Longpi, a village in Manipur’s Ukhrul district has lent its name to black earthenware crafted by the Tangkhul community without using a potter’s wheel. The GI-tagged and usually diaphanous Manipuri half sari called ‘moirang phee’ is similarly named after Moirang village from where it originated.
On the other hand, Thangjam Leikai in the Imphal East district derived its name from ‘thang’, meaning knife, making it the State’s go-to locality for kitchen knives, garden implements and other agricultural tools.
The USP of Thoubal district is a range of products made from ‘kauna’, a firm-stemmed grass that grows naturally in the shallow lakes, canals and marshy lands.
These and other art forms have been mapped by the Mission for Economic Empowerment of Traditional Artisans and Craftsmen (MEETAC), Manipur, and the National Institute of Design.
“The craft map of Manipur, based on a field survey by a team of experts in 2018-19, is probably the first of its kind. The idea behind it was to provide equal, concentrated attention to all art forms,” MEETAC chairman and senior Minister, Thongam Biswajit Singh, told The Hindu.
He is one of the heavyweight candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party, seeking re-election from the Thongju Assembly constituency.
Prepared more than a year ago, the craft map goes into the details of Manipur’s handloom and handicraft traditions. The attention to this map was drawn after Konsam Ibomcha Singh received the 2022 Padma Shri for doll-making craft along with Lourembam Bino Devi, who was similarly honoured for preserving the State’s ‘leeba’ applique textile art for more than five decades.
Konsam Ibomcha’s father was a master doll and toy craftsman and mother an expert ‘kauna’ craftswoman.
Among MEETAC’s objectives is to address the issues of raw materials faced by the craftspeople. For instance, the Thangjam Leikai artists no longer get iron ore from the Kakching and Thoubal districts. They make do with wire coils and spare parts of old trucks that are remoulded and chiselled to make kitchen knives and farm tools.
Likewise, artisans in the Senapati district create products from recycled aluminium metal waste using the wet sand-casting technique to make utensils and large cooking ware.
The production of certain handicraft items such as earrings made from beetle wings and necklaces from porcupine quills is limited. But the MEETAC hopes to promote utility products such as the brass ‘chegap’, twin-handle tongs to hold and lift utensils.
