Polo & pony : Urgent need for State intervention
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 14 2016 -

It was dusk and there was no power supply along the busy Tidim Road. With the annual mega Manipur Sangai Festival 2015 just a few days away, road expansion and beautification works were going on at a hectic pace. Vehicles of all sorts were speeding both South and North.

Oblivious to the haste shown by the commuters, a small herd of horses were strolling along the road median after foraging all day to fill their appetite. Then all of a sudden, a speeding pick-up van hit one of the innocent horses on the left limb.

A crushing sound was heard from afar and the horse gave a loud neigh of excruciating pain. But the driver of the van showed no mercy. He even cursed the helpless beast as well as its unknown owner.

The horse somehow limped to the road side and lay there for the whole night in terrible pain, unable to move. This is the fate of the famous Manipuri Pony nowadays.

It has been accepted worldwide that the game of Polo had its origin in Manipur but Manipuri ponies on whose backs the game is played are facing a losing battle against survival in their own place of origin.

If we are celebrating the birth of Polo on the soil of Manipur, if we are proud about the famous Manipuri cavalry of bygone days and if we are glorifying the deadly Arambai (darts thrown from speeding horses against fleeing or pursuing enemies), we must show respect and gratitude to ponies.

In fact, it was introduction of mechanised warfare which drastically changed the fate and fortune of Manipuri pony. Mechanised warfare rendered cavalry as well as ponies totally useless and impotent.

Nonetheless horses, more precisely ponies always occupied a prominent and respectable position in the history and culture of Manipur since mythological period.

Manipuri ponies were seldom used as beast of burden nor were they used for ploughing fields. They were animals of war, a prized asset of each and every Manipuri family in the bygone days.

As a part of the annual Sangai Festival, a polo tournament is organised every year in addition to a number of local polo tournaments.

Now the Government of Manipur is planning to celebrate this year’s Statehood Day (January 21) with a women’s polo tournament. With the ponies facing a losing battle against survival, the irony is complete.

The predicament of Manipuri ponies has its roots in fast disappearance of wetlands and ever shrinking grazing fields. Though Manipuri ponies are indispensable for the game of polo, they have very little commercial value.

It is a common knowledge that an entity or an animal which has no commercial value is doomed in this highly commercialised age.

Who would rear and take care of ponies when they have very little utility and commercial value? With the exception of a few, no common people would like to invest time, energy and money on rearing ponies.

It is for this very reason that horses/ponies are left to feed on streets without any protection from scorching heat and chilling cold. No doubt, polo players love and value ponies.

But their number is too few to shoulder the task of preserving ponies, and in addition, they don’t have the resources to accomplish such a crucial mission.

This is where the need for State intervention is felt acutely. The State can also rope in interested NGOs and polo clubs for protection and preservation of ponies but it must take the initiative.

Establishment of a polo club for each and every battalion of Manipur Rifles can make signification contributions towards preservation of ponies and further popularisation of the game of polo, if we must suggest.

Protection of ponies should start with protection of their grazing grounds. We don’t think we are asking the State too much.

In fact, we believe that the State of Manipur owes a lot to the sturdy, surefooted ponies for the existence of Manipur as a proud independent kingdom spanning over 2000 years before the colonial period.

Who knows ponies may be calling us ungrateful brutes, if they could speak?