A Day in Imphal, Manipur
I still remember a
whirlwind day in Imphal, Manipur. A not so cold October morning in 2012.
folding out many layers of my rebellious thoughts.
Manipur
is a land of warriors, vaishnabs, Maiteis, Netaji, women power, and jaw
dropping textiles. I happened to be in Imphal for a couple of days for
some other work. But visited Ima Market in the heart of the city. The
city wakes up quite early and with the break of the dawn you will see
young people jogging in and around Kangla Fort with bleak tension of
AFSPA patrol.
During the day my visit to Ima Market
was like visiting Disney Land. So many things to see, to buy, to taste
with little money in my pocket. Most surprising was that all the sellers
of Ima Market were Manipuri women. Stacks and stacks of fabric yards are kept to lure
the customers. The traditional attire of any Manipuri female is a Sarong
with blouse paired with a stole or scarf. These sarongs have vibrant
colors with contrast color extra weft work. Also one can see beautiful,
intricate and mainly ornated with floral motif Jamdani work in sarongs
and stoles. all these textiles are handwoven by women weavers of
Manipur. There are many traditional Manipuri motifs are used on these
textiles, like Moirangphi: which is temple motif, Poloifiban,
Sasabanasaba etc.
In Ima Market one can see Manipuri dance costume available for sell, various puja equipments, elaborate home decor products.
Manipuri
people have a fine taste for bed room accessories for instance the
mosquito nets they use are finely decorated with embroidery and lace
work. Cushions, pillows also bear all intricate work with sequins, lace,
etc.
Above you can see an image of colorful Ima market of Imphal where one can buy best of the textiles in great deal.
There
are many tribes in Manipur, and each of these tribe have different
pattern of beaded jewelry. each strands of beads mark an achievement for
their tribesmen.
Will again come back with details of Manipuri Textiles, Motifs, Cuisines and Tribes. #fondhand
