(; ) refers to

the arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of m ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

Meitei culture The culture of Meitei civilization evolved over thousands of years in what is now northeastern India and surrounding regions, beginning in Ancient Kangleipak, continuing most notably into Medieval Kangleipak, while influencing the neighboring sta ...

General rules and guidelines

Eye contact

In the performances of traditional Meitei dances, dancers are strictly forbidden not to have any forms of eye contact with the audiences. If it is not followed properly, then it is considered as a

sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical ...

Chukpharon Jagoi

"Chukpharon Jagoi" is a Sanamahist ritual dance form performed by the maibis (

priestesses A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

) to please the lords of the four directions, Thangjing, Marjing, Wangbren, and Koubru, in the religious festival of Lai Haraoba. During the performance, the maibi takes the two ekouphus ( pots) from the laipubas, holding the Lainingthou ekouphu in the right hand and the Lairembi ekouphu in the left hand. The dance performance portrays the dance of goddess Nongthang Leima, who saves the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

from destruction.

Khamba Thoibi Jagoi

Laiching Jagoi

() (literally, 'Dance of summoning the deity') is a dance form performed by the maibis (priestesses) with the langthrei (a special leaf of

Blumea balsamifera ''Blumea balsamifera'' is a flowering plant belonging to the genus ''Blumea'' of the family Asteraceae. It is also known as Ngai camphor and sambong (also sembung). Description In the Philippines, where it is most commonly known as sambong, ''B ...

) held between their fingers. This sequence involves a variety of expressive movements where the spirit of the

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

is invited to enter each maibi's body. It is an invocatory dance where the maibis stand with their hands in a pose symbolizing women's union. In this dance form, the maibis, after invoking the deities from

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

, perform leitai nongdai jagoi. This dance form is performed in front of the

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

of the deities.

Laihou Jagoi

() (literally,'dance of invitation' or ''"opening dance"'') is a dance form performed by the maibis (

) to lead a way to a

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

, in the religious festival of

Lai Haraoba Lai Haraoba (, ), also known as Umang Lai Haraoba, is a classical,———— ritualistic, theatrical dance and music festival, annually celebrated by the Meitei people, to please the Umang Lai deities of the traditional Meitei religion (San ...

. During the performance of the dance, the tune of the pena, a traditional musical instrument, is also shrimmed up. With the maibis, the

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

bearing youths in two rows, the maidens with the

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

vessels Vessel(s) or the Vessel may refer to: Biology *Blood vessel, a part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body *Lymphatic vessel, a thin walled, valved structure that carries lymph *Vessel element, a narrow wat ...

, the Lai bearers, the isaiphu bearers, the chong (umbrella) bearers accompany the pibas (men) holding the two pots.

Leima Jagoi

Leisem Jagoi

() (literally, 'Dance of creation of the earth') is a dance form enacted by imitating the movements of nine

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

and seven goddesses creating the earth, followed by Laibou Jagoi, depicting the creation of human body and various activities of man, like

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

of clothes. The sequence of the dance is performed by the Ningol Macha (

girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. ''daughter'' or ''girlfriend'' regardless of age, ...

). The six original forms of the dance are leishem, leitai, nongdai, leipekpa, leihouba and leipiba. It is one of the early dance forms of Ancient Manipur contributing to the rich

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 ...

's classical wealth of culture.

Maibi Jagoi

Panthoibi Jagoi

() (literally, 'Panthoibi's dance' or 'Dance dedicated to the Divine Mother') is a duet dance form, portraying the romantic

love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

affairs between

Nongpok Ningthou Nongpok Ningthou , also known as the Sovereign of the East or King of the East, is a deity in Sanamahism, the indigenous religion of Manipur. He is the ruling guardian deity of the eastern direction. Legend says Nongpok Ningthou and his consor ...

and

Panthoibi Panthoibi (, ), also known as , is a goddess associated with civilization, courage, fertility, handicraft, love, victory, warfare and wisdom in the mythology and religion of Ancient Kangleipak (early Manipur). She is a consort of the God Non ...

. There are 14 hand gestures with bodily movements. It is performed in the religious festival of Lai Haraoba, depicting the weaving process. In the dance form, Marjing has been conflated with Nongpok Ningthou. Nowadays, the dance form is replaced by the

Khamba Thoibi Jagoi Khamba Thoibi Jagoi (, Khamba Thoibi dance), also known as Khamba Thoibi classical dance or Khamba Thoibi ballet, is a traditional Meitei ritualistic and theatrical classical dance form,————— which is usually enacted as a part and ...

Raas Jagoi

The Manipuri classical dance, also known to as the Manipuri Raas Leela dance (), is one of the eight major

Indian classical dance Indian classical dance, or ''Shastriya Nritya'', is an umbrella term for different regionally-specific Indian classical dance traditions, rooted in predominantly Hindu musical theatre performance,, Quote: All of the dances considered to be part ...

forms, originating from the state of

Thougal Jagoi

() (literally, 'Dance of dedication') or "Jagoi Ashangbi" () is a Meitei traditional

form, performed by men and women, along with maibis (priestesses) to invoke the deities. It is performed in the religious festival of Lai Haraoba. The

performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

lasts for half an

hour An hour (symbol: h; also abbreviated hr) is a unit of time historically reckoned as of a day and defined contemporarily as exactly 3,600 seconds ( SI). There are 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day. The hour was initially establis ...

, after which the "Hoi Lauba" ceremony is enacted.

In popular culture

Raj Nartaki ''Raj Nartaki'' is a 1941 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Modhu Bose under the Wadia Movietone Wadia Movietone was a noted Indian film production company and studio based in Mumbai, established in 1933 by Wadia brothers J. B. ...

- 1941 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

language film * Yelhou Jagoi - 1995 non-feature Indian

Meitei language Meitei (; ) also known as Manipuri ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam. It is one of the scheduled ...

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

Bibliography

References

External links

Jagoi
at {{Authority control Dances of Manipur Meitei culture