Why the Ngamu Fish?

James Oinam *

Bronze staff of Oba :: Pix Courtesy - BBC World Service

According to the Meitei mythology, when the Supreme God asked his son to make man, he made the 'ngamu' fish. After making one animal after another, as the Father was not satisfied, he revealed himself to his son and asked him to make the man after His image.

Here, in this article, I ask why the 'ngamu' fish of all the fish variety? As I don't know if any Manipuri scripture has answered this, a personal speculation is made below.

Ngamu belongs to the genus Channa. The specific ngamu fish being referred to in the mythology is contested, and genus itself has been taken as the point of reference. Common English names identified with this fish are lata and snakehead. In Asia and Europe, the name 'mudfish' is also used to refer to Channa, according to Wikipedia. (This is significant for my argument.)

One distinguishing feature of this fish is its ability to survive for a long period outside water.

'They have a labyrinth organ, which allows them to breathe air for short periods, and they use this adaptation to travel across land in the event that their habitat becomes inhospitable' (Channa, Wikipedia).

The BBC podcast 'Ruling With the Gods' (in the podcast series 'Living With the Gods') describes a bronze ceremonial staff of Oba. Oba is the 'god-king' of Benin, south-east Nigeria. Much like the Meitei Pakhangba (and many other kings), Oba has godly quality.

Pre-imperial Obas ruled around 11th–14th centuries. The rule continues to this day. The staff of the Obas depicts mudfish coming out of the nose of the king. The podcast says, like the mudfish that can live in the water and on the land (representing the spiritual and human planes), the Obas can exist in the human plane and that of the gods. That gives the Oba the authority to rule.

In Manipuri belief system also, the following two rituals show the land and the water representing the two existential planes:

1. As an offshoot of the creation mythology, there is a practice in Manipur called 'Ushin'. The background story is, after the Supreme God was not satisfied with the ngamu, he gives him life and releases him into water bidding him to carry away any misfortune or misery that men might ask in future.

So if any misfortune is indicated in a person's life, a ngamu is released into water, asking him to carry away the predicted misfortune with him. On yearly basis also, there was a celebration where the king performed this ceremony.

This practice would make sense if we assume the water as the plane of the spirits and land as the plane of the humans, and the ngamu carries away any misery or misfortune from the human plane to that of the spiritual plane.

2. In the Lai Haraoba festival, we see how the two existential planes are implied. At the beginning of the festival, the spirits are called out of the water (their world) and kept in our world (land) during the festival:
'The ritual of the festival starts with the calling up of the spirit from the water (a pond or a river), this is known as Lai Ickouba, the first step of the festival' ('Laiharaoba - The Most Important Festival' by N. Mangi Devi).

So the speciality of ngamu is its ability to live both in the water and on the land, or in other words, it can live both in the spiritual world and the human world.

The mythology also says the gods created the land. In the Lai Haraoba dance, the dancers gently put their feet on the ground while dancing, mimicking the pressing of the fragile land at the time of creation. This would mean that before that before the landmass was created, there was water everywhere. The comparatively amphibious nature of the ngamu would fit into the narrative well.

Whether scientific or just a belief, ngamu is a valued food item in Manipur. Ngamu is usually eaten by convalescing person for quick recovery. The belief seems somewhat widespread in Southeast Asia:

'Apart from their importance as a food fish, snakeheads are also consumed as a therapeutic for wound healing as well as reducing post-operative pain and discomfort and collected for the international aquarium pet trade' (Channa, Wikipedia).

My uncle, who is a maiba, says the smell of roasting nagmu is similar to that in the cremation ground. But this may be personal opinion and needs more inputs to carry any weight.

References

o Ruling with the Gods. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09gfbby
o Wikipedia. 'Channa'. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channa
o N. Mangi Devi. 'Laiharaoba - The Most Important Festival'. Retrieved from http://e-pao.net/
o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudfish