and at the present time male maibas have begun to adopt some of the maibis’ ritual
roles while retaining their own dress.7 This would seem to indicate a move towards male
control of religious functions which traditionally belonged to women.

A woman becomes a maibi through direct possession by a particular lai. In earlier times this
could happen at the Lai Haraoba festival during a complex ritual called Lai Nupi Thiba
(‘taking a wife for the deity’).8 Usually, however, the lai selects the new maibi by progressive
signs of possession. These may begin at a very early age, even as young as seven years, and
indeed the younger she is, the better maibi it is believed she will become. Initial signs usually
include symptoms of illness, and then of abnormal, even hysterical, behaviour. A senior
maibi then diagnoses the cause as the lai’s making known his or her will to possess the girl,
who then undergoes a period of training and instruction. During this time she is taught the
sacred oral texts and the complex rituals and dance steps associated with the festivals. The
ability to fall into trance then becomes ritualised. Maibis may be possessed by many
different lais, though it is more often major ‘national’ deities rather than local lais.9
Possession by female lais is not uncommon, though these usually prefer a male host.
Maibis may marry, and for all intents and purposes can live a fairly normal family life. They
are in no sense deviants .10 They belong to one or other of the Meitei sagei (clans, extended
families) and are integrated into society as a whole. A maibi’s husband generally seems to
accept his wife’s status as a vehicle of the lai. The maibi occupies the left (outside) of the
marriage bed (the place normally taken by the husband), but on particular nights sleeps
alone and is visited by her lai. On such occasions the lai is believed to appear in human or
animal form, and maibis report experiencing the sensation of sexual intercourse.

The dress of the maibi is distinctive. The phanek (straight ankle length skirt) must be white,
unlike that normally worn by Manipuri women, which has horizontal coloured stripes with a
heavily embroidered border. An additional white waist cloth, of half length, is wrapped
around the body on top of the phanek. The shawl (inaphi), usually of fine cotton, must also
be white. A long sleeved white blouse completes the ritual dress. White as a colour for
religious specialists is found in many societies, and here presumably indicates the ritual
purity needed for the vehicle of the lai. Manipur falls into the category of what Goody has
termed ‘flower cultures’,11 and the maibi will also decorate her hair with frangipani,
miniature magnolias, jasmine, orchids or other small scented flowers.

The Lai Haraoba Festival

The public role of the maibis is seen most dramatically in the festival of Lai Haraoba (‘the
pleasing of the gods’). Lai Haraoba is the most authentically Meitei of all the traditional
festivals, and the one which preserves its dance, oral literary and poetic traditions in their
most pristine form. As one leading Meitei scholar puts it,
Lai Haraoba mirrors the entire culture of the Manipuri people. It reveals its strengths and
weaknesses, the beliefs and superstitions, and perhaps also the charm and happiness of the
12
Manipuri people. It reflects the people at their intensest.

It has remained largely uninfluenced by the Hinduism which has dominated Meitei society
for more than two hundred years. It is especially significant that while animal sacrifices were
replaced by bloodless offerings in most forms of the Lai Haraoba (almost certainly under
royal duress rather than popular opinion) the oral text still includes references to sa (meat,
flesh).13

Lai Haraoba is essentially an area festival which is celebrated in honour of the deities
associated with a particular locality, yet at the same time invokes and honours the more
important lais of the Meitei people as a whole. It is a vast complex of ritual, music, dance,
prayer and song. Though the Meitei have a written script which goes back at least a
thousand years, the text of the Lai Haraoba is oral. This suggests not only that it antedates
the earliest writing in Manipur, but that its essential core was sacred lore passed down by
word of mouth from maibi to maibi. An analysis of the oral text shows that it contains a
number of different literary genres, including songs for prosperity, dancing songs, riddles,
and love lyrics. By far the most important, however, are the liturgical prayers, which are
always spoken by the maibi or maiba alone. It seems very probable that these formed the
core around which several other oral traditions gathered.

The complexity of the Lai Haraoba renders it susceptible to a number of different

interpretations. On one level it is the invocation of clan and village deities, requesting them
to be present for the duration of the festival, and worshipping (‘pleasing’) them through the
singing and dancing of the devotees. At the same time there is little doubt that it is also a
fertility festival. It takes place during the spring and includes several lyrics and ritual actions
which have both veiled and explicit sexual imagery and l here are also prayers for increase.
There are also rites and prayers for protection (including one spectacular dance by maibis,
which takes place at night, with swords and flaming torches). However, if the liturgical
prayers constitute the earliest core of the oral text it seems likely that the element of spirit
possession and giving of oracles is the most original. This would accord well with the maibi’s
pre-eminent role as a medium. Thus Lai Haraoba has clearly developed over a long period of
time, and has incorporated the traditions not only of the seven yeks (extended clan, or tribal
groups) which today make up the Meitei nation, but also those of the pre Meitei
autochthonous Chakpa peoples.14

Lai Haraoba takes place over several days. The lais have to be present in their shrine for the
daily rituals. On the first day they are called up from the waters – a river or sometimes a
pond15 – and ceremonially brought to the shrine. The following day several cycles of rituals
are performed, and these are repeated on subsequent days. On the final day there are
additions to the ritual cycles, and then the lais are returned to their place of origin. While
the maibis play a leading role in all of the rituals in the festival, we shall limit ourselves in this
paper to a description and analysis of the beginning of the festival during which the lais are
invoked and take possession of the maibi.

Preparatory Rituals
The shrine (laisang, ‘house of the gods’) is rectangular in shape. It was traditionally a
temporary thatched structure, though today shrines are often quite substantial, and made of
brick with a corrugated iron roof. The front is half-open but is closed at night by wooden
doors, when the lais ‘sleep’. The roof above the entrance is decorated by a chirong, crossed
front beams in the shape of horns. The ‘throne’ of the lais is a simple bench in the centre of
the shrine. On this are placed the representations of the two lais, male and female, in whose
honour the particular Lai Haraoba is to be celebrated. Lai phisetpa, the ‘clothing of the lais’,
is usually done the night before or early in the morning of the first day of the Lai Haraoba.
Originally the lais were portrayed simply by an object associated with them; now they are
most commonly represented by masks. The lais are not images; there is no representation of
the body, except that wicker baskets are used which may be ‘dressed’ in their clothes. The
clothes must be new, and consist of the traditional Meitei dress – a waist cloth, shirt and
turban for the male lai, a blouse, phanek and shawl for the female. The female lai wears a
bridal head-dress and gold ornaments. These represent the temporary ‘body’ of the lais, but
as yet they are inanimate. To bring them to life the maibi must bring their ‘souls’ from the
waters. While there are a number of pairs of ritual objects used in the Lai Haraoba the most
important are the ihaifu, small earthen pots which are the symbolic ‘containers’ of the lais.
Banana leaves are placed inside the pots so that they protrude above the rims. They are
then turned down and tied with a thread of pure hand-spun cotton (the hiri). Attached to
the other end of the cotton are the leiyom. These are packets containing three layers of
banana leaves and buds of the langthrei 16 plant. The hiri is wrapped around them and they
are then placed into the pots. The pots are attached to scarves, which are then tied around
the necks of the two men (laipuba, ‘lai-bearers’) who are to carry them. In addition there are
two other packets, called khayom. These are made of seven layers of banana leaves and
contain rice, a fertilised egg, and three langthrei buds. These are tied together with strips of
bamboo. The rice and fertilised eggs symbolise life. The khayom are the embryos from which
the lais will emerge.
Once the shrine is ready, a time is set for the rite of lai loukatpa or lai ikouba (literally,
‘picking up’ or ‘calling out’ the lais). A procession is formed by the shrine consisting of two
lines, one each for the male and female lais. The officiating maibi leads, followed by other
maibis and the maibas, and the musicians. The most important of these are the
penakhongbas, players of the pena, a small one-stringed fiddle. The penakhongbas are
religious professionals, who play a major role in the chanting and singing of the lyrics at the
Lai Haraoba.17 After them come the women and men bearing the possessions of the lais, the
laibearers, and a woman carrying a larger pot (the naheifu) for collecting water for the
cleansing rituals.18 On arrival at the waters the procession stops; the maibi then makes an
offering of food, which is scattered on the waters.19

The Possession Ritual

A second offering, this time of silver and gold coins, called konyai, follows. The gold coin
represents the (female) earth, the silver the (male) sky. As the maibi casts them into the
waters she utters the lyric konyarol 20:
O waters, abiding alone, the primeval waters,
All six dark layers and five bright layers,
Have been joined together by the maibi of the (goddess of) the waters,
21
Our respected sister , (seated) on the river bank
You are being appeased, Sovereign God (name), and Divine Goddess (name),
So that this haraoba may be performed for you;
All your servants, the whole village,
Have offered in the waters the gold and silver pieces.
From within the waters, leaving your royal and pleasant house,
We beseech you to come up through the string of the hiri on this day.
O waters, the silver (coin) has appeased the heavens
And the red gold (coin) has appeased the earth.
She then offers the two khayom packets in the water. The khayom for the male is held in her
right hand, that for the female in her left. After the prayer below is uttered they are
immersed three times and then released into the water. If they are sucked downwards it is
regarded as a good omen, if they float the portent is bad:
Incarnate Lord, Python Deity Pakhangba, O golden one:
Goddess of the waters, Ruler of the rivers:
Golden Goddess (Laisana) fair and beautiful one:
For you, Lord and Lady, in order to call up your souls,
We have poured the rice on the finest of banana leaves,
And on it have placed the fertile egg and the langthrei buds.
We do not offer you the ordinary khayom, we offer you your own khayoms,
And we have tied them with the seven bamboo strips.
Which (represent) the seven days of the week.
We offer you the khayoms as they are tied thus.
Lord and Lady, we beseech you,
Ascend from within the khayoms, riding along the hiris.

The maibi can now perform laithemba (or lai themgatpa), that is ‘coaxing’ the lais from the
waters. She removes the leiyoms from their respective pots by slowly unwinding the hiri
threads. To make sure that the threads do not touch the ground she passes them over her
shoulder. Then she covers her face with her shawl and crouches beside the water. Holding
her handbell in her left hand, she rings it continuously. Taking the two leiyom in her right
hand, she immerses them in the water and agitates them. She chants leihourol, the song
which celebrates the creation of the universe by the lais. The pena plays slowly at first,
gradually accelerating as the lyric proceeds.22
From the five layers of creation,
The six layers of creation,
From the depths of the belly,
From the root of my tongue,
From the depths of my being,
23
From the crown of the head:
Behold, that which is from the depth of the earth,
Which begins to grow, putting forth its shoots,
24
Yet is still unrevealed, like an unopened flower.
25
O gods of the four directions, with the four gods of the cardinal compass points,
The sixty descendants, all of you, to the far corners of the earth:
Let me address the Mother, let me cry to the Sovereign King!
The deep breathing of possession has now begun!
(Come) from above, from beneath, from the three layers (of the universe)!
26
O Omniscient Lord and Lady of the navel of the earth
(Descend) from your mountain abode which is high above,
To which no mortal can reach.
There follows a passage describing the playing of the penakhongba. The bow of the pena
represents the male lai, the body of the instrument is the female lai. The touching of the hair
strings of the bow and of the body represents the mingling of the male and female divine
principles in creation. The lyric continues:
27
I (the maibi) am holding my bell in my hand and moving it in a circle.
It is I who serve you,
I who cause the river (of your message) to spread out,
I who am engulfed in the fire (of your word);
I, the daughter of the Mother Goddess, and not others, who have learned this skill;
I, the maibi, who is yet to receive your oracle,
Give me a message like new clothes.
Do not give me a message like an old cloth, or like a faded flower.
Give me a new message like the fresh flowers in your hair.
The gracious words of the Mother must not ascend to the heaven,
28
They must fall upon the ground
29
I, the Mother’s daughter will utter your message.

The maibi begins to feel the onset of possession. She first experiences the sensation of ‘the
hair standing on end’, then her body begins to shake, increasing in violence. The oracle is felt
as a weight within the stomach, a burden centred upon her navel. This is called in Manipuri
lai tongba, literally ‘the lai sitting upon’ the maibi. The lai now begins to speak through the
maibi:
30
O maibi, why does your flesh creep?
And your hair stand on end as the quills of the porcupine?
Be calm, let not your flesh creep!
The maibi responds:
31
Overcome my fears , utter your oracle to me, give me your message!
If the maibi seems to be losing control the male maiba may blow across her head and
sprinkle her with water from the pot for purification. The pena has now ceased playing, and
as the maibi goes into a trance state the lai begins to speak through her. The oracle is
delivered in archaic Manipuri, and follows a set liturgical formula which begins with the
praise names of the lai. Since this form of the language is no longer generally understood it
needs to be interpreted by the maiba for the benefit of the hearers. The content of the
oracle concerns the village or community, or the particular individual who is offering the Lai
Haraoba. It is delivered in the form of a command. In Manipuri the form of speech is of the
kind used by a master to his servant, or by an elder to a younger person, and it indicates the
subordinate status of the one addressed. The command however also implies an option: the
freedom of choice of the person addressed is assumed, and the command is conditional: ‘if
you bring your offering (usually of fruit or flowers) I (the lai) will bless you and/or avert
calamity’.32

After the oracle has been delivered and the maibi recovered her composure she completes
the ritual for bringing the lais from the waters. Placing her handbell beside her on a banana
leaf (none of the sacred objects must touch the ground) she draws her hand along the two
hiri strings, symbolically motioning the lais up from the waters.33 The strings are then
wrapped around their respective leiyom and replaced in their pots. The lais are now ready to
be transported back to the shrine. The leiyom are subsequently taken out of their pots at the
shrine and made to touch the navels of the representations of the lais, symbolically giving
them life or ‘soul.’

The Maibi and the Mother Goddess

Female mediums are common in many cultures, though it is difficult to fit maibic possession
into any comparative pattern. In neighbouring Myanmar there is a class of female ritual
functionaries known as nat meimma (spirit women), also called mibaya (queens), a word
which appears to resemble maibi.34 However, there are very significant differences between
them, especially as concerns their ritual role in the public festivals. In Burmese religion the
spirit-wife explicitly re-enacts the story of her nat: she dresses in the nat’s special costume,
and she must observe the particular dance-steps (some quite vigorous) which belong to him.
None of this is the case with the maibi at Lai Haraoba. Here the dance steps and hand
movements, all based on the spiral and circular movement, are gentle and gracious; they do
not tell any stories, nor do they vary according to which deity is being honoured. The Lai
Haraoba does not tell the life-story of any of the lais, and it is not in any sense a narrative re-
enactment.35 The characteristics of the female functionaries of the nats and the lais are now
quite different.

Similarities between the maibis and female shamans (especially those of Korea) are also
slight, and it would be misleading to apply the term shaman to the maibis. They do not wear
typically shamanistic dress or decorations, such as animal skins or masks. They are in no
sense ‘masters of the spirits’, nor do they exorcise36 or claim to bear away the misfortunes of
their clients. Those cases from parts of tribal India which Eliade understands as examples of
what he would class as shamanism bear virtually no relationship to maibic possession.37 The
maibis’ role as mediums, which is only one (though arguably the most important) among the
several functions they perform, is essentially to be a pronouncer of oracles, both for the
community and, on occasion, for individuals.

Why is the function of mediumship confined to females in Meitei religion? Above we

rejected a common assumption often made by anthropologists that women assume the role
of mediums as a compensation for their marginalisation in society generally, and that
women mediums tend to be socially deviant. This does not apply in Manipur, where the
influence of women in the family, society, and political life was (and is) considerable – it is
not without significance that some of the most effective protests against British imperial
policies, subsequent central rule from Delhi, and atrocities committed by the Indian army,
have taken the form of nupi lai, women’s mass demonstrations. Explanations of women’s
spirit possession on the basis of sociological theories derived from quite different societies
seem superficial. It is more likely that the explanation for the supremacy of the female over
the male in Meitei religion lies in the Meiteis’ own mythology and tradition.

It is evident from the oral texts which concern spirit-possession that the source of the oracle
lies in the female lai Ima (Mother) Leimaren. Leimaren’s position, as we have seen, is
somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand she is associated with the otiose high-god of the
skies Atiya Sidaba38. On the other hand, in the possession text she stands alone. This is quite
unusual in Meitei religion, where the male and female lais are almost always conjoined.
While the mythology is very complex, it seems to us probable that the female principle,
which represents the broad aspects of fertility in the ‘red earth’ and the deep waters, was
more important in the religion of the original inhabitants of the valley of Manipur, and that it
retained some of its pre-eminence after the Meiteis occupied the valley.39 One aspect of the
pre-eminence of the female goddess is found in mediumship, and the oracle is always
regarded as coming from the Mother Goddess. This is explicit in the phrase from the
leihouron that
the gracious words of the Mother must not ascend to the heavens.

In an alternative version of this text, used by a different group of maibis, the Mother
Goddess is explicitly invoked:
You Mother, who are delicately born, last born of the lais, on this round crown, on this head
rest, be seated awhile; give us your oracle clearly ...
The imagery here is of the goddess descending upon the head of the maibi, as it were taking
possession of her mind, and controlling her (see above, note 22). There is, furthermore,
another strand in Meitei mythology which regards the first maibi as the actual incarnation of
the Mother Goddess Leimaren. This figure is called ‘Khabi’ from the verb khaiba, meaning ‘to
discern.’ During leihourol the maibi describes herself as ‘khabi’, ‘the primeval maibi’, who
though
40
not so skilled as to be able to discern between one segment and another ,
receives this discernment for delivering the oracle from Leimaren. She is described as ‘the
maibi, the Mother’s daughter.’ Leimaren, the Mother Goddess, is thus the progenitrix of the
maibic schools, and the maibi herself as Leimaren’s representative, is also addressed as ‘ima’
(mother). There is also substantial evidence that other goddess figures of Meitei mythology
have been drawn into this complex, including the Panthoibi 41, originally probably a typical
south-east Asian Rice-Goddess, who became the heroine of romantic and erotic poetic
myths.

This brief discussion of female possession texts and rites points to elements which argue for
the primacy of the feminine in Meitei religion. It seems likely that the earlier Meitei
cosmology was based upon reverence for the female earth and deep waters, personified as
the goddess Leimaren, and that the present male/female dualism represents a later
development. If this is the case, the role of women as mediums is best accounted for on
historical, rather than on sociological, grounds.
NOTES
1. See Saroj N. Arambam Parratt The Religion of Manipur (Calcutta 1980) pp. 135ff, and ‘Garib
Niwaz, Wars and Religious Policy’ in Internationales Asienforum 20 (1989) pp. 295-302.
2. On the Meitei religious system see especially T. C. Hodson The Meitheis (London 1910) pp.
96ff, J. Shakespear ‘The Religion of Manipur’ in Folk Lore 24 (1913) pp. 209-255, Parratt The
Religion of Manipur pp. 9ff.
3. Leimaren is also regarded as a household lai who has a special place in the Meitei house in
the centre of the north wall, where traditionally an earthen pot, full of water, was kept for
her. According to one myth Atiya Sidaba wished to appoint one of his two sons, who
according to this genealogy were Pakhangba and Sanamahi (another household deity), to
the kingship. Pakhangba, on the advice of his mother Leimaren, gained the throne through a
stratagem, and as a punishment Leimaren was forced to marry Sanamahi. This myth shows
signs of Hindu influence and is therefore relatively late. Part of its rationale is no doubt to
make a connection between the two household lais (Leimaren and Sanamahi), but it also
seems to reflect the same kind of absorption of the more ancient goddess figure, Leimaren,
by a later (possibly patriarchal) religious system represented by Pakhangba and Sanamahi.
4. There is a rich mythology surrounding Pakhangba, and the spiral and circular movements in
the Lai Haraoba dances, called paphal, symbolise his role as serpent deity. There may be
some connection with the nagas of north India, though it seems to us more likely that the
origins of Pakhangba should be sought further east, possibly in the Chinese dragon symbol.
5. There is another type of maibi who function as mid wives, but these have no ritual role and
are never (as the ritual maibis are) addressed as ‘ima' (mother).
6. There are parallels in many cultures to male mediums cross-dressing.
7. We recently observed a Lai Haraoba at which the maiba assumed the role, which
traditionally belongs only to the maibi, of drawing the lais from the waters: see below.
8. In this ritual the maibi strikes a hockey ball with a double-headed stick, and the direction in
which the ball lands indicates the young woman selected to be the new maibi. Hockey here
seems to be substituted for polo, a game which is associated with certain of the main lais
and which (at least as far as its British form goes) had its origins in Manipur.
9. There is an annual family clan celebration, called Yumjao Lai Chaklon Katpa, at which the lai
of the clan (yum=house, jao=great) is remembered. Here the maibi becomes possessed by
the clan lai. The oracle is not necessarily confined only to the sagei (extended family group)
but can also concern the area where the lai happens to be situated. This is a short festival
which lasts only one day. The lai is not called up from the waters, there is no dancing and
the penakhongba is not present.
10. M. Chaki-Sircar Feminism in a Traditional Society (Delhi 1984) p. 168 follows a common
anthropological interpretation that women mediums are socially maladjusted, and calls
maibis as 'deviants'. This is scarcely correct. She modifies this view on p 217.
11. J. Goody The Culture of Flowers (London 1993) – unlike much of north India. It is perhaps
significant that many of the flowers used as offering to the lais are of East Asian origin.
12. E. Nilkanta Singh ‘Lai Haraoba’ in Marg 14/4 (1961) p. 30. For a full analysis of the festival
and the oral texts see our The Pleasing of the Gods: Meitei Lai Haraoba (New Delhi 1997).
13. Animal sacrifices still take place among the Chakpas (see following note) and in some of the
more remote areas.
14. The prehistory of the Meitei is complex. The most likely reconstruction is that the Chakpa
were earlier inhabitants of the valley of Manipur who were subjugated by the various Meitei
yeks which came in from the north east, probably from the first century AD onwards.
15. In some archaic forms of the Lai Haraoba the lais are called up from the land.
16. A small evergreen shrub, growing up to about twelve inches in height and cultivated in
gardens. It has no identifiable medicinal, culinary or hallucinatory properties. The ‘buds’ are
not flowers but the incipient new shoots. As an evergreen, langthrei symbolises continued
life and virility.
17. Pena music is based upon seven motifs which the player extemporises and combines.
Traditionalists argue that the pena is the only original instrument for the Lai Haraoba.
Drums are regarded by purists as later additions, which have detracted from the senza
misura style of pena playing.
18. The water is collected into the naheifu from the same spot at which the lais are called up.
19. This rite is called leirai yuhangba, ‘the offering of yu (rice wine)’ and as the name implies
was originally an offering of liquor. The lais mentioned in the prayer that accompanies
this offering are the four gods of the directions, Soraren, the sky god, Thangaren, god of the
underworld, the lais of that particular area, and the lais addressed as a group (‘the three
hundred and sixty one’). The offering now consists of rice flour, puffed rice, fruit, flowers,
and shredded leaves of a plant called Heibi, which are mixed with chilli, salt and dried fish.
20. ie. the uttering (-rol) for konyai hunba, the ‘offering of the konyai’. The oral texts of the
liturgical prayers present several translation problems. Some words are archaic and now no
longer used, their true meanings being not properly understood even by the maibis. There
are variants of the lyrics according to the three different orders of maibis.
21. The term used here is inama, the respectful mode of address used by a woman for her older
brother’s wife.
22. The penakhongba ceases playing as possession takes hold, before the lai speaks through the
maibi.
23. The imagery here seems to be of the lai’s ‘sitting upon’ the maibi, and controlling her as the
rider controls the horse.
24. Imagery for the creating of the universe.
25. In Meitei mythology the four guardians of the direction occupy the intermediate points of
the compass. Here eight deities are intended.
26. The navel of the earth in Meitei mythology is the central valley of Manipur, where creation
is believed to have begun.
27. The dance movements, including the movement of the hands, are dominated by the spiral
or circle. This is replicated in the circular movement of the bell in the maibi’s hand.
28. ie the oracle must come to the people.
29. Or I, the priestess of the primordial earth. The earth is the female deity Leimaren.
30. lit. your hairs stand up.
31. lit. hold down my hairs.
32. The maibi will use the terms katchouhei (katpa=offer, chou=I, the lai, am telling you this as a
favour, hei=a form indicating the higher position of the one speaking, either lai, king or
master). The lai’s words will include the word toubige hei (touba=to do, -bige=by the favour
of (the lai)), and the addressee responds with toujage, from the same verb, but the suffix
has a subordinate sense, ‘by the mercy of the one who commands’.
33. This is called hiri sikatpa, ‘drawing (the lais) through the hiri strings.’
34. See M.E. Spiro Burmese Supernaturalism (New York 1967) pp. 108-126, J. G. Scott (Schway
Yoe) The Burman: his life and notions (Arran 1989, reprint of 1882) p. 241.
35. The only references to narrative mythology in the oral text are in love poems which
obliquely refer to Nongpok Ningthou, ‘the king of the east’, and his lover-spouse. Panthoibi.
Aside from these two, and the ancestral deity Pakhangba, there is little evidence that the
lais were believed to have led an existence on earth.
36. The lais are never exorcised: evil spirits (saroi ngaroi – a completely different category of
beings) may be appeased, but this is done usually by the male maiba.
37. M. Eliade Shamanism (London 1964) pp. 421ff. There are closer similarities to classical
shamanism among some tribal peoples in Manipur and neighbouring Myanmar (see J.
Parratt & S. N. A. Parratt ‘Kabui Messiah: the Jadonong movement in Manipur’ in
Internationales Asienforum 3/4 1995 pp. 290-1, F. K. Lehman The Structure of Chin Society,
Illinois 1965 p. 175).
38. It is very probable that Soraren, a sky god mentioned quite frequently in the earlier strata of
texts, was either a more ancient name for Atiya Sidaba or else – more likely – the sky god of
the pre-Meitei autochthonous peoples who later became assimilated to Atiya Sidaba.
39. There are numerous examples, especially from southern Africa as well as Asia, that
conquerors assume the most important aspects of the religious cults of those people they
subdue by absorbing the ‘gods of the land’ into their own religious systems. In leihourol,
given above, we seem to have a three fold invocation: Pakhangba (the serpent deity of the
Ningthouja clan and subsequently of all Meiteis), the ‘Goddess of the waters’ (ie.
Leimaren), and Laisana (‘the golden goddess’). Atiya Sidaba has been fused with Pakhangba,
but Leimaren has resisted fusion with Pakhangba’s spouse, Laisana.
40. The image is of the segments of a citrus fruit.
41. Also called Phou-oibi, and under this name especially associated with the Cachar region.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Goody, J The Culture of Flowers (London 1993)
Hodson, T. C. The Meitheis (London 1910)
Kulachandra Singh, N Meitei Lai Haraoba (in Manipuri) (Imphal 1963)
Lukhoi Singh, W Lai Haraoba (in Manipuri) (Imphal 1989)
Nilakanta Singh, E ‘Lai haraoba’ in Marg vol 14/4 (1961) pp. 30-34
Parratt, John and Saroj N. Arambam Parratt ‘Kabui Messiah: the Jadonong Movement in
Manipur’ in Internationales Asienforum vol 3/4 (1995) pp.285-302
Parratt, Saroj N. Arambam and John Parratt The Pleasing of the Gods: Meitei Lai Haraoba (New
Delhi 1997)
Parratt, Saroj N. Arambam The Religion of Manipur (Calcutta, 1980)
Parratt, Saroj N. Arambam ‘Garib Niwaz: Wars and Religious Policy’ in Internationales
Asienforum vol. 20 (1989) pp. 295-302.
Scott, J. G. (Schway Yoe) The Burman: his life and motions (Arran 1989, reprint of 1882)
Shakespear, J ‘The Pleasing of the God Thangjing’ in Man vol 13/50 (1913) pp. 81-89
Shakespear, J ‘The Religion of Manipur’ in Folk Lore vol 24 (1913) pp. 209-255
Spiro, M. E. Burmese Supernaturalism (New York 1967)
THE AUTHORS
Saroj Nalini Arambam Parratt was born in Manipur, and studied at the Universities of Calcutta
and London. She obtained her PhD in Asian Studies from the Australian National University. She
has lectured in several African universities and carried out extensive field work in Manipur. She is
currently an honorary professorial fellow of the University of Manipur and fellow of the Institute
for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

John Parratt studied at the University of London and has taught and researched widely in Africa,
India and the Pacific. He is the author of several books on traditional religions and world
Christianity. He is currently Professor of Third World Theologies at the University of Birmingham.

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RERC Second Series Occasional Paper 32

February 2002
Copyright ©2002 Religious Experience Research Centre
ISBN 0 906165 43 1