The legend of Khamba and Thoibi (Meitei: Khamba Thoibi) National Romantic Legend of Manipur [1] | |
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Folk tale | |
Name | The legend of Khamba and Thoibi (Meitei: Khamba Thoibi) National Romantic Legend of Manipur [2] |
Also known as | Khampa Thoipi |
Aarne–Thompson grouping | no |
Mythology | Meitei mythology (Manipuri mythology) |
Country | Ancient Kangleipak (historical) India (present) |
Region | Ancient Moirang, Ancient Kangleipak (early Manipur) |
Origin Date | 11th-12th century CE [3] |
Published in | Khamba Thoibi Sheireng and many others |
Related | Meitei folklore (Manipuri folklore), Meitei literature (Manipuri literature) |
The ancient legend of Khamba and Thoibi (Meitei : Khamba Thoibi) is a classic, [4] as well as one of the epic cycles of incarnations of Meitei mythology and folklore, that is originated from Ancient Moirang kingdom [lower-alpha 1] of Ancient Kangleipak (early Manipur). [5] It is referred to as the "National Romantic Legend of Manipur" by Padma Vibhushan awardee Indian scholar Suniti Kumar Chatterjee. [6]
Among the countless retelling editions of the epic story, the "Khamba Thoibi Sheireng" (Meitei : ꯈꯝꯕ ꯊꯣꯏꯕꯤ ꯁꯩꯔꯦꯡ, lit. 'Poem on Khamba Thoibi'), a Meitei language epic poem, containing 39,000 lines, that is considered as the national epic of the Manipuris, is the magnum opus of its author Hijam Anganghal, the "Bard of Samurou". [7] [8] [9] [10]
The classic tale of Khamba and Thoibi became an Assamese classic as well, after being translated into Assamese language as "Khamba Thoibir Sadhukatha", by Assamese author and anthropologist Rajanikanta Bordoloi (1869-1939). [11]
Moirang was created by the God Thangching (Thangjing). The first King of Moirang at the beginning era of the kingdom was Iwang Fang Fang Ponglenhanba, who was born of Moirang Leima Nangban Chanu Meirapanjenlei. He attacked tribal villages, brought Thanga under his rule, and fixed his boundaries to the north, where the Luwang King bore sway. He brought in captives, and buried the heads of his fallen enemies in the Kangla or Royal enclosure. [12] Then the God Thangching bethought himself that the King and [12] his subjects were so prosperous that they were likely to forget their duties to him, and after taking counsel sent seven Gods, Yakhong Lai, to frighten the King and his people. At night there were mysterious sounds, but the soldiers at first could find no one. Then, when the sounds occurred a second time, they became aware of the Gods, the Yakhong Lai, and reported what they had seen to the King, who took counsel of his ministers. They besought him to call the famous maibi Santhong Mari Mai Langjeng Langmei Thouba. She was in the fields cultivating, but came running, whence (says the historian) all the dwellers of Moirang say apaiba ("to fly"), instead of chenba, ("to run") which is the ordinary Meitei language word. [lower-alpha 2] The King begged the maibi "very respectfully to raise the Khuyal Leikhong which the angry storm raised by the Gods had blown down, and by way of showing his respect said, "If you cannot raise the Khuyal Leikhong, I shall kill you." The maibi persuaded the seven Gods to tell her the hymn, and ordered her to convey a message to the King, who was bidden to send all the maibas and maibis of the country to sleep in the temple of Thangching wearing their sacred clothes. When she went to the Khuyal Leikhong she saw Pakhangba there. She raised the edifice by means of the hymn and then gave the message to the King, who bade the maibas and maibis go and sleep in the temple of Thangching in their sacred clothes. There in their dreams they were instructed to divide the people into sections, some for one duty and some for others. Then the village offices were created and their order of precedence fixed. The maibas chant the name of the God and the maibis ring the bell. Then, when they had told the King all the wonderful things communicated to them in their dreams, they were bidden to do as the God had said. Then the King died and was succeeded by his son Telheiba, so called by reason of his skill with the bow. In his, and in the following reigns, there were raids against tribals and various villages. [13] Then we get into complications, for in the reign of King Laifacheng we are told, the Khumans were wroth with [13] Konthounamba Saphaba and compassed his death. They took him into a wood and fastened him to a tree and left him, but by the aid of the Gods he broke the creeper and made his way to Moirang where he married and had a son. He left Moirang, and went to the land of the Meiteis. The King kept the child, who by favour of the God Thangching grew so strong that the folk of Moirang begged the King to rid himself of the lad, for he would supplant the King. So they put the lad in chains for seven years, and all that time there fell no rain in Moirang. Then the God Thangching appeared to the lad and told him to ask the King to take off his chains. Then the King set the lad free, and the rain fell, but many had died of fever and cholera. The King implored the lad to pardon him for his cruelty and promised him, that when he was dead the kingdom should be his for seven years, even as many years as the years of his bondage. So it fell out, and for seven years the lad reigned as King where he had been in chains. [14]
Raids against Luwangs on the west against tribal villages, which the historian observes still pay tribute to Moirang, are all we have for a brief space covering some hundred years. The God Thangching kept his interest in the fortunes of the kingdom, and visited the King in his dreams and instructed him in many matters. The village grew and spread, so much so that in the reign of King Thanga Ipenthaba, the small hill of Thanga was broken and the water let out. Then at the instance of two Khuman women the King slew the King of the Khumans whom he met by chance hunting. In a later reign, Moirang is invaded by the Khumans who assembled a force in boats. This force was defeated, and in return the Khuman villages were fired. In the reign of King Chingkhu Telheiba (skilful archer of the hill village), a Khuman, Aton Puremba, shot nine tigers with his bow and arrows and brought their skins to the King, who sought a gift worthy of the hunter's prowess. He would not give him clothes or such things. He had no daughter, so he gave him his wife, and by her the bold hunter had two children Khamnu and Khuman Khamba. Both their parents died, and by dint of begging from door to door, Khamnu got food for herself and her baby brother. Day by day the lad grew in strength and courage. So swift was he that none could race against him. [14] So strong was he that he and he alone dared to seize a mad bull that was raging in the land. Then Chingkhuba Akhuba, brother of King Chingkhuba Telhaiba, ordered his men to seize Khamba and have him trampled to death by the elephant. His sin was that Thoibi had made a coat which she gave to Khamba, for she loved him. The God Thangching warned Thoibi of the peril in which her lover was, and she arose and threatened to kill her father so that Khamba escaped. Then it befell a hunting party that a tiger killed a man in full sight of the King, but Khamba killed the tiger single- handed, and as a reward the King gave him the Princess Thoibi in marriage. [15]
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under out of copyright( license statement/permission ). Text taken from The Meitheis , TC Hodson, David Nutt.
Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called Kavya. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which were originally composed in Sanskrit and later translated into many other Indian languages, and the Five Great Epics of Tamil literature and Sangam literature are some of the oldest surviving epic poems ever written.
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India has 22 officially recognised languages. Sahitya Akademi, India's highest literary body, also has 24 recognised literary languages.
Meitei, officially known as Manipuri, is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and one of the official languages India. Meitei is the most widely-spoken Tibeto-Burman language of India and third the most used language of northeast India after Assamese and Bengali. There are 1.76 million Meitei native speakers in India according to the 2011 census. Most of these, or 1.52 million, are found in the state of Manipur, where they represent majority of its population. There are smaller communities in neighbouring Indian states, such as Assam (168,000), Tripura (24,000), Nagaland (9,500), and elsewhere in the country (37,500). The language is also spoken by smaller groups in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The Meitei people, Meetei people, or Manipuri people is an ethnic group native to Manipur. They form the largest and dominant ethnic group of Manipur in Northeast India. They speak the Meitei language, one of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic and the sole official language of Government of Manipur. The Meiteis primarily settled in the valley areas in modern-day Manipur, though a sizeable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. There is also a notable presence of Meitei people in the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Meitei ethnic group represents about 53% of Manipur's population.
Moirang is a town in the Indian state of Manipur, best known for the tentatively listed UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Keibul Lamjao Conservation Area (KLCA), covering Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP), the world's only floating national park, the buffer of Loktak Lake and Pumlen Pat. It is best known for the being the place of origin of the ancient epic legend of Khamba and Thoibi, one of the seven epic cycles of incarnations of Meitei mythology and folklore. Nationwide, it is also famous for the INA War Museum in the INA Martyrs' Memorial Complex, where Colonel Shaukat Malik of the Indian National Army hoisted the Tricolour for the first time on Indian soil on 14 April 1944. It is situated approximately 45 km (28 mi) south of the state capital Imphal. It has an area of 269 km2 (104 sq mi) with a population of 62,187 in 67 villages. There are 12 Panchayats in this block.
Meitei literature, also known as Manipuri literature, is literature written in the Meitei language of Manipur. An ancient institution of learning, the Luwang Nonghumsang, later known as the Pandit Loishang, collected sources of indigenous Meitei knowledge and philosophy until the 18th century. Writing by Meiteis is assumed to go back to the Kingdom of Kangleipak in the early 12th century. The Meitei script is a Brahmic abugida. It is known only from the Puya manuscripts discovered in the first half of the 20th century. Manuscripts of the 18th and 19th centuries were written using the Bengali alphabet. The existence of the Meitei script in the 15th-century hinges on the authenticity of an inscription dated to the reign of Senbi Kiyamba. The first printed Manipuri book, Manipurer Itihas, appeared in 1890 from the Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta. Though the kings of Manipur had established contact with the British from the middle of the eighteenth century onward the real impact of the contact came much later. Johnstone Middle English School, based on the western system of education, was started in 1885 at Imphal, and in 1891 Manipur lost its independence to the British. British domination facilitated the introduction of new systems in the civil, political and educational spheres, which hastened the process of modernization in Manipur, exposed as it was to new ideas and influences.
The Khamba Thoibi Sheireng, also spelled as the Khamba Thoibi Seireng, is a Classical Meitei language epic poem based on the ancient love story of Khuman prince Khamba and Moirang princess Thoibi of Ancient Moirang kingdom of Ancient Kangleipak. It is the magnum opus of Hijam Anganghal, the "Bard of Samurou". It is regarded as the national epic of the Manipuris. It is regarded as the greatest of all the epic poems in Meitei literature, with 39,000 verses, thereby being the third longest Indian epic poem, next to the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
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Thangching or Thangjing is a primordial deity in Meitei mythology and religion of Ancient Kangleipak. He is the ruling deity of the Moirang dynasty of Ancient Moirang. He rules supreme on the banks of the landlocked sea, Loktak lake. He is one of the four cardinal Umang Lais. The guardianship of the south western direction is alluded to Thangjing and the other directions to Koubru, Marjing and Wangbren.
Khuman Khamba or Moirang Khamba is a hero in Meitei folklore. He belongs to the Khuman clan. He is the hero as well as the protagonist of the Meitei epic poem Khamba Thoibi of the Moirang Shayon legends in the Moirang Kangleirol genres from Ancient Moirang. He is the son of nobleman Puremba, the then prime minister of the ancient Moirang Kingdom. He became an orphan at a very young age when his parents died. He was raised in poverty by his elder sister Khamnu. Later, he married princess Thoibi of Ancient Moirang kingdom.
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Khamnu (/kʰəm.nu/) is a figure in Metei legend and folklore. She appears in the epic poem Khamba Thoibi. She is the daughter of prime minister Khuman Puremba of Ancient Moirang. Biologically, she is a daughter of King Chingkhu Telheiba of Ancient Moirang. She is the older sister of Khuman Khamba. She is best known for raising her younger brother when he was a child. The two siblings became orphans during their infancy. Khamnu feared evil plots, she took her younger brother and fled her home town. They took refuge in the village of the Kabui chief in the hills.
Moirang Thoibi or Ewanglon Thoibi is the main character of the Khamba Thoibi story from ancient Moirang Kangleirol legends. She is a princess of the Ancient Moirang kingdom. She is not the king's daughter. Rather, she is the daughter of the King's younger brother Chingkhu Akhuba and therefore the fraternal niece of King Chingkhu Telheiba of Moirang. Khuman Khamba, a poor orphan prince, fell in love with Thoibi.
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Angom Nongban Kongyamba, known by just one name as Nongban, is a nobleman in Ancient Moirang. He is a rich man of Angom clan. He is the main villain in the Khamba Thoibi epic legend. He was a polygamist. He wanted to marry Princess Thoibi in addition to his other wives. Prince Chingkhuba, Thoibi's father, agreed to give him the princess' hand in marriage. However, Thoibi was in love with Khuman Khamba. So, he and Chingkhuba thought of many ways to stop Khuman Khamba. But none of their plans worked.
Animals have significant roles in different elements of Meitei culture, including but not limited to Meitei cuisine, Meitei dances, Meitei festivals, Meitei folklore, Meitei folktales, Meitei literature, Meitei mythology, Meitei religion, etc.
The cultural heritages of Meitei civilization has classicism in diverse traditions of cinemas, dances, language, literature, music, theatre, etc.
The 'National Romantic Legend of Manipur' — the great love story of the hero Khamba and Princess Thoibi, which after a happy union of the two lovers ended in a tragedy, — began to be treated in Old Meithei ballads from the middle of the twelfth century. The lovers lived about 1100 A.D., during the rule of King Loyamba....
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link)The 'National Romantic Legend of Manipur' — the great love story of the hero Khamba and Princess Thoibi, which after a happy union of the two lovers ended in a tragedy, — began to be treated in Old Meithei ballads from the middle of the twelfth century. The lovers lived about 1100 A.D., during the rule of King Loyamba....
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link)The 'National Romantic Legend of Manipur' — the great love story of the hero Khamba and Princess Thoibi, which after a happy union of the two lovers ended in a tragedy, — began to be treated in Old Meithei ballads from the middle of the twelfth century. The lovers lived about 1100 A.D., during the rule of King Loyamba....
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link){{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)... The folklore of Emoinu Celebration from the story "Washak Ngakpa" meaning Keeping the Promise, written by Late Shri Ningombam Angouton Meetei and the classical love story "Khamba -Thoibi" are classical examples of successful reconciliation process of the old Meitei factions...
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link)The 'National Romantic Legend of Manipur' — the great love story of the hero Khamba and Princess Thoibi, which after a happy union of the two lovers ended in a tragedy, — began to be treated in Old Meithei ballads from the middle of the twelfth century. The lovers lived about 1100 A.D., during the rule of King Loyamba....
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link)H. Anganghal Singh's Khamba Thoibi Sheireng (Poem on Khamba Thoibi, 1940) is a national epic of the Manipuris based on the story of Khamba and Thoibi of Moirang. The poet composes the whole epic in the Pena Saisak style of folk ballads sung by minstrels or bards popular in Manipur.
His epic Singel Indu was published in 1938 which was followed by his magnum opus Khamba Thoibi Sheireng (1940), a poem of 39000 lines, considered to be the 'national' epic of the Manipuris, written in the Pena Saisak style of folk ballads.
His best work, Khamba Thoibi sheireng, in 39,000 lines on the story of 'Khamba and Thoibi' was started in 1939 and the composition was completed in 1940.
Hijam Anganghal Singh (1892-1943) composed his Khamba and Thoibi Seireng-his magnum opus in eight volumes, 39000 lines, celebrating the immortal love of the two lovers.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The classic Manipuri tale of Khamba and Thoibi became an Assamese classic as Khamba Thoibir sadhukatha, translated by Rajanikanta Bordoloi (1869-1939), author and anthropologist.
His tale of Khamba and Thoibi entitled Khamba-Thoibir sadhukatha, a love story of a Manipuri youth named Khamba and a Manipuri maiden named Thoibi, appeared in 1932.
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: CS1 maint: date and year (link)Bardoloi's novel Khamba-Thoibir Sadhukatha (The tale of Khamba and Thoibi) is an adaptation of a Manipuri legend entitled 'Khamba-Thoibi-Givari'.
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: CS1 maint: date and year (link)T.C. Hodson's book The Meitheis (published in 1908) contains six folk-tales of Manipur along with a version of Numit kappa (Shooting the sun). G.A. Grierson's Linguistic Survey of India, Vol III, Part III, published in 1904, includes a sample of a folk-tale of the Manipuris. G.H. Damant published a few folk-tales of Manipur in Indian Antiquary. Vol. IV, 1875 and "The story of Khamba and Thoibi: A Manipur Tale' in Indian Antiquary, Vol. VI, 1877.
Kh. Chaoba Singh—Khamba-Thoibigi Wari Amasung Mahakavya