The Hijagang ( Meitei pronunciation: hī-ja-gāng) is a

boathouse A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

inside the Kangla Fort in

Imphal Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a ...

, India. It houses four traditional Meitei

watercraft A watercraft or waterborne vessel is any vehicle designed for travel across or through water bodies, such as a boat, ship, hovercraft, submersible or submarine. Types Historically, watercraft have been divided into two main categories. *Raf ...

, including two '' hiyang hirens'' (Royal racing boats) and two ''tanna his'' (commoners' racing boats). According to Meitei religious beliefs, the ''hiyang hirens'' are used by the male ancestral deity () and female ancestral deity () and are sacred to the

Meiteis The Meitei people, also known as Meetei people,P.20: "historically, academically and conventionally Manipuri prominently refers to the Meetei people."P.24: "For the Meeteis, Manipuris comprise Meeteis, Lois, Kukis, Nagas and Pangal." are a T ...

, the major ethnic group of

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

Construction and inauguration

The construction of the Hijagang watercraft storage building started in the year 2010 and completed in the year 2013. On 21 August 2013, with the performances of necessary religious rites and rituals by the and the in the early morning, the Hijagang was inaugurated by

Okram Ibobi Singh Okram Ibobi Singh (born 19 June 1948) is an Indian Politician who is currently serving as a member of the Manipur Legislative Assembly representing Thoubal Assembly constituency since 2007, from Khangabok Assembly constituency from 2002 to 200 ...

, the then

Chief Minister of Manipur The Chief Minister of Manipur is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian state of Manipur. As per the Constitution of India, the Governors of states of India, governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive auth ...

, who was also the then President of ''"Kangla Fort Board"''.

Featuring watercrafts

Crafting processes and inaugural

According to RK Nimai, the then

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

of the Department of Arts and Culture,

Government of Manipur The Government of Manipur (; /mə.ni.pur lə́i.ŋak/), also known as the State Government of Manipur, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Manipur and its 16 districts. It consists of an ex ...

, the two kinds of watercrafts were made from special kind of trees brought from Khamsom village in

Senapati district Senapati district (Meitei language, Meitei pronunciation:/se.na.pə.ti/), is one of the 16 districts of Manipur, districts of the Indian state of Manipur. The present Senapati district was formed in December 2016, after spawning off the Sadar Hil ...

. The crafting processes were initiated in Khamsom in the year 2007. Later, the woods for crafting the Hiyang Hirens were brought to the Kangla on 6 June 2007, with the work of sculpturing getting commenced 2 days later. The watercrafts were made by a four-member team under the leadership of craftsman ''L. Thoiba''. Later, the watercrafts were inaugurated on 19 February 2010 (3 years before the completion of the building construction).

Crafting materials used

The ''hiyang hiren'' are made of uningthou and the ''tanna hi'' of tairen.

Lengths, widths and heights

Notes

References

External links

Hijagang
at e-pao.net Gallery {{Authority control Meitei architecture Monuments and memorials in Imphal Monuments and memorials to Meitei royalty Museums in Manipur Public art in India Tourist attractions in Manipur