ME AND MUSEUM

                                                       Photographs: IGRMS, Bhopal Longpi village lies at 40 kms north of Ukhrul town in Ukhrul District, Manipur. The village is inhabited by aroung 6000 Tangkhul tribe and their main occupation is agriculture and pottery. Longpi is the only village in the whole of Ukhrul District which produces  blackware earthen pots. These pots are unique in quality and style also. Fine powder of local stone containing mineral Local sandy clay Mixture of crushed sandy clay and mineral stone in a ration of 2:1 Longpi pots, as it is popularly known in Manipur and elsewhere has been widely used in the region since time immemorial. Longpi pots are prepared...

H andy clay used for making the traditional pottery of Manipur is known as Leimarombi Chaphu Leibak. This peculiar type of clay is available only in Thongjao area in the Thoubal District of Manipur. Although, there are places where clay is available for making the pottery in other parts of the state, they are mostly mixed with minerals which is not suitable for making the unique kind of handmade Leimaram Pottery. If the pot is made with more portions of ferrus and mineral content, it is not durable and often breaks before or after firing. The best quality of clay popularly known as the handy-clay is collected after digging 5 feet deep in the ground. In most of the cases, appropriate quality of these kinds of clay could only be collected from two or three layers when it reaches the level of handy and loam clay. The collected clays are exposed to the sunlight for about a week so that impurities and other foreign contents get oxidised. After this process, it is mixed with water ...

Traditional male head wear of Deori tribe Deori maiden in traditional attire

A mong the Kuki tribe, water operated husking lever is called Tui-Changshu or Tui-shum. In the past decades husking lever of this kind were extensively used by the tribal villages in many of the hill districts of Manipur. This unique form of husking lever is still found operated in Haipi village. The village is situated in the foothill of the Sadar Hills about 6 Kms west from Kangpokpi Sub-Division in Senapati District of Manipur. The most fascinating aspect of the village is that almost every household possesses Tui-Changsu as one of their important household. Water from the fast flowing streams of the hills are diverted to the center of the village and manage to pass every settlement areas for the used of this kind of lever by every household and further allows the water pass their paddy field for irrigation through a small canal. Tui Shum is about 12 feet long heavey wooden lever dug out at one end like a laddle/spoon. The laddle or spoon shaped structure serves...

The "Directory of Museums in Manipur" published in the Year 1992 by the Manipur State Museum under the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Manipur had 29 entries and arranged into four different categories based on the organising agency. Those were; I) GOVERNMENT MUSEUM 1.   Manipur State Museum 2.   I.N.A. War Museum II) DEPAREMENTAL MUSEUM 1.   Agricultural Museum, Agriculture Department 2.   Anthropology Museum, Department of Anthropology, D.M. College of Science 3.   Anthropology Museum, Department of Anthropology, Manipur University 4.   Biological Museum, Manipur Forest Department 5.   Children's Museum-cum-doll house, Department of Social Welfare 6.   Handlooom and Handicraft Extension Centre, Department of Industry 7.   Living Museum, State Archaeology Department 8.   Medical Museums Deptt., R.M.C. (now R.I.M.S. - Regional Institute of Medical...

SANCHIPAT LEKHAN An ancient technique of writing Manuscript    Sachipat does not mean the leaf of a Sachi tree. In Assamese the leaf of a tree is referred to as Pat from the ancestral past and it became synonymous to the use of barks which appears as much as thin like a leaf. As morapat is referred to the bark extracted from Mora plant in Assamese the writing material prepared from the bark of sacred Sashi tree is call ed Sachipat. The tree of age more than 50 years of growth is preferred appropriate for the extraction of Sachipat. The cut-off portion of Sachi tree is filled up with fresh cow dung so that it could be filled up within a period of 5-6 months. Traditionally, the Satra has to maintain sanctity and purity for collecting Sachi pat. The persons assigned for the collection of Sachipat has to undergo certain cultural practices according to the Vaishnav tradition. In the early morning, before visiting the site of collection, the collector has to take ceremonial...

THE MORANS A field note by: N.Shakmacha Singh, Srikant, Kumud Saikia, Jitu Goswami Moran Largely concentrated in the Tinsuk a district of Assam, the Morans inhabiting in this region (traditionally called the Samarpith area) identify themselves as the people who devote their life with the domestication of elephant. According to a native of Ubon village, "elephant has been our cultural property and we have been living together with elephant since time immemorial". It is also said that their ancestors came to the region with elephants and during the days of monarchy, the Morans were the only people who fulfill the demand of elephants to the King. Well trained in the catching of wild elephants, they are also the true friend of this beautiful animal. In the olden days it is said that the life of a Moran family is incomplete without elephant. Inherited from their ancestral past, the Morans have the knowledge to read the mind of an elephant. Their traditional house has a reser...