The People Of Thongjao Village

Thongam Ingomacha *

Neelmani Devi firing her pots in her village, Thongjao, Manipur :: A film clip from Shampa Beyond the Wheel

Thongjao village is located at a distance of 55 kms in the south of Manipur from the state 0 point of Imphal. The village has 358 households and a population of 1876 out of which 864 are males and 1012 are females. The females outnumber the males by 148 individuals. The village is under the jurisdiction of Thoubal District.

To the east of the village is phandu hills range, to the west Pumlen pat, to the north Elangkangpokpi village and to the south Waikhong village. Thongjao is a pot making village and pottery plays an important role in the socio-economic life of the village. In Manipur, pottery has been practiced from ancient time in some villages and Thongjao is one of them. Next to pottery, agriculture plays an important role in the economy of the village.

It is believed that the present Thongjao village was established during the reign of king Garibniwaj, (1709-1748). Their earlier settlement was near the Thongjaorok River at Lamangdong (present Bishempur). The present name of the village is also taken from the Thongjaorok River.

Their folk history reports that seventy five of their ancestors came from Lamangdong and settled for the first time at the place called Kairam Pungdong at Waikhong Laimanai, just adjacent to this present Thongjao village on its south. Those original seventy five people belonged to the following yumnaks (lineages):-

i. Shamjetsabam
ii. Leimapokpam
iii. Kharaibam
iv. Wangjam

Today, the village has altogether 34 yumnaks with new 30 more in addition to the original four members coming later from different parts of Manipur.

The main reason of shifting from Lamangdong to the present village was, as told by Shamjetsabam Kumar (who is the priest of the village) the then Manipur king's order to them to settle there and supply earthen pot to the then salt manufactures of Waikhong village. As metal pot cannot be used in salt production, the supply of earthern pot was essential in the local salt industry. Another reason for their settlement in this particular locality is the availability of a particular type of soil, locally called leimu (black clay), which is used in pot- making.

List of khullakpas from the first establishment of the village up to present:

1) Shamjetsabam Amu Kabrang
2) Shamjetsabam Yangang
3) Thangjam Chouba
4) Leimapokpam Tilo
5) Shamjetsabam Sanahongba
6) Leimapokpam Rajmani
7) Shamjetsabam Ebopisak
8) Khumukcham Amujao (present khullakpa)

Thongjao Village is one of the Chakpa villages of Manipur. Chakpa is the name of an indigenous culturally distinct ethnic community of the greater Meitei population of this state, whose identity has been maintained throughout the long course of the history of this state. During historical days the plains dwelling Meiteis were classified into the panna-Meitei and the non-panna Meitei; to the latter belonged peoples known as the Lois. The Lois comprised of the Chakpa and other several non-Chakpa villages.

The panna Meiteis were distinguished from their Loi counterparts in that all the able- bodied male adults of the first group rendered compulsory services (locally expressed in Lallup Kaba) to the state for 10 days in every time unit of 40 days whereas the Lois paid annual tributes in kind of varied articles in accordance with the local specific production, say, silk, smelt iron, salt, fish, earthern vessels, distilled liquor, bows and arrows etc. The Thongjao villagers were assigned the duty of paying silk cloths as an annual tribute to Manipur's king. Besides pottery they were also good silk weavers.

It may aptly be mentioned here that during the monarchical period of the history of Manipur the Lois were outside the Hindu religious fold of the panna Meiteis. After accepting Hinduism as the state religion for the first during the reign of king Garibniwaj. Meitei identity became almost co-terminus with their Hindu identity of the people, and concomitantly the panna status of the core Meitei i.e., the panna Meitei was marked by the Hindu religious identity of the people.

In short, panna Meiteis were Hindu Meiteis. Once an individual of earlier Loi population got converted to Hinduism the formal sanction of the royal authority, he was absorbed into the panna Meitei, and the process involved in the change of identity was referred to as Panna Thokpa.

About the origin of Lois, there are two important theories. First theory suggests that this term is applied to the settlers of the penal colonies where the war captives and criminals were detained. In fact, Sugnu, Ithing and Thanga became penal colonies where the king used to banish culprits as a form of punishment.

Second theory suggests that they are autochthones of Manipur and their traditional custom which are still being preserved and serve as a record of Meetei customs prior to the adoption of Hinduism. Such Loi villages which still preserved Meetei traditional culture are Andro, Khurkhul, Koutruk, Leimram, Phayeng, Sekmai &Tairenpokpi.

The term 'Chakpa' is sometime used as a synonyms of Loi. But the Chakpa people which are the major constituent of Lois community were believed to have their own dialect. The Chakpas are social organizationally similar to Pana Meetei but they maintain a slight difference in the sphere of religious beliefs and practices.

As an example, in Pana Meetei the death infants(within 3years) is buried in a grave far from his residence but in Chakpas, the death infants which can be of any age (including death child birth) are all cremated.